An experimental analysis of the extinction‐induced response burst. Issue 1 (17th July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Katz, Brian; Lattal, Kennon A.
• Is Part Of: Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior. Volume 114:Issue 1(2020)
• Page Start: 24
• Page End: 46
• Publication Date: 2020-07-17
• Subjects: extinction -- extinction burst -- repeated extinction -- pigeons; Psychology -- Periodicals; 150.724
• DOI: 10.1002/jeab.611
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-5002

Abstract

Abstract : The occurrence, time course, and repeatability of response rate increases following the onset of extinction, the extinction burst, were studied in three experiments. Nine pigeons were exposed to at least 5 cycles of 5‐session blocks of conditioning followed by 8‐session blocks of extinction. In different experiments, conditioning sessions either were a fixed‐ratio (FR) or variable‐ratio (VR) schedule, and transitions from the last conditioning session in each cycle to the first extinction session were conducted between or within sessions. A single response rate increase occurred when overall response rates were considered. Restricting analyses to the first minute of extinction sessions sometimes revealed increases in response rates, although this finding was inconsistent. The frequency and magnitude of these increases differed across exposures to extinction both across and within pigeons. Additionally, how responding during extinction was measured (i.e., the level of analysis) influenced whether increases above baseline levels were observed. These results suggest that the extinction burst may be influenced by the manner of transition to extinction and the way in which early extinction responding is measured. Under the best conditions, the extinction burst does not appear to be a ubiquitous effect of extinction.