Author ORCID Identifier
Semester
Fall
Date of Graduation
2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MS
College
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Psychology
Committee Chair
Kennon A. Lattal
Committee Member
Michael Perone
Committee Member
Melissa Blank
Abstract
Two experiments were conducted to examine how the removal of the opportunity to consume reinforcement and the reallocation of that time might account for extinction bursts during within-session transitions from FR 1 to extinction. In Experiment 1, rats and pigeons were trained under FR 1 schedules and subsequently exposed to within-session extinction. Total counts of responses suggested that extinction bursts occurred for each subject, but when adjusted to exclude responses that would have overlapped with food consumption, no bursts were observed. In Experiment 2, pigeons experienced four extinction arrangements: conventional extinction, response-independent reinforcement, conditioned reinforcement, and differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA). Results showed that extinction bursts were most frequent for conditions in which the consummatory response was suddenly eliminated (conventional extinction and conditioned reinforcement) but were attenuated when consummatory responses were preserved (response-independent reinforcement and DRA). Across both experiments, bursts diminished or disappeared when consummatory time was accounted for, suggesting that the extinction burst reflects a reallocation of the consummatory response rather than a ubiquitous process of extinction. These findings help to shed light on the underlying mechanisms of the extinction burst.
Recommended Citation
Toler, Braden, "Extinction Bursts Reexamined: The Role of Consummatory Time and Response Reallocation" (2025). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 13189.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/13189
Included in
Animal Studies Commons, Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons, Other Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons