Date of Graduation
2015
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Type
PhD
College
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Psychology
Committee Chair
Kennon A Lattal
Committee Co-Chair
Karen G Anderson
Committee Member
Daniel Hursh
Committee Member
Steven Kinsey
Committee Member
Michael Perone
Abstract
If more and more responding is required to earn a reinforcer, as in progressive ratio schedules, behavior eventually becomes "strained," characterized by long pauses and irregular response patterns. If the response requirement continues to escalate, behavior reaches a "break point" and ultimately ceases altogether for a period of time. The present experiments investigated whether responding can be regenerated after the break point has been reached, using techniques that are known to produce recurrence of behavior that was eliminated by extinction. Pigeons responded on progressive ratio schedules until stable performance was observed. Then, test sessions were conducted in which a recurrence procedure (reinstatement, renewal, or resurgence) was applied after the break point had been reached. All recurrence procedures regenerated responding, demonstrating that the same procedures known to produce recurrence of extinguished behavior also can produce recurrence of behavior eliminated by progressive-ratio schedules.
Recommended Citation
Kincaid, Stephanie L., "Testing for Recurrence of Ratio-Strained Behavior with Reinstatement, Resurgence, and Renewal" (2015). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 5975.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/5975