Extinction as a function of magnitude and percentage of food or sucrose reward.

64 male hooded rats in 8 groups were trained to run an alleyway and extinguished. For groups given food rewards, extinction performance was dependent on an interaction of the magnitude and percentage of reward in acquisition: in consistently reinforced Ss, large rewards led to slower running in extinction, but in partially reinforced Ss, large rewards led to faster running. With sucrose as the reward, however, large rewards (higher concentration) led to faster running in extinction irrespective of the schedule of reinforcement. These differences between food and sucrose are discussed in terms of frustration theory and sequential theory. The simplest interpretation, within the context of sequential theory, is to assume that different concentrations of sucrose, although differing in their reinforcing effects, do not produce discriminably different aftereffects. (French summary) (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)