Frustration, Preference and Behavioural Contrast

Abstract

Pigeons' pecks on both a red (left-hand) and a striped (right-hand) response key were reinforced on a concurrent variable-interval 2-min. schedule until the proportion of responses given to each key had stabilized. In alternate sessions, the right-hand key was covered, while responding to a green stimulus on the left-hand key was reinforced on variable-interval 1-min. When responding to green was later extinguished, more responses were made to the striped key in reinforcement sessions, although the rate of responding to the other, red key increased. Replacing extinction during green by reinforcement returned the preference and the response rates to their previous levels. These results are compared with a previous experiment in which the striped key was not present, where a similar increase in response rate to red was observed after extinction on green. The shift in preference coupled with the usual contrast effect in the present experiment supports an interpretation of behavioural contrast in terms of the frustrative effects of extinction.