Role of Reinforcement and Response Cost in Discrimination Learning

Abstract

Level of anxiety and condition of reinforcement or response cost separately affect the rate of discrimination learning. This study examined the extent to which discrimination learning by people reporting high anxiety or low anxiety was affected by reinforcement or response cost. 40 adults volunteered and were assigned to either the feedback-only, reinforcement-only, response cost-only, or reinforcement-response cost condition. Analysis indicated that people reporting low anxiety and receiving reinforcement for correct responses and response cost for incorrect responses learned the discrimination faster than people in the other groups. A weaker demonstration of the facilitative effect of reinforcement and response cost was noted in the people reporting high anxiety.