Free Operant Response Reinstatement during Extinction and Time-Contingent (DRO) Rewards

Abstract

3 experiments are reported on the reinstatement of a bar-press response by rats during free operant extinction. After extended training on a VR schedule of food reward, an extinction procedure in which reward was negatively correlated with the bar-press response was initiated, i.e., reward was presented after 4 min of no bar presses. Results indicated that pause-contingent reward served to increase the rate of responding beyond what could be explained by the eliciting properties of reward-correlated stimuli or the “novelty” of stimulus change.