Baseline Response Rate and its Relationship to Effects of Omission and Extinction Training in Pigeons

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to examine the relationship between baseline response rate and the effects of omission training and extinction training in pigeons. Exp. 1 employed four omission-training groups, differentiated by the values of the reinforcement-reinforcement and/or response-reinforcement intervals, and an extinction-training group while Exp. 2 used two omission-training groups and an extinction-training group. Results indicated that baseline response rate was not related to the differential effects of omission training and extinction training and that omission-training groups with relatively short interval values reduced responding significantly faster than did extinction-training groups.