Comparison of the rates of associative change during acquisition and extinction.

Five experiments used a compound test procedure to compare the rate parameters for the associative changes resulting from reinforcement and nonreinforcement. Experiments 1 and 4, using a magazine-approach procedure in rats, found initial acquisition to proceed more rapidly but to generalize less broadly than extinction. Experiments 2 and 5 repeated these observations in an autoshaping preparation with pigeons. Experiment 3 found no evidence for differential disruption of acquisition and extinction in testing. These results were obtained in a test procedure that compares responding with stimulus compounds in order to remove the differences in overall performance, which have complicated inferences about associative changes in earlier experiments.