TRANSFER OF SLOW-RESPONSE RITUALS TO EXTINCTION OF A CONTINUOUSLY REWARDED RESPONSE

38 rats were always reinforced for running down a white alley, but were reinforced in a black alley only if they took longer than 5 sec. to reach the end. Different Ss developed idiosyncratic ways of responding in the slow runway. During subsequent extinction in the continuous reinforcement (CRF) runway, some Ss began to respond in the ritualistic manner they had learned in the slow alley. It is argued that this transfer into the CRF-extinction runway of responses previously learned in the slow alley is mediated by conditioned frustration elicited by nonreinforcement. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1968 American Psychological Association.