Response decrements produced by extinction and by response-independent reinforcement.
Extinction cuts behavior faster than free reinforcement and is the only one that sparks behavioral contrast.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers compared two ways to reduce key pecking in pigeons. One group got plain extinction: no food after the peck. The other group got free food every few seconds no matter what they did.
They ran the birds on a two-part schedule. In one part, pecks still paid off. In the other part, either extinction or free food kicked in. They watched how fast each method cut responding and whether rates jumped in the still-paid part.
What they found
Extinction won the race. It dropped pecking faster than the free-food method. Birds on extinction also showed a big jump in responding when they returned to the paying part of the schedule. That jump is called behavioral contrast.
The free-food birds did not show that jump. Their response rates just sagged a little across the board. The study showed that stopping reinforcement beats giving non-contingent reinforcement if you want rapid behavior reduction.
How this fits with other research
Ginsburg et al. (1971) had already shown that longer extinction stretches make later contrast bigger. Neuringer (1973) now adds that contrast only appears when extinction is used, not when free food is given.
Rogers-Warren et al. (1976) looked like they disagreed. They found no contrast when they kept reinforcement rates equal across schedule parts. The difference is method: Neuringer (1973) let reinforcement rates fall in the extinction part, while Rogers-Warren et al. (1976) forced them to stay the same. Contrast needs a real drop in payoff, not just a change in label.
Blough (1980) extended the idea to rats and showed that contrast can grow even bigger near stimulus borders, and de Rose (1986) proved the same holds for fixed-interval schedules. The core rule stays: extinction drives contrast; free food does not.
Why it matters
If you need to cut a behavior fast, use extinction and watch for a burst elsewhere. Do not expect the same contrast if you slip in free reinforcers. Check that reinforcement really drops in the suppressed part, or contrast may not show up at all.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The effects of extinction and of response-independent (free) reinforcement in decreasing rates of key pecking by pigeons were compared in single schedule (Phase 1) and multiple (Phase 2) conditions. In both phases, response rates decreased more rapidly with extinction than with free reinforcement conditions. Behavioral contrast was obtained from subjects trained in a multiple schedule involving extinction in Phase 2, whereas subjects trained in a multiple schedule involving free reinforcement showed a slight negative induction effect. Whether subjects experienced extinction or free reinforcement under single stimulus conditions did not affect subsequent performance in the discrimination situation of the second phase. Disinhibition testing was carried out at the end of both phases, but there was no evidence for disinhibitory effects under any condition.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 1973 · doi:10.1901/jeab.1973.19-293