Date Available

5-6-2021

Year of Publication

2021

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Document Type

Master's Thesis

College

Education

Department/School/Program

Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

First Advisor

Dr. Sally Shepley

Abstract

Schedules of reinforcement explain when a reinforcer may be delivered. Among the different schedules exists continuous (CRF), intermittent (INT), and extinction (EXT). When employing a CRF, reinforcement is delivered following every occurrence of the target response. An INT schedule includes varying the delivery of reinforcement. While both of these schedules include the delivery of reinforcement, EXT means that reinforcement is no longer delivered for the target response (Lee & Belfiore, 1997). Studies have shown that behaviors may be less resistant to extinction if moved from an INT schedule to a CRF schedule than if EXT followed the INT schedule alone. This effect on behavior has been termed the interpolation of reinforcement effect (IRE; Higbee et al., 2002). The current study seeks to compare the effects of prior exposure to a CRF and INT schedule of reinforcement on responding during subsequent extinction with Sniffy, a simulated virtual laboratory rat.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2021.087

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