Fourteen rats with hypothalamic electrodes needed at least 3,000 reinforcements in self-stimulation before extinction scores reached their peak. In a series of up to 36 further extinctions and reconditionings, involving a total of 10,500 reinforcements, extinction scores fell to the extreme low values typical of self-stimulation. The extent of this fall was shown to depend on the number of extinctions administered, but not on the number of reinforcements, indicating that a process of conditioned inhibition may be partially responsible for rapid extinction after self-stimulation.
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