Cues to Decreasing Resistance to Extinction in Successive Acquisitions and Extinctions

Abstract

Four groups of rats were used in a successive acquisition and extinction situation to determine which conditions, if any, produce a decrease in resistance to extinction across successive acquisitions and extinctions. Two groups experienced long N-R transitions (time from extinction to the subsequent acquisition) with all remaining transitions being short. The short transitions were: R-R (time between acquisition trials), R-N (time from the end of an acquisition until the subsequent extinction), and N-N (time between extinction trials). Two groups experienced long R-N and short N-R, N-N, and R-R transitions. Rats in one long N-R transition and one long R-N transition group had acquisitions and extinctions delineated by distinctive cues (blinking lights during acquisition or extinction trials). The other two groups had no such cues. The disparity in N-N versus N-R transition times combined with additional visual cues during extinction produced decreasing resistance to extinction across successive extinctions.