Extinction Day 1

Today was the first day for extinction. The goal was to extinguish Fi-B's learned behavior of pressing the bar for reinforcement. Instead, she would receive no reinforcement for any bar presses. I must say that I felt bad for Fi-B watching her get frustrated. She was frustrated because she was no longer receiving the food pellets. Our session began at 3:52 pm.

Fi-B attempted to perform the same behavior that she had learned. After approximately 10 minutes, she appeared to have give up, though she would try pushing the bar every now and then. Towards the end of the session she became very frustrated. She proceeded to attack the top and bottom of the bar - anything to get reinforced. She also tried sticking her head up the hopper to reach the food pellets. We observed her twisting and turning every which way to get inside. The food hopper was filled with the food pellets so I must wonder if she would continue with this behavior if the food hopper didn't have the pellets. I only assume she can smell them.

Fi-B did experience an extinction burst. Extinction bursts occur when there is a sudden increase in the behavior's frequency followed by a decline in the behavior.

(The cumulative record shows our rat's performance during her first day of extinction. You can see her first extinction burst within 5 minutes.)