Distribution of trials and the partial reinforcement effect after minimal acquisition
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Psychology, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Young, Brian Jeffrey
issued: 2011-06-15T20:23:29Z
issued: 1970
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Both Frustration Theory and Sequential Effects Theory appear to account with some plausibility for the Partial Reinforcement Effect (PRE) and accompanying phenomena. On the basis of Frustration Theory, however, a PRE should not occur after only minimal acquisition training. On this point, the experimental evidence is conflicting. On the basis of analogous studies employing extended acquisition, trial distribution may be suggested as a factor, among others, which might affect the occurrence of the PRE. All previous studies showing evidence for a PRE after minimal acquisition employed intertrial intervals (ITI's) in acquisition and extinction of no more than 15 minutes. The problem which this study was concerned with was therefore whether a PRE could be obtained after only minimal acquisition when trials were distributed. Accordingly, it was hypothesized that a PRE would occur after a sequence of only five trials under a partial reinforcement (PRF) schedule in an 'RNRNR' sequence, compared with performance following continuous reinforcement (CRF), irrespective of whether trials were highly distributed or highly massed. A factorial 2x2 design was used in which four groups of Ss were trained under two conditions of reward schedule (PRF or CRF), and two conditions of ITI both in acquisition and extinction. The method, apparatus and procedure of a previous study (McCain, 1969) which showed evidence for a PRE after only minimal acquisition were replicated as far as possible, except for changes required by the design or on theoretical grounds. Evidence was found for a PRE under both conditions of ITI in terms of differences in extinction trends, confirming the hypothesis tested. Trial distribution was found to effect the mean running speeds shown by PRF and CRF groups such that greater resistance to extinction was shown by the PRF group in comparison to the CRF group when the ITI was 30 sec., while running measures did not show this effect when the ITI was 24 hours. This la…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/35471
note: DISTRIBUTION OF TRIALS AND THE PARTIAL REINFORCEMENT EFFECT AFTER MINIMAL ACQUISITION by BRIAN JEFFREY YOUNG B.A., University of London, 1968 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS i n the Department of Psychology We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE' UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA September, 1970 I n p r e s e n t i n g t h i s t h e s i s i n p a r t i a l f u l f i l m e n t o f t h e r e q u i r e m e n t s f o r a n a d v a n c e d d e g r e e a t t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f B r i t i s h C o l u m b i a , I a g r e e t h a t t h e L i b r a r y s h a l l m a k e i t f r e e l y a v a i l a b l e f o r r e f e r e n c e a n d s t u d y . I f u r t h e r a g r e e t h a t p e r m i s s i o n f o r e x t e n s i v e c o p y i n g o f t h i s t h e s i s f o r s c h o l a r l y p u r p o s e s may be g r a n t e d by t h e H e a d o f my D e p a r t m e n t o r by h i s r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s . I t i s u n d e r s t o o d t h a t c o p y i n g o r p u b l i c a t i o n o f t h i s t h e s i s f o r f i n a n c i a l g a i n s h a l l n o t be a l l o w e d w i t h o u t my w r i t t e n p e r m i s s i o n . However, F i g u r e s 1 - 5 a r e c o p y r i g h t m a t e r i a l and p e r m i s s i o n f o r c o p y i n g s h o u l d , o f c o u r s e , be o b t a i n e d f r o m t h e o r i g i n a l a u t h o r s . D e p a r t m e n t o f P s y c h o l o g y T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f B r i t i s h C o l u m b i a V a n c o u v e r 8, C a n a d a Date August 17th, 1970 i ABSTRACT Both Frustration Theory and Sequential Effects Theory appear to account with some p l a u s i b i l i t y for the P a r t i a l Reinfor-cement Effect (PRE) and accompanying phenomena. On the basis of Frustration Theory, however, a PRE should not occur after only minimal acquisition t r a i n i n g . On this point, the experimental evidence i s c o n f l i c t i n g . On the basis of analogous st…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0104104
language: eng
degree discipline: Psychology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/35471