Abstract
The present free operant conditioning experiments with rats examined the impact of manipulating different traits of an extinction-cue on ABA renewal. All rats were trained to perform an operant response (R1) for food in context A, and a different operant response (R2) in context B. Responses were then extinguished, R1 in context B and R2 in context A. In Experiment 1, for half of the rats, both responses were extinguished in the presence of an intermittent light. For the other half, a continuous light was utilized during extinction of R1 and R2. Finally, all rats were tested in both contexts (R1 was tested in the presence of the cue in both contexts, whereas R2 was tested in the presence of the cue only in the extinction context). Returning the rats to the original conditioning context renewed the initial operant behavior. However, we found that both types of extinction-cues (intermittent and continuous) attenuated ABA renewal equally. In addition, both responses underwent extinction in Experiment 2. For half of the subjects, R1 and R2 were extinguished in the presence of a dim light, whereas the other half received a bright light as an extinction-cue for both responses. Once again, we found during testing (R1 was tested in the presence of the cue in both contexts whereas R2 was tested in the presence of the cue only in the extinction context), that both types of extinction-cues reduced ABA renewal in a similar manner. The present results suggest that in some conditions, the features of the extinction cues may not affect their renewal-attenuating properties.
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The datasets generated during and analyzed in the current study are available from the corresponding author on request.
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This research was funded by UNAM/DGAPA through grant project PAPIIT IN306817. Participation of A. M. Gámez was funded by Grant PGC2018-097769-B-C22 from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities and by Junta de Andalucía, Spain, Research Grant HUM642.
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The present experimental protocol was conducted under strict agreement with the guidelines established by the Ethical Committee of the Faculty of Psychology of the National University of Mexico and the Ethical Code of the Mexican Society of Psychology.
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Bernal-Gamboa, R., Mason, T.A., Nieto, J. et al. An Analysis of Extinction-Cue Features in the Reduction of Operant Behavior Relapse. Psychol Rec 72, 65–73 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-021-00472-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-021-00472-z