Elimination of behavior of mental patients by response-produced extinction

Mental hospital patients were conditioned to respond at a high rate. Then an attempt was made to eliminate the response by means of a mild punishment consisting of a period of timeout from reinforcement (response-produced extinction). When only one response was available for obtaining the reinforcement, the mild punishment was not effective in eliminating that response. When an alternative response was also made available for obtaining the reinforcement, the mild punishment was completely effective. It appears that even very mild punishment may be effective if the over-all frequency of reinforcement can be maintained by means of an alternative unpunished response.

A comparison of several procedures for eliminating behavior

The pecking response of pigeons was reinforced when a minimum period of time had elapsed since the last response (DRL schedule of food-reinforcement). Punishment, satiation, extinction, and stimulus change were employed separately to reduce responding. When the effects of the four procedures were compared, punishment was found capable of producing a more immediate, complete and long lasting response reduction than the others. Punishment had its maximum effect on the responses that were least relevant to reinforcement. The punishment reduced the frequency of the short inter-response times to a greater extent than did either extinction or satiation. In this way, punishment actually increased the efficiency of the DRL responding.

Effect of amount of training on rate and duration of responding during extinction

Four experiments are reported in which the amount of CRF training prior to extinction is examined as it effects transient changes in response frequency and duration immediately following extinction onset. The first two experiments, using albino rats as subjects and water reinforcement, revealed a reliable relationship between length of time on CRF and the tendency to increase response frequency, duration, and the variability of response frequency and duration. Two comparative experiments were conducted using 53-to-69-month old children as subjects, and recorded music as reinforcement. The results of the first child study failed to conform with those obtained in the rat experiments. However, manipulation of the reinforcer in a subsequent study reproduced the rat extinction effect. Despite the differences in the rat and child experiments, the qualitative similarity of the results of the four studies suggests a basic underlying comparability of the relationship between the amount of training and transient changes in response frequency.