Resistance to change: An effect of Differential reinforcement on persistance of behaviour

Abstract

Six (Experiment 1) and five (Experiment 2) Gallus domesticus hens responded under on a concurrent procedure which contained two independent keys. Two concurrent keys were made available to the subjects on VI schedules 24 reinforces/hr for the right key and 96 reinforces/hr on the left key. The study was designed to assess the effect of training an alternative and a target response in the same context compared to the effect of training these responses separately on the persistency of the target response. Behavioural Momentum theory explained an increase in persistence of the target response as an outcome of enriching the context with the alternative reinforcement and by enhancing Pavlovian relationships between the target response and the stimulus context. The first experiment aimed to replicate Podlesnik’s (2015) findings demonstrating that reinforcing a target response in the same context as the alternative response (analog of the DRA procedure) reduced the target responding while increasing resistance to extinction of this responding compared to training target responding on its own. The results replicated Podlesnik’s (2015) findings, demonstrating a lower rate of responding and higher resistance to change of target responding in the DRA-like procedure relative to target responding training on its own. The second experiment aimed to equalize reinforcement rates for the target and alternative responding to assess resistance to change of the target behaviour in DRA-like and Combined procedure. The results showed a lower rate of responding and higher resistance to change of target responding in the DRA-like procedure compared to target responding in the Combined procedure.