Revaluing Overselected Stimuli: Effects of Degree of Posttraining Extinction on Stimulus Overselectivity
Date
Authors
Gomes‐Ng, Stephanie
Cowie, Sarah
Elliffe, Douglas
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
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Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley
Abstract
When responding to a stimulus exerting overselective control over behavior is extinguished, control by underselected stimuli may emerge. We investigated how the degree of extinction influences control by underselected stimuli. Adult humans (N = 459) chose between rapidly presented compound S+ and S− stimuli in a simultaneous discrimination. Then, participants chose between individual compound-stimulus elements in an unreinforced testing phase. The S+ element that was chosen most often underwent revaluation, during which choice of that element was reinforced with a probability ranging from 0 (complete extinction) to 1 (no extinction) in different groups. In post-revaluation retesting, choice of the overselected element was lower than in pre-revaluation testing; this decrease was greater when the overselected element had been reinforced with a lower probability during revaluation. For the underselected element, choice decreased when the overselected element was completely extinguished and increased when the overselected element was sometimes or always reinforced. This highlights the role of the contingency change in post-revaluation changes in stimulus control. Our findings are consistent with comparator theories of overselectivity and suggest that control by underselected stimuli may emerge after partial extinction of an overselected stimulus. Future studies should establish the generality of these findings with clinical populations displaying overselectivity.Description
Keywords
1701 Psychology, 1702 Cognitive Sciences, Behavioral Science & Comparative Psychology, 5201 Applied and developmental psychology, 5202 Biological psychology, 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology, compound stimulus, extinction, humans, retrospective revaluation, stimulus overselectivity
Source
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, ISSN: 0022-5002 (Print); 1938-3711 (Online), Wiley, 124(3). doi: 10.1002/jeab.70060
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This is the Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in the
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior © Wiley. The Version of Record is available at DOI: 10.1002/jeab.70060