Pre- and postreinforcement delay with a small number of acquisition trials

Abstract

Three groups of rats were given 5 acquisition and 13 extinction trials in a straight alley. Group treatments were: (1) immediate reward (R), (2) 20 sec. delay in goal box followed by reward (D-R), (3) immediate reward followed by 20 sec. nonreinforcement confinement in the goal box (R-D). Groups D-R and R-D were not reliably different but both were more resistant to extinction that Group R. There were no significant differences in acquisition. The data may be explained by a sequential analysis.