Relative Effects of Omission Training and Extinction Training in Obese Subjects

Abstract

The present experiment compared the behavior of obese and normal weight subjects in a response suppression situation. Specifically, subjects were allowed to stabilize their response rate on an intermittent reinforcement schedule and then were switched to a response suppression phase in which either omission training or extinction training was in effect. No significant differences in the performance of the obese and normal weight individuals during the response suppression phase were obtained. The methodology employed also provided a test of Singh’s (1973) response-inhibition hypothesis, which states that obese individuals are deficient in the ability to inhibit habitual responses even when such responses are no longer appropriate. It follows from the response-inhibition hypothesis that the obese subjects should have performed less efficiently than the normal weight subjects during the response suppression phase. Since the results did not support this prediction, the present findings cast some doubt on the generality of the response-inhibition hypothesis.