The impact of an extinction reminder on AAB renewal is sensitive to the level of association with extinction

Abstract

An experiment using a predictive learning task with college students evaluated the impact of a stimulus associated with extinction on an AAB renewal design. Four groups of participants learned a specific relationship between two cues (X and Y) and two outcomes (O1 and O2) in Context A during the first phase. Subsequently, both cues were subjected to extinction in the same Context A. During the Test, extinction was in effect for both cues; one group experienced it in Context A (AAA), while the other three groups were tested in a second Context B. We observed a reduction in the AAB renewal effect when participants received a stimulus associated with extinction (AAB*), but not when testing involved presenting a new stimulus (AAB). However, the reductive effect of the extinction reminder was not observed when the stimulus was presented only during the 75% of the extinction trials (AAB*75). These findings suggest that, under certain circumstances, the level of association of the extinction reminder with extinction might affect its efficacy in reducing response recovery.