Extinction

 On days 14 and 15 we put Anne through extinction. (October 3rd & 4th)

Day 1 of extinction made me feel like a bad rat parent. Anne was not happy about not getting her chocolate pellets. She pressed the bar 125 times by 2 minutes and continuously check to see if treats were coming out. She pressed the lever a total of 473 times and went for 25 minutes. For a while, she was angry and began biting the bar and pushing on the wall above the bar. But after a while, she caught onto what we were doing and decided she would rather explore the rest of the box. 

Day 2 of extinction she was a tad crazier. I saw a spontaneous recovery at the beginning of the session. But then she continued to press on the wall above the lever and then due to frustration she refused to go near the lever. Anne sat on the opposite side of the box for a while due to not getting any treats. She eventually stopped pressing the lever and was more interested in the light. it was as if she was looking for some other behavior that would get reinforced. She pressed the lever a total of 106 times, the least amount of times she ever hit it. And we went for a full 30 minutes.