Contingencies of Reinforcement. Chapter 1: The Role of the Environment. Quote 4

“… by thoroughly adapting the rat to the box before the lever is made available, most of the competing behavior can be “stamped out” before the response to be learned is ever emitted. Thorndike’s learning curve, showing the gradual disappearance of unsuccessful behavior, then vanishes. In its place we are left with a conspicuous change in the successful response itself: an immediate, often quite abrupt, increase in rate.” (pp. 6-7)

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