PERSISTENCE AND THE IMPORTANCE OF NONREWARD - SOME APPLICATIONS OF FRUSTRATION THEORY AND DMOD

Unfortunately our world does not always reward us when we expect it, a nd we must learn to deal with nonreward. How do these experiences infl uence our behaviors and how can we use them to help us? In Frustration Theory: An Analysis of Dispositional Learning and Memory (1992), Abra m Amsel has answered these questions; he has summarized over 40 years of exciting research and the development of an elegant theory. He has also reviewed recent applications of frustration theory in such areas as fetal alcohol syndrome and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder s. In this invited commentary, we briefly summarize a mathematical mod el of frustration theory (called DMOD) and review simulations of the m odel that highlight the importance of the assumptions based on frustra tion theory (e.g., aversiveness of unexpected nonreward, countercondit ioning). We also review assumptions (e.g., unlearning, passive and act ive ''inhibition,'' decline in aversiveness of expected nonreward) tha t are required if one is to simulate intuitive and counterintuitive ph enomena.