Andy, A very long time ago, B.F. Skinner did some research with mice, as well as his daughter, & came up with some very interesting observations. Allow me the liberty to expound a bit. He found the following:
1. All behavior is learned. If you accept this proposition, then you must accept the fact that all behavior can be unlearned & new behaviors can be learned in their place.
2. Reinforce a behavior every time it occurs,(simple reinforcement), & that behavior becomes very difficult to extinguish.
3. Switch to a fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement, reinforce any behavior at set intervals, & that behavior becomes more ingrained.
4. Now, use a random schedule of reinforcement, that's when the poor rat has no idea when it will get reinforced for his/her behavior, & VIOLA, you have a rat pecking at a food console for weeks & even years, even though he/she gets no food for many many trials.
The reason for the above thesis: Some people never learn, no matter what schedule of reinforcemnet you may use. That's when ECT works wonders! After just a few treatments the person has no idea what the %*&$ is going on. Come to think ot it, some people without having ECT have no idea what the %*&$ is going on!