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36th Annual Convention; San Antonio, TX; 2010

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Symposium #507
Resurgence: Controlling Variables and Implications for the Analysis of Behavior
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
9:00 AM–10:20 AM
Bonham C (Grand Hyatt)
Area: EAB; Domain: Experimental Analysis
Chair: Carlos Cancado (West Virginia University)
Abstract: Although extensively used in interpretations of complex behavior, the controlling variables of resurgence have seldom been systematically analyzed. Studies in which this was the main focus will be presented. Cançado and Lattal studied the resurgence of complex operants, defined as temporal patterns of responding, in two experiments with pigeons. Resurgence of temporal patterns of responding was consistently observed when patterns were directly reinforced or not. Pyszczynski and Shahan report experiments in which the resurgence of alcohol-maintained responding by rats was assessed after non-drug reinforcers were discontinued on an alternative context. Their results suggest that the resurgence procedure may provide a novel model of drug relapse in which loss of context-specific, alternative non-drug reinforcers precipitates relapse to drug seeking in another context. Banta, Cançado, Carpenter, and Lattal analyzed the resurgence of pigeons’ time allocation to different stimulus conditions. Results are discussed in terms of the effects of behavioral history on choice during transitions and of continuous measures of behavior. Finally, Villas-Bôas, Endemann and Tomanari present studies with humans, showing the resurgence of eye movements along the acquisition of a series of visual simultaneous discriminations, and with rats, assessing how resurgence may be affected by the previous extinction of the resurgent behavior.
 
Resurgence of Temporal Patterns of Responding
CARLOS CANCADO (West Virginia University), Kennon A. Lattal (West Virginia University)
Abstract: The resurgence of temporal patterns of responding was assessed in two experiments with pigeons. In Experiment 1, positively accelerated and linear patterns of responding were established under each component of a multiple fixed-interval (FI) – variable-interval (VI) schedule of reinforcement. Subsequently, alternative forms of responding produced reinforcers according to a VI schedule. When extinction was in effect, positively accelerated and linear patterns of responding occurred in the presence of the stimuli previously correlated with, respectively, the FI and VI components of the multiple schedule. These results suggest that the patterns, although not directly reinforced, were selected as behavioral units. In Experiment 2, resurgence was assessed after positively accelerated patterns of responding were directly reinforced. Reinforcers were produced if the obtained patterns approximated a model specifying a constant rate of change in rate of key pecking within trials. Resurgence of previously reinforced patterns was consistently observed for all pigeons. Individual patterns that were most frequent when directly reinforced occurred at higher relative frequency during extinction. These results have implications for the study of resurgence of complex operants, and will be discussed as they contribute to the understanding of the selection and recurrence of complex behavioral units.
 
Discontinuation of Food Reinforcers in One Context Produces Recovery of Extinguished Alcohol-Maintained Responding in a Separate Context
ADAM PYSZCZYNSKI (Utah State University), Timothy A. Shahan (Utah State University)
Abstract: Extinguished alcohol-maintained responding has been shown to relapse in a resurgence preparation when food-reinforced responding is extinguished within the same context. However, drug and alternative non-drug reinforcers are often available in different contexts. Accordingly, we asked whether loss of a non-drug reinforcer in one context could produce relapse to drug seeking in a separate context. In one experiment, rats made topographically different responses for food or alcohol in alternating components of a multiple schedule. Both reinforcers were delivered during baseline, responding for alcohol was placed on extinction during the second phase of the experiment, and finally both responses were extinguished during the final phase. Extinguished alcohol-maintained responding increased for all rats upon discontinuation of food deliveries, but may have increased due to similarity between the final experimental phase and initial training. In a second experiment, the training phase complicating interpretation of our first experiment was eliminated altogether. Alcohol seeking again recovered upon discontinuation of food, suggesting that loss of a non-drug reinforcer in one context can produce relapse to drug seeking in another. This procedure may provide a novel model of drug relapse in which loss of context-specific, alternative non-drug reinforcers precipitates relapse to drug seeking in another context.
 
Resurgence of Time Allocation
ELIZABETH A. BANTA (West Virginia University), Carlos Cancado (West Virginia University), Harold K. Carpenter (West Virginia University), Kennon A. Lattal (West Virginia University)
Abstract: Resurgence of pigeons’ time allocation to different stimulus conditions was assessed in three experiments. Reinforcers were delivered according to interdependent variable-time schedules, and probabilities of reinforcement initially correlated with each of two keylight colors were reversed before extinction was in effect. Key pecking changed the keylight color and the reinforcement probabilities in effect (0.75 and 0.25 in Experiments 1 and 3; 1.0 and 0.0 in Experiment 2). Resurgence of previously obtained time allocation was observed in two out of three pigeons and three out of four pigeons in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. Changeover response rates were systematically reduced during extinction, which prevented clear interpretations of obtained time allocation as resurgence or as due to the absence of changeover responding due to extended exposure to extinction. This was addressed in Experiment 3 by changing the keylight colors correlated with each reinforcement probability, after every 30-s, to a keylight in the presence of which reinforcers were not delivered. Resurgence of time allocation was consistently observed, and its measurement was not confounded with the direct effects of extinction in reducing responding. Results are discussed in terms of the effects of behavioral history on choice during transitions and of continuous measures of behavior.
 
Behavioral Resurgence: Conceptual Construction Upon Experimental Foundations
Alessandra Villas-Bôas (University of São Paulo), Peter Endemann (University of São Paulo), GERSON YUKIO TOMANARI (University of Sao Paulo)
Abstract: In a given situation, when a recently reinforced behavior is no more reinforced, behaviors that were previously reinforced under similar circumstances tend to re-occur. Those behaviors have been analyzed within the scope of Behavioral Resurgence. In this symposium, we will initially present empirical data showing the resurgence of eye movements along the acquisition of a series of visual simultaneous discriminations. Following, based on a couple of experiments that employed rats as subjects, we will show how resurgence may be affected by the previous extinction of the resurgent behavior. That is, behaviors previously exposed to extinction may not resurge, or may resurge much less than behaviors not exposed to extinction. Finally, we will discuss the concept of resurgence in contrast to apparently inter-related phenomenon such as the behavioral variation that typically follows an extinction process. By doing that, we aim to identify the behavioral specificities the concept of resurgence may represent.
 

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