Association for Behavior Analysis International

Resurgence is the reoccurrence of a previously reinforced response, typically following (conventional) extinction of an alternatively reinforced response. Resurgence is both of research interest and applied relevance. Presenters in this symposium will discuss variations on resurgence procedures in both laboratory and applied contexts. In the first presentation, presenters will describe an animal model for studying resurgence of punishment-suppressed behavior using rats, and theoretical and applied implications of results will be discussed. In the second presentation, a human operant arrangement will be presented that investigated the effects of varying density of reinforcement and the addition of an aversive auditory stimulus during Phase 2 on subsequent resurgence. Basic and applied implications will be discussed. In the third presentation, researchers will present an evaluation the use of noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) to attempt to mitigate the resurgence phenomenon in a clinically relevant context. Results will be discussed in the context of previous research showing similar effects with NCR as a disruptor and its comparison to traditional extinction as a disruptor.

Treatment relapse refers to the return of an unwanted condition that has previously been successfully treated. One such treatment relapse phenomenon is called resurgence. Resurgence occurs when a previously extinguished response returns following extinction of an alternative response that has been reinforced. It is commonly produced by a three-phase procedure: 1) a target behavior is reinforced until responding is steady, 2) the target behavior is placed on extinction and an alternative behavior is reinforced until responding is steady for both, and 3) both behaviors are placed on extinction. If the initial target behavior re-emerges in the final phase, it is called resurgence. Most applied and basic studies have used "traditional" extinction during the disruptor phase; that is, the behaviors are not met with reinforcement. However, more recent studies have been evaluating the use of noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) to attempt to mitigate the resurgence phenomenon. In this study, two participants with a history of communicative difficulties and socially maintained problem behavior experienced the three-phase procedure in which participants were exposed to NCR during the final disruptor phase. One participant demonstrated mild resurgence of problem behavior, whereas resurgence of problem behavior did not occur for the second participant. Results are discussed in the context of previous research showing similar effects with NCR as a disruptor and its comparison to traditional extinction as a disruptor.