Super-resurgence: ABA renewal increases resurgence

Area of Science:

• Behavioral psychology
• Animal cognition
• Operant conditioning

Background:

• Extinguished operant responding can recur through resurgence and renewal.
• The combined effects of resurgence and renewal on response recurrence are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if combining resurgence with an ABA renewal procedure increases response recurrence compared to a resurgence procedure alone.
• To examine the impact of contextual changes on the resurgence of operant behavior.

Main Methods:

• Three pigeons were trained on concurrent variable-interval schedules.
• An alternative reinforcement phase introduced a differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior (DRO) schedule and altered contextual stimuli (key colors).
• A renewal test phase reintroduced extinction with a return to the original training context for one stimulus (ABA renewal).

Main Results:

• Pigeons showed greater resurgence of operant responding on the key associated with the ABA renewal procedure.
• The ABA renewal procedure significantly increased the recurrence of previously extinguished behavior.

Conclusions:

• Superimposing an ABA renewal procedure onto a resurgence procedure enhances the resurgence effect.
• Contextual changes play a significant role in the recurrence of operant behavior following extinction.