Hierarchical resurgence

Area of Science:

• Behavioral psychology
• Animal behavior
• Learning and conditioning

Background:

• Resurgence is a phenomenon where a previously learned behavior reappears after extinction.
• Typically, a target behavior is trained, extinguished, and an alternative behavior is reinforced.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the pattern of resurgence when two distinct responses are trained sequentially and then extinguished.
• To determine if the order or reinforcement history influences which response resurges first.

Main Methods:

• Sequential training of two keypecking responses in rats.
• Extinction of both trained responses.
• Observation and analysis of the order of response resurgence.

Main Results:

• The last-trained response consistently resurged before the first-trained response.
• This pattern held true regardless of the spatial location of the response keys.
• Results were replicated even when the initial response had a higher reinforcement rate.

Conclusions:

• Behavioral resurgence appears to follow a hierarchical pattern, with more recently learned behaviors resurging first.
• The timing of resurgence may depend on both recent training and historical factors.
• Findings question the interpretation of control key responding in resurgence studies.