Examination of alternative-response discrimination training and resurgence in rats

Resurgence is an increase in a previously reinforced behavior following a worsening of conditions for a more recently reinforced behavior. Discrimination training is incorporated into treatment for problem behavior to prevent treatment adherence failures that may result in resurgence. There is evidence that resurgence may be reduced when a stimulus that signals alternative-response extinction is present compared with absent; however, the generality of this effect is unknown given the limited testing conditions. The goal of the present experiments was to further examine the effects of such stimuli in a reverse-translational evaluation using rats. Target responding was reinforced in baseline and then placed on extinction in the following discrimination-training phase. An alternative response was differentially reinforced in a two-component multiple schedule where one stimulus (i.e., S^D) signaled alternative-response reinforcement and the other (i.e., S^Δ) signaled extinction. Experiment 1 assessed resurgence in both the S^Δ and S^D when alternative reinforcement was removed. Experiment 2 evaluated resurgence under conditions that better approximated those used in the clinic in which the alternative-response S^Δ was present or absent. The S^Δ failed to suppress target responding during resurgence testing in both experiments. These findings suggest that the conditions under which an alternative-response S^Δ will successfully mitigate resurgence may be limited and require further research.