Resurgence Following Higher or Lower Quality Alternative Reinforcement

Area of Science:

• Behavioral psychology
• Animal behavior research

Background:

• Resurgence is a temporary increase in a previously suppressed behavior after reinforcement conditions worsen.
• Prior research explored how reinforcement rate and magnitude affect target behavior suppression and resurgence.
• The impact of alternative reinforcer quality on resurgence remained uninvestigated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effects of higher versus lower quality alternative reinforcement on resurgence.
• To examine how alternative reinforcer quality influences target behavior suppression and subsequent resurgence.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a three-phase resurgence preparation with rats.
• Experiment 1: Assessed effects of a higher quality alternative reinforcer.
• Experiment 2: Assessed effects of a lower quality alternative reinforcer.

Main Results:

• Higher quality alternative reinforcers resulted in greater suppression of target behavior.
• Removal of higher quality alternative reinforcers led to larger increases in target behavior responding.
• Findings align with previous studies on reinforcement rate and magnitude.

Conclusions:

• Variations in reinforcer quality that enhance alternative reinforcement efficacy also tend to increase resurgence upon removal.
• Results support the resurgence as choice in context model.
• Findings have potential implications for clinical interventions.