Discriminative properties of reinforcers modulate resurgence: A human-operant demonstration

Resurgence refers to the recurrence of a previously reduced or eliminated operant following the worsening of reinforcement conditions for an alternative behavior. The contextual account of resurgence posits that the discriminative properties of reinforcers modulate this relapse. Evidence supporting the contextual account of resurgence stems from translational laboratory investigations with nonhuman subjects. The purpose of the current study was to further translate this work using a human-operant preparation with a young boy with autism and intellectual disability across three experiments. Experiment 1 was conducted according to a conventional three-phase resurgence preparation. In Experiment 2, the reinforcer (O2) that maintained the alternative response (R2) in Phase 2 was delivered noncontingently in Phase 3. Finally, in Experiment 3 the reinforcer (O1) that maintained the target response (R1) in Phase 1 was delivered noncontingently in Phase 3. Although both O1 and O2 mitigated resurgence relative to extinction alone, the magnitude of resurgence was slightly higher with O2  deliveries. Our results are generally consistent with the contextual account of resurgence. The influence of a differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior contingency in Phase 3 and other procedural aspects of this study are discussed, as are applied implications for reducing relapse in behavioral treatments.