Resurgence of target behavior after negative punishment of alternative behavior

Resurgence is the recurrence of a previously extinguished target response under the worsening of alternative conditions. Worsening conditions include extinction, reduction in rate and magnitude of reinforcement, delayed reinforcement, and punishment of alternative responding. Previous studies found resurgence from within-subject increases in intensity of shock as positive punishment of alternative responding in rats. The present study aimed to replicate this effect using a response-cost punishment contingency for alternative responding in human participants. During Phase 1, target-button presses were reinforced with points according to a variable-interval (VI) 2-s schedule. During Phase 2, target responses were extinguished, and clicks on the alternative button were reinforced with the same schedule. During Phase 3, a response-cost contingency was superimposed on the VI schedule. In each successive minute, participants lost 100, 320, or 1000 points for alternative responding. Losing points for alternative responses produced resurgence of target responding, but further increasing response-cost magnitude did not increase resurgence. We found some instances of resurgence without accompanying decreases in reinforcer rates; however, as in previous studies, most target increases were accompanied by decreases in reinforcer rates. Because decreases in reinforcer rates complicate attributing resurgence to punishment alone, future research might evaluate wider ranges of punisher rates and magnitudes when studying resurgence-inducing effects of punishment contingencies.