Effects of pre-session feeding, an abolishing operation, on resurgence in rats

An abolishing operation reduces the value of a particular kind of reinforcer (e.g., food) and the likelihood of occurrence of responses that historically produced such reinforcers. We examined in rats whether (a) arranging an abolishing operation, pre-session feeding, would produce resurgence when the alternative response continued to be reinforced and (b) whether this abolishing operation would affect resurgence produced by extinction. Rats were exposed to three sequential phases: (a) variable-interval 30-s food reinforcement for pressing a target lever press, with some sessions including 15 hrs of pre-session feeding; (b) variable-interval 30-s food reinforcement for an alternative lever press with extinction of the target response, also with some sessions of pre-session feeding; (c) extinction for both responses, with one group of rats receiving pre-session feeding before sessions. In Phases 1 and 2, pre-session feeding reduced response rates on the active lever. Pre-session feeding during Phase 2 did not increase target responding, indicating that our abolishing operation did not produce resurgence. In Phase 3, rats that were not pre-fed showed resurgence of the target response, whereas pre-fed rats did not, indicating that the abolishing operation mitigated resurgence. These findings are the first examining how changing motivation affects resurgence and we suggest that further research adding this topic is merited.