Reducing renewal with context fading during differential reinforcement procedures

Although differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) is frequently successful in decreasing challenging behavior, relapse of previously reduced behavior can occur. Renewal is a form of relapse following a context change. This human-operant experiment evaluated a context-fading procedure to mitigate renewal during DRA with asymmetrical reinforcers for two alternative responses (i.e., differing magnitudes of points). Thirty-six participants were assigned to a context-fading or control group. During the first phase, the target response was reinforced in Context A. During the second phase, the target response was on extinction and two alternative responses were reinforced in Context B. For the context-fading group, the background color shifted from Context B to Context A. For the no-fading group, Phase 2 occurred entirely in Context B. Context A was reintroduced during the renewal test, with reinforcement contingencies identical to those in Phase 2. Renewal occurred for 17 of 18 participants (94.44%) without fading and only nine of 18 (50.00%) with fading. The magnitude of renewal was also greater for the no-fading group. These findings suggest context fading may be an effective strategy to mitigate renewal, although it may also produce temporary increases in the target response during the fading process.