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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 8, 2026

A Procedure to Observe Context-induced Renewal of Pavlovian-conditioned Alcohol-seeking Behavior in Rats

A Procedure to Observe Context-induced Renewal of Pavlovian-conditioned Alcohol-seeking Behavior in Rats

Published on: September 19, 2014

Reducing renewal with context fading during differential reinforcement procedures.

Kacey R Finch Jackson¹, Kathryn M Kestner¹

¹Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA.

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior

|December 23, 2025

Summary

Context fading effectively reduces relapse in behavior modification. This procedure mitigates renewal, a form of relapse that occurs after changes in environment, during differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA).

Keywords:

DRA asymmetrical choices context fading relapse mitigation renewal

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Last Updated: Jan 8, 2026

A Procedure to Observe Context-induced Renewal of Pavlovian-conditioned Alcohol-seeking Behavior in Rats

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Published on: September 19, 2014

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Modeling Verbal Behavior Deficits with the Stimulus Control Ratio Equation, SCoRE

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Published on: May 14, 2019

Area of Science:

Behavioral psychology
Applied behavior analysis

Background:

Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) is effective for reducing challenging behaviors.
Relapse, specifically renewal after context changes, can undermine DRA's effectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

To evaluate a context-fading procedure for mitigating renewal during DRA.
To investigate the impact of asymmetrical reinforcers on renewal.

Main Methods:

A human-operant experiment with 36 participants assigned to context-fading or control groups.
DRA was implemented in Context A, followed by extinction of the target response and reinforcement of alternative responses in Context B.
The context-fading group experienced a gradual shift from Context B to Context A, while the control group did not.

Main Results:

Renewal occurred in 94.44% of participants in the no-fading group, compared to 50.00% in the context-fading group.
The magnitude of renewal was significantly greater in the no-fading group.
Context fading appears to mitigate renewal, though temporary increases in the target response were observed during the fading process.

Conclusions:

Context fading is a promising strategy to reduce relapse (renewal) following behavior modification.
The findings suggest that gradual environmental shifts can improve the long-term effectiveness of DRA.
Further research may explore optimal fading parameters and applications in clinical settings.