Human-operant evaluation of synthesized alternative reinforcement and resurgence

Basic research suggests that differential reinforcement with synthesized alternative reinforcement (i.e., delivery of two or more qualitatively different reinforcers contingent on a single alternative response) increases resurgence during disruptions to the contingency. We evaluated whether these findings extended to human participants using a gamified computer task within a three-phase resurgence evaluation across three experimental groups. In Phase 1, target responses produced isolated reinforcement across all groups. In Phase 2, target responses were placed on extinction across all groups but alternative responses produced either synthesized, isolated, or no reinforcement based on group assignment. In Phase 3, target and alternative responses were placed on extinction across all groups. Resurgence occurred for groups experiencing synthesized and isolated alternative reinforcement, and resurgence was greater following synthesized reinforcement. Unlike previous human-operant research, extinction also reliably produced reductions in both target and alternative responding without other programmed contingencies for these responses. These findings may have important implications for clinical practice and future translational and applied research.