University of Nebraska Medical Center's Munroe-Meyer Institute.
Upstate Medical University.
J Exp Anal Behav. 2020 Mar;113(2):449-467. doi: 10.1002/jeab.588.
In the clinic, differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) often involves programming extinction for destructive behavior while reinforcing an alternative form of communication (e.g., a functional communication response); however, implementing extinction can be unsafe or impractical under some circumstances. Quantitative theories of resurgence (i.e., Behavioral Momentum Theory and Resurgence as Choice) predict differences in the efficacy of treatments that do and do not involve extinction of target responding when reinforcement conditions maintaining alternative responding worsen. We tested these predictions by examining resurgence following two DRA conditions in which we equated rates of reinforcement. In DRA without extinction, target and alternative behavior produced reinforcement. In DRA with extinction plus noncontingent reinforcement, only alternative behavior produced reinforcement. We conducted this study in a reverse-translation sequence, first with participants who engaged in destructive behavior (Experiment 1) and then in a laboratory setting with rats (Experiment 2). Across both experiments, we observed proportionally lower levels of target responding during and following the DRA condition that arranged extinction for the target response. However, levels of resurgence were similar following both arrangements.
在临床中，替代行为的差别增强（DRA）通常涉及对破坏性行为进行消退程序，同时强化替代形式的沟通（例如，功能性沟通反应）；然而，在某些情况下，实施消退可能不安全或不切实际。关于复现的定量理论（即行为动力理论和作为选择的复现）预测了当维持替代反应的强化条件恶化时，涉及和不涉及目标反应消退的治疗效果会有所不同。我们通过检查两种 DRA 条件下的复现来检验这些预测，在这两种条件下，我们使强化率相等。在没有消退的 DRA 中，目标和替代行为都会产生强化。在有消退和非连续强化的 DRA 中，只有替代行为会产生强化。我们在反向翻译序列中进行了这项研究，首先是在有破坏性行为的参与者中（实验 1），然后是在实验室环境中的大鼠中（实验 2）。在这两个实验中，我们观察到在安排目标反应消退的 DRA 条件期间和之后，目标反应的比例显著降低。然而，在这两种安排下，复现的水平相似。
