Utah State University.
J Exp Anal Behav. 2021 Mar;115(2):442-459. doi: 10.1002/jeab.672. Epub 2021 Jan 25.
Resurgence of a previously suppressed target behavior is common when reinforcement for a more recently reinforced alternative behavior is thinned. To better characterize such resurgence, these experiments examined repeated within-session alternative reinforcement thinning using a progressive-interval (PI) schedule with rats. In Experiment 1, a transition from a high rate of alternative reinforcement to a within-session PI schedule generated robust resurgence, but subsequent complete removal of alternative reinforcement produced no additional resurgence. Experiment 2 replicated these findings and showed similar effects with a fixed-interval (FI) schedule arranging similarly reduced session-wide rates of alternative reinforcement. Thus, the lack of additional resurgence following repeated exposure to the PI schedule was likely due to the low overall obtained rate of alternative reinforcement provided by the PI schedule, rather than to exposure to within-session reinforcement thinning per se. In both experiments, target responding increased at some point in the session during schedule thinning and continued across the rest of the session. Rats exposed to a PI schedule showed resurgence later in the session and after more cumulative alternative reinforcers than those exposed to an FI schedule. The results suggest the potential importance of further exploring how timing and change-detection mechanisms might be involved in resurgence.
当对最近强化的替代行为进行强化时，以前被抑制的目标行为的再次出现是很常见的。为了更好地描述这种复燃现象，这些实验使用递增间隔（PI）时间表，对大鼠进行了重复的替代强化衰减实验。在实验 1 中，从高替代强化率过渡到 PI 时间表内产生了强烈的复燃，但随后完全去除替代强化并没有产生额外的复燃。实验 2 复制了这些发现，并在使用相同方式降低了整体替代强化率的固定间隔（FI）时间表中显示了类似的效果。因此，在重复暴露于 PI 时间表后没有出现额外复燃的原因可能是 PI 时间表提供的替代强化总获得率较低，而不是由于暴露于时间表内的强化衰减本身。在这两个实验中，目标反应在时间表衰减过程中的某个时间点增加，并持续到会话的其余部分。与接触 FI 时间表的大鼠相比，接触 PI 时间表的大鼠在会话后期和获得更多累积替代强化后出现复燃。这些结果表明，进一步探索时间和变化检测机制如何参与复燃现象可能具有重要意义。
