School of Psychology, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand.
J Exp Anal Behav. 2022 Nov;118(3):376-397. doi: 10.1002/jeab.796. Epub 2022 Aug 30.
Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) involves placing problem behavior under extinction and simultaneously reinforcing a desirable behavior. Recent research revealed that, as predicted by Behavioral Momentum Theory, DRA may also increase the persistence of the problem behavior. This research has also shown that a different approach to DRA, in which an alternative behavior is trained in a separate context from the target behavior, produces less persistence than the standard procedure. The research on this phenomenon, so far, assessed persistence using extinction as the disruptor. DRA, however, is often implemented under conditions in which extinction of the problem behavior is not feasible. This study evaluated persistence of problem behavior following same- and separate- context DRA training using an alternative disruptor, an additional source of reinforcement. Following a successful reproduction of a previous study of extinction as a disruptor but with domestic hens, this study produced similar findings using an additional source of reinforcement as the disruptor. These findings add to the evidence that alternative DRA arrangements may avoid the response-strengthening effects found with traditional DRA procedures. The findings also demonstrate that disruptors other than extinction can be used to investigate response persistence following DRA and other procedures.
替代行为强化（DRA）涉及将问题行为置于消退状态，并同时强化一种理想行为。最近的研究表明，正如行为动力理论所预测的那样，DRA 也可能增加问题行为的持续时间。这项研究还表明，DRA 的另一种方法，即替代性行为在与目标行为不同的环境中进行训练，产生的持续时间比标准程序要少。到目前为止，关于这一现象的研究使用消退作为干扰因素来评估持续时间。然而，DRA 通常是在问题行为的消退不可行的情况下实施的。本研究使用替代干扰因素（额外的强化源）评估了相同和不同背景下 DRA 训练后的问题行为的持续时间。在成功复制先前使用灭绝作为干扰因素的研究后，但使用了家鸡，本研究使用额外的强化源作为干扰因素产生了类似的发现。这些发现增加了证据，表明替代 DRA 安排可能避免了传统 DRA 程序中发现的反应增强效应。这些发现还表明，除了消退之外，其他干扰因素也可以用于研究 DRA 和其他程序后反应的持续时间。
