Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
J Exp Anal Behav. 2024 Jan;121(1):97-107. doi: 10.1002/jeab.884. Epub 2023 Sep 14.
This study investigated how goal-directed and habitual behaviors recover after extinction within the context of the resurgence effect, a form of relapse induced by the removal or worsening of alternative reinforcement. Rats were trained to press a target lever with one reinforcer (O1) for either minimal (4) or extended (16) sessions. An extinction test after the completion of O1 devaluation confirmed that minimal and extended training formed goal-directed and habitual behaviors, respectively. Then, pressing an alternative lever was reinforced with a second reinforcer (O2) while the target response was placed on extinction. When O2 was discontinued, the minimally trained target response resurged with goal-directed status as in the extinction test. However, the extinguished habitual behavior in the extensively trained rats did not recover as a habit but instead with goal-directed status, possibly due to the context specificity of habits or the introduction of a new response-reinforcer contingency. The critical finding that reinforcer devaluation consistently led to less resurgence regardless of the amount of acquisition training provides a clinical implication that coupling differential-reinforcement-of-alternative-behavior (DRA) treatments with the devaluation of the associated reinforcer of problematic behavior could effectively diminish its recurrence.
本研究探讨了在复燃效应的背景下，目标导向和习惯行为如何在消退后恢复，复燃效应是一种由替代强化物的去除或恶化引起的复发形式。大鼠接受训练，用一个强化物（O1）按压目标杠杆，持续 4 次或 16 次。在完成 O1 贬值的消退测试后，确认了短暂和长期训练分别形成了目标导向和习惯行为。然后，在目标反应被置于消退的同时，用第二个强化物（O2）强化按压替代杠杆的反应。当 O2 被停用后，在轻度训练的大鼠中，目标反应以与消退测试相同的目标导向状态复燃。然而，在广泛训练的大鼠中，被消退的习惯行为并没有恢复为习惯行为，而是以目标导向状态恢复，这可能是由于习惯的情境特异性或引入了新的反应-强化物关联。一个关键的发现是，无论获得性训练的量如何，强化物贬值始终导致复燃减少，这为临床提供了一个启示，即通过将差异强化替代行为（DRA）治疗与问题行为相关强化物的贬值相结合，可以有效地减少其复发。
