A Contemporary Behavioral Perspective on Extinction

2015

Learn Behav

Self Cite

Previous research on the resurgence effect suggests that reinforcers that are presented during the extinction of an operant behavior can control inhibition of the response. To further test this hypothesis, three experiments with rat subjects examined the effectiveness of using reinforcers that were presented during extinction as a means of attenuating or inhibiting the operant renewal effect. In Experiment 1, lever pressing was reinforced in Context A, extinguished in Context B, and then tested in Context A. Renewal of responding that occurred during the final test was attenuated when a distinct reinforcer that had been presented independent of responding during extinction was also presented during the renewal test. Experiment 2 established that this effect depended on the reinforcer being featured as a part of extinction (and thus associated with response inhibition). Experiment 3 then found that the reinforcers presented during extinction suppressed performance in both the extinction and renewal contexts; the effects of the physical and reinforcer contexts were additive. Together, the results further suggest that reinforcers associated with response inhibition can serve a discriminative role in suppressing behavior and may be an effective stimulus that can attenuate operant relapse.

mentioning

confidence: 62%

Discriminative properties of the reinforcer can be used to attenuate the renewal of extinguished operant behavior

2015

Learn Behav

Self Cite

“…This new learning is highly dependent on the context for expression (e.g., Bouton, 1993, 2004). Research in Pavlovian fear and appetitive conditioning documents several sources of response recovery (relapse) after extinction that support this view (see Bouton, 2004; Vurbic & Bouton, 2014 for reviews). As noted earlier, the renewal effect is an especially clear and well-understood illustration of the role of context in controlling performance in extinction.…”

Section: Contextual Control Of Pavlovian Extinction: the Role Of Negamentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Research on extinction in both Pavlovian and operant conditioning has revealed that contextual stimuli are important in determining performance in both paradigms (see Vurbic & Bouton, 2014 for review). Although several extinction phenomena are consistent with this conclusion (e.g., reinstatement, spontaneous recovery, rapid reacquisition, and resurgence), the most straightforward illustration of it is the renewal effect (Bouton & Bolles, 1979a).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Occasion setting, inhibition, and the contextual control of extinction in Pavlovian and instrumental (operant) learning

Thrailkill

2017

Behavioural Processes

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103

105

An occasion setter is a stimulus that modulates the ability of another stimulus to control behavior. A rich history of experimental investigation has identified several important properties that define occasion setters and the conditions that give rise to occasion setting. In this paper, we first consider the basic hallmarks of occasion setting in Pavlovian conditioning. We then review research that has examined the mechanisms underlying the crucial role of context in Pavlovian and instrumental extinction. In Pavlovian extinction, evidence suggests that the extinction context can function as a negative occasion setter whose role is to disambiguate the current meaning of the conditioned stimulus; the conditioning context can also function as a positive occasion setter. In operant extinction, in contrast, the extinction context may directly inhibit the response, and the conditioning context can directly excite it. We outline and discuss the key results supporting these distinctions.

“…The context hypothesis builds upon the well-documented general role of context in operant and Pavlovian extinction (see Vurbic & Bouton, 2014, for one review). Moreover, its emphasis on reinforcers as having discriminative properties follows another tradition of research.…”

Section: Theories Of Resurgencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Extinction is a well-known and popular method for reducing behavioral excesses. However, behavior that has been reduced through extinction is prone to recovery and relapse (see Vurbic & Bouton, 2014, for one review). Therefore, the suppression of operant responding that occurs when reinforcers are omitted should not be taken as evidence that the original learning has been erased or unlearned.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Context Change Explains Resurgence After the Extinction of Operant Behavior

Schepers

2015

RMAC

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Extinguished operant behavior can return or "resurge" when a response that has replaced it is also extinguished. Typically studied in nonhuman animals, the resurgence effect may provide insight into relapse that is seen when reinforcement is discontinued following human contingency management (CM) and functional communication training (FCT) treatments, which both involve reinforcing alternative behaviors to reduce behavioral excess. Although the variables that affect resurgence have been studied for some time, the mechanisms through which they promote relapse are still debated. We discuss three explanations of resurgence (response prevention, an extension of behavioral momentum theory, and an account emphasizing context change) as well as studies that evaluate them. Several new findings from our laboratory concerning the effects of different temporal distributions of the reinforcer during response elimination and the effects of manipulating qualitative features of the reinforcer pose a particular challenge to the momentumbased model. Overall, the results are consistent with a contextual account of resurgence, which emphasizes that reinforcers presented during response elimination have a discriminative role controlling behavioral inhibition. Changing the "reinforcer context" at the start of testing produces relapse if the organism has not learned to suppress its responding under conditions similar to the ones that prevail during testing.Operant behavior has been an important focus of laboratory research for many decades because it provides a model for studying the variables that control voluntary behavior. In a typical study of operant behavior, animals such as rats learn to perform a response (e.g., a lever press or chain pull) to receive an outcome (such as a food reinforcer). Although the animal is free to do whatever it "wants" during a session, it can be shown that the rate of its behavior is lawfully related to its consequences. Indeed, once the response has been acquired, it can be reduced through a process known as extinction, in which the reinforcer or outcome is no longer produced by that response. Extinction is a well-known and popular method for reducing behavioral excesses. However, behavior that has been reduced through extinction is prone to recovery and relapse (see , for one review). Therefore, the suppression of operant responding that occurs when reinforcers are omitted should not be taken as evidence that the original learning has been erased or unlearned.