Investigations of operant ABA renewal during differential reinforcement

Abstract

Operant renewal is a form of relapse in which a previously extinguished response recurs due to a change in context. We designed two experiments to examine the impact of differential reinforcement of alternative behavior on ABA renewal in a translational model of relapse with 12 children. We compared levels of renewal in two 3-phase arrangements. In one arrangement, we reinforced target responding in Context A, extinguished responding in Context B, and returned to Context A while continuing to implement extinction. In a second arrangement, an alternative response produced reinforcement in Context B and during the return to Context A. Results across the 2 experiments indicated 3 general findings. First, extinction plus differential reinforcement disrupted target behavior more consistently in Context B relative to extinction alone. Second, renewal tended to be greater and more persistent during extinction alone relative to extinction plus differential reinforcement. Third, the renewal effect appeared to depend on whether the alternative response had a history of extinction in Context A. We discuss methodological implications for the treatment of severe destructive behavior.

A review of investigations of operant renewal with human participants: Implications for theory and practice

“…Authors tended to vary in their categorization of delayed effects as renewal (e.g., Liddon et al, ; Podlesnik et al, ). Additionally, some authors (e.g., Kimball et al, ; Saini et al, ) did not describe modest increases in target behavior as renewal despite our definition detecting an increase in target responding from the last session of Phase 2 compared to the first session of Phase 3.…”

“…Podlesnik et al () reported that adults ages 19‐21 years old participated. Kimball et al () indicated that children were 2‐18 ( M = 4.25) years old. M = male.…”

“…, first black bar). When removing the three cases in Kelley et al () involving a mitigation technique or the nine cases in Kimball, Greer, Randall, and Briggs () aimed to demonstrate less renewal when alternative‐response materials are absent during baseline, the prevalence of operant renewal increases to 89% (72 of 81; Fig. , first gray bar).…”

“…Percentage of cases with renewal (including combined relapse) when defined as an increase in target behavior during the first session of Phase 3 relative to the last session of Phase 2 (first two bars), an increase in target behavior during any Phase‐3 session relative to the last Phase‐2 session (second two bars), or based upon the conclusions of the authors of each respective study (third two bars). Black bars include all 93 cases in which authors evaluated renewal or combined relapse whereas gray bars exclude cases from Kelley et al () and Kimball et al () aimed at reducing renewal (i.e., the remaining 81 cases were aimed at demonstrating, rather than mitigating, renewal).…”

Resurgence following differential reinforcement of alternative behavior implemented with and without extinction

“…Recent translational research on DRA-based interventions has shown that destructive behavior is likely to reemerge under certain conditions, such as when the alternative response fails to produce the functional reinforcer (Berg et al, 2015;Fisher et al, 2020;Fisher, Greer, Fuhrman et al, 2018;Fisher, Saini et al, 2018;Fuhrman et al, 2016;Greer et al, 2020;Hoffman & Falcomata, 2014;Lieving et al, 2004;Mace et al, 2010;Marsteller & St. Peter, 2014;Volkert et al, 2009;Wacker et al, 2011;Wacker et al, 2013) and following other decrements in the rate of alternative reinforcement (Briggs et al, 2018;Volkert et al, 2009). This reemergence of destructive behavior following successful treatment is known as treatment relapse (Pritchard et al, 2014), and researchers are increasingly concerned with how different forms of relapse (e.g., resurgence, renewal, reinstatement) affect clinical care (e.g., Briggs et al, 2018;Craig, Sullivan, Browning et al, 2019;Kimball et al, 2020;Kimball et al, 2018;Podlesnik & DeLeon, 2015). Translational researchers have placed considerable focus on resurgence, or the reemergence of previous behavior resulting from a general worsening of reinforcement conditions (Epstein, 1985;Lattal et al, 2017), as such conditions occur frequently in and outside the clinic.…”