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| Recent Basic and Translational Research Evaluating the Effects of Baseline and Treatment Duration on Resurgence |
| Sunday, May 26, 2019 |
| 10:00 AM–11:50 AM |
| Hyatt Regency West, Lobby Level, Crystal Ballroom A |
| Area: DDA/EAB; Domain: Translational |
| Chair: Ashley Marie Fuhrman (University of Nebraska Medical Center's Munroe-Meyer Institute ) |
| Discussant: Timothy A. Shahan (Utah State University) |
| CE Instructor: Ashley Marie Fuhrman, M.S. |
| Abstract: It is important for the experimental and applied domains of behavior analysis to collaborate. Recent basic and translational research has demonstrated that practitioners can use quantitative models (e.g., Behavioral Momentum Theory and Resurgence as Choice Theory) to improve applied treatments for socially significant behavior. The presentations in this symposium will discuss the implications of basic and translational research evaluating the effects of baseline and treatment duration on the resurgence of target behavior. The symposium will consist of four presentations followed by comments from Dr. Timothy Shahan. First, Holly Pericozzi will present on the effects of baseline reinforcement history as a mediator of the resurgence of target behavior in adults with developmental disabilities. Next, Madeleine Keevy and Kayla Randall will present studies evaluating the effects of treatment duration on the resurgence of problem behavior in children. Finally, Kaitlyn Browning will discuss the effects of treatment duration on the resurgence of target behavior in rats. |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |
| Keyword(s): functional communication, quantitative models, relapse, resurgence |
| Target Audience: Practitioners, faculty, graduate students, and professionals |
| Learning Objectives: Attendees will be able to: 1. Describe how the duration of exposure to baseline reinforcement may serve as a mediator of resurgence of target responding, 2. Explain how Behavioral Momentum Theory and Resurgence as Choice Theory make differing predictions about the effects of treatment duration on resurgence, and 3. Describe how differences in the length of exposure to treatment may affect the resurgence of problem behavior. |
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| Evaluation of Duration of Exposure to Baseline Reinforcement as Mediator of Resurgence |
| (Applied Research) |
| HOLLY G PERICOZZI (Vanderbilt University ), Joseph Michael Lambert (Vanderbilt University), Eugenia Perry (Vanderbilt University), Cassandra Standish (Vanderbilt University) |
| Abstract: Resurgence is the reemergence of previously reinforced behavior after the reinforcement of an alternative behavior has been discontinued. When addressing challenging behavior, a failure to implement effective treatments with seamless fidelity could result in the resurgence of previously extinguished problem behavior. Ideally, practitioners could design treatment components that mitigate the effects of resurgence. For example, recent translational work targeting arbitrary human responses suggests that incorporating multiple-mand instruction into a serial training format could produce a recency effect and response reversion when functional reinforcement isn’t available (both would be desirable outcomes in clinical settings). However, a replication of these procedures with socially significant human behavior (i.e., problem behavior and mands) produced primacy effects with inconsistent reversion. One potential explanation for these disparate results, supported by contemporary theory, is that differences in duration of exposure to baseline schedules of reinforcement were responsible for observed effects. In this translational investigation, we employed two-component multiple-schedules across three adults with developmental disabilities to determine whether differential exposure to baseline schedules of reinforcement could mediate within-subject primacy and recency effects. Results were obtained with high interobserver agreement and show differentiated responding across components; which could have implications for the design of future translational models of research. |
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| The Effects of Time in Extinction on Resurgence of Destructive Behavior in Children |
| (Applied Research) |
| MADELEINE DIANE KEEVY (University of Nebraska Medical Center), Wayne W. Fisher (University of Nebraska Medical Center's Munroe-Meyer Institute), Brian D. Greer (University of Nebraska Medical Center's Munroe-Meyer Institute), Billie Retzlaff (University of Nebraska Medical Center's Munroe-Meyer Institute), Ashley Marie Fuhrman (University of Nebraska Medical Center), Andrew R. Craig (SUNY Upstate Medical University) |
| Abstract: Applied researchers have become increasingly interested in examining variables that contribute to the resurgence of destructive behavior. Behavioral Momentum Theory suggests time in extinction predicts obtained levels of resurgence, with higher levels of resurgence being observed following briefer exposures to extinction (Nevin & Shahan, 2011). Using a three-phase procedure, we examined resurgence of destructive behavior following relatively long and short exposures to functional communication training (i.e., differential reinforcement with extinction) for six children. Whereas Behavioral Momentum Theory predicts that having three times the number of sessions in Phase II will consistently reduce the level of resurgence of destructive behavior, this finding was observed in a minority of participants. Our results are consistent with other studies that have used a similar procedures and found time in extinction did not differentially impact resurgence. Therefore it may be that another conceptual framework, such as Resurgence as Choice Theory or Context Theory, is better able to account for the negligible differences observed in resurgence. |
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The Effects of Treatment Duration on Resurgence Using Resurgence as Choice Theory |
| (Applied Research) |
| KAYLA RECHELLE RANDALL (University of Nebraska Medical Center's Munroe-Meyer Institute), Brian D. Greer (University of Nebraska Medical Center's Munroe-Meyer Institute), Timothy A. Shahan (Utah State University), Wayne W. Fisher (University of Nebraska Medical Center's Munroe-Meyer Institute), Ashley Marie Fuhrman (University of Nebraska Medical Center's Munroe-Meyer Institute) |
| Abstract: In functional communication training (FCT), resurgence of destructive behavior may occur when reinforcement is not delivered for the alternative functional communication response (e.g., when the caregiver is busy with a sibling). Researchers have used quantitative models such as Behavioral Momentum Theory (BMT; Shahan & Sweeney, 2011) and Resurgence as Choice Theory (RaC; Shahan & Craig, 2017) to make predictions about this type of treatment relapse. Both BMT and RaC suggest that more time arranged in extinction for target responding (e.g., destructive behavior) will lessen resurgence. Whereas BMT would predict time in extinction as a highly influential variable on the resurgence of target behavior, RaC would predict time in extinction may not be as influential. Basic and applied investigations (e.g., Wacker et al., 2011; Winterbauer, Lucke, & Bouton, 2013) have generated mixed findings about treatment duration and its effect on resurgence. In this study, we exposed participants with destructive behavior to three durations (i.e., short, moderate, and extended) of FCT which each consisted of three phases (i.e., baseline, FCT, and extinction) to clarify the necessary duration of treatment to produce the least amount of resurgence. |
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| Treatment Duration and Resurgence |
| (Basic Research) |
| KAITLYN BROWNING (Utah State University), Rusty Nall (Utah State University), Timothy A. Shahan (Utah State University) |
| Abstract: Resurgence is the reoccurrence of a previously suppressed behavior following a worsening of conditions for a more recently reinforced alternative behavior. Behavioral Momentum Theory (BMT) and Resurgence as Choice (RaC) make differing predictions about the effects of treatment duration on resurgence, and the present experiment was designed to evaluate these predictions. In baseline, rats earned food for pressing a target lever. During treatment, target responding was extinguished while food was available for pressing an alternative lever. Resurgence of target responding was tested by extinguishing the alternative response. The duration of the treatment phase varied across five standard-duration groups, and the sixth group was exposed to cycling on/off alternative reinforcement across sessions. Consistent with the predictions of RaC, resurgence as a function of treatment duration was best described by a power function in the standard-duration groups. However, inconsistent with both RaC and BMT, resurgence was reduced in the on/off group compared to the standard-duration groups. These results suggest that increasing the duration of DRA might not meaningfully decrease resurgence, but that a repeated history of alternative-response extinction might. These results provide possible avenues for developing treatment and theory. |
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