Association for Behavior Analysis International

The reemergence of extinguished behavior is broadly referred to as relapse. Relapse can be especially concerning in the treatment of problem behavior, as relapse can lead to eventual treatment failure. Two forms of relapse particularly relevant in the treatment of problem behavior are renewal and resurgence. Renewal is the reemergence of an extinguished response following a context change. Resurgence is the reemergence of an extinguished response following a worsening of reinforcement conditions for an alternative response. Mitigating relapse requires both advancing our understanding of the phenomena (often achieved through basic research) and further identification of treatment variables and their potential interactions (often achieved through applied research). The symposium is comprised of two basic and two applied investigations focused on the advanced understanding of relapse and relevant treatment variables and interactions. Findings from these investigations, areas for future research, and clinical implications will be discussed.

Target audience includes practitioners and applied researchers with a BCBA or BCBA-D, as well as basic researchers with at least a graduate degree. It is also appropriate for psychologists who conduct behavioral assessments and treatments.

The reemergence of problem behavior after extinction during context changes is referred to as renewal. Estimates for the prevalence of renewal for problem behavior maintained by social reinforcement indicate that renewal occurs in approximately 42% of observed context changes (i.e., location or person; Muething et al., 2019). However, when examining the reemergence of automatically reinforced problem behavior during the same context changes, extinction may not be an active component of treatment, and therefore any increase in problem behavior cannot be classified as renewal. Rather, contextual control may better explain this phenomenon. In the absence of extinction, context changes could result in increases in the automatically reinforced problem behavior based on different learning histories in different contexts. For example, returning to a home context where the problem behavior was previously observed may result in an increase. This study examined 38 context changes in a consecutive controlled case-series design (Hagopian, Rooker, Jessel, & DeLeon, 2013) for children with automatically reinforced problem behavior in an intensive outpatient program. Reemergence of problem behavior during those context changes was found in 12 of the examined changes (31%).

An increase in the frequency of previously extinguished behavior following a change to the context in which extinction took place is termed “renewal.” In ABA renewal, for example, a response that is reinforced in one context (Context A) during baseline and extinguished in a second context (Context B) during treatment may renew if stimuli associated with Context A are represented. The present experiment assessed whether fading from Context B to Context A during treatment reduces renewal of rats’ lever pressing when Context A is represented. Specific visual, olfactory, and tactile stimuli were associated with Contexts A and B. For one group, the stimuli that signaled Context A were faded systematically into the rats’ chambers across treatment sessions while Context-B stimuli were faded out simultaneously. A second group experienced the same fading procedure but in the opposite order: Context-A stimuli were faded out of the chambers across sessions of treatment while Context-B stimuli were faded in. A third group experienced a standard ABA renewal preparation as described above as a control procedure. Data collection is ongoing. Findings from this research may have implications for treatment strategies aimed at reducing renewal of problematic human behavior during context changes following treatment.