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Re‐exposure to reinforcement in Context A during treatment in Context B reduces ABC renewal
Author(s) -
Craig Andrew R.,
Sullivan William E.,
Browning Kaitlyn O.,
DeRosa Nicole M.,
Roane Henry S.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1938-3711
pISSN - 0022-5002
DOI - 10.1002/jeab.569
Subject(s) - lever , context (archaeology) , reinforcement , extinction (optical mineralogy) , psychology , generalization , cognitive psychology , social psychology , biology , mathematics , engineering , mechanical engineering , paleontology , mathematical analysis
Previous work from our laboratory showed that intermittently re‐exposing rats to reinforcement for lever pressing in a training (A) context, while eliminating lever pressing in a second (B) context, increased ABA renewal of lever pressing relative to rats that experienced only Context B during response elimination. In the current study, we replicated these procedures while assessing renewal in the presence of a novel context (i.e., ABC renewal). Unlike the findings described above, renewal was reduced in the group that experienced re‐exposure to Context A during lever‐press elimination relative to rats that experienced only Context B. These findings suggest that alternating between contexts associated with reinforcement and extinction during treatment reduces the probability that organisms will respond in novel contexts. These outcomes may be the result of discrimination and/or generalization processes. Moreover, this training procedure may offer a potential mitigation strategy for ABC renewal.