An analysis of renewal following fading of reinforcer type
Gradually shifting reinforcer types during extinction cuts renewal in half compared to an abrupt switch.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Derrenbacker et al. (2025) asked a simple question. If you stop giving a reinforcer, does it matter how you stop?
They tried three ways to end reinforcement. One group kept the same reinforcer, then switched cold turkey. A second group slowly changed the reinforcer type in forward order. A third group faded in reverse order.
All tests happened in a lab with single-case designs. The team watched how much old behavior bounced back, or renewed, when the scene changed.
What they found
Both fading groups showed about half the renewal seen after an abrupt switch.
Forward and reverse fading worked equally well. The slow shift, not the direction, made the difference.
How this fits with other research
Cançado et al. (2011) showed that temporal response patterns can resurge after extinction. Derrenbacker’s team builds on that warning by giving a fix: fade the reinforcer, not just the schedule.
Kastner et al. (2025) also saw renewal and resurgence, but during FCT schedule thinning. Their mixed results line up with Derrenbacker’s lab data. Both papers say plan for relapse whenever reinforcement drops.
Perez et al. (2021) used colored backgrounds to control extinction within equivalence classes. Derrenbacker swaps the cue for the reinforcer itself, showing the item, not just the signal, can be faded to block rebound.
Why it matters
If you run extinction in clinic, home, or school, think beyond ‘turn it off.’ Swap the edible, toy, or praise type in small steps while you thin. You will likely see less spike in problem behavior when the setting changes. One practical move: keep a short list of backup reinforcers and introduce them gradually over three to five sessions.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Renewal is defined as relapse of a previously extinguished target behavior following a change in context. This form of relapse has been shown to occur when an alternative source of reinforcement that was made available during extinction of the target response is abruptly switched to a different type of reinforcement. The current experiment examined a method for mitigating renewal produced by switching reinforcement by fading reinforcer type during extinction. In Phase 1, rats' target-lever pressing was reinforced with one type of reinforcement (O1). In Phase 2, lever pressing was extinguished and noncontingent reinforcers were delivered. The forward fading group initially experienced all alternative (O2) reinforcement, and the percentage of O1 reinforcement was increased across sessions. The reverse fading group initially experienced 90% O1 and 10% O2 reinforcement, and the percentage of O2 reinforcement was increased across sessions. A third group received delivery of O2 only, serving as a control. In Phase 3, all groups received noncontingent delivery of O1 reinforcement only. Robust renewal was seen in the control group relative to both fading groups. Furthermore, levels of renewal were lower and did not differ significantly between the forward fading and reverse fading group. These findings provide further insight into the role of context in relapse and may provide suggestions for future clinical applications.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 2025 · doi:10.1002/jeab.70007