Resurgence of ethanol seeking following voluntary abstinence produced by nondrug differential reinforcement of other behavior
Resurgence can happen after voluntary abstinence - plan for it when using contingency management.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers gave rats two levers. One delivered alcohol. The other gave sugar water.
They used a DRO schedule. When the rats stopped pressing the alcohol lever, they got sugar instead.
After the rats stayed sober for many sessions, the team stopped all rewards. They watched if the rats would press the alcohol lever again.
What they found
The rats went back to pressing the alcohol lever hard. This happened even though they had chosen to stay sober for the sugar.
The alcohol seeking came back without any alcohol rewards. Just stopping the sugar rewards was enough to trigger resurgence.
How this fits with other research
Ellingsen et al. (2014) showed DRO can teach new behaviors like pausing. Craig et al. (2024) proves DRO can also suppress old behaviors, but with a catch - they bounce back later.
Cox et al. (2017) used progressive DRO to help kids lie still for MRIs. Their success lasted because the MRI setting stayed the same. The rat study shows what happens when the DRO rewards stop - the old behavior returns.
Allison et al. (1980) taught us that extinction plus reinforcement can reduce problem behaviors. This new study adds that even voluntary abstinence maintained by other rewards isn't safe from resurgence when those rewards disappear.
Why it matters
Your clients might relapse even after successful contingency management. Plan for resurgence by teaching coping skills before ending reward programs. Fade rewards slowly. Add self-control training. The behavior might come back, but you can be ready.
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Add a resurgence probe to your next DRO plan - stop rewards briefly and measure if the target behavior returns
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Resurgence refers to the relapse of a target behavior following the worsening of a source of alternative reinforcement that was made available during response elimination. Most laboratory analyses of resurgence have used a combination of extinction and alternative reinforcement to reduce target behavior. In contingency-management treatments for alcohol use disorder, however, alcohol use is not placed on extinction. Instead, participants voluntarily abstain from alcohol use to access nondrug alternative reinforcers. Inasmuch, additional laboratory research on resurgence following voluntary abstinence is warranted. The present experiment evaluated resurgence of rats' ethanol seeking following voluntary abstinence produced by differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO). Lever pressing produced ethanol reinforcers during baseline phases. During DRO phases, lever pressing continued to produce ethanol and food reinforcers were delivered according to resetting DRO schedules. Ethanol and food reinforcers were suspended during resurgence test phases to evaluate resurgence following voluntary abstinence. Lever pressing was elevated during baseline phases and occurred at near-zero rates during DRO phases. During the resurgence test phases, lever pressing increased, despite that it no longer produced ethanol. The procedure introduced here may help researchers better understand the variables that affect voluntary abstinence from ethanol seeking and resurgence following voluntary abstinence.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 2024 · doi:10.1002/jeab.909