Resurgence of infant caregiving responses.

Matson et al. (2009) asked adults to play a caregiving game on a computer.

A crying baby sound played. Pressing the correct key stopped the cry.

After the key stopped working, old caregiving moves came back.

The team watched which moves returned and how strongly.

Every adult showed resurgence.

Moves that had been rewarded longer came back faster and stronger.

A long reinforcement history made the bounce-back bigger.

Smith et al. (2022) later counted the effect. They proved the rule: more early rewards mean more resurgence.

Greer et al. (2023) seems to disagree. They showed that longer extinction does not shrink resurgence. The studies differ in what they lengthen. L et al. lengthened the first reward phase; Greer lengthened the later no-reward phase. Both can be true.

Haney et al. (2022) moved the lab finding into real life. During feeding treatment, resurgence popped up in 4 of 10 kids. History length still mattered in the clinic.

When you fade a reinforcer, expect old behavior to return. The longer it was rewarded, the bigger the comeback. Track each skill's reward history. Write a resurgence plan before you start extinction. Have a ready replacement ready the day the old behavior cries again.