Treatment relapse and behavioral momentum theory.
Relapse risk drops when you fade reinforcement slowly in the old context and pack it in the new one.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Duncan and colleagues wrote a narrative review. They asked why problem behavior often comes back after good treatment.
They used behavioral momentum theory to explain relapse. The paper pulls together older studies to build the argument.
What they found
The authors say behavior returns when the old setting still gives rich reinforcement. The new, thin schedule cannot compete.
They advise you to weaken the old context slowly and make the new context richer. This lowers the risk of relapse.
How this fits with other research
Cameron et al. (1996) first framed momentum theory. Pritchard et al. (2014) extend that idea to clinical relapse.
Williams (1996) talks about fluency—speed plus accuracy—to lock in skills. Both reviews care about long-term persistence, but they use different tools.
Layng et al. (1984) treat psychotic speech as an operant. Duncan uses the same Skinnerian lens for relapse. All three papers show basic principles can explain tough problems.
Why it matters
You can guard against relapse before it starts. Thin reinforcers in the old setting bit by bit. At the same time, load the new setting with strong reinforcers for the replacement skill. Think of it as shifting momentum, not just stopping behavior.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The relapse of problem behavior after apparently successful treatment is an enduring problem for the field of applied behavior analysis. Several theoretical accounts of treatment relapse have emerged over the years. However, one account that has received considerable recent attention is based on behavioral momentum theory (BMT). BMT has shown that behavior is more persistent in contexts that are correlated with higher rates of reinforcers after disruption of the response-reinforcer relation. Accordingly, relapse after successful treatment can be viewed as the persistence of behavior when treatment is compromised in some manner. We review basic BMT research, alternative accounts of treatment relapse, and translational research studies derived from BMT research. The implications for applied behavior analysis in practice are discussed along with potential solutions to the problem of treatment relapse.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 2014 · doi:10.1002/jaba.163