Ryan Redner

Doctoral Dissertation Announcement

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Candidate: Ryan Redner

Degree of: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Psychology

Title: The Effects of Repeated Resurgence Conditions on the Magnitude of Resurgence

Committee:
Dr. Alan Poling, Chair
Dr. Cynthia Pietras
Dr. Ron Van Houten
Dr. Marc Weeden

Date: Monday, May 14, 2012 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
3713 Wood Hall

Abstract:
Resurgence is defined as the recurrence of a previously reinforced behavior, under the condition that reinforcer delivery ceases for a more recently reinforced behavior. The current study investigates the effect of repeating the resurgence procedure six times with pigeons and two times with rats to determine the effect of repetitions on the magnitude of resurgence. Three phases were repeated: (A) Response 1 was reinforced while there were no programmed consequences for Response 2; (B) Response 2 was reinforced and Response 1 was extinguished; and finally, (C) there were no programmed consequences for either response. The results indicate that the magnitude of resurgence increases for pigeons and decreases for rats as subjects are exposed to repeated resurgence procedures. Additionally, the level of Response 2 decreases in the final condition indicating that the level of extinction responding decreases following repeated training and extinction conditions. Results are discussed in terms of their similarities to other resurgence investigations and potential implications for clinical relapse.