Bruzek, J.L., Thompson, R.H. & Peters, L.C. (2009).
Resurgence of infant caregiving responses.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 92, 327-343.
Two experiments were conducted to identify the conditions likely to produce resurgence among adult human participants. The preparation was a simulated
caregiving context, wherein a recorded infant cry sounded and was terminated contingent upon targeted caregiving responses. Results of Experiment 1
demonstrated resurgence with human participants in this negative reinforcement preparation. Results of Experiment 2 showed that responses with a longer
history of reinforcement showed a stronger resurgence effect relative to responses with a shorter and more recent history of reinforcement. These
results show that the resurgence phenomenon occurs across populations and types of reinforcers. Additionally, results indicate that length of
reinforcement history is a variable that may affect the magnitude of resurgence..
Key words: extinction, negative reinforcement, resurgence, humans