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Resurgence occurs when a previously reinforced and then extinguished target response increases due to a worsening of reinforcement conditions for an alternative response. We conducted four crowdsourcing experiments to evaluate effects of alternative-reinforcer rate and magnitude on resurgence with humans. Contingent on an alternative response, we manipulated across groups either the rate of point delivery (Experiment 1) or number of points delivered per reinforcer (Experiments 2–3). Experiment 4 arranged combinations of high- or low-rate and high- or low-magnitude alternative reinforcement across four groups. When extinguishing alternative responding across experiments, we observed resurgence of target responding with relatively high rates of alternative reinforcement but differences in reinforcer magnitude did not influence resurgence. A quantitative model based on the concatenated matching law, Resurgence as Choice in Context (RaC2), provided a poor fit to the data, generally underpredicted target responding, and could not account for data from control groups experiencing extinction of target responding in the absence of alternative reinforcement. We then fit a modified version of RaC2 borrowing an assumption from theories of choice that suggest some proportion of reinforcers are misallocated between responses – this modified version of RaC2 provided a better account of these findings. • Examined effects of reinforcer rate and magnitude on resurgence through crowdsourcing. • In four experiments, greater reinforcer rates but not magnitudes increased resurgence. • We fit a quantitative model based on matching, Resurgence as Choice in Context (RaC2). • RaC2 fits improved when assuming reinforcers are misallocated between responses. • Misallocation also allowed RaC2 to be fit for the first time to simple extinction data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laboratory models of relapse provide methods for evaluating challenges to behavioral treatments with differential reinforcement of an alternative response (DRA). Resurgence occurs with the worsening of conditions of reinforcement for appropriate behavior and renewal occurs when transitioning out of a treatment context. Across five experiments, participants recruited via online crowdsourcing pressed onscreen buttons to earn points exchangeable for money and contexts sometimes changed through changes in the background image. Returning to the training context (ABA, Experiment 1) and transitioning to a novel context (ABC, Experiment 2) produced greater resurgence when removing alternative reinforcement in comparison with remaining in the treatment context (ABB). In contrast, we observed little difference in resurgence among AAA, ABB, and AAC context manipulations (Experiment 3) and ABA, ABC, and AAC context manipulations (Experiment 4). In Experiment 5, we evaluated relative contributions of the presence versus absence of context changes (ABA vs. ABB) in combination with or without the removal of alternative reinforcement. Both changing context and removing alternative reinforcement increased responding in isolation and the combination produced greater-than-additive effects. Overall, the present findings demonstrate a consistent effect of removing alternative reinforcement on relapse that, under certain conditions, can be enhanced by context change. • We evaluated effects of context changes on resurgence of a button press with humans. • ABA and ABC context changes enhanced resurgence relative to ABB context changes. • Similar levels of resurgence occurred with AAA, ABB, and AAC context changes. • Similar levels of resurgence occurred with ABA, ABC, and AAC context changes. • Context changes and extinction produced greater-than-additive response increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]