Comparing extinction and noncontingent reinforcement under challenging conditions: the discriminative effects of reinforcement delivery

Extinction (EXT) and noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) procedures are commonly used to reduce problem behavior maintained by operant reinforcement. Both procedures reduce behavior by eliminating the contingency between that behavior and reinforcement; however, EXT procedures may leave the discriminative effects of the reinforcer intact. The discriminative effects of reinforcement following EXT compared to NCR were investigated using an arbitrary response within three participants. Results indicate that following EXT, re-emergent responding is not more likely to occur in the presence of reinforcement compared to control trials. Moreover, re-emergent responding was overall unlikely to occur following EXT and NCR procedures