Resurgence of response duration in human participants

•Resurgence of two response durations was studied with humans.•Evidence of resurgence of short (0.01-0.5 s) and long (2-8 s) responses was found.•Short responses resurged more frequently than long responses.

Previously reinforced responses can reappear when reinforcement is withdrawn from current responding. This is known as resurgence. Although resurgence of response topography, spacing, and patterns over time has been demonstrated, there is no evidence of resurgence of response duration. This experiment explored resurgence of response duration in humans. In Phase 1 a multiple schedule of reinforcement with two components was used. In each component a chained variable-interval 30 s, variable-ratio 3 schedule was implemented. In the terminal link of the chained schedule, response durations between 0.1 and 0.5 s were reinforced during one component, and between 2 and 8 s in the other component. In Phase 2, response requirement during the terminal link of the chained schedule was inverted between components relative to Phase 1. In Phase 3 the chained schedule was changed to a variable-interval 30-s, extinction 30 s. Resurgence of the durations trained during Phase 1 was observed. It was concluded that duration is a response dimension that reappears during extinction.