EFFECTS OF DIFFERING INSTRUCTIONAL HISTORIES ON THE RESURGENCE OF RULE-FOLLOWING

Attempts to explain differences between human and nonhuman sensitivity to changing contingencies have centered around humans' language abili ty, and more specifically on instructional control. The present study was conducted to investigate the role of various histories of rule-gov ernance on the resurgence of rule-following during extinction. Results illustrated that specific rule-following histories reduced trials to criterion and enhanced extinction induced resurgence, when compared to general rule-following or no rule-following histories. A concurrent v erbal ''think-aloud'' procedure demonstrated that these results were c aused not entirely by experimenter-provided rules, but also by subject s' generation of self-rules. Implications for the utility of instructi onal control with human subjects and rule-governance more generally ar e discussed.