A within-subject comparison of three different schedules of reinforcement of drug abstinence using cigarette smoking as exemplar

In this experiment we compared three different schedules of reinforcement f or promoting and sustaining short-term drug abstinence. For pragmatic reaso ns, cigarette smoking was studied as an exemplar of drug self-administratio n. The three schedules studied were a fixed magnitude of reinforcement for abstinence, a progressive increase in magnitude of reinforcement for abstin ence with a reset contingency for drug use, and a progressive increase in m agnitude of reinforcement for abstinence without a reset contingency. Eight een cigarette smokers experienced the three schedules in a counterbalanced order. Each schedule was in effect for 5 consecutive days (M-F), during whi ch time abstinence was reinforced according to the different schedules of r einforcement. The total amount of reinforcement (money) available was the s ame during each condition. The progressive magnitude with a reset schedule was more effective than the other two schedules in sustaining an initial pe riod of abstinence. These results systematically replicate and extend those from prior studies demonstrating the efficacy of schedules incorporating a progressively increasing magnitude of reinforcement with a reset contingen cy for sustaining initial drug abstinence, and demonstrate the importance o f the reset contingency to that effect. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland L td. All rights reserved.