Question

Taylor successfully met their final daily behavioral goal of sleeping for at least 8 hours per night for two nights the last week of the project and then stopped following their plan the day after the required implementation phase of the project stopped. what is most likely to happen?

A. taylor is likely to extinguish the gains made and start sleeping the way they did before the project started.
B. taylor is likely to extinguish the behavior but later experience spontaneous recovery and start sleeping better again naturally.
C. taylor is likely to maintain the gains made because natural reinforcers are enough to maintain this change long term.

Answer 1

Taylor is most likely to extinguish the gains made in their sleep habits, reverting back to their old patterns without continued reinforcement of the new behavior.

Step-by-step explanation:

If Taylor stops following their sleep schedule immediately after achieving their goal, the most likely outcome is A. Taylor is likely to extinguish the gains made and start sleeping in the same pattern as before the project started. This is consistent with the principles of operant conditioning, where after reinforcement (in this case, the structured plan for adequate sleep) is removed, the newly established behavior tends to disappear.

In terms of the theory of spontaneous recovery, it is possible but not guaranteed that Taylor might experience a spontaneous return to better sleep habits after a period. However, without consistent reinforcement or a structured plan, maintaining the new schedule may be challenging. Therefore, relying on natural reinforcers alone may not be enough, and the initially established behavior is at risk of being lost.

The importance of sleep, including REM sleep and its regulation through circadian rhythms and homeostatic mechanisms, suggests that sleep patterns can be highly affected by behavioral changes and interventions. Thus, maintaining consistent sleep habits is crucial for long-term behavioral change in sleep patterns.