behaviorremain

Behaviorremain is a term used in behavioral science to denote the persistence of a learned behavior after the removal of an intervention or reinforcement. It captures how much a target behavior continues to occur in natural settings once support, prompts, or contingencies are withdrawn.

Measurement involves follow-up observations over time, maintenance probes, or withdrawal tests to estimate the proportion or rate of maintained responding. It is distinguished from initial acquisition, extinction, and generalization, focusing specifically on persistence of the behavior beyond the intervention phase.

In practice, behaviorremain is relevant to fields such as applied behavior analysis, education, rehabilitation, and organizational behavior management. Factors influencing it include the strength and duration of the original reinforcement, fading of prompts, the complexity of the skill, environmental cues, and the presence of competing behaviors.

Researchers and practitioners aim to maximize behaviorremain through strategies such as gradual thinning of reinforcement, errorless learning, scripting, and environmental design that supports ongoing cues. It is important to distinguish behaviorremain from mere resistance to extinction or spontaneous recovery, as it concerns maintenance in typical contexts rather than transient dropout.

See also: maintenance, generalization, extinction, reinforcement, operant conditioning, behavior analysis.