The promise and pitfalls of animal and human models of relapse: Comment on Leri and Stewart (2002)

F. Leri and J. Stewart (2002) recently presented results from an animal study of lapse and relapse in an attempt to model the human situation. The authors of this comment consider two criteria for evaluating the usefulness of animal models for studies of human relapse: (a) the extent to which the animal model captures the essential components of human lapse and relapse phenomena and (b) the extent to which the conceptualization guiding the animal model is congruent with modem research and theory on animal behavior in related preparations. The authors argue that F. Leri and J. Stewart's (2002) model, as of yet, does not meet the standards suggested by these criteria. However, features of this work may prove valuable for informing efforts to develop relapse paradigms in both human and animal research.