A behavior is displayed that was thought to be extinct.
If theconditioned stimulusandunconditioned stimulusare no longer associated,extinctionwill occur very rapidly after a spontaneous recovery.
This can apply to responses that have been formed through both classical and operant conditioning.
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InPavlov’s classic experiment, dogs were conditioned to salivate to the sound of a tone.
The sound of a tone was repeatedly paired with the presentation of food.
Eventually, the sound of the tone alone led the dogs to salivate.
Pavlov found that after a two-hour rest period, the salivation response suddenly reappeared when the tone was presented.
Essentially, the animals spontaneously recovered the response which was previously extinct.
When you ring the bell, your dog runs to the kitchen and sits by his food bowl.
After the response has been conditioned, you stop presenting food after ringing the bell.
Over time, the response becomes extinguished, and your dog stops responding to the sound.
How does classical conditioning take place?
The learned reaction to the conditioned stimulus is now referred to as theconditioned response.
At first, the child would naturally still be quite frightened.
Why is spontaneous recovery so significant?
This phenomenon demonstrates that extinction is not the same thing as unlearning.
While the response might disappear, that does not mean that it has been forgotten or eliminated.
After a conditioned response has been extinguished, spontaneous recovery may gradually increase as time passes.
Numerous cycles of extinction followed by recovery usually result in progressively weaker responses.
Spontaneous recovery may continue to take place, but the response will be less intense.
APA Dictionary of Psychology.
Rehman I, Mahabadi N, Rehman CI.Classical Conditioning.
Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing;2020.
Watson J, Rayner R.Conditioned emotional reactions.American Psychologist.
2000;55(3):313-317. doi:10.1037/0003-066x.55.3.313
