Extinction Definition

Extinction is a type of new learning in which an individual receives non-reinforcement of a previously reinforced response. In classical conditioning extinction occurs when there are repeated presentation of the CS without the US. In instrumental conditioning, the presentation of a reinforcer when the response occurs is stopped, causing a decrease in conditioned responding. Extinction occurs when an expected US, or reinforcer, is omitted therefore the decrease in conditioned responding is due to new learning and is not due to forgetting. In operant conditioning behavior is reinforced by either receiving something positive or having something negative taken away. For example, if a child receives a candy bar after screaming in the checkout line of a grocery store, he will learn that screaming leads to receiving a candy bar. A way in which extinction of the behavior would occur would be for the parents to stop buying the candy bar when the child screams. This would remove the reinforcement and after …show more content…
It reveals that extinction does not involve the removal of original learning, but the insertion of new learning. After extinction occurs, the response-outcome (R-O) and stimulus-outcome (S-O) remain intact. An example of the formation of the inhibitory S-R association during extinction is when pigeons receive discrimination training in which a response is reinforced with the presentation of food. When a light or a beeping noise was present, the pigeons would peck and get reinforced with food. They were trained so that no reinforcement in the presence of the stimuli would lead to frustration when extinction was introduced. When tested for extinction, a response during the stimulus with the extinguished response was less prevalent than in the alternate stimulus. This demonstrates that the procedure for extinction produces an inhibitory S-R association that corresponds to a specific stimulus and