During spontaneous recovery, what happens to the CR when the CS is presented again after extinction has occurred?
A. The CR increases and is even stronger than it was before extinction began.
B. The CR remains at the same strength as before extinction.
C. The CR increases, but isn’t as strong as it was before extinction.
D. The CR decreases because interference after extinction has impaired the association strength.
The correct answer and explanation is:
The correct answer is C. The CR increases, but isn’t as strong as it was before extinction.
Explanation:
Spontaneous recovery is a phenomenon in classical conditioning where a previously extinguished conditioned response (CR) reappears when the conditioned stimulus (CS) is presented again after a period of rest. During extinction, the conditioned response weakens and eventually disappears after repeated presentations of the CS without the unconditioned stimulus (US). This process reduces the strength of the CR over time.
When the CS is reintroduced after extinction, the CR may resurface, but it is typically not as strong as it was before the extinction process. This is due to the fact that the association between the CS and US has been weakened, and while the response is spontaneous, it has not been fully reinstated to its original level. The phenomenon is often temporary, and the response may decrease again with further exposure to the CS without the US.
Spontaneous recovery suggests that the association between the CS and US has not been entirely erased, but instead the strength of the association is temporarily diminished. The recovered response tends to be weaker because the extinction process has altered the neural pathways that originally linked the CS to the US. However, if the CS and US are paired again, the CR can become stronger over time, a process known as reacquisition.
Thus, although spontaneous recovery shows that a previously extinguished response can reappear, the CR typically does not return with the same intensity as before extinction, which is why answer C is correct.