Chapter 9 - Extinction of Conditioned Behaviour

Question 1

What is extinction?

Answer 1

It is the loss of conditioned responding resulting from the absence of
- the US in Pavlovian conditioning
OR
- the reinforcer in instrumental conditioning
- it occurs because the stimuli are no longer present or because the consequence is no longer being produced

Question 2

When is extinction useful?

Answer 2

• When we need to adapt along with our environment
  ex: breaking up with a significant other forces us to be able to move on and undo any associations that they have caused to form
• to eliminate problematic behaviours
• exposure therapy for fears and phobias

Question 3

What is the first type of behavioural effect of extinction?

Answer 3

It decreases the target behaviour (long term) but increases response variability (short term)
- we often try to do a bunch of different things to see if that behaviour will elicit the instrumental response

Question 4

What is the second type of behavioural effect of extinction?

Answer 4

temporary increase in the frequency of the originally reinforced response (called the extinction burst)
- trying the same response as before but with more vigour

Question 5

Is extinction the same as forgetting?

Answer 5

No; forgetting is the loss of behaviour due to the passage of time
- in this case, extinction is the learning that something will not be reinforced, not forgetting that it was reinforced

Question 6

Is extinction the same as habituation?

Answer 6

No; habituation is the decline in unlearned behaviour (like reflexes) whereas extinction is the decline in learned behaviour

Question 7

What are some emotional effects of extinction?

Answer 7

withholding reinforcement produces frustration (or relief if the consequence was negative), which can lead to aggression

Question 8

How can the Rescorla-Wagner model help us understand extinction?

Answer 8

When V (the associative strength of the stimulus) = lamda, there is a perfect prediction (no more surprise)
- when performing an extinction trial, lamda = 0 and V decreases  (the surprise becomes negative; still surprised but because you aren't getting the response you expected)

Question 9

What is spontaneous recovery?

Answer 9

It is the demonstration that the original association is recalled, due solely to the passage of time after extinction has taken place

• the response is always weaker after extinction than original, and each subsequent spontaneous recovery is weaker than the last
• original learning remains intact, but shows that a new association has been learned

Question 10

What is reinstatement?

Answer 10

the recovery of conditioned behaviour produced by exposure to the US following extinction

• ex. with the woman who was afraid of feathers, any exposure to fear in general could cause a reinstatement of the original behaviour
• it is context specific

Question 11

What is renewal?

Answer 11

recovery from extinction because the original context is brought back

• extinction is context dependent *
  
  • this is why extinction wouldn’t be as successful if only performed in a doctor’s office

Question 12

What are the implications of renewal effects?

Answer 12

1. extinction results in learning a new meaning about the CS, which is specific to the extinction context (the extinction is counteracting an association)
2. following extinction, contextual cues are utilized to retrieve the appropriate meaning of the CS
   - therefore, contexts may function as “occasion setters” for conditioned behaviour (which helps us differentiate from the other original association)

Question 13

What kinds of problems will result in failure to extinguish behaviours ?

Answer 13

• phobias
• heartbreak
• PTSD
• addiction

Question 14

What is the biggest problem with exposure therapy?

Answer 14

it decreases the instrumental response in the short term, but not in the long term

Question 15

What are some ways that we can enhance extinction?

Answer 15

1. use multiple contexts - conduct extinction trials in multiple settings (this prevents renewal, because the person is more likely to experience renewal when placed back in the original context that the association was formed in)
2. using extinction reminder cues (presenting a token to remind yourself of the extinction can help, even when placed back in the original context - leads to a resistance of renewal effects)
3. compound extinction stimuli (combining multiple related previously extinguished stimuli simultaneously leads to less spontaneous recovery and more long lasting effects)

Question 16

Does the R-O association remain intact, even after extinction?

Answer 16

Yes, the reinstatement effect is specific

Question 17

What does extinction result in?

Answer 17

in inhibitory conditioning

• frustration leads to an aversive inhibitory conditioning
• we are more likely to perform the behaviour that will not leave us frustrated

Question 18

What is the partial reinforcement extinction effect (PREE)?

Answer 18

Greater persistence in instrumental responding in extinction after partial or intermittent reinforcement training than after continuous reinforcemet

• the stronger the association formed, the easier is is to break it (this is why it is paradoxical)
• as we have already seen, a reinforcer that is only given intermittently is more resistant to extinction

Question 19

What are the three competing theories of the mechanisms behind PREE?

Answer 19

1. discrimination hypothesis: it’s easier to detect the absence of reinforcement after continuous reinforcement vs. partial reinforcement
   - a variable schedule creates uncertainty that the reinforcer will not appear again
2. frustration theory: persistence in extinction results from learning to continue responding in the face of frustration
3. sequential theory: extinction is retarded after partial reinforcement because the instrumental response becomes conditioned to the memory of non-reward (we expect rewards based on varying levels of non-rewards, exactly like a VR schedule)