__ is when recovery of conditioned responding occurs when an individual encounters the unconditioned stimulus again.
options:
1) Reinstatement
2) Spontaneous recovery
3) Renewal
4) Resurgence
The correct answer and explanation is:
Correct Answer: 1) Reinstatement
Explanation (300 words):
In classical conditioning, reinstatement refers to the return of a conditioned response (CR) after extinction has occurred, simply due to re-exposure to the unconditioned stimulus (US).
To understand reinstatement clearly, let’s briefly review classical conditioning. In this type of learning, a neutral stimulus (e.g., a tone) becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus (e.g., food) that naturally elicits a response (e.g., salivation). After repeated pairings, the neutral stimulus alone (now a conditioned stimulus) can elicit the response, now called a conditioned response.
If the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus, the conditioned response diminishes over time—this is called extinction.
However, reinstatement occurs when the unconditioned stimulus is presented again, even once, without the conditioned stimulus. This brief re-exposure can “reinstate” the conditioned response the next time the conditioned stimulus is presented, even though the association had been extinguished before.
For example, if a rat learns to fear a tone that was paired with a shock (tone = CS, shock = US), and then the tone is played repeatedly without the shock (extinction), the fear fades. But if the rat is given the shock again without the tone, the next time the tone is played, the fear response may return—this is reinstatement.
Let’s compare it to the other options:
- Spontaneous recovery is when the conditioned response returns after time has passed without any additional conditioning or exposure to the US.
- Renewal refers to the recovery of the conditioned response when the context or environment changes after extinction.
- Resurgence involves the return of a previously extinguished behavior when a more recently reinforced behavior is also extinguished—mainly studied in operant conditioning.
Thus, when recovery of a conditioned response happens after exposure to the unconditioned stimulus again, it is specifically termed reinstatement.