Which phenomenon occurs when a previously extinguished behavior reappears after extinction has reduced its frequency to baseline?

Which phenomenon occurs when a previously extinguished behavior reappears after extinction has reduced its frequency to baseline?

• A. MAINTENANCE
• B. SHAPING
• C. IMITATION
• D. SPONTANEOUS RECOVERY

Answer: (D)

Spontaneous recovery describes when a behavior that was extinguished comes back after a period of no reinforcement, even though extinction reduced its frequency back toward baseline. Extinction lowers the response by withholding reinforcement, but it doesn’t erase the original learning; after some time or a change in context, the previously learned response can briefly reappear. This shows that the underlying association is still present and can reemerge without new reinforcement. The other processes—maintenance involves keeping a behavior going with ongoing reinforcement, shaping builds a target behavior through successive approximations, and imitation is copying another’s behavior—do not capture why a previously suppressed behavior reappears after a pause.

Spontaneous recovery describes when a behavior that was extinguished comes back after a period of no reinforcement, even though extinction reduced its frequency back toward baseline. Extinction lowers the response by withholding reinforcement, but it doesn’t erase the original learning; after some time or a change in context, the previously learned response can briefly reappear. This shows that the underlying association is still present and can reemerge without new reinforcement. The other processes—maintenance involves keeping a behavior going with ongoing reinforcement, shaping builds a target behavior through successive approximations, and imitation is copying another’s behavior—do not capture why a previously suppressed behavior reappears after a pause.