How Does Timing Affect Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery?

Timing plays a big role in two important ideas in psychology: extinction and spontaneous recovery. Let's break these down in a simple way:

1. Extinction Phase: This is when a learned response, called a conditioned response (CR), stops happening because it is no longer rewarded. The timing of when the rewards stop really matters. Here’s how:

   • Immediate Stop: If rewards are taken away right after the CR happens, the person or animal learns quickly that their action no longer works. This leads to a faster extinction.
   • Delayed Stop: If there’s a delay in stopping the rewards, the person or animal might keep showing the CR for a longer time. This makes the extinction harder and takes more time!

2. Spontaneous Recovery: Timing is also important in spontaneous recovery. This is when a learned response comes back after a break. Here are the key timing things to think about:

   • Break Duration: The longer the break after extinction, the stronger the recovery is likely to be! It’s kind of exciting when this happens, and a few things can influence it:
     • Original Setting: If the person or animal returns to the original place where they learned the CR, there's a better chance it will come back after a while.
     • How Often They Were Rewarded: If the CR was rewarded a lot before it stopped, it’s more likely to pop back up again after some time.

3. Useful Tips: Knowing how timing works with these two processes can help in therapy! For example, therapists can use spontaneous recovery to encourage good behaviors after a break.

In short, timing is super important for both extinction and spontaneous recovery. By understanding how these time intervals work, we can get a better idea of why behaviors change. Isn’t psychology cool? Let’s keep exploring these interesting ideas together!