Definition
This learning occurs when a conditioned stimulus (CS) that used to signal the unconditioned stimulus (US) now signals omission of that US. The standard procedure for extinguishing a CS involves suspending all presentations of the US. Extinction is typically indexed by a decline in conditioned responding to the CS. Phenomena such as spontaneous recovery of the conditioned response (CR) and disinhibition of the CR have supported accounts that attribute the loss of conditioned responding during extinction to a masking process such as inhibition rather than to erasure of the original association between the CS and the US.
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© 2009 Springer-Verlag GmbH Berlin Heidelberg
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(2009). Extinction. In: Binder, M.D., Hirokawa, N., Windhorst, U. (eds) Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29678-2_3227
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29678-2_3227
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Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-23735-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-29678-2
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