Maria developed a fear of the water when she fell off a river raft last summer. This year she took swimming lessons and thought she had finally overcome her fear of water. She was eagerly looking forward to an upcoming rafting trip, however, as soon as she stepped onto the raft she was instantly terrified again. This illustrates the classical conditioning process known as

Question

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Spontaneous recovery refers to the sudden reappearance of a previously extinguished conditioned response after a period of no exposure to the conditioned stimulus. Maria's fear returning upon stepping onto the raft, despite having taken swimming lessons to overcome it, exemplifies this phenomenon.

Maria Developed a Fear of the Water When She Fell