An animal trainer is conditioning an elephant to startle at the sound of a trombone. Every time she plays the trombone, she then shows the elephant a mouse, which startles the elephant. Eventually the elephant startles at just the sound of the trombone. However, after playing the trombone 10 more times, without a mouse appearing, the elephant exhibits no response. The result is an example of:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This is an example of extinction, as the behavior (startling at the sound of the trombone) has diminished and eventually disappeared after the reinforcement (showing the mouse) was no longer present. The lack of response after the 10 additional times indicates that the behavior has not spontaneously recovered, and is not an example of generalization. acquisition refers to the initial process of learning the behavior, which does not apply in this scenario.

An Animal Trainer Is Conditioning an Elephant to Startle at the Sound