Compare and contrast extinction in classical and operant conditioning. Give examples.

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The Answer is The answer should provide the following information: (1) In both cases, extinction ultimately will result in a decrease (or elimination) of the target response; (2) In classical conditioning, extinction involves repeatedly presenting the CS in the absence of the US. Using Pavlov's procedure, on every trial, the tone is presented but is not followed by the food. With repeated tone-nothing pairings, the dog will stop salivating to the sound of the tone; (3) In operant conditioning, extinction involves no longer delivering the reinforcement that had previously been maintaining the response. For example, in rats pressing levers for food pellets, extinction would be arranged by disconnecting the food pellet dispenser. Lever presses would no longer produce food. Under these circumstances, rats will eventually stop pressing the lever.

Compare and Contrast Extinction in Classical and Operant Conditioning