extinctionõppimisel

Extinctionõppimisel, a term derived from Estonian, literally translates to "extinction learning." In the context of psychology and machine learning, it refers to the process by which a learned response or association weakens and eventually disappears due to the absence of the unconditioned stimulus or reward that originally reinforced it.

In classical conditioning, extinction occurs when a conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus. For example, if a bell was previously paired with food and caused salivation, but is then rung repeatedly without food being given, the salivation response to the bell will diminish. Similarly, in operant conditioning, if a behavior that was previously reinforced is no longer followed by a reward, the frequency of that behavior will decrease.

This process is not simply forgetting; it is an active inhibitory process where new learning occurs that suppresses the original learned association. The original learning is not erased but rather inhibited. This means that extinction can be temporary, and the learned response can reappear under certain conditions, a phenomenon known as spontaneous recovery. Factors like renewal, where the response reappears when the organism is returned to the original learning environment, and reinstatement, where the response reappears after re-exposure to the unconditioned stimulus, can also demonstrate the inhibitory nature of extinction.

Extinctionõppimisel is a fundamental concept in understanding habit formation, phobias, and the therapeutic processes involved in behavioral therapies like exposure therapy for anxiety disorders. By understanding how learned associations can be weakened, researchers and clinicians can develop more effective strategies for behavior modification.