In AP Psychology, spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of a previously extinguished conditioned response after a rest period with no exposure to the conditioned stimulus, showing that extinction suppresses a learned response rather than erasing it.
Spontaneous recovery is what happens when a conditioned response you thought was gone suddenly pops back up. Picture Pavlov's dog: a bell (the conditioned stimulus) makes it salivate (the conditioned response). Ring the bell over and over without food, and the salivation fades away. That fading is extinction. But wait a few hours or a day, ring the bell again, and the dog salivates anyway, weaker this time, but it's back. That comeback is spontaneous recovery.
The big takeaway is that extinction does not delete the original learning. It just turns the volume down. The association between the conditioned stimulus and the response is still stored in the brain, and a rest period lets it resurface. Spontaneous recovery shows up in both classical conditioning (4.2) and operant conditioning (4.3), since extinguished responses in both can reappear after a break.
Spontaneous recovery lives in Unit 4 alongside the core learning concepts of classical and operant conditioning. It's the proof that extinction is suppression, not erasing. That distinction matters because it explains why old habits, fears, and cravings can come roaring back after you think you've kicked them. On the exam, it pairs naturally with extinction, acquisition, and stimulus generalization, and it's the kind of concept tested through application scenarios where you have to identify what's happening in a described situation.
Keep studying AP Psychology Unit 4
Extinction (Unit 4)
These two are a package deal. Extinction is the response fading after the conditioned stimulus stops predicting anything, and spontaneous recovery is that same response coming back after a rest. You can't have spontaneous recovery without extinction happening first.
Classical Conditioning (Unit 4)
Spontaneous recovery is one of the classic phases Pavlov mapped out, sitting right after acquisition and extinction. If you can sequence acquisition, extinction, and spontaneous recovery, you understand the full life cycle of a conditioned response.
Habituation (Unit 4)
Habituation is decreased responding to a repeated stimulus, and like extinction, the response can return after a break (called dishabituation). Both show that a quieted response isn't a deleted one, which is the heart of spontaneous recovery.
Counterconditioning (Unit 4)
Counterconditioning replaces an unwanted conditioned response with a new one, often in therapy. Spontaneous recovery is why it isn't always a one-and-done fix, since the old response can resurface and require more sessions.
Expect spontaneous recovery in multiple-choice application questions that describe a scenario and ask you to name what's happening. A typical stem describes a response that faded away and then reappeared after time passed with no exposure to the conditioned stimulus, and you pick the right term. You'll also see it contrasted with extinction, so you need to know which comes first (extinction) and which is the comeback (spontaneous recovery). Be ready to identify it in both classical and operant examples, and to explain that it demonstrates the learned association was suppressed, not erased.
Extinction is the fading away of a conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus no longer predicts the unconditioned stimulus. Spontaneous recovery is the opposite direction in time: it's that faded response reappearing on its own after a rest period. Extinction happens first; spontaneous recovery is the surprise comeback. If the response is disappearing, it's extinction. If it's coming back after a break, it's spontaneous recovery.
Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of a previously extinguished conditioned response after a rest period with no exposure to the conditioned stimulus.
It proves that extinction suppresses a learned response rather than erasing it, since the association is still stored in the brain.
The recovered response is usually weaker than the original conditioned response.
It appears in both classical conditioning (4.2) and operant conditioning (4.3).
On the exam, look for the word sequence: a response faded (extinction), then a break, then the response came back (spontaneous recovery).
It's the reappearance of a conditioned response that had previously been extinguished, after a rest period with no exposure to the conditioned stimulus. It shows that extinction quiets a learned response without wiping it out.
No. That's the whole point of spontaneous recovery. Extinction only suppresses the response, and it can reappear on its own after a break, which is why old fears and habits can return.
Extinction is the conditioned response fading away once the conditioned stimulus stops predicting the unconditioned stimulus. Spontaneous recovery is that same faded response coming back after a rest period. Extinction happens first; spontaneous recovery is the comeback.
No, the recovered response is typically weaker than the original conditioned response, and it tends to fade again unless the conditioning is reinforced.
Yes. Extinguished operant behaviors can also reappear after a break, so spontaneous recovery applies to both classical (4.2) and operant (4.3) conditioning.