Question

Please design an experiment in which an animal might display the renewal effect. Why does the animal display this effect? What does this indicate about learning?

Answer 1

Renewal effect is known as an effect in which there occurs a return of a conditioned response, after the response has become extinct, and this happens when there is a change in the environment. This is also known as spontaneous recovery, and this can occur in a number of situations.

For example: we could condition a dog for being trained as a security companion, where he could detect smells and being alert and active for every small clue. The behaviour could be changed after he would be domesticated, being treated as a pet, for a considerable amount of time. He would only concentrate on taking care of the family and his members, and later, when he would be subjected back to the security environment, he would start behaving in the same way.

The animal displays this process as a learning process which is known as classical conditioning. This process is where a person is known to associate a neutral stimulus to a stimulus such that an unconditioned response is produced. This indicates that there is a permanent trace left with the extinction behaviour and this proves that conditioning cannot be simply reversed.