What is extinction in operant conditioning?

In operant conditioning, extinction refers to the process where a previously reinforced behavior diminishes and eventually stops occurring when the reinforcement is no longer provided. This occurs when an organism learns that a certain response no longer leads to the desired outcome or reward. For example, if a rat presses a lever and stops receiving food pellets as a reward, the frequency of lever pressing will decrease over time as the rat learns that the behavior is no longer effective in achieving the desired reinforcement.

This phase can be critical in understanding how behaviors are modified or eliminated, highlighting the importance of reinforcement in the learning process. Without the reinforcement that initially encouraged the behavior, the likelihood of that behavior being repeated diminishes, illustrating the key principle of extinction in the realm of operant conditioning.