Field Guide · Glossary
Spontaneous recovery
Learning scienceThe reappearance of a behavior that had faded through extinction, after a period of time has passed.
How it works
A behavior that has stopped because it no longer works is not erased. After a gap, often a day or more, it can return briefly, typically weaker than before, as though the dog is checking whether the old rule still applies. If the behavior still produces nothing, it fades again, and each return tends to be smaller and shorter. If it does pay off on that occasion, it is reinforced on an intermittent schedule, which makes it harder to extinguish than it was originally. That is why a single slip at the wrong moment can undo weeks of consistency. A brief return is an expected part of extinction, not a separate problem.
What it looks like
A dog stopped scratching at the back door after a two weeks of it never opening the door. One morning, a week later, the scratching starts again. Nobody opens the door, the dog gives up within a minute, and it does not happen again that week.
Commonly confused with
- Extinction burst
- An extinction burst is an increase in a behavior that happens while extinction is underway, soon after reinforcement stops. Spontaneous recovery is a return of the behavior after it had already faded and some time has passed.
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