An animal trainer is conditioning an elephant to startle at the sound of a trombone.Every time she plays the trombone,she then shows the elephant a mouse,which startles the elephant.Eventually,the elephant startles at just the sound of the trombone.However,after playing the trombone 10 more times,without a mouse appearing,the elephant exhibits no response.The lack of a response is an example of:
A)generalization.
B)spontaneous recovery.
C)acquisition.
D)extinction.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The lack of a response after playing the trombone 10 more times without a mouse appearing shows that the behavior of startling at the sound of the trombone has been extinguished. The elephant has learned that the sound of the trombone no longer leads to the presentation of the mouse, so it no longer exhibits the learned behavior of startle response. Therefore, option D, extinction, is the correct answer.

An Animal Trainer Is Conditioning an Elephant to Startle at the Sound