# Extinction and Recovery in Associative Learning

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT & ST AGRIC COLLEGE · 2021 · $356,244

## Abstract

This project is concerned with understanding extinction, the loss of learned performance that
occurs when a Pavlovian signal or an instrumental action is repeatedly presented without its
reinforcer. Extinction is a naturally-occurring process of behavior change, as well as a tool used
in clinical treatments designed to eliminate unwanted thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in
humans. Although it is tempting to assume that extinction erases the original learning,
extinguished performance readily recovers, and several recovery effects (e.g., renewal,
reinstatement, rapid reacquisition, spontaneous recovery, and resurgence) indicate that the
original learning may be largely intact. In addition, because these effects can be interpreted as
effects of changing the background or “context,” they suggest that extinction results from new
inhibitory learning that is especially sensitive to the context in which it is learned. The goal of
this project is to seek an integrated understanding of extinction as it is revealed in these and
other response-recovery processes. It will focus especially on the extinction of instrumental
(operant) learning, because principles of operant learning are crucial for understanding a range
of behavior problems—such as drug abuse, smoking, and overeating—in which voluntary
contact with reinforcers plays an essential role. The experiments will involve rats as subjects.
One set will test evidence that the rat learns to actively inhibit its behavior during extinction, and
will evaluate an account of how that inhibition is learned. Another set will distinguish between
goal-directed actions and automatic habits, and will ask how sensitive they are to extinction,
relapse, and other types of behavior change. A third set will analyze learning and extinction of
sequences or “chains” of behavior in which the individual must purchase (or procure) access to
the reinforcer before he or she can consume (or “take”) it. A fourth set of experiments will test
new hypotheses about relapse and the prevention of relapse when rats learn to inhibit a
response they perform in order to receive intravenous cocaine delivery. The results will increase
our understanding of extinction, a fundamental behavioral and clinical phenomenon, and
develop new ways to help promote extinction learning so as to minimize lapse and relapse.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10089426
- **Project number:** 5R01DA033123-20
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT & ST AGRIC COLLEGE
- **Principal Investigator:** MARK E BOUTON
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $356,244
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2001-12-01 → 2023-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10089426

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10089426, Extinction and Recovery in Associative Learning (5R01DA033123-20). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-10 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10089426. Licensed CC0.

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