Spontaneous Recovery: the reappearance, after a rest period,

of an extinguished conditioned response. (Myers, 2001).

Extinction: the diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in

classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

does not follow a conditioned stimulus (CS); occurs in operant

conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced. (Myers,

2001).

Spontaneous Recovery is the reemergence of conditioned

responses that have previously undergone extinction. The term

spontaneous recovery comes from classical conditioning that has

gone through extinction and usually involves a neutral stimulus

along with the stimulus of an unconditioned response. Extinction

is usually focused within the Pavlovian fear conditioning structure

where extinction results from the lack of an unconditioned

response.

An example of this comes from Pavlov’s dogs where the dogs

were trained to salivate with the sound of a bell. When Pavlov

continued to ring the bell over and over, the salivating slowly

began to diminish, and eventually led to extinction. After the

behavior had been extinct, it would later reappear with the sound

of a bell, which is known as spontaneous recovery. The fact that

there is a spontaneous recovery, suggests that extinction

suppresses the conditioned response, rather than eliminating it

altogether.

Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist, psychologist and

physician born in 1849 who won the Nobel Peace Prize in

Physiology or Medicine in 1904 for his research and contribution

in his discoveries in the digestion system. His research in the

digestive system made him the first to describe the process of

classical conditioning. Pavlov and his associates ultimately

identified the five major conditioning responses: acquisition,

extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization and

discrimination. (Myers, 2001)

Spontaneous Recovery and Second Extinction

Holly Wood | Psychology of Digital Media

References:

(2009). The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1904. Retrieved on July 2, 2010 from, http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1904/pavlov-bio.html

Myers, D.G. (2001). Psychology. 6th Edition. 290-293.

Holly Wood | Psychology of Digital Media

The Process at Playicanhascheezburger.com is an

Internet meme that has revolutionized

viewer created content on the web.

Pet owners and animal lovers alike

can post photos in addition to having

the ability to caption any picture on

the website. There’s also a tab for

celebrities, sports, news, look-alikes,

making fun of Facebook and other

pop culture related blogs. The idea is

that anyone can participate.

icanhascheezburger is really the first

internet based company to create and

popularize the lol speak which is a

term where acronyms are used to

describe emotion or feeling. Many

who leave comments tend to have a

good understanding of the lol

language. Visitors are able to register

which allows them to comment on

photos and bookmark favorites.

The Process at Playand Digital Media

When the viewer first looks at the website, they might be confused about what it is they are actually seeing. Though the viewer may initially find the website to be a waste of time, the images and captions that follow are hilarious and shocking at the same time, which makes the viewer continue on to the next pages. The viewer can’t help but laugh or smile whenever he or she sees the cute cats or dogs in awkward situations.

There are many psychological reactions to this website when first viewed. For those who fear clowns for example, a viewer might find the the side image to be disturbing. It could prevent a person from wanting further search the website, based on their own conditioned response to such images, but this response will most likely diminish over time, until extinguished.

The spontaneous recovery comes into play again with the viewing of a new image that is shocking. There are so man facets of this website that invoke emotional reaction to an image or caption, and therefore conditioned response will always reappear, even after classic conditioning and extinction of the emotional responses. It is evident that this method gets return visitors.

• It’s important to find out where people are

learning about icanhascheezburger from. This

would explain much about the demographic.

Spontaneous Recovery and icanhascheezburger

• Continue to find new ways to retain visitors,

by creating new, interesting blogs that follow

the theme and create a response that keeps

them coming back for more.

• Create further incentives to retain more

people. Hold more contests or offer

merchandise giveaways.