Category: Theory, Terms & Abbreviations ¤
  Author: Stacy Braslau-Schneck ¤
   Title: What is An Extinction Burst? ¤

Becky asked:
>Can someone give me a definition of "extinction bursts?" I have a picture in
>my head of the asteriod that killed the dinosaurs, but I may be carried
>away...

Hee, hee!  Now I'll have that image, too - but it'll be in an elevator!

If someone's gained some reward every time for a particular behavior, the
behavior will persist.  If suddnely the reward stops coming, it's likely
that the person or animal will not immediately give up the behavior.
Instead, they'll try it again and again, harder, faster, more emphatically.
 It's a burst of activity.  If the reward still doesn't come, eventually
the behavior will extinguish, or become extinct.  So, the burst of behavior
before extinction of the behavior is called an "extinction burst".

My favorite example is the elevator button.  Let's say you ride the same
elevator every day.  You get in, you push the button for your floor, and
you're rewarded by the doors closing and the elevator taking you to your
destination.  One day you get in and push the button, and nothing happens.
Do you immediately say, "Oh, this must not work anymore, I'll just take the
stairs to the 11th floor"?  Or do you push the button again?  And again?
And harder?  And faster?  And in special sequences?  That's the extinction
burst.

And that's why I'll envision asteroids in an elevator now!

Stacy

Stacy Braslau-Schneck
"Don't let the extinction burst get to you" - Victoria Farrington
sbraslau@exploratorium.edu
San Francisco, CA