How Does Extinction, Generalization, & Discrimination (Intro Psych Tutorial #60) Work?

Imagine you're learning to recognize your favorite toy by its color, but sometimes it changes a little, and you have to figure out if it's still the same toy or something new.

Extinction is like when you stop getting a treat every time you press a button on a game machine. At first, you press it all the time because you love the treats, but after a while, if no treat comes, you stop pressing it, that’s extinction.

Generalization happens when you learn to recognize your toy even if its color is a little different. If it's usually blue, but now it's a bit bluish-purple, you still know it's the same toy, that’s generalization.

Discrimination is like knowing the difference between your favorite toy and another one. Even though they're both blue, if one makes a ding sound and the other doesn’t, you can tell them apart, that’s discrimination.

These ideas help explain how we learn to notice what's the same or different in our world, just like learning new games or figuring out which toy is yours! Imagine you're learning to recognize your favorite toy by its color, but sometimes it changes a little, and you have to figure out if it's still the same toy or something new.

Extinction is like when you stop getting a treat every time you press a button on a game machine. At first, you press it all the time because you love the treats, but after a while, if no treat comes, you stop pressing it, that’s extinction.

Generalization happens when you learn to recognize your toy even if its color is a little different. If it's usually blue, but now it's a bit bluish-purple, you still know it's the same toy, that’s generalization.

Discrimination is like knowing the difference between your favorite toy and another one. Even though they're both blue, if one makes a ding sound and the other doesn’t, you can tell them apart, that’s discrimination.

These ideas help explain how we learn to notice what's the same or different in our world, just like learning new games or figuring out which toy is yours!