What is the effect of extinction in operant conditioning?

In operant conditioning, extinction refers to the process where a previously reinforced behavior is no longer reinforced, leading to a decrease in that behavior over time. When reinforcement is removed, the subject begins to exhibit a reduction in the frequency of the behavior because the motivation to perform the behavior diminishes without the expected rewards.

During extinction, the organism may initially show an increase in the frequency or intensity of the behavior as they search for any remaining reinforcement (often referred to as an extinction burst), but this does not last. Over time, if no reinforcement occurs, the behavior will likely decrease significantly. Therefore, the correct understanding of the effect of extinction is that behavior decreases over time as the reinforcement is withdrawn.