Extinction Learning as a Model of Drug Treatment and Relapse: A Behavioral Overview

Extinction is the process by which a previously established stimulus relationship is broken by the removal of reinforcers and/or biologically relevant stimuli, causing a reduction in responding. Given the importance of this phenomenon in terms of understanding not only learning and behavior, but also of enhancing our understanding of drug addiction and treatment, there is renewed attention being given to the study of extinction in the behavioral, neuroscientific, and therapeutic disciplines. The purpose of the current review is to provide an overview of the basic Pavlovian extinction paradigm and its relevance for treating drug addiction and discuss the typical “threats to extinction” as they model the tendency for drug relapse.