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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science pp 1–2Cite as

Spontaneous Recovery

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Definition

The recovery of a habituated response.

Introduction

Spontaneous recovery is a phenomenon encountered within non-associative learning processes.

The Process of Spontaneous Recovery

In a series of experiments undergone by Rankin and Broster (1992) on the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans,mechanical stimuli were delivered at four interstimulus intervals (2, 10, 30, and 60 s) in order to investigate the effect of interstimulus intervals in the development and maintenance of habituation. Results indicated that recovery from habituation was dependent on some factors. One of these factors is the length of interstimulus intervals; it was observed that recovery from habituation was faster when short interstimulus intervals were applied rather than longer interstimulus intervals. That is, long-term habituation prevents recovery. Also, the rate of recovery varied according to which response level each subject exhibited on the habituation curve. The recovery of animals on the lowest...

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References

  • Rankin, C. H., & Broster, B. S. (1992). Factors affecting habituation and recovery from habituation in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Behavioral Neuroscience, 106(2), 239.

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  • Rankin, C. H., Abrams, T., Barry, R. J., Bhatnager, S., Clayton, D. F., Colombo, J., Coppola, G., Geyer, M. A., Glanzman, D. L., Marsland, S., McSweeney, F. K., Wilson, D. A., Chun-Fang, W., & Thompson, R. F. (2009). Habituation revisited: An updated and revised description of the behavioral characteristics of habituation. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 92(2), 135–138.

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  • Thompson, R. F., & Spencer, W. A. (1966). Habituation: A model phenomenon for the study of neuronal substrates of behavior. Psychological Review, 73, 16–43.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Androulla Ioannou & Xenia Anastassiou-Hadjicharalambous

Authors
  1. Androulla Ioannou
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  2. Xenia Anastassiou-Hadjicharalambous
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xenia Anastassiou-Hadjicharalambous .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Menelaos Apostolou

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Ioannou, A., Anastassiou-Hadjicharalambous, X. (2018). Spontaneous Recovery. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1031-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1031-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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