Spontaneous recovery is a phenomenon of learning and memory that was first named and described by Ivan Pavlov in his studies of classical (Pavlovian) conditioning.
[1] Among the phenomena that Pavlov observed was the partial recovery of a classically conditioned response after it had been extinguished by withholding the unconditioned stimulus.
Although the chance of spontaneous recovery increases with time following the extinction procedure, such conditioned responses generally do not return to full strength.
Spontaneous recovery as it pertains to human memory can be traced back to the work of George Edward Briggs, who was concerned with the concept of retroactive interference.
[6] In an experiment conducted to further the findings of Briggs and Ekstrand, it was discovered that sleep counteracts retroactive interference compared to wakefulness.
Since spontaneous recovery is when an extinguished response occurs after time has passed following the extinction, it can be viewed as the renewal effect that results when the CS is tested outside of its temporal context.
[13] Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) transmission plays a significant role in the processes of renewal and spontaneous recovery from extinction.
Administration of the partial inverse agonist, FG-7142, to the GABAA receptor resulted in attenuated recovery in both the ABA and ABB test scenarios.
The GABAA receptor inverse agonist reduced GABA transmission, and the result was attenuation of the impact of context in eliciting the renewal effect.
Data from studies conducted on conditioned suppression provide evidence that this effect might occur due to spontaneous recovery and reinstatement of contextual stimuli that did not get extinguished, and thus remain related to the US.
Thus, when CS-US pairings are resumed post-extinction, they put the animal back into the mindset of the original conditioning context, and this contextual cue aids in reacquiring the CR more quickly than the initial learning.
Patients had been randomly allocated to receive no speech therapy and had been assessed at 6 weekly intervals after the stroke incident, over which time there was a gradual improvement in language abilities.
There was a lack of difference between factors such as sex, age, or aphasia type, suggesting that the amount of improvement expected in any patient cannot be readily predicted.
One of his studied patients lost most of his auditory cortex to strokes, allowing him to still hear but making it difficult to understand music since he could not recognize harmonic patterns.
[26] A study by Sarkamo and colleagues examined the neural and cognitive mechanisms that underlie acquired amusia and contribute to its recovery.
Stroke patients showed a recovery of implicit memory for musical structures and could produce tone intervals they were unable to perceive when tested originally.
The image is captured by the eye and then transmitted to the brain by the optic nerve, which terminates on the cells of the lateral geniculate nucleus.
Reminiscence therapy involves the discussion of past activities and experiences with another person, utilizing tangible aids such as photographs to cue recall.
One suggestion is that pictures and high imagery words enhance hypermnesia, speculating that this nature of stimuli is more recognizable and hence less susceptible to forgetting.
[32] A 1991 study by Otani and Hodge suggests that hypermnesia does not occur with recognition but is found in cued recall experiments, showing that the improvement in memory performance is due to an increased rate of item recovery facilitated by relational processing.
During hypnosis sessions, a great deal of spontaneous recovery can occur because the conscious thoughts are slowed down to allow much higher retrieval.
Previous research concludes that with the active conscious mind consistently occupying one's mental capacity, hypnosis provides the calmness to retrieve what's needed.
This therapy adds other perspectives to gain clarity on a situation, and can cause spontaneous recovery in more cases because of the increase in other points of view.
For example, if many times you get extremely jealous of someone having something that you do not have because your family can't afford it when you were young, you could believe that "things in life are hard to come by".
Both the dorsal and ventral prefrontal cortex have been shown to play a big role in the development of memory consolidation and motor control.
The reward-related learning causes dopamine to release from the synapses of the basal ganglia and creates a stronger bond between the stimulus and response.
The amygdala leads to the caudate nucleus in the neocortex of the basal ganglia, so the fear response can also be triggered via spontaneous recovery.
Basically, the stronger the emotional arousal after a learning event, positive or negative, can greatly enhance the memory's recall in the future.
Spontaneous recovery, in terms of disorders, is a phenomenon in which the unwanted condition is overcome without professional treatment or formal help.
[49] A case study reported that an individual spontaneously "recovered" from autistic disorder after a mere 13 days without therapeutic intervention.