What is the term for the decrease of a learned response when reinforcement is removed?

The term for the decrease of a learned response when reinforcement is removed is extinction. This is a fundamental concept in behavioral psychology, particularly in the study of operant conditioning. When an individual or an animal has been conditioned to respond to a stimulus due to reinforcement (such as receiving a reward for a specific behavior), ceasing that reinforcement leads to a gradual decline in the frequency or intensity of the learned behavior.

For example, if a dog has been trained to sit by receiving a treat each time it does so, but then the treats are consistently withheld, the dog will eventually stop sitting on command. This illustrates the principle of extinction.

In the context of the other choices provided, conditioning refers to the process of learning associations between behaviors and their consequences, reinforcement pertains to the addition of a stimulus which increases the likelihood of a behavior being repeated, and shaping involves gradually reinforcing behaviors that are closer to the desired behavior. All of these concepts play a role in understanding learning and behavior but do not specifically refer to the decline of a response due to the removal of reinforcement.