Final answer:
The ability to recognize photos seen previously exemplifies perceptual learning, a form of associative learning that involves the refinement of sensory perception. Extinction in classical conditioning occurs when a conditioned stimulus no longer leads to a conditioned response due to lack of reinforcement. Classic examples of classical conditioning include Pavlov's dogs and a cat associating the sound of a can opener with food.
Step-by-step explanation:
Your ability to recognize a series of photos that you looked at a month ago is an example of e.perceptual learning. Perceptual learning is the process by which our ability to respond to the environment's sensory stimuli is improved through experience. When you first saw the photographs, you may have formed memory representations of them, and through repeated exposure, your recognition became faster and more accurate, showing an improvement in perception.
Extinction occurs when the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without being paired with an unconditioned stimulus, leading to a decrease in the conditioned response over time. An example of this is when you hear the music of an ice cream truck and no longer feel the conditioned response of your mouth watering when the ice cream is no longer available.
The behavior of a cat affected by classical conditioning can be seen when the cat associates the sound of a can opener (conditioned stimulus) with being fed, and responds differently to similar sounds (stimulus discrimination) that do not lead to food.