The renewal effect is a key phenomenon in understanding the underlying mechanism of recovery from extinction. Findings in renewal strongly suggest that contextual cues play an important role in retrieving previously extinguished responses. The retrieval– of–information theory (Bouton, 1993) has been the main theoretical view in this area for the last 20 years. However, some inconsistent data suggest that Bouton’s explanation is incomplete. This article reviews recent research indicating that attention could be another mechanism that underlies renewal and other recovery effects. Implications for learning theory and interventions in applied settings are discussed.