Unit 4: Classical Conditioning

reflexes

motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus

instincts

innate patterns of behavior that involve movement of the organism as a whole

learning

relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that results from experience

associative learning

when an organisms makes connections between stimuli or events that occur together

classical conditioning

a type of associative learning, where a previously neutral stimulus takes on new meaning because of it’s pairing with something else

unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

a stimulus that elicits a reflexive response

unconditioned response (UCR)

natural (unlearned) reaction to a given stimulus

neutral stimulus (NS)

stimulus that does not naturally elicit a response

conditioned stimulus (CS)

stimulus that elicits a response after repeatedly being paired with an unconditioned stimulus

conditioned response (CR)

behavior caused by the conditioned stimulus

higher-order (second-order) conditioning

when a conditioned stimulus is used to conditioned another stimulus

acquisition

initial period of learning when association between unconditioned stimulus and neutral stimulus is being establish

extinction

decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with the conditioned stimulus

spontaneous recovery

return of a previously extinguished response

stimulus discrimination

the ability to differentiate between the conditioned stimulus and similar stimuli

stimulus generaltionzation 

the more similar something is to the conditioned stimulus the more likely it is to prompt the conditioned response