psych 2

what is classical conditioning

learning through associations between stimuli so one stimulus triggers a response originally caused by another

who discovered classical conditioning

ivan pavlov

what is unconditioned stimulus

stimulus that naturally triggers a response (food)

what is unconditioned response

automatic response to US (salivation to food)

what is a conditioned stimulus

previously neutral stimulus that triggers a response after learning

what is conditioned response

learned response to the cs

what are the 5 conditioning processes

acquistition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, discrimination

what is acquisition

initial learning phase where the CR is strengthened

what is exctinction

cr weakens when cs is presented without us

why isnt extinction forgetting

because of spontaneous recovery

what is spontaneous reovery

return of cr after a rest period following extinction

what is generalization

responding similarly to similar stimuli

what is discrimination

learning to distinguish between different stimuli

what types of emotional responses can be classically conditioned

fear, attraciton/aversion, sexual arousal

what is an example of conditioned fear

little albert

what is continguency

how reliably teh cs predicts the us

what is positive contingency

cs predicts presence of us (excitatory conditioning)

what is negative contingency

cs predicts absence of us (inhibitory conditioning)

how is conditining studied in humans

eyeblink response, skin conductance

how is conditioning studied in animals

eyeblink (nictitating membrane), fear response

what are teh 4 types of cs-us timing

forward delay, forward trace, simultaneous, backward

which timing works best

forward delay

which usually does not work well

backward and simultaneous

what happens with longer cs-us intervals

less conditioning (execpt taste aversion)

what happens with perfect cs-us pairing

maximum conditioning

what happens if us occurs without cs

weakens conditinoing

how does number of pairings affect learning

more pairing = stronger conditioning

what stimulus factors affect conditionoing

intensity familiarity relevance other stimuli

most important stimuli factor

salience

what is stimulus compound

multiple stimuli presented together

what is overshadowing

more noticable stimulus blocks learning about less noticable one

what is blocking

prior learning prevents new learning about a second stimulus

what is higher-order conditinoing

cs becomes associated with a new stimulus

what is sensory preconditionoing

two neutral stimuli paired before conditionoing

what is inhibitory conditinoing

cs predicts absence of us

what therapies use classical conditioning

aversion therapy and exposure therapy

what is flooding

immediate intense exposure to fear stimulus

what is systematic desensitization

gradual exposure and relaxation

what are necessary conditions for conditioning

minimum requirements for conditioning

what are sufficient conditions for conditioning

consistent, temporally contiguous pairing of a neutral stimulus (CS) with an unconditioned stimulus (US)

what does contiguity theory say

cs and us must occur close in time

what are its necessary conditions

cs and us produce neural activity

wha are contiguity theory sufficient conditions

overlap in timing

execptions to contiguity

conditioning fail even if conditions are met (rescorla-correlation issues, kamin-blocking), conditioning occur wihtout proper conditions (taste aversion, inhibitory conditioning)

what does rescorla-wagner model explain

conditioning depends on surprise

what happens to learning over time

slows down and reaches an asymptote

what is an asymptote

maximum learning point (no more increase)

what does rescorla-wagner model include beyond contiguity

surprise, inhbition, multiple stimuli effects

rescorla-wagner explains well?

inhibitory conditioning and blocking

rescorla-wagner explains poorly?

backward conditioning and taste aversion