Classical Conditioning

Classical Conditioning

The learning of a contingency between a particular signal and a later event that are paired in time and/or space

contigent relationship

association between a signal and an event

unconditioned stimulus (US)

any stimulus or event; triggers a response naturally and without learning

unconditioned response

the response that occurs after the US; occurs naturally prior to learning; a programmed reflex

conditioned stimulus (CS)

previously neutral stimulus that associates with the US to produced a learned contingency

Conditioned Response (CR)

the response that occurs once the contingency between the US and CS are learned

Acquisition

the process where a contingency between a CS and US has been learned

Extinction

the loss of the CR when the CS no longer predicts the US

Spontaneous Recovery

the sudden recovery of a conditional response following a rest period after extinction

stimulus generalization

a stimulus similar to the CS will elicit a CR

Generalization gradient

typically observed as a normal distribution (graph pattern)

Stimulus discrimination

restricts the range of conditioned stimuli that can elicit a response

Implosive Therapy

an individual with a particular phobia is encouraged to confront the CS that evokes their anxiety using their imagination

systematic desensitization

gradual exposure to a feared stimulus

Homeostasis

the body actively working to keep core temperature, glucose, ion levels and many other processes despite changes in the outside world

Compensatory response

a response that counteracts or compensates for some other change that has occurred in the body

habituation

decrease in behaviour responding to a repeated stimulus

Sensitzation

increase in behavioural responding to a repeated stimulus

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

the strengthening of synaptic connections between neurons

Learning

mehcanisms of behaviour that undergo relatively enduring change based on experience

latent learning

a phenomenon where learning has occurred even though there are minimal changes in performance

orienting response

An automatic shift of attention towards a stimulus or event

Dishabituation

an increase in responding that follows a change in a previously habituated stimulus

sensitization

an increase in response to a stimulus as it is repeatedly presented; often adaptive because it prompts you to engage in behaviours appropriate to escaping a potentially harmful stimulus

non-associative learning

modifying an exisrting stimulus-response relation, rather than creating a new association between stimuli or between a stimulus and a response

conditional response

a biologically determined response that is evoked prior to any learning

conditioning trials

trials where the CS and US are presented together; these trials create an association between the 2 stimuli; also known as training trials

Contiguity

The extent to which the CS and US occur together in time and space.

short-delay conditioning

the optimal temporal arrangement because the CS is presented shortly before the US, often by a few seconds

asymptotic responding

the CR will increase in strength over successive conditioning trials, but will eventually asymptote when the maximum physical response is elicited or the contingency is maximally learned

extinction trials

the CS is repeatedly presented alone to extinguish the CS-US association ; not to be confused with test trials ,where the CS is presented alone to test whether an association has been learned

Test trial

a trial where the CS is presented without the US; used to test whether a CS-US association has been learned

Reacquisition

The reintroduction of conditioning trials after extinction has occurred. Reacquisition is faster than acquisition, indicating that some of the original learning is retained following extinction.

spontaneous recovery

the re-emergence of a previously extinguished CS after a temporal delay

Renewal

if an association is extinguished in an environment different than the original environment of an acquisition, a CR is still sometimes observed when the subject is placed back in the original environment

inhibitory conditioning

the presence of the CS predicts the absense of the US

excitatory conditioning

when the presence of the CS predicts the presence of the US

higher-order conditioning

a neutral stimulus is paired with a CS to produce the same CR as the CS