Classic Conditioning

What are 2 associative learning processes?

Classical conditioning and instrumental conditioning

What is classical conditioning?

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

Which famous psychologist laid the foundation for classical conditioning?

Russian psychologist Ian Pavlov

What was Pavlov’s famous experiment?

A dog learns to salivate in response to a metronome (conditioned reflex/response)

What is a contingent relationship?

When one stimulus reliably predicts the presentation of another

What is an example of classical conditioning with lemons?

The mere sight of lemon can cause the mouth to start salivating. Neutralizes citric acid from lemon and prepares the body for digestion.

What is the unconditioned stimulus (US)?

Any stimulus or event that triggers a response naturally without any prior learning

What is the unconditioned response (UR)?

Follows US, often a biologically programmed reflex

What is a conditioned stimulus (CS)?

Previously neutral stimulus that becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus to produce a learned contingency

What is a conditioned response (CR)?

Response that occurs once the contingency between the CS and the US has been learned

What is acquisition?

The process by which a contingency between a CS and US is learned

What function did Pavlov use to represent acquisition?

Negatively accelerated increasing function where most amount of learning occurs during early trials

What is an example of a contingency that can be acquired in a single trial?

Rats avoid unfamiliar foods (neophobia) and only eat small quantities of novel food at a time (contingency between food and poison)

How long does a contingency last?

As long as the conditioned stimulus continues to be a reliable cue for the unconditioned stimulus

What is stimulus contiguity?

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

What is short-delay conditioning?

The CS is presented shortly before the US, often by only a few seconds.

What may cause the rate of acquisition to decline?

If CS and US are presented too close to each other. Or, if the CS-US interval is too great.

What is asymptotic responding?

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

What is extinction?

The loss of the CR when the CS no longer predicts the US. Continuously present CS without the US.

What is a test trial vs extinction trial?

A test trial is where the CS is presented without the US to see whether the contingency has been learned. An extinction trial’s purpose is to extinguish the CS-US association.

What is reacquisition?

The reintroduction of conditioning trials after extinction has occurred. Faster than acquisition.

What is spontaneous recovery?

The sudden recovery of a conditioned response following a rest period after extinction

What does spontaneous recovery suggest?

Extinction promotes a learned inhibitory response that competes with the original learned contingency

What is renewal?

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

What is inhibitory conditioning?

The presence of the CS predicts the absence of the US

What is stimulus generalization?

The process by which stimuli similar to the CS will also elicit a CR

What is the generalization gradient for any conditioned stimuli?

Usually a normal distribution

What is stimulus discrimination?

Restricts the range of conditioned stimuli that can elicit a response

What happens when CS+ and CS- are presented at the same time?

An intermediate response

What is higher-order conditioning?

A neutral stimulus is paired with a CS to produce the same CR as the CS (though this CR is weaker and more vulnerable to extinction)

What is a phobia?

An exaggerated, intense, and persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, or people

What are 2 possible therapies for treating phobias?

Implosive therapy and systematic desensitization

What is implosive therapy?

Confront CS using imagination (absence of associated US), can be traumatic experiment

What is systematic desensitization?

Gradual exposure to feared stimulus (start with farther points at the normal distribution)

What is a compensatory response?

A process that counteracts a challenge to homeostasis.

What are drug preparatory responses?

Drug withdrawal responses

What is learning?

Mechanisms of behaviour that undergo relatively enduring change based on experience

What is latent learning?

Learning occurs even though there are minimal changes in performance

What is an orienting response?

An automatic shift of attention towards a stimulus

What is habituation?

A decrease in response to a stimulus when it is repeatedly presented without consequence.

What is dishabituation?

An increase in responding that follows a change in a previously habituated stimulus.

What is 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.

What is non-associative learning?

Modify an existing stimulus-response relation, rather than create a new association between stimuli or between a stimulus and a response

What is long-term potentiation?

Strengthening of synaptic connections between neurons