Classical Conditioning

classical conditioning

learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to bring about a response after it is paired with a stimulus that naturally brings about a response

when you naturally learn something through repetition

who is ivan pavlov

russian physiologist with the research goal of better understanding the digestive system

what did ivan pavlov do

• studied dogs — noticed dogs salivated before they received food

  • allowed us to learn why classical conditioning was so important and what it was

pavlov’s experiment

UCS: Food, UCR: Salivation

NS: Bell tuning Fork, No response

Bell tuning Fork + Food = Salivation

CS: tuning fork, CR: salivation

acquisition

the initial phase of pairing the NS and an UCS over and over again until the subject associates the 2 and the NS begins to trigger the CR

• the NS has to come before the UCS - in most cases

• the time between stimuli should be half a second

• after repeatedly presenting the NS/CS and UCS, the only way to know if conditioning has happened is to present only the CS

extinction

when a UCS does not follow a CS, a CR starts to decrease and at some point goes extinct

• EX) if pavlov took away food reward

spontaneous recovery

after a rest period an extinguished CR spontaneously recovers, as if CS persists alone becomes extinct again

• spontaneously remembers response

  • forgetting you were afraid of roller coaster and then you get scared

stimulus generalization

tendency to respond to stimuli simular to CS is called generalization

• EX) dog responding to sounds that sound similar to the bell

stimulus discrimination

the learned ability to distinguish between a CS and other stimuli that do not signal a UCS

stimulus

a “thing” that the subject responds to

response

a reaction to the stimulus

unconditioned

naturally existing/occurring; doesn’t have to be learned

• EX) jumping at balloon noise

conditional

learned, or has been taught

• EX) learning the value of money

the unconditioned stimulus leads to the…

unconditioned response

the conditional stimulus (once conditioned) leads to the…

conditioned response

True

T/F: the neutral stimulus elicits no response at first, then becomes the conditioned response