CLASSICAL CONDITIONING II: THEORY & APPLICATION (PSYC2050)

A comprehensive set of practice questions on classical conditioning topics includingBlocking, latent inhibition, Rescorla-Wagner, generalization/discrimination, taste aversion, and clinical/neuroscience applications.

What do US, UR, CS, and CR stand for in Pavlovian conditioning and what does each represent?

US = unconditioned stimulus; UR = unconditioned response; CS = conditioned stimulus; CR = conditioned response.

What is acquisition in classical conditioning?

The learning phase during which the CS is paired with the US and the conditioned response strengthens over trials.

Define blocking in classical conditioning.

Blocking is slower learning about a new CS when it is paired with a US in the presence of a previously learned predictor (a CS1) that already predicts the US.

Define superconditioning.

Faster learning about a new CS when it is paired with a US in the presence of an inhibitory CS (CS-) that has been paired earlier, leading to stronger conditioning to the new CS.

In Kamin's blocking experiments, what was the outcome when the light was tested alone after phase 1 (noise+light paired with shock)?

The light elicited little to no CR in the blocking group, showing that learning about the light was blocked.

What is equipotentiality in classical conditioning?

The assumption that any two stimuli can be paired with any response and have equal potential to form associations.

What does contiguity refer to in conditioning?

The idea that the closer in time two stimuli occur, the stronger the resulting association tends to be.

What is CS pre-exposure or latent inhibition?

Pre-exposure to a CS reduces its subsequent conditioning strength compared with a novel CS.

What is the retardation test used for in latent inhibition studies?

To determine if a pre-exposed CS has become a true inhibitor by showing slower acquisition when the CS is later paired with a US.

What is the summation test in conditioned inhibition?

A test where a pre-exposed or inhibitory CS is paired with an excitatory CS; true inhibition is indicated if responding is reduced compared to a true inhibitor.

What is taste aversion and why is it unusual?

Taste aversion is a robust CS-US association formed after a single pairing with a long CS-US delay, often involving a taste leading to illness.

What is the Garcia effect (preparedness)?

The idea that not all CS-US associations are learned with equal ease; biology makes some associations (e.g., taste-illness) more readily learned than others.

What did Garcia & Koelling (1966) demonstrate?

That certain associations are learned faster due to biological predispositions (e.g., taste-illness) compared to others (e.g., shock-light).

What is generalisation in classical conditioning?

The tendency for stimuli similar to the CS to elicit the CR, with strength typically decreasing as similarity decreases.

What is discrimination in classical conditioning?

The learned ability to respond differently to stimuli that are similar but not identical to the CS, often reducing generalization with training.

What did Moore (1972) study illustrate about generalisation?

Generalization of eye-blink conditioning in rabbits across test tones: 400 Hz, 800 Hz, 1200 Hz (CS), 1600 Hz, 2000 Hz.

What is the key finding about heroin overdose and context (Siegel et al., 1982)?

Context-conditioned tolerance: overdose risk is higher in a new context where the tolerized cues are absent, increasing mortality.

What is systematic desensitization?

A clinical treatment for phobias involving a fear hierarchy, relaxation training, and gradual exposure to feared stimuli.

What is the core idea of the Rescorla-Wagner model?

Learning is driven by surprise; the change in associative strength is ∆V = αβ(λ − V), where learning depends on prediction error.

In the RW model, what do α, β, λ, and V represent?

α = CS salience; β = US [strength/effectiveness]; λ = maximum associative strength; V = current associative value.

How does the RW model explain blocking?

The first CS already predicts the US, leaving no prediction error for the second CS, so learning about the second CS is minimal.

What are Mackintosh and Pearce-Hall attentional models of conditioning?

Mackintosh (1975): attention increases to cues that are reliable predictors; Pearce-Hall (1980): attention decreases to cues with predictable outcomes; both address learning with attention.

What is trace conditioning and how does it differ from short-delay conditioning?

Trace conditioning involves a temporal gap between CS and US requiring a memory trace; it is generally less effective than short-delay conditioning where CS and US overlap.

What did Siegel et al. (1982) find about context and heroin overdose mortality?

Mortality was lower when heroin was taken in a familiar context with conditioned tolerance; higher when context differed, showing context-specific tolerance effects.

How is extinction used in clinical settings to treat phobias?

Extinction is achieved by repeatedly presenting the CS without the US, often via systematic desensitization or exposure-based therapies.

What groundbreaking method did Tonegawa and colleagues use to study memory traces in mice?

Optogenetics to selectively activate memory traces (engrams) and even create or retrieve fear memories by light stimulation.

What is an engram?

A physical memory trace: a specific ensemble of neurons that encode a memory, which can be manipulated with techniques like optogenetics.