Chapter 4 Classical Conditioning Learning to Predict Significant Events (Terms)

activity-dependent enhancement

Paired training of CS and US that produces an increase in the glutamate vesicles released from sensory neurons to motor neurons.

appetitive conditioning

Conditioning in which the US is a desirable event (such as food delivery).

associative weight

In the Rescorla-Wagner model of conditioning, a value representing the strength of association between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US).

aversive conditioning

Conditioning in which the US is a disagreeable event (such as a shock or an airpuff to the eye).

blocking

A two-phase training paradigm in which prior conditioning with one cue (CS1 ➔ US) blocks later learning of a second cue when the two are paired together in the second phase of the training (CS1 + CS2 ➔ US).

cerebellum

A brain region that lies below the cerebral cortex in the back of the head. It is responsible for the regulation and coordination of complex voluntary muscular movement, including classical conditioning of motor-reflex responses.

classical (Pavlovian) conditioning

A form of learning in which an animal acquires the expectation that a given stimulus predicts a specific upcoming important event.

compound conditioning

Conditioning in which two or more cues are present together, usually simultaneously, forming a compound CS.

conditioned response (CR)

The trained response to a conditioned stimulus (CS) in anticipation of the unconditioned stimulus (US) that the CS predicts.

conditioned stimulus (CS)

A cue that is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US) and comes to elicit a conditioned response (CR).

conditioned taste aversion

A conditioning preparation in which a subject learns to avoid a taste that has been paired with an aversive outcome, usually nausea.

CS modulation theory

Any of the theories of conditioning that say the stimulus that enters into an association is determined by a change in how the CS is processed.

delay conditioning

A conditioning procedure in which there is no temporal gap between the end of the CS and the beginning of the US and in which the CS co-terminates with the US.

error-correction learning

Learning through trial and error to reduce the discrepancy (error) between what is predicted and what actually occurs.

extinction

In classical conditioning, the process of reducing a learned response to a stimulus by ceasing to pair that stimulus with another, previously associated stimulus.

eyeblink conditioning

A classical conditioning procedure in which the US is an airpuff to the eye and the conditioned and unconditioned responses are eyeblinks.

homeostasis

The tendency of the body (including the brain) to gravitate toward a state of equilibrium or balance.

inferior olive

Located in the brainstem, a nucleus of cells that conveys information about aversive stimuli, such as an airpuff US, up to both the interpositus nucleus and the cerebellar cortex.

interpositus nucleus

One of the cerebellar deep nuclei from which the conditioned response output is generated in classically conditioned motor responses.

interstimulus interval (ISI)

The temporal gap between the onset of the CS and the onset of the US.

latent inhibition

A conditioning paradigm in which prior exposure to a CS retards later learning of the CS-US association during acquisition training.

overshadowing

An effect seen in compound conditioning when a more salient cue within a compound acquires more association strength than does the less salient cue and is thus more strongly associated with the US.

prediction error

The difference between what was predicted and what actually occurred.

Purkinje cell

A type of large, drop-shaped, and densely branching neuron in the cerebellar cortex.

tolerance

A decrease in reaction to a drug such that larger doses are required to achieve the same effect.

trace conditioning

A conditioning procedure in which there is a temporal gap between the end of the CS and the beginning of the US.

trial-level model

A theory of learning in which all the cues that occur during a trial and all the changes that result are considered a single event.

unconditioned response (UR)

The naturally occurring response to an unconditioned stimulus (US).

unconditioned stimulus (US)

A cue that has some biological significance and that, in the absence of prior training, naturally evokes a response.

US modulation theory

Any of the theories of conditioning that say the stimulus that enters into an association is determined by a change in how the US is processed.