Psych 2500 Midterm

four definitions of psychology

science of mind and behavior
science of experimental epistemology
science of knowing and experiencing
science of the things that move around on their own

1879

Wilhelm Wundt founded first lab dedicated to psychology, separated psych from philosophy
SCIENCE OF THE MIND

1913

John Watson said that in order to order to be a science, psychology must only be studied through the observable.

observable events= the STIMULI that a person senses and the RESPONSE a person makes

SCIENCE OF BEHAVIOR
not science of the mind

1967

Ulric Neisser published "Cognitive Psych"
outlined the areas of study (attention, memory, perception, language)

more intervening variables because there are lots of unobservables (LTM,STM,sensory info, storage etc)

SCIENCE OF THE MIND AND BEHAVIOR

1946: computer was invented... computer-mind metaphor of inputs (senses) and outputs (thoughts,actions etc)

Titchener- student of Wilhem Wundt

STRUCTURALISM
small parts add up to a complex whole
elements of thought and how they go together
IMAGE FOR EVERYTHING
apple-- round,red,smooth,shiny etc
introspection

Rationalism/Nativism

(Plato, Descartes, Kant, Chomsky)

born with innate ideas, experience provides the occasion for knowing.. learning through manipulation of concepts and ideas.

the right experiences at the right trigger innate knowledge

qualitative learning--- acquire new concepts.. emphasis on the content of experiences

emphasis on the whole--> knowledge cannot be broken down into lesser ideas (irreducibility)

cognitive psych, top down processing

Empiricism/Associationism

(Aristotle, Locke, Berkeley, Hume)

born as a clean slate (tabula rasa)
experience is the source of knowledge

learning by connecting experiences in world

Quantitative learning-- accumulate more associations with an emphasis on the amount of experience

emphasis on basic components, studying the whole by breaking it down into parts (analytic)

behaviorist (external stimuli are the essence of knowledge)

behaviorism

most influential behaviorist

study of observable and quantifiable aspects of behavior and excludes subjective phenomena, such as emotions or motives

dominant in the first half of the 20th century

heavy reliance on animal subjects/emphasis on environmental stimuli and overt behavior

BF Skinner (operant conditioning... action-->reward ... reinforcement of a behavior)

3 ways David Hume was influential in psychology

*simple ideas can be built into complex ideas though simple laws of association
*all knowledge can be reduced to either matters of fact OR the matters of the relations among ideas (analytic statements//connections)
*cause and effect CANNOT be perceived with the senses... merely the result of observing repeated contiguity between successive events

biorhythm theory

IV: number of days that elapsed since a person was born
DV: persons level of performance on some specific task

*Intervening Variables

purely theoretical concepts that cannot be observed directly
hypothesized to be there to make the connections easier
predicts the relationship bw IV and DV

Skinner did not like this

syntax

rules and definitions that state how the IV and DV are measured... specify the relationship between IV, DV, and intervening variables

N.E. Miller 1959

behaviorist orientation
intervening variables are always undesirable
BUT they are useful when multiple IV and DV are involved

ex) why would a rat press a lever that gives him food a lot?
-did u restrict food?
-how much h20 has he had?

epistemology

philosophy of knowledge
how humans and animals can know things/experience things

classical conditioning vs. operant conditioning

classical is where animals learn about the regularities in their environment.. none of which is under their control

operant is where animals are learning about the regularities in their environment that are under its control

*classical conditioning terms: phenomenon , procedure, model

phenomenon: all animals learn what leads to what through experience

procedure: ring a bell for a dog and then give it food to create new associations

model: describe phenomenon in terms of "conditioned stimulus and "unconditioned stimulus".. pairing close in TIME creates an association
theorization of what strengthens and/or weakens the association

time scales of adapting to a changing environment(behavior) :
long, short, medium term adaptation

LTA: evolution (ex. instinct of a bird to migrate)
STA: perception (ex. jumping over a rock)
**MTA: relatively permanent change aka learning

*Aristotles 3 principles of Association

(+/-)

-Contiguity: the closer together in space and time that two items occur will lead to the thought that one item lead to the other

-Similarity: association by similarity

-Contrast: association by contrast

+ intuitive value for most
- incomplete principles

British Associationists/Empiricists (4)

Thomas Hobbs
John Locke (1690) tabula rasa
James Mill
John Stuart Mill

every individual acquires knowledge through experience

experience consists of sensations & memory consists of ideas

James Mill (1829) ~ complex ideas

if two or more simples sensations are repeatedly presented together a product of their union is a COMPLEX IDEA.. complex ideas are decomposed into 2 or more simple ideas... and can always be formed through repeated pairing of simple ideas

... complex ideas can combine to form duplex ideas
sensations: red, rectangle
new complex idea: brick

Thomas Brown (1820)
9 secondary principles of association

1. length of time the two sensations coexist determines the strength of association
2. vividness of sensation
3. frequently paired together
4. paired recently
5. if both are free from strong associations already
6. constitutional difference between individuals
7. current emotional state
8. momentary state of body
9. persons prior habits

Hermann Ebbinghaus (1885)
Nonsense Syllable

experimentally tested associationists principles- on himself only.. experimented with observable stimuli (list of nonsense syllables) and overt behavior (recitation of list)

Nonsense syllabus- 2 consonants and a vowel in-between
HAQ PIF ZOD

read his list outlaid to himself at a steady place and then would recite the list by heart to test his memory

would calculate his SAVINGS (decrease int he number of repetitions needed to relearn the list)

Ebbinhaus Major Findings (5)

*list length: if the amount of material is doubled, the learning time is more than doubled

*effects of repetition: continuing practice after performance is perfect= over learning and is BAD

*effects of time : tested browns principle of recency by varying the length of time between studying and test period------> there is a FORGETTING CURVE (passage of time has a detrimental effect on performance in a memory task)

*role of contiguity: strongest associations list should be between adjacent syllables... created a 3 list system w a 24 hr wait period before testing..... items depend on proximity in the original list

*backward associations: learned a list one day and tried to learn it in reverse the next day... recall is better when remembered in the same order as studied

ethologists

scientists who study how animals behave in their natural environment

--> conduct experiments in an animals natural environment --how animals behavior allow it to SURVIVE

control systems theory
- comparator
-reference input
-actual input
-action system
-feedback system

branch of science that deals with goal directed behaviors in living creatures and inanimate objects (ex. a home heating system and its goal temp)

- comparator :a fundamental concept of control systems theory that receives two types of input

- reference input: not usually a physical entity but a conceptual entity

-actual input: measures some physical characteristic of the present environment

-feedback system (closed system system): goal directed system

reflex

stereotyped pattern of movement of a body part that will happen under the correct stimuli

flexion reflex: rapid withdrawal of hand because of elbow bending... from touching a hot stove

newborn reflex: grasping, sucking etc.

interneurons

separate sensory neurons and motor neurons.. motor neurons have cell bodies int eh spinal chord.... spinal reflex arc

stretch receptors

within the muscles of the arm,
the comparators of the feedback system in a spinal reflex arc.. compare the goal/reference INPUT (the command sent from the motor neuron to the muscle fibers telling them hot to contract) and the AMOUNT the muscle have contracted

stimulate motor neurons until contraction is complete

Tropism

Jacques Loeb (1900)

Frankel+Gunn 1940

movement or change in orientation of the entire body

Loeb: called tropism "forced movement" saying that no intelligence/will/choice involved

Frankel + Gunn: grouped tropisms into kinesis and taxis

Tropism: Kinesis

the direction of movement is random in relation to a stimulus

ex) humidity seeking behavior of the wood lice... wood lice want to be in a moist environment so they walk around randomly and when they find a moist environment they stop moving.

Tropism: Taxes

direction of movement bear some relationship to the location of the stimulus

ex) maggot moving away from bright light
maggot has light sensitive receptors in its head
moves away from the light

Fixed Action Potential (+characteristics)

Eibl Eifbesfeldt Experiment

ethological term to describe elaborate behavioral sequences

characteristics:
-its a part of the repertoire of all members of a species (species specific)
-experiments have confirmed that the animals ability to perform the behavior is not a result of prior learning
-in a sequence of behaviors, the behaviors occur in a rigid order regardless of if they are appropriate in a particular context.... the sequence will continue to completion without any extra support from environmental stimuli

Eifbesfeldt:
deprivation experiment where all means of learning were removed
a squirrel separated from its parents at birth and raised in isolation so it could not observe any other squirrels burying nuts
stayed satiated
then given extra nuts--> made exact burying movements

nut burying repertoire= innate

sign stimulus (FAP)

initiates a fixed action pattern
a fairly specific stimulus needed for simple reflexes

ex) a nut for a squirrel

BUT without more experiments we don't know which features (size, shape,color etc) are essential for a response

fixed action pattern vs. reaction chain

FAP- continues to completion once started

reaction chain- the progression from one behavior to the next depends on the presence of the appropriate external stimuli --> without the appropriate stimuli, the chain of behavior will be disrupted
ex) hermit crab- has no shell of its own .. during its life the crab grows out of his shell and has to find a new one

evidence for innate human ability to acquire language

babies babbling and trying to communicate at a very young age

Donald E Brown (1991)

anthropologist
made a list of human universals: abilities or behaviors that are found in all human cultures

every individual has some version of each human universal

Habituation

orienting response

habituation happens even in the womb
a decrease in the strength of a response after repeated presentation of a stimulus

ignoring repeated stimuli .. with a bias in favor of NEW things

orienting response also displays habituation: if a new sight or sound is presented to a dog or other animal, the animal will STOP and try to focus on the new stimuli


all of it is stimulus specific because only a reaction to THAT stimulus
ex) a gunshot vs. a car backfiring

Principles of Habituation (6)
Thompson+Spencer

*course of habituation: it happens when a stimulus is repeatedly there

*effects of time: response can recover if stimulus stops for a while .. amount of recovery depends on the amount of time that elapses

*relearning effect: habituation may disappear over a long time interval; it proceeds more rapidly in a second series of stimulus

*effects of stimulus intensity: response is frequently stronger with a more intense stimuli ---> if the stimulus is too intense, habituation may not happen

*effects of over learning (" below zero habituation"):
further learning can occur when there is no longer any change in observable behavior (habituation continues even when response is gone)

*stimulus generalization: transfer of habituation from one stimulus to a new but similar stimulus is called GENERALIZATION

Theory of Emotion
(Solomon+Corbit 1974)

in learning, a subjects response to a stimulus changes simply as a result of repeated presentation of that stimulus

Chomsky ... LAD

everyone has an innate language acquisition device (LAD)..

Chomsky study:
wrote down everything that a baby hears
not always grammatically correct
baby hears a language (INPUT) and the language acquisition device imposes rules for the OUTPUT (correct language and inferences about language)

psychology as "the science of knowing and experiencing"

def

*knowing: animals know how to behave in order to complete a goal; more than just storing information like a computer

*experiencing: more than just registering light wavelengths like a computer
ex) seeing blue, hearing a note, tasting salt, describing blue to a blind person

different from knowledge or information

knowing + experiencing are natural phenom known as the mind-body problem

Mind Body Problem (2)

what is knowing? what is experiencing?
*Dualism: universe is made from 2 interacting substances.. physical matter (body) and non physical stuff (soul+mind+thought)
Descartes 1640

*Materialism: universe is made of one kind of substance.. physical matter--> then the mind must be physical matter.. if it even exists
no belief in free will (determinism)
everything in the world is just physical matter in motion (neurons firing)
knowledge+experience=the mind

scientific materialism

all that exists is MATTER IN MOTION

*defined by choice of variables to describe nature in the 17th century

*includes physical variables (mass, length, velocity,momentum, etc)

*excludes all psychological variables +phenomenon that doesn't fit with the physical (color,sounds,taste,generally knowing and experiencing)

scientific materialism-->neural assumption--> computer metaphor

"the science of things that move around on their own"
matter+motion

Ancient Greek Philosophy 600 BCE

matter: Thales's concept of matter,later Democritus and atoms (400 BCE)

motion: naturalistic (non supernatural ) account of motion and change culminating in Aristotle's physics (350 BCE)

"the science of things that move around"

matter+motion
Scientific Revolution (1600's and after)

all nature viewed as matter in motion

matter: Daltons atomic theory 1803, Einsteins confirmation of atoms 1905

motion: Newtons mechanics uses differential equations for change over time
Einsteins relativity 1915 combines space and time into one fabric

motion is movement across space over time

Newtonian physics paradigm
(Turvey+Petrusz 2010)

newtonian physics is up to the task of explaining that an organism will FALL when certain conditions hold but not that an organism will JUMP when certain conditions hold

"science of things that move around on their own" produce all of psychology:

*have goals or motivation (movement is not random)

* detect/recognize/ know when goals are met or not (knowledge)

*know their environment so as to move around through it (perception)

*change behavior based on experience (learning)

*useful to preserve a record of encounters with the world (memory)

James Gibson: basic problem for psychology

said the basic problem for psychology shouldn't be surrounding memory or language or perception of illusions but should be about locomotion

locomotion requires perception or knowledge of the environment

PLATO (400-350 BCE)

Nativist, Rationalist

everything is an innate idea
we know way more things than we have experienced

our mental representations are "the form" of something and THE FORM IS INNATE

believer in reincarnation and the traveling of your soul (soul is independent from the body and lives in a non physical realm)

kingdom of the ideal = where our souls go when we die and where we get all of our innate knowledge
in the kingdom of the ideal.. the ideal forms of everything exists

babies have to go through their senses and sort through life to retrieve INNATE CONCEPTS by REMEMBERING the thoughts through experiences

Kingdom of the Ideal

Plato
believe of a separate non physical realm where our souls go after death
the true existence and perfect form/ideal of everything lives there
a dog on earth is only a shadow of dogness

Plato story: Allegory of the Cave

men chained to rocks could only see the shadows of everything on the back of the cave wall because here was a fire behind them
they saw everything and everyone in shadow form and that was their reality
"reality is an imperfect form".. the perfect form/true existence of something is only in the kingdom of ideals
the sun makes everything visible to us

"a dog on earth is only a shadow of dogness"

Socratic Method
Plato story: Dialogue with Menow

Method : asking an individual leading questions that bring someone to an amasser
bringing the knowledge out of person
only works with some subject matters and doesn't always work (ex. doesn't work in science because you need observations)

Dialogue:
everything is built in, even virtue and knowledge
to prove that knowledge is built in?
Meow asked an uneducated slave boy basic math questions and the boy knew the answers

specific questions were asked that were able to draw out the knowledge from a person with no education

ARISTOTLE

Associationist

truth is what we observe all around us
your senses give you knowledge of the world

we want a label for a collection of things around us...
ex) the four legged barking creatures are dogs

how are our thoughts connected?
ASSOCIATIONS
(contiguity, similarity, contrast)

contiguity depends on experience

René Descartes

Nativist, Rationalist

"I THINK, THEREFORE I AM"
*while doubting the reality of everything, you cannot doubt the fact that you are doubting

senses may deceive us but innate ideas are the foundation of knowledge
Descartes innate ideas: Geometry, Self, God (v religious time)

mind must make inferences based on inadequate sensory information... POVERTY OF STIMULUS

homunculus "little man" problem
homunculus is the EXECUTIVE CONTROLLER: unexplained ability to to shift resources
can shift attention/executive decision to focus on something

ontology

what exists? what is reality?
mind body dualism

poverty of stimulus

Descartes
lack of information in the environment.. sensory information is ambiguous and can't always be trusted.. need more information and our brain makes the connections to makeup the difference between lack of info and reality

-->homunculus

homunculus problem

-where does information actually come from in the mind?!
-the mind has the power to step in when sensory info is lacking
descartes
"little man"
the poverty of stimulus forces our mind to make connections due to ambiguous information

there is a little man in your brain who makes inferences
... therefore there is a little man in THAT little mans head who makes inferences for him.. and so on

executive controller

homunculus
unexplained ability to shift resources
can shift attention/ executive to focus on something
alots specific amount of attention to task 1

voluntary attend to something based on free will= a homunculus on a model scale

reflex (descartes)

mechanial movement based on a stimulus
reflex is thoughtless

coined by descartes

JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704)

Empiricist -no such thing as an innate idea/ Associationist

everything you know comes from your SENSES the mind has a limited number of operations
experience is the origin of knowledge
the mind actively combines simple ideas into complex ideas

association accounts for irrationality:
accidental associations
ex) a young child who had mean math teacher has bad associations w math later in life

when you take in the world some aspects of the world/things you see are PRIMARY QUALITIES which are in the perceived object... size, shape, solidarity, motion, number

and the others are

SECONDARY QUALITIES which depend on the perceiver experiencing them... color, sounds, taste
-psychological instead of physical

PRIMARY QUALITIES (locke)

the qualities that are in the perceived object
size, shape, solidarity, motion, number

SECONDARY QUALITIES (locke)

depend on the person experiencing it
taste, sound, color
psychological instead of physical

**George Berkeley (1685-1753)
v religious


scientific revolution

British Empiricists (1/3)~ in response to Locke (Empiricist).. associationism

no physical world outside of the mind.
our knowledge of primary qualities come through our senses... mainly through touch
no physical matter, only ideas

associationism: link bits of experience tougher
complex theories from simples ideas

EVERYTHING depends on perceivers sensation... everything is Secondary Qualities (solidarity, weight, numbers, motion,size, shape)

TO BE PERCEIVED IS TO BE REAL

the only evidence that we have are the senses and ideas of
our experiences ; everyone has different perceived sensation

sensations are experienced by us.. do the objects leave?!
GOD PERCEIVES EVERYTHING
so everything persists




BASED OFF OF FEAR
because the scientific revolution made God no longer relevant --> undermine theory of matter

DAVID HUME (1711-1176)

Associationist ~ accepted Berkeley

all you can know is experience- matter or no matter
mind is NOT active
mind is NOT an audience for sensations, sensory experience observes
anything can lead to anything, it depends on what we observe
belief: a matter of frequency of exposure

the mind is a place where experience sensations HAPPEN.
mind does direct, mind doesn't explain, EVERYTHING FALLS TOGETHER

ASSOCIATIONS: cause and effect, contiguity, similarity
cause and effect.. cannot determine what is causing what.. all we see is eventA and eventB repeatedly (pool balls)


contiguity + repetition/habit

knowledge has to be true by observation or true by definition

Hume Division of knowledge (2)

logical positivism

*Matter of Fact=synthetic statements.. observations
ex) its raining

*Matter of relations among ideas= analytic statements.. true by definition
ex) a bachelor is an unmarried male

all knowledge is either true by DEFINITION or true by OBSERVATION

logical positivism: thought is either analytic or synthetic... science no longer talks about the mind

IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804)

innate endowment

Nativist, Idealist

innate categories/schemas of thought impose the ideas of SPACE, TIME, and CAUSALITY

causality is known to us because of habit AND a dimension in our minds that present the world to us

we see the world through the "SPECTACLES" of innate endowment

** CHOMSKY

plato influence
descartes influence
kant influence

idealism (plato), rationalism (descartes), nativism (kant)

PLATOS IDEALISM: no innate fundamental ideas or rules of syntax, there are a set of rules that could be used to create language
NOT NATIVIST

DESCARTES RATIONALITY: poverty of stimulus~ mind fills in the blanks

KANTIAN NATIVIST: no knowledge built in, only ways of structuring and categorizing information from the wold
our mind imposes causality
language acquisition device

Classical Conditioning (first order conditioning)

conditioned reflexes

Pavlov~ US UR CS CR

*need a stimulus (US) that reliably elicits a characteristic response (UR)
"unconditioned" is the connections between stimulus and response that is innate
"conditioned" S- any stimulus that does not initially evoke the response

many animals' learned behavior stems from innate behaviors and reflexes

conditioned reflexes: learned reflexes

Conditioned Suppression
CER

conditioning of an emotional response (CER)

US: aversive event-- ex) electric shock
UR: variety of responses-- ex) freeze, flinch

how to test fear: SCR*

**Skin Conductance Response (SCR)

change in electrical conductivity of the skin; altered by emotions (fear, surprise..)

electrodermal response// galvanic skin receptors

can be conditioned quickly and effectively

Taste Aversion Learning

strong+long lasting~~ only ONE TRIAL

CS: taste of a food or drink
US: injection of a poison that makes the animal sick

violates general rules of classical conditioning?!

Stimulus Substitution Theory
Pavlov

*problem*
Zener 1937

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING!!
behavioral level: theory predicts the changes that occur among observable elements of conditioning...
-repeated pairing of CS and US
-CS can replace US
-response now comes from CS AND US

problems:
CR IS ALMOST NEVER THE SAME AS THE UR
size and temporal pattern of the CR is different from the UR

ex) a dog gets food (US) which leads to chewing and swallowing along with the UR salivation
a well trained CR alone (bell) will NOT elicit chewing and swallowing

2 ways Pavlov's Stimulus Substitution Theory can be improved
(Hilgard 1936)

Hilgard 1936

1) acknowledge that only some parts of the UR are transferred to the CR
2) acknowledge that a CS (bell) elicits a UR of its own...
ex) moving towards the sound of the bell, tilting head etc.

Sign Tracking Theory

recent theory of classical

emphasizes aspects of an animals response to the CS
... animals tend to orient themselves toward, approach and explore any stimuli that are predictors or important events like the delivery of food

Pavlov Assumptions: Brain Activation/Location (3)

in the nervous system...
US CENTER- when US (food) present
CS CENTER
RESPONSE CENTER- innate connection between US and response center

a direct association between CS center and Response Center could develop during conditioning

S-R Association (between a stimulus and a response)
S-S Association ( between stimuli)

S-R Association
S-S Association

which is preferred?

S-R... connection between CS and a response, very direct

S-S... formed during classical conditioning
CS --> CS center activation--> activation of US center (new association)--> activation of response center


S-S preferred by Pavlov
very little empirical support

Rescorla (1973)

association expertement
results

IF THE S-S IS CORRECT:
after conditioning, the CR depends on the continued strength of the two associations (learned association between CS and US centers & innate association between US center and response center)

IF THE S-R IS CORRECT:
the strength of the CR does not depend on continued US response.. strength depends on the direct associations between CS center and Response center

experiment :
a habituation group and a control group
phase 1... light--> noise
phase 2...habituation group experiences noise
control group experiences nothing
test... light

results:
STRENGTH OF THE CR DEPENDS ON THE CONTINUED STRENGTH OF US-RESPONSE ASSOCIATION
s-s association

Asymptote

stable maximum level of conditioned responding.. determined by the size and intensity of the US

a strong US produces a higher asymptote and faster conditioning (fewer trials)

Extinction

repeatedly presenting the CS without the US

observation alone/ belief--> the thought that extinction reverses the effects of the acquisition phase

in reality: the excitatory associations formed during the acquisition phase is PERMANENT

happens because of a buildup of inhibition which suppresses the exciation (intervening variables)

**3 Phenomenon that say extinction does NOT erase the associations formed:

1) Spontaneous Recovery: CR occurs even though the US is not present... no instigation for CR besides instinct.. passage of time is key

2) Disinhibition: CS (bell) no longer evokes a response because extinction phase.. novel stimuli (buzzer) presented before the bell can elicit the CR again

3) Rapid Reacquisition: rate of learning gets faster and faster given repeated cycles of extinction and reacquistionin

Spontaneous Recovery

Inhibition Theory

disproves that extinction erases association

Day 1: Acquisition
Day 2: Extinction (no US)... no CR present at the end of the day
Day 3: the CR occurs (almost at pervious strength)!!! even though no CR end of day 2

Pavlov said this was proof that the CS-US association si not permanently destroyed

*TIME: if MORE time elapses between first and second extinction, MORE spontaneous recovery

Inhibition Theory- after extinction is complete, there are 2 counteracting associations left
CS-US association
acquisition period forms an excitatory association
extinction develops an inhibitory association

Inhibition Theory
(theory surrounding spontaneous recovery)

controversial

after extinction is complete, the subject is left with 2 counteracting associations:
excitatory association (created during conditioning)
vs.
inhibitory association (created during extinction)

Disinhibition in terms of extinction

disproves that extinction erases association

*extinction phase makes it so the the CS (bell) no longer evokes CR (salivation)
*new stimuli (buzzer) presented before the bell could again elicit the CR

distracting stimuli (buzzer) disrupts v fragile inhibition that develops during extinction

inhibition may or may not be the reason for this.. the more stable the excitatory association, less affected by distractions

Rapid Reacquisition
"savings"

disproves that extinction erases association

acquisition-->extinction--> reacquisition
all with the same CS and US
rate of learning much faster given cycles of extinction and reacquisition

inhibitory CS/ conditioned inhibitor

**Pavlov Procedure
compound CS

when a CS prevents the occurrence of a CR
OR
the CS reduces the size of the CR

Pavlov procedure to make a neutral stimuli a conditioned inhibitor:
CS (buzzer and a light)
*phase 1.. pair the buzzer with food
buzzer makes animal salivate
buzzer= CS+
*phase 2..
(same as phase 1 for the control)
buzzer and light without food
compound CS of light and buzzer
dog learns no food will come to a compound CS

Generalization
(Gradient)

transferring effects of conditioning to similar stimuli

x axis- dimensions of test
y axis- strength of conditioning

Discrimination

opposite of generalization
subjects learn to respond to one stimulus but not to a similar stimulus

important for survival

precise timing of the CS and US have a major effect

Short Delay Conditioning
vs.
Simultaneous Conditioning
vs.
Long Term Conditioning

CS begins a second or 2 before the US
optimal delay depends on what is being conditioned
CR is stronger in short delay

simultaneous conditioning: CS and US begin and the same time

Long term conditioning: onset of the CS presented after the US by several seconds
CS continues until US presented

Predicting Conditioning

*the extent that the CS is a good predictor of the presence of the US, it will become excitatory

*the extent that a CS is a good predictor of the absence of the US, it will become inhibitory

Trace Conditioning

the CS and US are separated by a time interval where neither is presented

CS no longer present and the US happens.. rely on memory trace of CS

backward conditioning

US to CS

*Opponent Process Theory of Emotion

Process A & Process B occur in the nervous system
they oppose each other

process A and B are intervening variables
A process triggered by a stimulus, B process triggered by process A
*****<explaining the observable in terms of unobservable>

habituation: strengthening of the B process
over time the B process gets much stronger and counteracts the A process..
ex) heart rate brought down way below normal

Opponent Process Theory of Emotion
( Dog Shock Exp)

Dogs in cages.. a shock sent through the floor of the cage
resting heart rate: 120
jump in heart rate (peak of primary affective reaction): 220
then the heart rate slows and goes below the norm (peak of affective after reaction): 90

optimal time interval
bw CS & US

depends on WHAT s being tested
depends on WHO is being tested

1/2 second interval for eye blink

CLEARLY a bigger time interval is necessary for Pavlovs experiment because 1/2 second is not enough time to get food into the dogs mouth and make it salivate

Higher Order Conditioning

S-R or S-S association?

2nd order conditioning--> addition of another sound without any US (reaction because of CS)

US is a reinforcer for a conditioned reflex
CS acts like a US (secondary reinforcer)

first order: ding-food-salivate
ding- salivate

second order: beep-ding-salivate
beep-salivate

S-R association
direct connection pewee higher order stimulation and a response
proof: satiate the dog and the tone still produces salivation

Sensory Pre Conditioning (3 stages)
latent learning

1. establish a CS with another CS (tone-bell)
2. establish a CS and US (bell-food)
3. new CS presented without the US (tone-salivation)

bell carries excitation.. tone carries excitation

conditioned inhibition: summation test + retardation test

summation test: add the effects of excitatory stimulation and inhibition stimulus
(CS-) clearly means no food

retardation test: "slower"
if we take the conditioned inhibitor (light) and it conditioned excitatory
(light--> food)
it would take a very large number of trials to make it excitatory

*CS Pre Exposure Effect/ Latent Inhibition

~ vs. habituation

before conditioning, expose the subject to the CS a lot
CS is less effective

~habituation is learning to ignore repeated stuff w a bias in favor of new things
vs.
~CS pre exposure where the subject learned "WHAT NOT TO LEARN"/ what is not worth learning about
bias towards learning new stimuli

*US pre exposure effect

familiar with the US
conditioning very hard
ex) food given very often.. food is no longer valuable and doesn't have to make associations about when it will get the food

ex) animal goes to a pond to get water
the pond is always there he can always go there to get water
when it pours, he doesn't make the association "oh shit it rained lots of water, better go drink now" because water is always there

**sensitization

isolated and strong US leads to an increase in vigilance, alertness and attention; as though the animal is in search of a predator

a random and big US---> WTF is that must be on alert
ex) driving at night and seeing a deer