Classical Conditioning: Key Concepts, Procedures, and Applications in Psychology

US

Unconditioned stimulus

UR

unconditioned response

- proboscis extension to flower

CS

Conditioned sitmulus

CR

conditioned response

NS

neutral stimulus

What is generalization in classical conditioning?

When conditioning to one CS generalizes to another CS

Can learning occur without a US?

Learning can occur without a US > pro-SR learning

you get bit (US) by dog (CS) > fear (CR)

associate park (CS2) with dogs and get scared of parks (CR)

What is sensory pre-conditioning?

Pairing two neutral stimuli before one can elicit a CR

CS2-CS1 > CS1-US+CR > CS2-CR

PURE S-S LEARNING

Guilt by association

Two neutral S get associated

Peter and John are best friends

John uses cocaine

I assume Peter uses cocaine too

Motor responses in CC

Proboscis extension response (PER)

Eyeblink conditioning in rabbits

Emotional responses in CC

Fear conditioning in rats

Autoshaping in pigeons

Motivational responses

Appetitive conditioning in rats

taste aversion learning

What is the main point of fear conditioning?

The CS suppresses a behavior (e.g., bar pressing) as a measure of conditioned fear

What is the significance of sign tracking?

It focuses on cues predicting the US rather than the US itself

- go to lick hand

What is the significance of goal tracking?

Focus on the US's

- go to dog bowl

What is the principle of autoshaping?

Training animals to respond to a cue that signals food delivery

- Sign tracking

Often produces more behaviour even if it doesn't produce more drug (coke users snorting)

What is the dependent variable of fear conditioning?

Suppression

- measure of "conditioned fear" suppression ratio

Systematic desensitization

Go to source > teach relaxation > master relaxation > very gradual exposure to stimulus

What is the magazine approach procedure in appetitive conditioning?

CS (any) - US (food) where the approach is likely when CS is present

Appetitive conditioning in rats

Goal tracking

go to magazine

What is taste aversion learning?

Conditioning where CS (flavor) and US (drug injection) can be separated in time

UR and CR: nausea

- Chemo breakfast

What factors influence the strength of conditioning?

Time, novelty, intensity of CS and US (big vs little shock), and pseudoconditioning

Delay conditioning

CS-US (click-food)

US close to immediate response (CS) as possible

Trace conditioning

Time interval between CS-US

- seconds, minutes, hours even (taste aversion)

Simultaneous conditioning

CS and US are presented at the same time

(kinda doesn't work)

Backward conditioning

US-CS (food-click)

(Trial spacing issues) US-CS ___ US-CS vs US-CS-US-CS

Main principle of conditioning

Conditioning works better if the CS occurs before the US

ISI

inter-stimulus interval CS(-)US

ITI

Inter-trial interval CS-US(___)CS-US

- conditioning works best if trials are spaced out over time

Novelty of CS and US importance

pre-exposure to CS and US before conditioning can interfere with learning

CS pre-exposure

"latent inhibition" you can habituate to a potential CS with repeated exposures

US pre-exposure

(lolordo)

Will delay subsequent conditioning, you can habituate to a potential US with repeated exposures

How does the intensity of the US affect the conditioned response?

A stronger US leads to a stronger CR

- intensity of food or shocks influences magnitude of response (bam BAM) (same with CS)

Counterfeit conditioning

When a CS elicits a response similar to the one being conditioned, making it difficult to determine the source of the response.

What are the two culprits that can cause counterfeit conditioning

Sensitization and pseudoconditioning.

Culprit 1: Sensitization

Blinking for a camera, initially a natural response, can get sensitized and anticipated

What is pseudoconditioning?

Mere exposure to the US

- increase in response when stimulus is intermixed with US, in absence of association between US and stimulus

Conditioned excitation

CS being associated with US

Define conditioned inhibition.

Conditioned inhibition occurs when a CS is associated with the absence of an unconditioned stimulus (US), signaling 'no US'.

What is an example of conditioned inhibition in dog training?

A 'non-reward marker' that indicates a wrong response, such as saying 'No, thank you!' after a wrong response.

are CS excitors or inhibitors

can be excitor or inhibitor!

What is the differential inhibition procedure?

An animal is exposed to pairings of a CS that predicts a US and another CS that predicts no US, allowing it to discriminate between the two.

NO! vs nooo

Information value in conditioning

CS provides information on the US

What does the Rescorla experiment illustrate about CS and US?

Contingencies between CS (tones) and US (shock)

Positive contingency: US is more likely when CS is on

Negative contingency: US is less likely when CS is on

No contingency: Equal likelihood

Appetitive conditioning

Cues can announce something pleasurable (coyotes associating people with food)

Food and sex

Aversive conditioning

Cues can announce something not pleasurable

Discomfort, pain

Extinction

Stop the pairing of CS-US

Not a loss of information, just suppressed

Not permanent, if you pair CS to US again it'll come back (renewal)

What does the renewal effect suggest

Two associations are learned

1. CS-US

2. CS- no US

-The context determines the response to be retrieved

What is compound conditioning?

Presentation of 2 or more CSs, either

Simultaneous compound (at the same time)

Serial compound (CS's are presented in a sequence)

CS competition

Compound conditioning suggests CS's are competing

- importance of having salient cues

How to win

1. overshadowing

2. Blocking

What is overshadowing in compound conditioning?

When more salient cues overshadow less salient ones

- be more noticeable

(still less than if trained alone)

What is associative learning?

A learning process where a connection is made between a stimulus and a response.

What does the law of effect state?

An association between a stimulus and response (S-R) is strengthened if S followed by satisfying outcomes (O) and S weakened by annoying outcomes (O).

Example of overshadowing

Pictures in books overshadow the words

- landmark cues over spatial cues (Tony's pizza)

What is compound potentiation?

Opposite of overshadowing

Weak conditioned stimulus is conditioned more strongly when paired with a more salient conditioned stimulus.

- Whiskey smell

What is blocking in compound conditioning?

Get there first, temporal priority

What is Kamin's blocking effect?

It describes a scenario where prior conditioning with one CS prevents the conditioning of another CS that is presented together with it.

Anise based liquor and Bagels

CSa: Anise

CSb: bagels

Won't get sick of bagels, attribute to anise

How does overshadowing differ from blocking?

Overshadowing occurs only in ONE conditioning phase

- chemo! Ginger candy before breakfast

What is the role of the CS in providing information about the US?

The CS must be a non-redundant predictor of the US to be useful in conditioning.

you need a lot of pairings of bagels and anise to be sick of bagels

What is the conclusion regarding learning and CS?

Learning occurs only if the CS provides new information about the US

CS's compete with each other - and more informative CS (or cue) will win over less informative ones.

What is the law of effect?

From Thorndike

A learning process where behaviour is modified by its consequences, involving S-R-O learning.

What is shaping in the context of training?

Reinforcing successive approximations of a target behavior until the desired behavior is achieved.

Reinforcement and Punishment in Instrumental Conditioning

Positive Reinforcement: Give treat

Negative reinforcement: release shackles

Positive punishment: add shackles

Negative punishment: time out

What is the difference between reinforcement and reward?

You REINFORCE a BEHAVIOUR

You REWARD an ORGANISM or INDIVIDUAL

What is the difference between avoidance and escape?

Avoidance occurs BEFORE an unpleasant event

Escape occurs DURING the unpleasant event.

What is omission learning?

Learning that occurs when a behaviour prevents the occurrence of a positive outcome.

What are the important dimensions of shaping?

Topology (proximity to goal) or spatial dimension

and timing of the behaviour.

How does trial and error learning relate to instrumental conditioning?

Both involve learning from the consequences of actions, leading to behavior modification

What is classical conditioning?

A learning process where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a meaningful stimulus, eliciting a conditioned response.

Do you need a coach/teacher/trainer for instrumental conditioning/shaping

No, instrumental conditioning and shaping can happen

What was the goal of Pavlov's experiment with dogs?

To condition dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell, preparing them for digestion.

What is taste aversion?

A learned avoidance of a particular food or drink after a negative experience with it.

Classical conditioning vs operant conditioning

CC: UNconscious, IMPLICIT memory - being conscious of it gets in the way

OC: conscious, EXPLICIT MEMORY - clear understanding

What do Radical Behaviorists believe about emotions?

They believed emotions can't be conditioned.

Can classical conditioning condition behavior and emotion?

Yes, classical conditioning can condition both behavior and emotion.

What is conditioned emotion in operant conditioning a result of?

Conditioned emotion in operant conditioning happens because of classical conditioning.

What is the significance of 'one-trial' learning in classical conditioning?

It allows for rapid learning from a single negative experience, which can be adaptive.

What is the role of conditioned stimuli in human experiences?

Conditioned stimuli can trigger memories or feelings associated with specific events or products.

What is the importance of timing in shaping behavior?

Reinforcement must occur close in time to the desired behavior to be effective.

What does 'selection by consequence' imply in learning?

It suggests that behaviors are shaped by their outcomes, similar to natural selection.

Shepard Siegal and CC with drugs

- conditioned analgesia

- conditioned withdrawal

- conditioned compensatory response

What will throw off the compensetory response

A different social or physical environment will throw off the compensatory response

- indicates response is specific to environmental cues

- tolerance is conditioned

What is a conditioned compensatory response?

How system with time learns to compensate for effect of drugs

What happens to tolerance when environmental cues are absent?

Tolerance decreases if the cues associated with it are not present.

What is conditioned analgesia?

A reduction in pain perception that occurs through classical conditioning.

Describe the Siegel (1975) experiment on conditioned analgesia.

Rats receiving morphine in different rooms showed different levels of tolerance based on the environment.

What is sign tracking?

When animals approach a stimulus that predicts a positive outcome.

- more likely to be addicts

What are some commonalities between classical and instrumental conditioning?

Extinction, timing of outcomes, size of outcomes, and preparedness.

What is the 'medicine effect' in relation to sign tracking?

The tendency to seek something that alleviates discomfort, even if it may not be effective.

opposite of bad outcome

Outcomes of sign tracking

Good: licking hand before dinner

Bad: avoiding door that slammed on them

Good outcome Bad outcome

S predicts outcome: Approach S. Withdraw from S

S predicts no outcome: Withdraw from S. Approach S

What is extinction in the context of conditioning?

The process where a CR decreases or disappears when the CS is no longer paired with the US.

How does timing affect classical conditioning?

Timing is less critical in classical conditioning; long delays can still result in learning, such as taste aversion.

Extinction burst

Increase in response before they decrease

- ignoring someone and they start spamming

Spontaneous recovery shows what about extinction

shows that extinction may never be complete or durable

- extinction is not forgetting, it's about the S-O or R-O association

What factors influence the size of the outcome in conditioning?

Value, size, quantity, duration, and intensity of the reward or punishment.

How does timing affect instrumental conditioning?

Time between S and R and +R or +P is extremely important and must be short

- porcupine and dog = quills and vet

CONTIGUITY

closeness in time

What did Garcia & Koelling (1966) demonstrate about preparedness?

Certain associations, like taste and illness, are more readily learned due to biological predispositions.

- biology of species you study matters

Bright-noisy-water experiment

- flavoured water with click and flash

- foot shock or nausea

- suppression of licking was differential

- illness/taste and shock/bright-noisy water were more successful

What is the significance of the combination of stimulus and outcome in preparedness?

The combination of S and O must be biologically meaningful for effective learning.

taste and illness makes more sense