Pavlov's experiment with salivation in dogs

What was Pavlov's initial aim?

to learn about salivation

What was Pavlov's revised aim?

exploring conditioned responses to food

What did the experimental procedure involve?

collecting saliva from salivary glands of an immobilised dog in a lab

What was the dependent variable?

amount of saliva observed and measured (volume/drops) in a cannula

How were the effect of extraneous variables minimised?

took place in a soundproof room

How was the baseline established?

measuring salivation in response to the neutral stimulus (sound of bell)

What was the NS paired with?

unconditioned stimulus of food

What did variations explore?

extinction and spontaneous recovery

What were the findings?

the NS didn't initially cause salivation whereas the UCS did straight away, after pairing the NS caused salivation when the dogs were alert

In one trial, how long did it take salivation to occur after the NS?

9 seconds, 45 drops were collected

What was the conclusion?

a link was made in the brain between the UCS and NS (signalisation) which has a survival value in preparing an organism for events

Comment on the generalisability of the study.

weak as the study was conducted on dogs and humans have a larger cerebral cortex which allows for greater complex cognitive processing

Which study shows that classical conditioning can be applied to humans?

Watson and Rayner's 1920 Little Albert study

Comment on the applicability of this study.

application to eating problems (Jansen et al 2003), developing therapies such as systematic desensitisation

What did Jansen et al suggest?

overweight children associate cues that predict food arrival and salivation, overeating follows exposure to cues

What were the experimental controls?

soundproof chamber, collection of saliva externally, neutral stimuli carefully chosen and tested to ensure that salivation wasn't elicited

What was the UCR, UCS and NS?

salivation, food, sound of bell

What was the CS and CR?

sound of bell, salivation