Lecture 10- Classical Conditioning Study Guide

Definition of Behavioral Perspective: An approach in psychology focused on observable behaviors and the learning processes through which individuals acquire and modify actions.
Three Main Learning Paradigms:
- Classical Conditioning: Learning through associations between environmental stimuli and automatic physiological or emotional responses.
- Operant Conditioning: Learning through consequences, such as rewards and punishments that shape voluntary behavior.
- Observational Learning: Learning by watching and modeling the behavior and outcomes of others.
Relaxation and Visualization Exercise:
- Close eyes and relax completely.
- Visualize sitting comfortably at home reading a book with the television playing softly in the background.

Ivan Pavlov: A renowned Russian physiologist who accidentally discovered the principles of classical conditioning while researching the digestive system of dogs.
Discovery Process:
- Pavlov measured salivation responses in laboratory dogs exposed to meat powder.
- He observed that dogs began salivating prior to receiving food, reacting to anticipatory cues such as laboratory footfalls, seeing the researcher, or hearing equipment sounds associated with feeding.

Experimental Apparatus:
- The dog was secured in a wooden support frame using comfortable body harnesses to minimize extraneous movement.
- A surgical fistula attached a cannula directly to the dog's salivary duct to divert and collect saliva drops.
- Saliva was directed into a graduated measuring glass, which triggered a hydraulic device connected to a kymograph drum to record exact drop counts and timing precisely.
- An isolated wall separated the experimenter from the animal to avoid unintended human cues.

Unconditioned Stimulus (US):
- A stimulus that consistently, automatically, and naturally triggers a specific unlearned response without any prior conditioning or training.
- Examples: Food powder, a sudden loud noise, a puff of air directed at the eye, a pinprick, or toxins.
Unconditioned Response (UCR or UR):
- An involuntary, unlearned, physiological or reflex reaction elicited directly by an Unconditioned Stimulus.
- Examples: Salivation to food, flinching from pain, blinking to air puffs, or nausea from toxins.

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)	Unconditioned Response (UR)
A puff of air to the eye	Eye blink
Ingestion of a toxin	Nausea
Being stuck with a pin	Flinching away from pin
Sour food placed on the tongue	Salivation
A light shone in the eye	Pupil contraction
A blow to the knee	Knee-jerk reflex

Conditioned Stimulus (CS):
- A previously neutral stimulus (NS) that, after repeated association and temporal pairing with an Unconditioned Stimulus, gains the ability to trigger a learned response.
- Known as the "learned stimulus."
- Examples: Bells, tones, tuning forks, lights, geometric shapes, or specific computer sounds.
Conditioned Response (CR):
- The learned reaction produced by a Conditioned Stimulus after successful associative pairing with an Unconditioned Stimulus.
- Examples: Salivation triggered solely by a bell tone, begging behavior in response to a mechanical sound, or anticipatory dread produced by a sound cue.

The Four Stages of Conditioning:
1. Before Conditioning (Reflexive Baseline): US (Food) produces UCR (Salivation). Neutral Stimulus (Tuning Fork) produces no salivation response.
2. Before Conditioning (Neutral Evaluation): Presenting the neutral stimulus alone results in no conditioned response.
3. During Conditioning (Acquisition Phase): Neutral Stimulus (Tuning Fork) is repeatedly paired immediately before or during the US (Food), producing the UCR (Salivation).
4. After Conditioning (Learned Reflex): The previously neutral stimulus becomes a Conditioned Stimulus (Tuning Fork) that independently produces a Conditioned Response (Salivation).

Domestic Dog Pet Example:
- US: Holding and presenting a fresh can of dog treats.
- UCR: Excitement, begging, and following the owner.
- Pairing Process: Repeatedly running the electric can-opener right before presenting treats.
- CS: The sound of the electric can-opener operating.
- CR: Excitement, begging, and running into the kitchen upon hearing the sound alone.
Pop Culture Paradigm ("The Office" Altoid Experiment):
- US: Offering an Altoid mint.
- UCR: Salivation and pleasant taste (or dry mouth/bad taste when expected food is absent).
- Pairing Process: Playing a specific computer reboot sound immediately before offering an Altoid mint repeatedly.
- CS: Computer reboot chime.
- CR: Reaching out hand, salivating, and experiencing a bad dry taste in the mouth upon hearing the computer chime without receiving a mint.

Contiguity:
- The degree of temporal and spatial closeness between the Conditioned Stimulus (CS) and the Unconditioned Stimulus (US).
- Shorter time intervals between CS and US generally foster faster acquisition and stronger conditioning.
- Exception - Taste Aversion: Strong conditioning occurs even when hours elapse between ingesting a novel food (CS) and experiencing nausea/toxins (US).

Temporal Pairing Methods:
- Trace Conditioning: The CS is turned on and turned off; after a brief time delay (trace interval), the US is introduced. Relies on memory traces.
- Delayed Conditioning: The CS begins first and continues until after the US is presented, causing temporal overlap. This is systematically the most effective paradigm for establishing a CR.
- Simultaneous Conditioning: The CS and US are presented at the exact same instant and end together. Produces weak conditioning because the CS lacks predictive value.
- Backward Conditioning: The US is presented and terminated before the CS is introduced. Rarely produces effective conditioning, as the CS provides no predictive signal.

Acquisition Phase: The initial stage in classical conditioning where a neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus, continuously increasing the strength of the Conditioned Response ( $CR$ ).
Extinction:
- The gradual decay and eventual disappearance of a Conditioned Response when the Conditioned Stimulus is repeatedly presented alone without the Unconditioned Stimulus.
- Example: Ringing the bell (CS) repeatedly without providing food (US) eventually stops the salivation response ( $CR$ ).

Spontaneous Recovery:
- The sudden reappearance of an extinguished Conditioned Response following a rest period/pause without any new training or CS-US pairings.
- The recovered CR is generally weaker than the original response peak and extincts rapidly if the US continues to be withheld.
- Demonstrates that extinction represents active suppression or learning of new associations rather than complete unlearning or erasure of the original memory.