Acquisition: process of developing and strengthening a conditioned response through repeated pairings of neutral stimulus with unconditioned stimulus
* more intense US produces stronger / more rapid conditioning (than less intense US)
* more intense NS produces stronger / more rapid conditioning (than less intense NS)
Extinction: when conditioned response is weakened/eliminated by repeatedly presenting CS alone
* ex: anielle was really scared of cats, so more exposure to declan w no problems helped extinguish that fear
Spontaneous recovery
* extinguished response can be reacquired rapidly when the CS or NS is once again paired with US
* when paired again, it will take fewer trials to achieve a strong level of conditioning
Stimulus generalization: tendency for CR to occur in presence of stimulus similar to CS
* ex: Albert or whatever and the bunny ➝ all white things
* meaning of the word is more important than the sound of the word
* like sensitization, but sensitization happens without a conditioning process
Stimulus discrimination: tendency for a response to be caused more by one stimulus than another
Higher-Order Conditioning
* basic conditioning: basic reaction to an event, such as a dog salivating at sight of food
* higher-order conditioning: transfer of conditioning to another stimulus through association
* several steps between something occurring and the reaction
sensory preconditioning: when one stimulus is conditioned as a CS, another previously paired stimulus can also become a CS
* stimulus came first
* ex: toolshed has wasps. i got stung by a wasp and now i’m afraid of wasps, so i’m afraid of the toolshed