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Pavlovian Conditioning Part 2

Pavlovian Conditioning: Part 2
Examples of Pavlovian Conditioning

  • Smartphones

    • Conditioned Stimulus (CS): Sound (notification chime).

      • This sound, initially neutral, predicts the arrival of a significant event.

    • Unconditioned Stimulus (US): Message from your "crush".

      • This is a naturally exciting or emotionally charged event.

    • Unconditioned Response (UR): Heightened emotion, such as excitement, anticipation, or anxiety.

      • This is the natural, unlearned reaction to receiving a message from a significant person.

    • Can involve higher-order conditioning: CS1 (Light, like a screen flash or LED notification) + CS2 (Sound) $\rightarrow$ US (Message from your "crush") $\rightarrow$ UR (heightened emotion).

      • Here, the light, through its association with the sound (CS2), which is already associated with the US, can also become a conditioned stimulus (CS1) even without being directly paired with the US initially.

  • Restaurants

    • CS: Smell (of food).

      • The aroma of cooking food becomes a signal for upcoming consumption.

    • US: Delicious food.

      • The actual consumption of palatable food is inherently rewarding.

    • UR: Mouth watering, along with other physiological responses like stomach rumbling or an increase in digestive enzymes.

      • This is the automatic biological preparation for eating.

    • Higher-order conditioning: CS1 (McDonald's Arches, or any restaurant logo) + CS2 (Smell) $\rightarrow$ US (Delicious food) $\rightarrow$ UR (Mouth watering).

      • The visual cues of a restaurant brand, after repeated pairings with the smell and the food itself, can trigger salivation even before any food is present or smelled.

  • Dogs

    • CS: Dog (a specific dog, or sight/sound of a dog).

      • An encounter with a particular dog can become a warning signal.

    • US: Growling & Lunging (an aggressive act).

      • This is a naturally frightening and harmful event.

    • UR: Fear response, characterized by increased heart rate, avoidance behavior, muscle tension, or a generalized feeling of dread.

      • This is an innate protective reaction to a perceived threat.

    • Higher-order conditioning: CS1 (The sidewalk where you encountered the dog, or a specific park) + CS2 (Dog) $\rightarrow$ US (Growling & Lunging) $\rightarrow$ UR (Fear response).

      • Over time, the environment where the fearful encounter occurred can independently trigger fear, even if the dog is not present.

  • Test Anxiety

    • CS: Test (the test paper, the classroom where tests are taken, or even the word "test").

      • The test itself becomes a predictor of negative outcomes.

    • US: Failing test grade (or the experience of public embarrassment due to a poor performance).

      • This is an inherently distressing or aversive event.

    • UR: Anxiety, manifesting as increased heart rate, sweating, difficulty concentrating, feelings of dread, or avoidance behaviors (procrastination).

      • This is the natural emotional and physiological reaction to failure.

    • Higher-order conditioning: CS1 (Professor X, or the specific subject) + CS2 (Test) $\rightarrow$ US (Failing test grade) $\rightarrow$ UR (Anxiety).

      • A professor or an academic subject, through repeated association with difficult tests and poor grades, can elicit anxiety even outside the testing context.

The Complicated Nature of Pavlovian Conditioning: The Heroin Example (Shepard Siegel, 2001)

  • The First Time Using Heroin:

    • A little heroin (US) $\rightarrow$ Euphoria, Departure from homeostasis (UR).

      • Homeostasis refers to the body's natural tendency to maintain a stable internal environment. Heroin acts as an unconditioned stimulus, directly causing an unlearned euphoric response and disrupting this balance.

    • Contextual cues (your car, your buddy Jimmy, your favorite belt, specific scents, sounds, or visual surroundings) are initially neutral stimuli.

      • At this stage, these cues have no inherent meaning or association with the drug's effects.

  • Repeated Use (5^{th}, 10^{th}, 20^{th}, 50^{th} Times):

    • Over time, more heroin is needed to achieve the same euphoric effect, demonstrating tolerance.

      • This tolerance develops because the body, through Pavlovian conditioning, learns to anticipate the drug's effects based on the consistent contextual cues. The neutral contextual cues (CS) become associated with the drug's effects (US) and elicit a conditioned compensatory response (CR).

      • This CR is a physiological attempt by the body to counteract the expected effects of the drug, pushing the body back towards homeostasis before the drug even takes full effect. This means the user experiences less of the drug's effect, hence needing a higher dose.

    • By the 50^{th} time, your now standard dose of heroin in the usual context might only make you feel normal or even trigger mild withdrawal symptoms, rather than euphoria.

      • This happens because the conditioned compensatory response is so strong in the familiar environment. If a user takes the usual dose in a novel context (where the compensatory CR is absent or significantly weaker), the body is unprepared, and the same dose can be lethal due to the full, uncompensated effect of the drug (overdose).

      • The body essentially learns to defend