2A: Classical Conditioning Flashcards
Classical conditioning
A learning process whereby innate behaviours may be produced in new situations.
Associative learning process.
These behaviours are reflexive or involuntary.
Offers explanations for emotional responses as well as likes and dislikes such as debilitating fears.
Unconditional reflex
Consists of an unconditional stimulus (US) and an unconditional response (UR).
They are largely innate.
Eg meat and salivation.
Conditional reflex
Consists of a conditional stimulus (CS) and a conditional response (CR).
They tend to be products of experience or learning.
Eg food dish and salivation.
Trial
Paring of US and neutral/CS
Acquisition
Initial stage in learning
Higher-order conditioning
A variation of Pavlovian conditioning in which a neutral stimulus is paired, not with a US, but with a well-established CS.
Pseudo conditioning
The tendency of a neutral stimulus to elicit a CR when presented after a US has elicited a response.
Eg nurse coughs as they give you an injection, you then flinch when the nurse coughs again.
Strong stimulus (eg injection) can sensitise you to other stimuli so you react to them similarly as the strong stimulus.
Delayed conditioning
The CS and US overlap.
The CS is presented before the US, but continues after the US appears.
Trace conditioning
CS begins and ends before the US is presented.
CS leaves some sort of neural trace
Simultaneous conditioning
The CS and US coincide exactly.
Is a weak procedure for establishing a conditional response.
Eg if lightning always accompanied thunder, a sudden flash of lightning wouldn’t elicit a response.
Backward conditioning
The CS follows the US.
Very difficult and ineffective.
Contingency
How reliably does the stimulus (N/US/CS) precede the response (CR/UR)?
Reliably pairing the stimuli with the response increases the speed and strength of learning.
Inter stimulus interval
The interval between the CS and US.
The shorter the ISI, the more quickly conditioning occurs.
However, no ISI (simultaneous conditioning) is ineffective.
Dependent on a number of variables eg. Kind of response, type of procedure.
Contiguity
How close in time and space are two events?
The inter stimulus interval
Stimulus features
The physical characteristics of the CS and US can affect the speed of conditioning.
Compound stimulus.
Overshadowing.
Compound stimulus
A CS that consists of two or more stimulus, such as light and a noise.
Overshadowing
One stimulus can overshadow the effect of another (if it’s stronger, elicits a stronger response)
Prior experience with CS and US
Novel stimuli are more likely to become conditioned stimuli.
Latent inhibition.
Blocking.
Latent inhibition
The appearance of a stimulus without the US interferes with the ability of that stimulus to become a CS later on.
A familiar stimulus is more difficult to condition as a CS than an unfamiliar stimulus.
Blocking
An established CS can block the conditioning of a new CS
Number of CS-US pairings
Generally occurs slowly over time, takes a few trials. Curvilinear - slow to start but gets stronger/faster as more trials happen.
Some responses occur after only 1 pairing Eg taste aversion.
Inter trial interval
The gap between subsequent trials.
Longer intervals are more effective than shorter ones (at least 20 seconds).
Extinction
The weakening of the conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus is presented without the unconditioned stimulus.
Extinction is not unlearning of the conditioned response. It is a learned inhibition of responding.
Spontaneous recovery
The re-emergence if a previously extinguished conditioned response.
Pavlov concluded that underlying processes of conditioning involves learning something new, not unlearning.
Stimulus generalisation
The tendency for the subject to respond not only to the exact stimulus used but also to the other similar stimuli.
Eg little Albert.
Stimulus discrimination
When a subject that has learnt a response to a specific stimulus does not respond to a new similar stimulus.
The less similar the new stimulus to the CS the greater the likelihood of discrimination.
Stimulus-substitution theory
The CS acts as a substitute for the US.
Problem: if the CS is a substitute for the US, then the CR would always be the same as the UR (which it often is, but not always).
Preparatory response theory
The purpose of the CR is to prepare the organism for the presentation of the US
The compensatory-response model
A variation of the preparatory response theory that proposes the CR prepares the organism for the US by compensating for its effects.
Eg heroin.
Rescorla-Wagner model
US can only support a certain amount of conditioning.
Stronger stimuli support more conditioning than weaker stimuli.
Eg highly preferred food produces a stronger salivation response than a less preferred one.
