3.2 The Content of Conditioning

Question 1

What does the distinction between Pavlovian and instrumental refer to?

Answer 1

It is used to describe how a procedure is set up

Question 2

What occurs during an instrumental procedure?

Answer 2

An experimenter can establish a contingency between reward or punisher

Question 3

What are situations where cross over happens?

Answer 3

Intend to teach IC but CC happens and vice versa

Question 4

What does pure instrumental mean?

Answer 4

instrumental procedure = instrumental learning

Question 5

What does implicit classical mean?

Answer 5

Instrumental procedure = classical learning

Question 6

What does pure classical mean?

Answer 6

Classical procedure = classical learning

Question 7

What does superstition mean?

Answer 7

Classical procedure = instrumental learning

Question 8

Give an example of superstition

Answer 8

Pigeon pecking when the key light when it comes on

Question 9

What is an omission test?

Answer 9

Punishing the response whilst withholding the outcome

-ve punishment situation

If the animal has been instrumentally reinforced, the animal should stop the action when punished

If classical conditioned, we won’t see the animal stop the behaviour to the same extent

Question 10

How can we test whether the content of conditioning learnt is IC or CC?

Answer 10

Use an omission test

Question 11

What happens in the omission test when CC has taken place in the animal?

Answer 11

They FAIL the omission test - the animal does not have control over the response so they find it hard to control themselves and stop it

Question 12

What happens in the omission test when IC has taken place?

Answer 12

They PASS the omission test

Question 13

What is common in many Pavlovian conditioning paradigms?

Answer 13

CR = UR

The conditioned response is v similar to the unconditioned response

Question 14

Why do we know S-R theory to not be the case?

Answer 14

There are cases where the CR is not similar to the UR

eg. fear responses

Question 15

Explain the conditioning and devaluation experiment

Answer 15

2 CS’s paired with diff foods - C1 + food 1, C2 + food 2

What you see across training when they are paired together is an increase in CR

In the devaluation phase, you make them feel sick in the presence of food 2 too after they have learnt the original pairing = Food aversion

Do they also avoid the CS as well after food aversion has taken place?
Play tone 1 and they look for food
Play tone 2, the CR drops off and they don’t look for food

Question 16

What type of learning is devaluation consistent with?

Answer 16

Stimulus-stimulus learning

Question 17

What does S-S learning imply?

Answer 17

A latent form of learning between the CS and the US

The CS starts to reflect anticipatory behaviour

Question 18

What else supports the S-S view?

Answer 18

Mediated conditioning

Question 19

What is S-S learning?

Answer 19

A learning process by which a subject comes to respond in a specific way to a previously neutral stimulus after the subject repeatedly encounters the neutral stimulus together with another stimulus that already elicits the response

Question 20

Give an example of mediated conditioning

Answer 20

Similar design to devaluation expt but affects conditioning of the food rather than responding to the CS

Initial 2 pairings take place

The devaluation involves making the rat feel ill in the presence of the CS (neutral stimulus) rather than the food

It has a subtle and fragile effect on how much food they eat - there is a diff in how much food they consume depending on the devaluation

Question 21

Why are S-S and S-R on a continuum?

Answer 21

Learning at multiple levels

Depends on procedure, nature of conditioning

May involve lots (but not necessarily all) of the US “machinery”

Question 22

Discuss how learning happens at multiple levels

Answer 22

US1 = sensory experience of the stimulus
US2 & US3 = motivational value and incentive value of the stimulus
US4 = the motor, consumption of the stimulus

Question 23

Discuss how food aversion works in terms of learning at diff levels

Answer 23

Somewhere along the chain of US1, 2, 3, and 4 you pair parts of the process with illness

Depending on the devaluation procedure used determines the stage that is associated with US1, 2, 3 or 4

Question 24

Are CR’s a useful index of conditioning?

Answer 24

Yes but they don’t necessarily tell us WHAT is conditioned

Question 25

Give an example of diff CRs occurring to the same US

Answer 25

US = shock

This elicits a fear response depending on which US stage is activated

US1 = direct sensory experience of the pain triggers the escape behaviour

US2 = emotional experience of shock eliciting fear, it triggers freezing behaviours

Question 26

What happens when you have a discreet, threatening CS?

Answer 26

Avoidance behaviours eg. withdrawal, burying

Question 27

What happens when you have a CS that is not discreetly located?

Answer 27

Freezing behaviours

Question 28

Discuss the experiment that shows how animals learn diff things depending on the US.

Answer 28

2 phase experiment
1st phase: pigeons trained with either light and food or tone and food
2nd phase: took 2 more discreet light stimuli and paired them with stimuli previously associated with food = secondary conditioning

Do the pigeons w/ the tone start pecking the secondary discreet cue of the light?
They showed this behaviour which shows they are learning something about the stimuli in their environment

Question 29

Give an example of where there is an interaction between CC and IC

Answer 29

2 CS paired with diff foods (CS1 = sucrose, CS2 = food)and animals learn the associations (classical)

Reuse the food in instrumental learning without the CS (instrumental)

• Pressing the lever reinforced with food
• Pull a chain reinforced with sucrose

Presenting the Pavlov cue changed the action the animal wanted to perform!
When CS1 is played, animal pulls the chain more
When CS2 is played, animal presses the lever more

Question 30

Why is the experiment where there is an interaction between IC and CC important?

Answer 30

This is important in thinking how context can affect our behaviours

Idea of preparedness to learning

Properties of CS and US matter but also how they match up, some relationships are easier to learn than others

Question 31

Discuss the cue-to-consequence effect experiment

Answer 31

Complex stimulus made up with flavour components and auto visual components

Every time the rat went to take a sip, there’s flavour a clicking noise happens and light goes on

Look at how presenting the clicks and light affect consumption and how the flavour affects it

When rat feels sick, flavour goes down and noise & light don’t do much.
When rat experiences shock, flavour doesn’t decrease but noise & light do.

Referred to as a cue-to-consequence effect