chapter 3 Flashcards
what did Ivan Pavlov discover?
classical conditioning
how did Ivan Pavlov discover classical conditioning?
he was originally researching about the animal digestive system using dog saliva.
In each session he would give the dog food, and its salivation would be recorded as it ate. the important observation came when dogs that had been through the testing procedure several times would
begin to salivate even before the food was presented unlike a new dog.
what are the elements of classical conditioning?
unconditioned stimulus (US)
unconditioned response (UR)
conditioned stimulus (CS)
conditioned response (CR)
How do the US and UR work?
first a stimulus (US) that has a characteristic response (UR) is picked.
- unconditioned shows that the connection between the stimulus and response is innate.
So in Pavlov’s experiments, the US was the food in the dog’s mouth, and the UR was saliva secretion.
How do the CS and CR work?
the CS is any stimulus that does not initially evoke the UR.
In Pavlov’s experiments, it is the bell will encourage salivation only after conditioning.
This response is the CR because it happens only after conditioning.
explain a classical conditioning trial with an example using the elements.
first the CS is presented (a bell) then, the US (the food).
On the first trials, only the US will encourage salivation.
As the conditioning trials continue, the dog will
begin to salivate as soon as the CS is presented.
Any salivation that occurs during the CS but
before the US is a conditioned response (CR) because it is elicited by the CS not the US.
what are types of classical conditioning?
The Skin Conductance Response
Conditioned Suppression
Eyeblink Conditioning
Taste-Aversion Learning
explain eyeblink conditioning
uses both humans and rats.
A puff of air directed at the eye (US) the blinks (UR) are then recorded by a device that measures eyelid movement.
the CS may be a light, a tone, a vibration of the experimental chamber, and the duration of the CS is like 1 second.
the CR is also an eyeblink…. but smaller and slower.
what is conditioned supression?
what is an example conditioned suppression?
the conditioned emotional response (CER)
procedure.
usually on rats.
the US is an aversive event like an electric
shock from the metal bars on the floor of the experimental chamber.
A rat is first trained to press a lever at a steady pace by giving it food after each press.
Occasionally, a CS (a light, sound, vibration, etc.) is presented for perhaps a minute a bit followed by the US, the shock.
At first, the rat will continue to press the lever during the CS. However, after several trials on which the CS was followed by shock, the rat will slow down
or stop its lever pressing when the CS is on, as if it is anticipating the upcoming shock. Therefore,
the CR in this procedure is the suppression of lever pressing.
what is the skin conductance response (SCR)?
the electrodermal response, only on humans.
its is a change in the electrical conductivity of the skin.
To measure a person’s SCR, two coin-shaped electrodes are attached to the palm which measure small fluctuations in skin conductivity (caused by small changes in perspiration).
The conductivity of the skin is altered by emotions which is why the SCR is often one measure used in lie detector tests.
explain Taste-Aversion Learning
the CS is the taste of a particular food; the US is something that makes the test subject ill after eating the food. Days later when the CS is presented again the animal would refuse it. The CR is how much the animal refuses the food.
what is the stimulus substitution theory?
that in classical conditioning the CS becomes a substitute for the US so that the response originally gotten only by the US is now also gotten by the CS.
it was proven wrong.
why is the stimulus substitution theory wrong?
First, the CR is almost never an exact replica of the UR.
Second, not all parts of the UR become part of the CR.
Third, a CR may include some features that are not part of the UR.
Fourth, in some cases the CR is opposite of the UR.
what is the sign-tracking theory (Costa & Boakes, 2009; Hearst & Jenkins, 1974)?
that animals tend to orient themselves toward, approach, and explore any stimuli that predict important events.
Therefore, some components of the orienting response to the CS are retained as part of the CR.
