Chapter 4 - Classical Conditioning: Basic Phenomena & Various Complexities

Question 1

acquisition

Answer 1

The process of developing and strengthening a conditioned response through repeated pairings of an NS (or CS) with a US.

Question 2

blocking

Answer 2

The phenomenon whereby the presence of an established CS interferes with conditioning of a new CS.

Question 3

compound stimulus

Answer 3

A complex stimulus that consists of the simultaneous presentation of two or more individual stimuli.

Question 4

experimental neurosis

Answer 4

An experimentally produced disorder in which animals exposed to unpredictable events develop neurotic-like symptoms.

Question 5

disinhibition

Answer 5

The sudden recovery of a response during an extinction procedure when a novel stimulus is introduced.

Question 6

external inhibition

Answer 6

A decrease in the strength of the conditioned response due to the presentation of a novel stimulus at the same time as the conditioned stimulus.

Question 7

extinction

Answer 7

The process whereby a conditioned response can be weakened or eliminated when the CS is repeatedly presented in the absence of the US; also, the procedure whereby this happens, namely, the repeated presentation of the CS in the absence of the US.

Question 8

higher-order conditioning

Answer 8

The process whereby a neutral stimulus that is associated with a CS (rather than a US) also becomes a CS.

Question 9

latent inhibition

Answer 9

The phenomenon whereby a familiar stimulus is more difficult to condition as a CS than is an unfamiliar (novel) stimulus.

Question 10

occasion setting

Answer 10

A procedure in which a stimulus (known as an occasion setter) signals that a CS is likely to be followed by the US with which it is associated.

Question 11

overshadowing

Answer 11

The phenomenon whereby the most salient member of a compound stimulus is more readily conditioned as a CS and thereby interferes with conditioning of the least salient member.

Question 12

pseudoconditioning

Answer 12

A situation in which an elicited response that appears to be a CR is actually the result of sensitization rather than conditioning.

Question 13

semantic generalization

Answer 13

The generalization of a conditioned response to verbal stimuli that are similar in meaning to the CS.

Question 14

spontaneous recovery

Answer 14

The reappearance of a conditioned response to a CS following a rest period after extinction.

Question 15

stimulus discrimination

Answer 15

The tendency for a response to be elicited more by one stimulus than another.

Question 16

stimulus generalization

Answer 16

The tendency for a CR to occur in the presence of a stimulus that is similar to the CS.

Question 17

temporal conditioning

Answer 17

A form of classical conditioning in which the CS is the passage of time.

Question 18

US revaluation

Answer 18

A process that involves the postconditioning presentation of the US at a different level of intensity, thereby altering the strength of response to the previously conditioned CS.

Question 19

sensory preconditioning

Answer 19

In this phenomenon, when one stimulus is conditioned as a CS, another stimulus with which it was previously associated can also become a CS.