Chapter 4- Classical Conditioning: Mechanisms

Question 1

Latent-Inhibition/ CS-Preexposure Effect:

Answer 1

If a stimulus is highly familiar, it will not be as effective as a CS than if it were novel

Question 2

US-Preexposure Effect:

Answer 2

Novel US results in conditioning faster than familiar US

Question 3

Stimulus Salience:

Answer 3

• Learning will occur more rapidly with more significant stimuli
  
  • i.e. giving salt to salt deficient rats, making stimuli more similar to something it would encounter in natural environment

Question 4

CS-US Relevance/ Belongingness:

Answer 4

• Extent to which the CS is relevant to the US
  
  • Taste easily associated with illness
  • Audiovisual cues easily associated with pain
  • Fear conditioning occurs faster when the CS is a picture of a snake than a flower

Question 5

Higher Order Conditioning:

Answer 5

• Irrational fears developed this way
  
  • CS1 paired with US often enough to condition a strong response to CS1
  • CS1 Paired with new stimulus, CS2, conditioned CS2 to elicit CR
  • Conditioning of CS2 occurred in absence of US
  • i.e. woman afraid of crowds (CS1- first order conditioning), goes to a movie theater that becomes crowded, becomes afraid of movie theaters (CS2-second order conditioning)
  • Conditioned inhibition developed with extensive training or when CS1 and CS2 are presented simultaneously

Question 6

Sensory Preconditioning:

Answer 6

• Associations made between 2 stimuli that elicit a mild response before conditioning
  
  • After conditioning to one of the stimuli, presentation of the other stimuli also produces a CR
  • i.e. Vanilla and cinnamon associated with each other because they are often in pastries together. Taste aversion to cinnamon also leads to aversion to vanilla
  • CS1 (vanilla) and CS2 (cinnamon) become associated (no US, therefore no CR)
  • CS1 paired with illness (US), CR develops to CS1 AND CS2 even though CS2 was never paired with US

Question 7

US as Determining Factor for CR:

Answer 7

• Small variation sin nature of US can produced changes in the nature of CR
  
  • US determines what CR is
  • i.e. When food is US, pigeons peck rapidly with beak open, when water is US, pigeons peck slower, with beak closed

Question 8

Stimulus Substitution:

Answer 8

Association of CS with US turns the CS into a surrogate US (CS functions like US), and CR is similar to those elicited by US

Question 9

CS as a Determining Factor for CR:

Answer 9

• Another rat (CS) paired with food (US), CR that developed was social responses (sniffing, approach…etc)
  
  • CS determines what the CR is

Question 10

CS-US Interval as a Determining Factor for CR:

Answer 10

• Short CS-US intervals activates responses that are appropriate for immediately dealing with US (i.e. jumping out of the way to avoid getting hit by a car)
  
  • Long CS-US interval activates responses that prepare organism for US over a longer time frame (moving out the car’s path)

Question 11

Conditioned Responding and Behaviour Systems:

Answer 11

• Behaviour system consists of series of response modes, each with its own controlling stimuli and responses
  
  • i.e. Looking for female, courting female
  • Presentation of US activates behaviour system relevant to that US, CS becomes incorporated into behaviour system
  • When CS presented determines when CS is incorporated into behaviour system
  • Different CSs vary in terms of how readily they can be incorporated into a behaviour system

Question 12

S-S Learning:

Answer 12

• Establishes a connection between the CS and the US
  
  • Participants respond to CS not because it elicits a CR but because the CS activates a memory of US
  • Memory of US activates CR

Question 13

Common Testing Design:

Answer 13

• 2 groups compared
  
  • One group receives CS (A) paired with US
  • Second group receives stimulus A unpaired with US
  • Both groups receive stimulus A followed by US in test trial

Question 14

Common Training Design:

Answer 14

• 2 groups compared
  
  • One group receives CS (A) paired with US
  • Second group receives stimulus B unpaired with US
  • Stimulus A presented with US and Stimulus B presented with US in test trial

Question 15

Conditioned Diminution of UR:

Answer 15

• CS paired with foot shock will stimulate release of endogenous opiates
  
  • Foot shock becomes less and less painful with successive conditioning trials
  • Example of conditioned diminution of UR

Question 16

Conditioned Analgesia:

Answer 16

• CS paired with foot shock will stimulate release of endogenous opiates
  
  • Foot shock becomes less and less painful with successive conditioning trials
  • Example of conditioned diminution of UR

Question 17

Temporal Coding Hypothesis:

Answer 17

Participants learn when the US occurs in relation to CS and use this information in blocking, second order conditioning

Question 18

Relative Waiting Time Hypothesis:

Answer 18

CR depends on how long organism has to wait for US in presence of CS, compared to how long organism has to wait for US in intertrial window (between on US presentation and another)

Question 19

Comparator Hypothesis:

Answer 19

Idea that CR depends on comparison between associative strength of CS and associative strength of other cues present during training of target CS

Question 20

Attention Models of Conditioning:

Answer 20

• If a US is surprising, then more attention will be focused on the CS in the next trial
  
  • Learning occurs in the next trial, not in the same one like in the Rescorla Wagner model