Classical Conditioning Flashcards
what are the main features of classical conditioning?
unconditioned stimulus
unconditioned response
conditioned stimulus
neutral stimulus
conditioned response
extinction
spontaneous recovery
unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
the stimulus which automatically triggers a specific response
unconditional response (UCR)
a response that is naturally occurring without any prior learning
conditioned stimulus (CS)
the NS now triggers the reflex response
neutral stimulus (NS)
a stimulus which would not normally trigger a specific reflex response
conditioned response
this is a learned response
extinction
the gradual weakening of a conditioned response that results in the behavior decreasing or disappearing
the loss of a conditioned response to the conditioned stimulus
spontaneous recovery
the sudden reappearance of a previously extinguished response
generalisation
the application of the results from a study, to the wider target population.
what type of conditioning did Pavlov develop?
Classical conditioning
what reflex in dogs did Pavlov study?
salivation
what did Pavlov note that dogs didn’t need to learn?
to salivate when they see food
Pavlov knew he needed to put food in a dog’s mouth for the animal to salivate. What did he notice after working with the same dog repeatedly?
The dog began to salivate to stimuli associated with the food.
how were control variables maintained in Pavlovs experiment?
the dog was restrained in a harness inside a cubicle
isolated from all distractions
how did the experimenter avoid becoming associated with the food?
observed through a one way mirror
presented the dog with food via remote control
how was the experiment a quantitative measure?
a tube carried saliva from the dog’s mouth to a container where it was measured.
how were extraneous variables controlled?
examples:
windows of the room covered in extra thick sheets of glass
each room had double steel doors which sealed when closed
prevented vibration, noise, temperature extremes and odours
what types of neutral stimuli did Pavlov use?
metronome
bell
buzzer
how did Pavlov condition the stimulus of the metronome to produce the same response as the food?
he paired the metronome and the food
just before placing the food in the dogs mouth to produce salivation,Pavlov sounded a metronome
after several pairings of the metronome and the food, what happened?
the dog began salivating to the metronome alone, in anticipation of the meat powder
how many times did the tone and the food need to be paired for the dog to salivate from the tone alone?
usually 20 or more
what were the quantitative results of the metronome study?
salivation started after 9 seconds
by 45 seconds, 11 drops had been collected
what order did the stimuli have to be presented for salivation to occur from the conditioned stimulus?
when the NS / CS was presented before the UCS,
not if it came after
what could distract or affect the acquired learning?
the dog had to be alert
no other stimuli present to distract or affect the acquired learning.
what is associative learning?
related one stimulus to another
how did Pavlov establish reliability of his findings?
he set out to see if the same system of learning would work with neutral stimuli
for example, the presentation of a vanilla odour, and a visual test involving a rotating disc being seen prior to food being given
or
a shape or colour (CS2) with the sound of a metronome (CS1)
what did Pavlov find out about higher order conditioning?
that it was possible
did the dogs generalise the conditioned stimulus?
showed stimulus generalisation to sounds that were of a similar tone
were able to discriminate between sounds that were of quite a different tone
what happens when there is more similarity between a new neutral stimulus and the conditioned stimulus?
the greater amount of drooling from the dog
what were the two conclusions from Pavlovs experiment?
signalisation in the brain links the metronome to the food
conditioning is sensitive to many extraneous variables and to individual differences
what was the aims of Pavlov’s study?
to study how the cerebral cortex works in making associations
to look for a mechanism linking reflexes to the cerebral cortex
explain the role of conditioned reflexes in the eating behaviour of dogs
explore how salivation becomes associated with new stimuli apparently unrelated to food and the properties of this association
why does Pavlov’s study have low generalisability?
human and dogs brains are structurally different
used dogs to study cerebral cortex and humans have a bigger cerebral cortex to allow more complex processing
why was the study reliable?
it had a standardised procedure
as Pavlov ensured each time that the pairing was followed by food.
other studies investigating the cc show the same thing
why did the study have good internal validity?
operationalised the dependent variable by recording the amount of saliva produced during and after conditioning
What can be said about the ethics of the study?
Pavlov can be claimed to improperly caged the dogs
the dogs were in a small room and tied to a harness for periods of the study
why is the study objective?
quantitative measurement of saliva
high control over situations variables
is the study high in mundane realism? explain answer
yes
dogs are trained in similar ways
or
no
we don’t harness the dogs up
is the study high or low in ecological validity and why?
low
a dog is not normally kept in a room with little stimuli other than the sound of a metronome and food
dogs are not normally isolated in a small room
How has this study have application to real life?
development of therapies such as aversion therapy
c.c. has been used in big companies in advertising to make people buy their products
how does antromorphism link to the study?
we can’t assume that humans and animals behave for the same reasons.
cannot generalise findings
