Classical Conditioning Flashcards
What are the two different types of unconscious learning? Define each of them.
The two different types of unconscious learning is classical conditioning and instrumental conditioning. Classical conditioning allows us to associate two related events while instrumental conditioning allows us to associate actions with consequences.
What is another name for classical conditioning? Why is it called this?
Another name is Pavlovian conditioning. It was named after the founder of classical conditioning Ivan Pavlov.
What experiment lead to Pavlov’s discovery?
The experiment that lead to Pavolv’s discovery had to do with the stages of digestion. He realized that dogs would begin to salivate before the food reached their mouth. It seemed that some action before digestion triggered the salivation. In his experiment, the sound of metronome signaled to the dog that food was going to be delivered. Prior to training, the sound of the metronome had no observable effect on the dog’s behaviour. But after training, the sound of the metronome would cause the dog to start salivating. This new behaviour is called a conditional reflex.
Provide an example of a contingent relationship that is present in everyday life.
When we see lightning, we automatically expect thunder to follow it. This is an example of a contingent relationship. The presentation of the lighting reliably predicts the presentation of thunder that will follow it.
List an advantage of forming contingent relationships.
Forming contingent relationships allows individuals to respond to the signal before the event even occurs. This conditional response can promote survival. For instance, it makes sense to salviate in anticipation of the food arriving because it makes digestion more efficient. Learning contingencies is critical for avoiding predators - animals need to learn the smell, or sound of the predators so that they can successfully escape the predator.
Define the following terms: US, UR, CS, CR. Explain how they relate to one another using Pavlov’s experiment.
Unconditional stimulus (US) is any stimulus or event that occurs naturally, prior to learning. Unconditional response (UR) is the response that occurs naturally following the US. Conditional Stimulus (CS) is a previously neutral stimulus that becomes associated with an unconditional stimulus to eventually trigger a response on its own. Conditioned response (CR) is the response that occurs following the CS once the contingency between the CS and the US have been learned. Normally, the CR is similar to the UR. In Pavolov’s experiment, the US would be placing the food in the dog’s mouth, and the UR would be the salivation that results from it. Placing the food in the dog’s mouth creates a natural biological response, salivation (UR). The sound of the metronome is the CS and the CR is also salivation. Prior to training the sound of the metronome does not initiate salivation - it is only after the contingency is learned that it initiates salivation.
Pavlov explained that process in which a contingency is learned between the CS and the US can be characterized by a negatively accelerating curve. What is this process called? Justify his decision to describe this process as a negatively accelerating curve.
This process is called acquisition. He described this process as such because when we normally learn contingencies, they are learned slowly. Majority of the learning happens during the earlier stages.
Is it necessary for their to be multiple trials for contingencies to be learned?
No. In some cases a single trial is enough for a contingency to be acquired. For example, rats have a trait called neophobia (avoiding unfamiliar foods). They are able to learn contingency between food and sickness in a single trial. Hence they learn taste aversion.
In terms of classical conditioning, what is extinction?
Extinction is the loss of the CR when the CS is presented in the absence of the US. For example, when looking at Pavlov’s experiment, presenting the sound of the metronome alone without brining the food after, will result in a loss of salivation. In the beginning, the dog will salivate as learned, but after awhile, the dog will stop salivating (i.e. lose the CR).
Can contingencies be unlearned?
No, they are not necessarily unlearned. When the CS is presented in the absence of US, the CR begins to fade (i.e. extinction), but this is not because the CR is being unlearned. However, although it seems as if the CR has been unlearned, it actually has not been unlearned. Instead, extinction actually promotes a learned inhibitory response that competes with the original contingency. Extinction leads to learning an inhibitory response that overtakes the original contingency that existed between CS and US, hence causing the CR to fade. That is why we are able to immediately recover the CR following a rest period after extinction - spontaneous recovery.
Michelle has a phobia (fear) of dogs after being bitten as a child. Assuming Michelle’s fear response is classically conditioned, list what the US, UR, CS, and CR are.
US is being bitten, UR is the fear of pain, CS is the dog, and CR is the fear of dogs.
Even though when Michelle was younger she was bit by a doberman, why is it now that any type of dog scares her?
This is due to stimulus generalization. Stimulus generalization is the process by which stimuli similar to the CS will also elicit a CR. However, the other dogs will not initiate as much fear as the doberman would. This is shown through a generalization gradient.
What is stimulus discrimination?
Stimulus discrimination is the opposite of stimulus generalization. It restricts the range of conditional stimuli that can elicit a response. It does this by providing an absence of US when something similar to the CS is presented.
Provide an example that explicitly demonstrates the difference between stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination.
The presence of 500Hz tone results in an electric shock. According to stimulus generalization, a range from about 400Hz to 600Hz tone will result in fear of electric shock (CR), due to the presence of the electric shock (UR) after the 500Hz tone (US). According to stimulus discrimination, we can eliminate the subject’s fear (CR) of 600Hz tones, while maintaining the fear of 500Hz tones (UR) by repeatedly presenting a 600Hz tone in the absence of electric shock.
What are the two variables in stimulus discrimination?
The two variables are CS+ and CS-. CS+ predicts the presence of shock and CS- predicts the absence of shock.
