Issues and Applications of Classical Conditioning Flashcards
Biological Predispositions
Seperation in time between CS and US is a critical determinant of conditioning
Equipotentiality premise- it doesn’t matte what stimuli are used in conditioning, any CS will do (not always true)
Taste Aversion Learning
John Garcia
Exposed rats to flavoured water and “bright noisy water” (water given in a bright and noisy environment)
Exposed rats to X rays to induce nausea
Tested drinking of 2 waters after x ray exposure
Control experiment with food shock instead of x rays
Results: Nausea could not be conditioned to light/noise, fear could not be conditioned to test
Taste aversion conditioning occurs at delays over 1 hour
Flavour Illness Associations: Conditioned Taste Avoidance
Linda Parker
Measured by consumption test
Appetitive and consummatory
(tested if they were attracted to the water- if they moved towards the water, and how much they drank)
Flavour Illness Associations: Conditioned Disgust
Measured by taste reactivity test
Consummatory
Attach syringe with water to rat, rat doesn’t have to work to get water (doesn’t have to seek it out, therefore doesn’t test appetitiveness)
If rat likes the taste, mouth will remain closed
If they don’t like the taste, they will make gagging (gaping) face and open their mouth
CS- flavoured solution (sucrose- causes rat to lick lips)
US- drug
UR- sickness
Pair CS with US, then present sucrose and measure “gapes”
Conditioned Disgust: Chemotherapy
Demonstrated in chemotherapy, begin to develop taste aversion to whatever you eat before chemo, eventually results in you not eating anymore
Preparedness
Martin Sligman
Animals/humans seem prepared to associate some CS-US combinations more readily than others
Defined by amount of trials needed to develop reliable responses
Prepared Associations
1 trial necessary
Time delays still result in learning
i.e. taste aversion
Unprepared Associations
Requires more trials
i.e Light and food
Counter Prepared Associations
Learning will not occur no matter what
Instinctive Drift
i.e. Training pigs to put coins in piggy bank
Conditioned pig to associate food with coin, but instead of putting the coin in a piggy bank, pigs have a natural instinct to bury their food so they put the coin in the ground instead of in the piggy bank
Somatic Nervous System CR
CR results from activation of emotion Emotion causes physiological reactions Fear is the CR, physiological responses are what result because of fear
Automatic Nervous System CR
CR can be identical to UR (i.e. eye blink), opposite to UR
i.e. Alcohol paired with bell, do you feel happy (a process) or sad (b process)
Drug Addiction and Conditioning
Direct Conditioning
Homeostatic Conditioning
Not mutually exclusive, usually both occur
Direct Conditioning
Focusing conditioning to A process or B process
i.e. if you inject a drug, you’ll get A process for an hour, and then B process for an hour afterwards
If condition during A process then you will be conditioning the A process
If condition during B processes then you will be conditioning the B process (CR will be similar to withdrawal)
Shirley Spragg’s Chimps: Drug Like Conditioned Responses
Conditioned place preference- chimps drag researchers to where drug to be injected
Needle Freaks
Shirley Spragg’s Chimps: Conditioned Withdrawal
Conditioned place aversion- Pair environment with later stages of heroin injection (i.e. 1 hours after injection), results in animals staying away from the environment
