Pavlov- experiment with salivation in dogs Flashcards
What were the 2 aims?
- to explain the role of conditioned reflexes in the eating behaviour of dogs
- explore how salivation becomes associated with new stimuli unrelated to food and properties of this association
What type of experiment was it?
Lab
what was the sample?
35 dogs
What was the dependent variable?
salivation collected from the salivary glands of immobilised dogs
How was production of saliva measured?
by volume / drops in a cannula
Where did the experiment take place?
In a soundproof chamber
How was the baseline established?
By measuring salivation in response to a NS (metronome/bell)
What was the unconditioned stimulus?
food
How many times was the NS (bell) paired with the UCS (food)?
20 times
How were further variations used to investigate extinction and spontaneous recovery of salivation?
The NS (metronome) was now a CS and was presented several times without the UCS which produced extinction
What was the forward conditioning?
The bell (NS) was presented before the food (UCS)
What was the backward conditioning?
Food (UCS) presented after the bell (NS)
What were the results?
in 1 session Pavlov recorded that salivation started 9 seconds after the metronome sound and 45 drops were collected
what was the results of backwards pairing?
No salivation found in response to the NS
What were the 2 conclusions?
- Signalisation- a link is likely to be made in the brain between a UCS and an NS that occurs just before the UCS
- Has survival value in preparing an organism for events
What is the main problem with the generalisability of the results?
(G.r.a.v.e)
Conducted on dogs
Cant really generalise results to humans as humans have structurally different brains from other species and therefore may respond different
Humans have a larger cerebral cortex that other species which permits more complex cognitive processing inducing conscious choice
How does the inductive reasoning add reliability?
(G.R.a.v.e)
initially observed how the dog’s salivate for the mere sound of bells ringing and then tested this effect in a series of experiments until he arrived at the theory
How was the study standardised?
(g.R.a.v.e)
NS remained the metronome
How did was there high reliability?
(g.R.a.v.e)
used highly reliable scientific methods- research was carried out from a lab and standardised procedures were used
How can there be clinical applications?
(g.r.A.v.e)
in understanding problem-eating behaviours.
Obesity can partially be understood in terms of conditioned responses which were very likely displayed by Pavlov’s dogs
What does Anita Jonsen et al (2003) say for clinical applications?
(g.r.A.v.e)
Overweight children have acquired very strong associations between cues that predict the arrival of food and the salivation response.
Overeating follows exposure to these cues
How did the study have high internal validity?
(g.r.a.V.e)
reduced impact of extraneous variables; took place in a sound proof chamber to reduce the possibility of external sound distracting the dogs/ providing additional stimuli
How did the method of collecting saliva increase validity?
(g.r.a.V.e)
the collection of saliva externally in a cannula helped prevent any loss of saliva
How did the study lack ecological validity?
(g.r.a.V.e)
controlled lab setting means the research may not be true in naturalist settings
The dogs were kept in unusual conditions in harnesses in a box with drip feeds attached to their mouths and they were presented with odd stimuli
