Pavlovian Conditioning Flashcards
What is classical conditioning
simplest mechanism whereby organisms learn about relations between one event and another
what does classical conditioning allow
to anticipate what is about to happen and take the right action
what was pavlov’s first work
measured psychic secretions in response to food stimulus, studied digestion in dogs
what was pavlovs discovery when studying digestion
dogs would salivate in response to the sight of food the person feeding them
what did pavlov believe his studies could inform people about
mechanisms of association learning
functions of the nervous system
who discovered classical conditioning at approximately the same time as pavlov
edwin twitmyer
what did edwin twitmyer study, what were the results of his study
patellar tendon reflex, delivered light tap below knee, bell warned the tap (0.5sec)
bell accidentally presented alone: conditioned relfex
how is edwin twitmyers’ study unique
first experimental demonstration of classical conditioning in human being
give an example of unconditioned simple reflex
withdraw hand from heat, salivate to food, startle to loud noise
what is conditioning
when an external phenomena is associated with a definite response of the organism through connections in the brain
conditioned reflexes (temporary reflexes) will form, persist or disappear only _____________________
under certain conditions
what did pavlov believe studying temporary reflexes in dogs could tell
understanding the many complex relations the dog has to the outside world
what is pavlovian conditioning
learning in which a previously neutral stimulus acquires the capability of evoking a response from a previously non-neutral stimulus
describe the steps to create a pavlovian conditioning
- neutral stimulus repeatedly paired with reward/punishment (Unconditioned stimulus/UCS) that normally produces an unconditioned response (UR)
- neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS), capable of eliciting a conditioned response (CR) similar to the UCR
BREF: UCS –> UCR
NS+UCS–>UCR
CS–>CR
Describe the little albert experiment in pavlovian conditioning terms
UCS: loud noise
UCR: crying
UCS+CS: loud noise with rat
CR: crying
CS: rat
CR: crying
what were the questions the scientists were trying to answer with the little albert case
- can fear of a rat be conditioned by coinciding visual presentation with a loud noise
- If the fear of conditioning can be established, will there be transfer to other animals or objects
- How does time affect the conditioned emotional response
What concept is it when the fear conditioning is transferred to other animals or objects
generalization
how does time affect the conditioned emotional response
initial fear conditioning and transfers persisted for a few months can last for life
if more exposure without sound, would be ok
no extinction = still traumatized
dont need memory of the conditioning to have response
Possible methods do remove the learned conditioning
habituation/fatique of the reflex: present rat without sound over and over
reconditioning by stimulating erogenous zones
reconditioning by feeding candy or other food with the animal
building constructive activities around the object suggesting manipulation (play with building blocks with rat present)
what is it called when fear and anxiety lead to serious psychological and behavioral problems
post-traumatic stress disorder
what are the goals of fear conditioning research
understand how fear is acquired
what are the neural mechanisms
how it can be treated or attenuated (behavioral and pharmacological techniques)
what is contextual fear conditioning and what part of the brain is associated with it
shock paired with distinctive context/chamber
hippocampus
what is auditory fear conditioning and what part of the brain is associated with it
shock paired with distinctive tone
amygdala
what are the results of the fear studies
increased freezing to CS when repeated exposure to shock with CS
indirect measures of fear conditioning measure what
conditioned suppression
what measures are used to measure conditioned suppresion
lick suppression
response suppression
describe the lick suppression
thirsty animals given access to water and fear CS: interrupt their drinking
describe the response suppression
animals trained to respond for food before being presented with a fear CS
what is eyeblink conditioning
presentation of a tone (CS), then puff of air to the eye (UCS) which provokes eyeblink (UCR)
what has eyeblink conditioning research been useful for
translation research
learning located in the cerebellum
what has eyeblink conditioning research discovered
help uncover many neurobiological substrates of learning
what has the eyeblink conditioning research in infants shown
the importance of contiguity and contingency
close in time and predictive
describe the eyeblink conditioning research in infants
paired group: CS–>air puff
Unpaired gr: CS =/= puff
the paired gr had a strong CR in session 2
what are examples of classical conditioning in your life
positive/rewarding
negative/aversive
+: seeing server walk with food = :) think its our food
-: submit assignment late = -10%
what are the necessary elements for classical conditioning
UCS (appetitive or aversive)
neutral stimulus
repeatedly PAIR CS with UCS
how aware does the participant need to be during classical conditioning
none, associations are passive
conscious awareness is not necessary
what did Twitmyer conclude about the participants awareness after his study
CR was unintentional, and subjects were unable to prevent the response even when they wanted to
is pavlovian conditioning restricted to reflexes?
no, we approach cues that predict reward
what is the pavlovian conditioned approach
measures our approach to predictive CSs
what is another name for pavlovian conditioned approach
autoshaping
describe a pavlovian conditioned approach experiment
CS (cue) presentation paired with UCS (food)
lever presented with a tone prior to delivery of food
animal doesnt need to press lever but does
what is passive pairing
animal not required to do anything but does, they shape their own behavior
what are sign-trackers (STs)
CS becomes strong predictor of reward
CS is attributed with incentive (reward)
CS is approached and engaged
what are Goal-trackers (GTs)
go to location of food delivery upon presentation of CS
CS has strong predictive value, but limited incentive value (not attractive)
what are intermediates of sign-trackers and goal-trackers
animals carry out +/- equivalent of both behaviors
what does autoshaping highlight
importance of individual differences in response to our environment
does sign tracking occur in humans
yes
how is a food cue different CS for STs and GTs
good CS for both
not attractive/desired incentive stimulus in GTs
what was initially thought of individual differences between ST and GT
poor experimental control
is sign-tracking correlated with individual differences
yes, impulsivity adn vulnerability to drug abuse
why are STs more prone to addiction and/or relapse
excessive attraction to cues means they can more easily cause cravings and relapse
do STs or GTs self-administer cocaine faster
both the same rate
do STs or GTs work harder to self-administer cocaine
ST: work harder if price (effort) of infusion increases
do STs or GTs rely heavily on presence of discrete cues to self-administer cocaine
ST
brain manipulations that increase dopamine in brain reward pathways increase ________
sign-tracking
how does reward uncertainty affect sing-tracking
increases it
how certain in autoshaping
100%-1
each CS predicts 1 pellet
what is the probability and magnitude of uncertainty with sign-tracking
(50%-1-2-3) increases sign-tracking
1/2 CSs predict 1,2 or 3 pellets, the rest =0
what could the implications of ST and GT be important for
gambling
what did john garcia discover
is rats become nauseated after presented with a new taste, they will avoid that taste
what is the term for avoiding a taste when you get nauseated after eating it
conditioned taste aversion / the garcia effect
T or F
for conditioning taste aversion to occur, the unconditioned response (sickness) must immediately follow the conditioned stimulus-to-be (taste)
F, conditioned taste aversion happens even if the illness happens several hours after the new taste
why does the conditioned taste aversion happen even after hours of delay
adaptation: thats how long it takes for digested food to make us sick usually
what is the conditioned taste aversion
novel food or taste/flavor is paired with sickness
can CTA still occur if the sickness was not caused by the food itsself
yes
how is sickness induced in rats to study CTA
injection of Lithium Chloride LiCl or radiation
how is CTA measured in rats
taste preference measured in qt of fluid consumed the following day
is you have chicken with grapefruit and then get sick, what is most likely to develop CTA to and why
grapefruit, have a lot more experiences with chicken where u didnt get sick, but few with grapefruit so CTA is associated with that (novel/rare/different tastes more likely to cause CTA)
how does CTA impact chemotherapy
dont eat food u like before therapy, you will be sick and develop CTA to the food you last ate even if it is not what made you sick
can stimulus generalization occur with CTA? ex?
yes, oranges and clementines
CTA is a rare example of what type of learning
single-trial, most pavlovian conditioning require multiple trials, except fear
how does the intensity of the CTA vary as the delay between ingestion and sickness increases
it decreases
what substance can also produce CTA
drugs of abuse such as amphetamine
what is evaluative condition
flavor conditioning can influence the palatability of a neutral flavor depending on what it is paired with
Can any neutral stimulus become a CS
yes.. but depends on UCS, what you are trying to condition and how
What did garcia discover about CTA and how to condition it
develop CTA only with taste and smells, not sight or sound
through what senses can fear conditioning be learnt
sight and sound, not taste and smell
what was believed about what could be a CS for a UCS before garcia
any perceivable stimulus (light, sound, taste) could become a CS for any UCS
what is the CS-US interval
time between CS and UCS
what is the intertrial interval
time btw CS-UCS and the next pairing
what is short delayed conditioning
CS starts trial
US presented after a brief delay (overlap)
what is trace condiitoning
CS presented
once its done, US presented (delay)
what is long-delayed conditioning
like short-delayed conditioning
but CS is long, so longer interval
US presented while CS is still going
what is simultaneous codnitioning
CS and US shown at same time
what is backward conditioning
US presented first, then CS
what is the optimal form of classical conditioning
depends on task and neural circuit involved!
what is the temporal coding hypothesis
classical conditioning is learning what to expect and WHEN to expect it
what could the interval btw the CS and US affect
strength of learning and what information is being learnt
what is the result of the study that measured temporal coding hypothesis
CR for the first puff, then slowly learn to blink for the second one too (the longer the delay, the slower the acquisition)
how could we measure the magnitude and frequency of the CR
test trials where CS is presented alone
what is explicitly unpaired control
CS and US are presented far apart to prevent their association, but total nb of CS and US is the same as the conditioned group
what is pseudo-conditioning
presentation of the US alone increases responding (blink cuz random puffs of air!)
what is one of the primary purposes of pavlovian conditioning
predicting outcome of behavior
what is inhibitory pavlovian conditioning
learning to predict the absence of an outcome
why is inhibitory pavlovian conditioning important
unpredictability or uncertainty about a negative outcome can be very aversive, also allows to predict when bad things will not happen
what is a conditioned inhibitor
signal for the absence of the US
what is needed for a conditioned inhibition to occur
excitatory association between CS and UCS
how does inhibitory conditioning work
have CS+ that predicts food
then present CS- that will not have a UCS
give an example of inhibitory conditioning experiment
L+F–>S
L+T–>(S)
repeat
L+T–>nothing
what was discovered when observed that inhibitory conditioning worked
tone is an inhibitor, because stops the salvation from scratching
what is the result of light+tone+metronome paired with food
salivation, which impllies that metronome inhibits the inhibition
what is a negative contingency situation
CS- signals taht UCS is less likely to occur
T or F. negative contingency inhibits a conditioned response
no, it signals the absence of the UCS
how did pavlov show that conditioned inhibition could be measured
the absence of the CR (salivation) using a compound stimulus or summation test (CS+ + CS- gives no CR
what is the retardation of acquisition test
if sound previously associated with a nothing, will take longer to pair light and sound with food than if it was just the light that had no association
T or F. conditioned inhibition is the process of unlearning conditioned stimulus
F, learning a new rule on top of old rule
