Unit 03: Classical Conditioning Flashcards
what is classical conditioning?
the act of pairing a conditioned stimulus to an unconditioned stimulus in order to provoke a conditioned response
What is the difference between habituation and sensitization?
1) habituation is when a response to a stimulus is reduced due to repeated exposure
2) sensitization is an increase of a response to a stimulus due to it be salient
what is salience?
when something is noticeable or surprising
what are the 5 common procedures for classical conditioning?
1) trace conditioning: when there is a small trace interval between the CS and the US
2) short-delay conditioning: when the CS overlaps with the US slightly or ends right when the US begins
3) long-delay conditioning: when the CS overlaps with the US for a significant portion of that US exposure
4) simultaneous conditioning: when the CS is presented at the same time as the US
5) backward conditioning: when the CS follows the US
what is a trace interval?
time in between CS and US in trace classical conditioning
what are the 3 ways to measure classical conditioning responses
1) perform a test trial that presents the CS is the absence of the US to make sure the CR is unrelated to the UR
2) check the probability of how often the CS elicits a CR
3) check the latency of how soon the CR occurs after the CS exposure
what is conditioned inhibition?
a conditioned stimulus that represents the absence of a US
what is the prerequisite for conditioned inhibition?
must investigate CR to the presence of the US first
what are the 3 ways to measure conditioned inhibition
1) bidirectional response systems: when the behaviour returns back to its baseline as if the US was never paired with the CS
2) compound-stimulus test/summation test: when the stimulus reduced the response of the excitatory stimulus
3) retardation of acquisition test: a delay in excitatory response to the CS
what are the 4 things that affect the effectiveness of the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli?
1) checking if there is any latent-inhibition/CS-preexposure effect that repeatedly exposes the CS before pairing it with the US resulting in it taking longer to pair with the US later
2) checking if there is any US-preexposure effect that involves repeatedly presenting the US resulting in a reduction in the response due to habituation
3) the stimulus salience which accounts for how surprising or noticeable a stimulus is resulting in an increased response
4) the CS-US relevance which accounts for whether the CS pairs well with the US or not
T or F - in taste aversion classical conditioning taste is more readily associated with light
F - it is more readily associated with illness
T or F - in fear classical conditioning foot shock is more readily associated with only sound
T- and light
match the species to the choice water they choose in the CS-US relevance experiment, explain their choices
- rats
- quail
a. dark blue water
b. sour water
- w/ b because rats are night feeders that rely on smell and taste to get their food
- w/ a because quail are daytime feeders that rely on their visual senses to find food
what is the temporal coding hypothesis?
the idea of not only learning what the US is but also when to expect the US in relation to the presence of the CS
what are the 2 ways to learn in the absence of a US?`
1) higher-order conditioning: pairing CS 1 with CS 2 after CS 1 has already been paired with the US to elicit a CR
2) sensory preconditioning: pairing CS 1 with CS 2 first then pairing the CS 1 to the US resulting in the CS 2 also eliciting the same CR
T or F - a conditioned response is always the same as an unconditioned response
F - it is not
How does the CR get affected wrt the CS-US interval? Provide an example of each (2)
1) short intervals result in having to immediately deal with the US (fear)
2) longer intervals result in having time to prepare for the US (anxiety)
what is the behavior sys theory?
series of response modes each with their own stimuli
what is the difference between S-R learning and S-S association?
1) S-R learning: a learning connection between a CS and its CR resulting in the CS eliciting the CR directly
2) S-S association: a connection between the CS and the US resulting in the exposure of the CS activating a representation of the US
what is US devaluation?
when the attractiveness of an US decreases
what is a conditioned Analgesia? provide an example
when the CS elicits a physiological response in order to prepare/go against the US - drug use
T or F - drug tolerance remains constant no matter how the drug is administered
F - drug tolerance decreases if the drug is administered in a new situation
what is a conditioned compensatory response wrt the conditioning model of drug tolerance?
that drug effects will be reduced if in the presence of cues that aid the body to prepare for its effects
what is the blocking effect? provide an example
1) when the presence of one CS interferes with the learning of a CR to a new CS
2) when learning to read using pictures (CS1) with words (CS2) results in a less effective connection between the CS2 and the meaning of those words (US)
what is the Rescorla-Wagner model?
the idea that the strength of an S-S association depends on the difference between the expectation of a US and whether that expectation is reality
how can the Rescaorla-Wagner model explain the blocking effect?
it states that the CS1 is such a strong predictor of the US that there is no point in wasting the NRG to learn a second CS so it gets ignored
what is the associative value in relation to the Rescorla-Wagner model?
is represents how well the expectation is compared to reality wrt the presence of the US
what is the overexpectaion effect and how can it result in the reduction of an associative value between a CS and US?
1) overexpectation effect: the combination of 2 separately trained CS resulting in the same CR. This causes the subject to overestimate its expectations of the US
2) if the US cannot meet the expectations of the subject its associative value with the CS’s is reduced
what is conditioned inhibition wrt the Rescorla-Wagner model?
the idea that an excitatory CS has a positive associative value resulting in an increased expectation of the US while an inhibitory CS has a negative value which decreases the expectation of the US
how does the extinction of both excitation and inhibition conditions relate to the Rescolarla-Wagner model?
1) excitation becomes extinct if the CS is repeatedly presented in the absence of the US
2) inhibition becomes extinct if the CS is repeatedly presented in the presence of the US
what is the fxn of the limbic system and what is its 2 components?
1) involved in emotional response to a stimulus (memory + learning)
2) hippocampus
3) amygdala
what is the amygdala involved in?
fear response
what is the basolateral amygdala involved in?
it allows the CS to elicit fear
what are the 3 components to the central nucleus of the amygdala?
1) organizing fear response and increasing the attention to the CS
2) dorsolateral PAG which involves fight or flight
3) ventral PAG which involves freezing behavior
what is an attentional model and how does it relate to the Rescorla-Wagner model
1) attentional model dictates that learning is more likely to take place when the CS is more salient
2) the effectiveness of the US to get the attention of the subject dictates its associative value as it is more likely to elicit an expectation
what are the 3 types of attention wrt the attentional model?
1) looking for action
2) looking for learning
3) looking for liking
What is the difference between the temporal coding and the relative-waiting-time hypothesis?
1) temporal coding hypothesis: the idea that learning when the US occurs becomes more important than learning what the US is
2) relative-waiting-time hypothesis: the idea that how long a subject waits for the US in the presence of a CS is relative to how long they would wait for the US in training that did not contain a CS`
what is the comparator hypothesis?
the idea that a conditioned response depends on the associative strength of the CS in comparison to other cues present during the training
