Unit 03: Classical Conditioning

Question 1

what is classical conditioning?

Answer 1

the act of pairing a conditioned stimulus to an unconditioned stimulus in order to provoke a conditioned response

Question 2

What is the difference between habituation and sensitization?

Answer 2

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

Question 3

what is salience?

Answer 3

when something is noticeable or surprising

Question 4

what are the 5 common procedures for classical conditioning?

Answer 4

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

Question 5

what is a trace interval?

Answer 5

time in between CS and US in trace classical conditioning

Question 6

what are the 3 ways to measure classical conditioning responses

Answer 6

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

Question 7

what is conditioned inhibition?

Answer 7

a conditioned stimulus that represents the absence of a US

Question 8

what is the prerequisite for conditioned inhibition?

Answer 8

must investigate CR to the presence of the US first

Question 9

what are the 3 ways to measure conditioned inhibition

Answer 9

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

Question 10

what are the 4 things that affect the effectiveness of the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli?

Answer 10

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

Question 11

T or F - in taste aversion classical conditioning taste is more readily associated with light

Answer 11

F - it is more readily associated with illness

Question 12

T or F - in fear classical conditioning foot shock is more readily associated with only sound

Answer 12

T- and light

Question 13

match the species to the choice water they choose in the CS-US relevance experiment, explain their choices

1. rats
2. quail

a. dark blue water
b. sour water

Answer 13

1. w/ b because rats are night feeders that rely on smell and taste to get their food
2. w/ a because quail are daytime feeders that rely on their visual senses to find food

Question 14

what is the temporal coding hypothesis?

Answer 14

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

Question 15

what are the 2 ways to learn in the absence of a US?`

Answer 15

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

Question 16

T or F - a conditioned response is always the same as an unconditioned response

Answer 16

F - it is not

Question 17

How does the CR get affected wrt the CS-US interval? Provide an example of each (2)

Answer 17

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)

Question 18

what is the behavior sys theory?

Answer 18

series of response modes each with their own stimuli

Question 19

what is the difference between S-R learning and S-S association?

Answer 19

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

Question 20

what is US devaluation?

Answer 20

when the attractiveness of an US decreases

Question 21

what is a conditioned Analgesia? provide an example

Answer 21

when the CS elicits a physiological response in order to prepare/go against the US - drug use

Question 22

T or F - drug tolerance remains constant no matter how the drug is administered

Answer 22

F - drug tolerance decreases if the drug is administered in a new situation

Question 23

what is a conditioned compensatory response wrt the conditioning model of drug tolerance?

Answer 23

that drug effects will be reduced if in the presence of cues that aid the body to prepare for its effects

Question 24

what is the blocking effect? provide an example

Answer 24

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)

Question 25

what is the Rescorla-Wagner model?

Answer 25

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

Question 26

how can the Rescaorla-Wagner model explain the blocking effect?

Answer 26

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

Question 27

what is the associative value in relation to the Rescorla-Wagner model?

Answer 27

is represents how well the expectation is compared to reality wrt the presence of the US

Question 28

what is the overexpectaion effect and how can it result in the reduction of an associative value between a CS and US?

Answer 28

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

Question 29

what is conditioned inhibition wrt the Rescorla-Wagner model?

Answer 29

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

Question 30

how does the extinction of both excitation and inhibition conditions relate to the Rescolarla-Wagner model?

Answer 30

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

Question 31

what is the fxn of the limbic system and what is its 2 components?

Answer 31

1) involved in emotional response to a stimulus (memory + learning)
2) hippocampus
3) amygdala

Question 32

what is the amygdala involved in?

Answer 32

fear response

Question 33

what is the basolateral amygdala involved in?

Answer 33

it allows the CS to elicit fear

Question 34

what are the 3 components to the central nucleus of the amygdala?

Answer 34

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

Question 35

what is an attentional model and how does it relate to the Rescorla-Wagner model

Answer 35

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

Question 36

what are the 3 types of attention wrt the attentional model?

Answer 36

1) looking for action
2) looking for learning
3) looking for liking

Question 37

What is the difference between the temporal coding and the relative-waiting-time hypothesis?

Answer 37

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`

Question 38

what is the comparator hypothesis?

Answer 38

the idea that a conditioned response depends on the associative strength of the CS in comparison to other cues present during the training