Unit 2 (Ch. 3 & 4)

Question 1

Aversion therapy

Answer 1

Aversion therapy is the pairing of an unpleasant response (CR), often nausea, with a US that usually causes pleasure.
In aversion therapy, a stimulus that elicits an inappropriate response is paired with an aversive stimulus such as shock or an emetic drug.

Question 2

Backward conditioning

Answer 2

Backward conditioning is a Pavlovian conditioning procedure in which the unconditional stimulus is presented before the conditional stimulus

Question 3

Blocking

Answer 3

• failure of a stimulus to become a conditional stimulus when it is part of a compound stimulus that includes an effective conditional stimulus.
The effective conditional stimulus is said to block the formation of a new conditional stimulus.
Blocking occurs when a stimulus fails to become a CS due to its previous pairing within a compound stimulus with an effective CS. This is similar to overshadowing in that one stimulus prevents another from becoming a CS. The distinction between the two is that in overshadowing the effect is from differences in characteristics between the stimuli, whereas in blocking the effect is from prior experience with a specific part of a compound stimulus.

Question 4

Classical conditioning

Answer 4

A type of learning where a stimulus acquires the ability to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus. Explains reflexive responding that is largely controlled by stimuli that precede the response. Call and response. (Pavlovian Conditioning).

Question 5

Compound stimulus

Answer 5

two or more stimuli presented simultaneously, often as a conditioned stimulus

Question 6

Conditional reflex

Answer 6

a reflex acquired through Pavlovian conditioning consisting of a conditional stimulus and a conditional response

Question 7

Conditional response

Answer 7

A learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus that occurs because of previous conditioning.

Question 8

Conditional stimulus

Answer 8

A previously neutral stimulus that has, through conditioning, acquired the capacity to evoke a conditioned response (CS).

Question 9

Conditioned taste aversion

Answer 9

• Result from the pairing of distinctive flavors and aversive (especially nausea-inducing) stimuli
Differs from normal pavlovian conditioning procedures in two important ways.
First, the CS and US only need to be paired once, whereas other pavlovian conditioning requires multiple pairings of the CS and the US.
Second, in taste aversion conditioning the interval between the presentation of the CS and the US is pretty long, several minutes or even hours. In typical conditioning the interval is usually a couple of seconds.
Blue jays acquire a taste aversion for monarch butterflies after eating ones that are poisonous through having eaten certain milkweed. This is a conditioned taste aversion.

Question 10

Contiguity

Answer 10

nearness of events in time (temporal contiguity) or space (spatial contiguity)

Question 11

Contingency

Answer 11

• a dependency between events
• an event may be stimulus-contingent (dependent on the appearance of the stimulus) or response-contingent (dependent on the appearance of a behavior)

Question 12

Counterconditioning

Answer 12

• Exposure Therapy
• Mary Cover Jones
Peter had a fear of rabbits, but loved milk and crackers. She would slowly pair the rabbit with food that made him happy in order for him to feel safe around the rabbit.

Question 13

Delayed conditioning

Answer 13

• a Pavlovian conditioning procedure in which the conditional stimulus and unconditional stimulus overlap
• the conditional stimulus is presented before the unconditional stimulus, but continues after the unconditional stimulus appears
In delayed conditioning, the CS and US overlap.

Question 14

Extinction

Answer 14

• The gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response tendency.
In Pavlovian conditioning, the regular appearance of the CS alone–i.e., without the unconditional stimulus
this will lead to a loss of the conditional response
If, following conditioning, a CS is repeatedly presented without the US, the procedure is called extinction

Question 15

Higher-order conditioning

Answer 15

A conditioned stimulus functions as if it were an unconditioned stimulus. For example, pairing US meat with CS tone, then CS tone with another CS, a red light. The dog will salivate with the red light.
Frolov’s experiment in which a dog learned to salivate at the sight of a black square after it had been paired with a CS for salivating is an example of higher-order conditioning

Question 16

Intertrial interval

Answer 16

In Pavlovian conditioning, the interval between the pairings of a conditional stimulus and unconditional stimulus

Question 17

Latent inhibition

Answer 17

In Pavlovian conditioning, the failure of a conditional response to appear as a result of prior presentation of the conditional stimulus in the absence of the unconditional stimulus
CS was shown without US, now the CR isn’t happening.
The theory of latent inhibition suggests that we should be more likely to develop aversions to novel foods than to familiar ones.

Question 18

Overshadowing

Answer 18

• failure of a stimulus that is part of a compound stimulus to become a conditional stimulus
the stimulus is said to be overshadowed by the stimulus that does become a conditional stimulus
An experimenter presents a flash of light and a bell simultaneously, followed by food. Conditioning proceeds satisfactorily, but when the experimenter presets the light and bell separately, he finds that the bell is an effective CS, but the light is not. The experimenter has demonstrated overshadowing.

Question 19

Pavlovian conditioning

Answer 19

• the procedure of pairing a neutral stimulus (one that does not elicit a reflex response) with a unconditional stimulus (one that does elicit a reflex response)
the neutral stimulus is often referred to as the conditional stimulus, but strictly speaking, it becomes the CS only after being paired with a unconditional stimulus

Question 20

Preparatory response theory

Answer 20

theory of Pavlovian conditioning that proposes that the conditional response prepares the organism for the appearance of the unconditional stimulus

Question 21

Pseudoconditioning

Answer 21

The tendency of a neutral stimulus to elicit a conditional response when presented after an unconditional stimulus has elicited a reflex response

Question 22

Sensory preconditioning

Answer 22

• a procedure in which two neutral stimuli are paired, after which one is repeatedly paired with an unconditional stimulus
if the other stimulus is then presented alone, it may elicit a conditional response even though it was never paired with the unconditional stimulus

Question 23

Simultaneous conditioning

Answer 23

a Pavlovian conditioning procedure in which in which the conditional stimulus and unconditional stimulus coincide exactly–they begin and end at the same time

Question 24

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 24

The reappearance of a conditioned response that was thought extinguished- reappears after a period of nonexposure to the conditioned stimulus.

Question 25

Stimulus substitution theory

Answer 25

• in Pavlovian conditioning, the theory (by Pavlov) that the conditional stimulus substitutes for the unconditional stimulus.
It assumes that the conditional response is essentially the same as the unconditional response.

Question 26

Test trial

Answer 26

In Pavlovian conditioning, the procedure of presenting the conditional stimulus on some occasions without the unconditional stimulus to determine whether learning has occurred
One way to determine if conditioning has occurred is to present a CS alone. Each such presentation is called a test trial.

Question 27

Trace conditioning

Answer 27

a Pavlovian conditioning procedure in which the conditional stimulus begins and ends before the unconditional stimulus is presented

Question 28

Unconditional reflex

Answer 28

• a reflex that is largely innate (i.e., not the product of experience)
consists of an unconditional stimulus and an unconditional response

Question 29

Little Albert Study

Answer 29

The Watson and Rayner experiment with Little Albert involved the procedure known as delayed conditioning.
The CS and US in the Little Albert experiment were a rat and a loud sound.
Conditioned emotional responses are those emotions that have been conditioned through association with emotion-arousing stimuli. For example, in their work with Albert B., an 11-month old baby who showed no prior signs of fear of the CS of a white rat. By striking a steel bar to make a loud noise behind his head before each presentation of the white rat, they instilled an emotional fear response to white rats in him.

Question 30

Staats and Staats study

Answer 30

Racial prejudice.
The use of euphemisms (the use of a relatively inoffensive word or phrase to refer to something troubling or disturbing) is best explained by the work of Staats and Staats.
Statts and Staats ran an experiment where they paired a neutral word with a word that was a CS for a positive or negative stimulus. For example, they would pair the word “Swedish” with words like ugly, bitter, and failure, and the word Dutch with the words sacred, gift, and happy. The resulting ratings on a list of nationalities showed that the participants were affected in their perceptions of these nationalities by these conditioned emotional responses.

Question 31

Garcia study

Answer 31

Electric acid kool-aid test
The CS and US in the Garcia et al. experiment were flavoured water and radiation.
Differences: aversion after CS and US paired only once, and delay before UR.

Question 32

Peter and the rabbit study

Answer 32

Peter, whose case was described in connection with Mary Cover Jones’ work, had fear that was NOT the result of conditioning by a researcher - the researcher worked to eliminate his fear of rabbits.
Mary Cover Jones used counterconditioning, or the use of Pavlovian conditioning techniques to reverse the unwanted effects of conditioning, to treat a young child named Peter who was afraid of rabbits. By pairing a positive US of crackers and milk with the rabbit, and bringing that rabbit slowly closer through subsequent sessions, she was able to reduce his fear to the point of placing the rabbit on his lap without a negative response.

Question 33

Conditioned Emotional Response (CER)

Answer 33

Prejudice is an example of a CER, or Conditioned Emotional Response

Question 34

The notation that best describes the Pavlovian procedure

Answer 34

CS - US
That’s what the procedure does: it pairs a conditional stimulus with an unconditional stimulus. Everything else is done by the subject through their associations.

Question 35

Trial

Answer 35

Each pairing of a CS and US is one trial.

Question 36

Systematic desensitization

Answer 36

Systematic desensitization is a procedure in which a phobic person imagines a very weak form of the frightening CS while relaxed. An example would be for someone afraid of boats to imagine sitting in a canoe on the shore, then paddling by the shore, then on a motorboat, etc.

Question 37

In vivo desensitization

Answer 37

In vivo desensitization, real feared stimuli are used rather than imagined stimuli. An example of this would to be to present someone with an actual small puppy, and gradually work up to a larger adult dog, for someone who is afraid of dogs.

Question 38

Conditioned suppression

Answer 38

Conditioned suppression is a reduction in the rate of ongoing behaviour due to exposure to an aversive CS. The more an action is suppressed by CS, the greater the indication of fear. An example would be if you stop doing what you would normally do at work when a scary boss comes in, because you are afraid he will yell.