Module 9

Classical Conditioning

MR. McKinley

First a quick video…

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/head-games/videos/pavlovs-bell.htm

THREE KINDS OF LEARNING• Learning

– A relatively enduring or permanent change in behavior that results from previous experience with certain stimuli and response

• Behavior– Includes both unobservable

mental events (thoughts, images) and observable responses (fainting, salivating, vomiting)

THREE KINDS OF LEARNING (CONT’D)

• Classical conditioning– A kind of learning in which a neutral

stimulus acquires the ability to produce a response that was originally produced by different stimulus

• Ivan Pavlov– Conducted experiments with dogs– Pavlov rang a bell before putting food in a

dog’s mouth – After numerous trials of pairing the food

and bell, the dog salivated to the sound of the bell

– This is a conditioned reflex

PROCEDURE: CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

• Step 1: Choosing stimulus and response– Neutral stimulus

• some stimulus that causes a sensory response, such as being seen, heard, or smelled, but doesn’t produce the reflex being tested

– Unconditioned stimulus• USC; some stimulus that triggers or elicits

a physiological reflex, such as salivation or eye blink

– Unconditioned response• UCR; unlearned, innate, involuntary

physiological reflex elicited by the unconditioned stimulus

PROCEDURE: CLASSICAL CONDITIONING (CONT’D)

• Step 2: Establishing classical conditioning– Neutral stimulus

• trial; pair neutral stimulus (bell) with the unconditioned stimulus (food)

• neutral stimulus presented first, then short time later, the unconditioned stimulus

– Unconditioned stimulus• seconds after the tone begins, present the UCS

– Unconditioned response • UCS (food) elicits the UCR (salivation)

PROCEDURE: CLASSICAL CONDITIONING (CONT’D)

• Step 3: Testing for conditioning– Conditioned stimulus

• CS; a formerly neutral stimulus that acquires the ability to elicit a response that was previously elicited by the unconditioned stimulus

– Conditioned response• CR; elicited by the conditioned

stimulus and similar to, but not identical in size or amount to, the UCS

• CR; less salivation than the UCR

OTHER CONDITIONING CONCEPTS

• Generalization– Tendency for a stimulus that’s

similar to the original conditioned stimulus to elicit a response similar to the conditioned response

• Discrimination– Occurs during classical conditioning

when an organism learns to make a particular response to some stimuli but not to others

OTHER CONDITIONING CONCEPTS (CONT’D)• Extinction

– Refers to a procedure in which a conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus, and, as a result, the conditioned stimulus tends to no longer elicit the conditioned response

• Spontaneous recovery– Tendency for the conditioned conditioned

response to reappear after being response to reappear after being extinguishedextinguished, even though there have been no further conditioning trials

Classical Conditioning:Definitions

Unconditioned Stimulus (US): a stimulus that has the ability to produce a specified response before conditioning begins. (FOOD)

Unconditioned Response (UR): the response produced by the US. (SALIVATION PRODUCED BY FOOD)

Conditioned Stimulus (CS): an initially neutral stimulus that comes to produce a new response because it is associated with the US.(BELL)

(SALIVATION PRODUCED BY THE BELL)Conditioned Response (CR): the response produced by the CS.

Classical Conditioning:The Elements of Associative

Learning

Ivan Pavlov

Salivation

Conditioning Trial:

Test Trial: Salivation

Classical Conditioning:Basic Principles

After conditioning has taken place, repeatedly presenting the CS without the US will make the CR weaker and eventually make it disappear.

AcquisitionRepeatedly pairing a CS with a US will produce a CR.1 pairing = presenting the CS and then quickly presenting the US:

Extinction

X

Classical Conditioning:Additional Principles

Spontaneous RecoveryFollowing extinction, the CR reappears at reduced strength if the CS is presented again after a rest period.

Stimulus GeneralizationAfter a CR has been trained to a CS, that same CR will tend to occur to similar stimuli without further training;The greater the similarity, the stronger the response will be.

Conditioning:Test for Generalization:

Classical Conditioning

A subject responds to the CS but not to a similar stimulus because the CS was paired with a US but the similar stimulus was presented without the US.

X

Stimulus Discrimination

ACTIVITY

• Give each student a cup of powder, then choose some neutral stimulus to serve as a conditioned stimulus. The Cogans use the word “Pavlov.”

• Instruct your students to moisten the tip of their index finger and to watch for your signal (for example, you will raise your arm) to dip their finger into the powder and then put it into their mouth. Also inform them that from time to time you will say the words “test trial” instead of giving the signal; when they hear those words, they should not dip into the powder but close their eyes and concentrate on their experience.

• Present the CS and, after a small delay (0.5 to 1.5 seconds), give the signal for your students to dip into the lemonade powder.

• Repeat trials at 10- to 15-second intervals, with a test trial after every 10 conditioning trials.

• After each test trial ask for a show of hands of those who salivated.

• When all or most of the students have demonstrated conditioning, begin extinction using the same test-trial procedure (in which you state on successive trials, “Pavlov . . . test trial”). Extinction should be completed during the same class period.

THREE KINDS OF LEARNING (CONT’D)

• Operant conditioning– Refers to a kind of learning in which the

consequences that follow some behavior increase or decrease the likelihood of that behavior’s occurrence in the future

• E. L. Thorndike– Experimented with cats in the puzzle box

• Law of effect– Says that if some random actions are followed by

pleasurable consequences or reward, such actions are strengthened and will likely occur in the future

THREE KINDS OF LEARNING (CONT’D)

THREE KINDS OF LEARNING (CONT’D)

• Cognitive learning– A kind of learning that involves mental processes,

such as attention and memory; may be learned through observation or imitation, and may not involve any people performing any observable behaviors

• Albert Bandura– Found that children who had watched a film of an

adult modeling aggressive behavior played more aggressively than children who had not seen the film

– Bandura’s study demonstrated that we can learn through observation or imitation

ADAPTIVE VALUES & USES

• Adaptive value– Refers to usefulness of certain abilities or traits that

have evolved in animals and humans and tend to increase their chances of survival, such as finding food, acquiring mates, and avoiding pain and injury

• Taste-aversion learning– Refers to associating a particular sensory cue (smell,

tastes, sound, or sight) with getting sick and thereafter avoiding that particular sensory cue in the future

ADAPTIVE VALUES & USES (CONT’D)

• Adaptive value– Explanation– Preparedness– Refers to the phenomenon that animals and humans

are biologically prepared to associate some combinations of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli more easily than others

– Animals are genetically prepared to use different senses to detect stimuli that are important to their survival and adaptation

ADAPTIVE VALUES & USES (CONT’D)

• Classical conditioning and emotion

– Conditional emotional response• feeling some positive or negative emotion, such as

happiness, fear, or anxiety, when experiencing a stimulus that initially accompanied a pleasant or painful event

• sound of a rattlesnake or wail of a siren

THREE EXPLANATIONS

• Theories of classical conditioning

– Stimulus substitution and contiguity theory• stimulus substitution means that a neural bond or

association forms in the brain between the neutral stimulus (bell) and unconditioned stimulus (food)

– Contiguity theory• classical conditioning occurs because two stimuli

(neutral stimulus and unconditional stimulus) are paired close together in time (contiguous)

THREE EXPLANATIONS (CONT’D)

• Theories of classical conditioning

– Cognitive perspective• says that an organism learns a predictable

relationship between two stimuli such that the occurrence of one stimulus (neutral stimulus) predicts the occurrence of another (unconditioned stimulus)

APPLICATION

• Systematic desensitization– Procedure based on classical conditioning– Person imagines or visualizes fearful or anxiety-

evoking stimuli – Immediately uses deep relaxation to overcome the

anxiety– Form of counterconditioning because it replaces, or

counters, fear and anxiety with relaxation