Chapter 3

*What is Classical Conditioning?

*Chapter 3 Guiding

Questions

* Who was Ivan Pavlov, and how did he discover conditioning?

* Is training a dog to salivate to the sound of a bell a big deal?

* Can glands learn?

* What is the best procedure for producing conditioning?

* How could you make a conditioning effort fail?

* What happens to conditioning when you stop training?

* Why does conditioning occur?

*Our Guiding Questions

* Who was Ivan Pavlov, and how did he discover conditioning?

* What is Pavlovian conditioning?

* What do you need to accomplish Pavlovian conditioning?

* What is higher-order conditioning?

* How is Pavlovian conditioning measured?

* What variables contribute to the success or failure of conditioning?

* What happens to conditioning when you stop training?

* Why does conditioning occur?

*Imagine…

*Close your eyes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3mKAKPYh6k

*While watching Jaws, you learned to associate the sound of the theme song with the appearance of a scary shark.

*You began to respond to the theme song before the shark ever appeared.

*Pavlovian Conditioning

*AKA: Classical Conditioning

*Ivan Pavlov was a key historical figure in the study of Pavlovian conditioning

*Pavlovian Conditioning in

its Simplest Form

*Two stimuli are paired (US and CS)

*Organism eventually demonstrates a reflexive response to the CS because of its pairing with the US

*Very important! The organism does not have to do anything for the US-CS pairing to occur

*Basic Procedures

*Unconditional reflex—relationships between an event and a response that exists relatively unconditionally; “unlearned” reflexes

*Unconditional stimulus—meat

*Unconditional response—salivation

*Conditional reflex—relationships between an event and a response that exist under certain circumstances (or conditionally)

*Conditional stimulus—bell

*Conditional response—salivation

*Basic Procedures

*Unconditional reflex—relationships between an event and a response that exists relatively unconditionally; “unlearned” reflexes

*Unconditional stimulus—shark

*Unconditional response—fear/anxiety

*Conditional reflex—relationships between an event and a response that exist under certain circumstances (or conditionally)

*Conditional stimulus—Jaws theme song

*Conditional response—fear/anxiety

*Conditioning Sniffy

*In-Class Experiments

*Find a partner!

*Take out a sheet of paper (one sheet per pair).

*Write both of your full names on the paper, the date, and “Classical Conditioning Experiments” somewhere at the top of the paper.

*Basic Procedures

*Unconditional reflex—relationships between an event and a response that exists relatively unconditionally; “unlearned” reflexes

*Unconditional stimulus—Puff of air

*Unconditional response—Blink

*Conditional reflex—relationships between an event and a response that exist under certain circumstances (or conditionally)

*Conditional stimulus—Snap

*Conditional response—Blink

*Back to Sniffy

*US—Shock

*UR—Fear/freeze

*CS—Light

*CR—Fear/freeze

* Examples of Pavlovian Conditioning

*Little Albert experiments http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt0ucxOrPQE (but there is an issue with them)

*Taste Aversions

*Fear/Phobia

* Higher-Order Conditioning(A More Advanced Form of

Pavlovian Conditioning)

Pairing a neutral stimulus with a well-established CS so that the organism begins to respond to the neutral stimulus.

*Examples of Higher-Order Conditioning

*Experiment with college students in your text (p. 67).

*Child who is bullied develops fear for other things associated with the bully (Powell, 2006).

*You are stung by a wasp then notice wasps hanging around a shed. You become anxious around sheds (Powell, 2006).

*How is Pavlovian Learning

Measured?

*By recording the latency of the response

*By using test trials in which the CS is presented randomly

*By measuring the intensity of a response

* Very Important Variables that Affect Pavlovian Conditioning

*What makes conditioning more successful or less successful?

*The way in which the CS & US are paired. Some pairings are more successful than others (see flowchart in your text).

*The contingency with which the CS & US are paired. (If one occurs, then the other occurs.)

*The contiguity in the CS-US pairing or the interstimulus interval (ISI). Shorter intervals are often better, but not always.

*The features of the CS and the US. A stronger stimulus is typically more effective (but not always). Ex: Being stung by a wasp in the woods (Powell et al., 2009)

* Whether or not the subject has had previous experience with a stimulus.

*Latent inhibition—when the CS is ineffective because it has often been present without the US

*The number of times the CS and US are paired.

*The amount of time between each trial (or pairing of the CS and US).

*Other variables related to the subject or the environment.

*Extinction

*What happens when training stops?

*Extinction is a procedure in which the CS is repeatedly presented without the US.

*When the CR no longer occurs, it is extinguished. Some CRs are very difficult to extinguish.

*After a period of rest, it may be recovered spontaneously (usually less intense response).

*Theoretical Perspectives of Conditioning: Why

does classical conditioning occur?

*What would Stimulus-Substitution Theory say?

*The CS elicits a response because a new connection in the brain is formed between the CS and the US.

*This is not currently a popular theory.

*What would the Wagner-Rescorla Model say?

*The amount of conditioning that can occur determines the success of conditioning.

*Other features of the stimuli also play a key factor.