What is Classical Conditioning?

1. What is Classical Conditioning? Chapter 3

2. 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? Chapter 3 Guiding Questions

3. 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? Our Guiding Questions

4. Close your eyes. Imagine…

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

6. 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.

7. AKA: Classical Conditioning • Ivan Pavlov was a key historical figure in the study of Pavlovian conditioning Pavlovian Conditioning

8. 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 Pavlovian Conditioning in its Simplest Form

9. 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

10. 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 Basic Procedures

12. Conditioning Sniffy

13. 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. In-Class Experiments

14. 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 Basic Procedures

15. US—Shock • UR—Fear/freeze • CS—Light • CR—Fear/freeze Back to Sniffy

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

17. Taste Aversions

23. Fear/Phobia

27. Pairing a neutral stimulus with a well-established CS so that the organism begins to respond to the neutral stimulus. Higher-Order Conditioning(A More Advanced Form of Pavlovian Conditioning)

29. 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). Examples of Higher-Order Conditioning

30. 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 How is Pavlovian Learning Measured?

31. 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. Very Important Variables that Affect Pavlovian Conditioning

32. 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

33. 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.

34. What happens when training stops? • Extinction is a procedure in which the CS is repeatedly presented without the US. Extinction

35. 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).

36. 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. Theoretical Perspectives of Conditioning: Why does classical conditioning occur?

37. 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.