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Intro to Fall Term Lab:

Classical Conditioning. Intro to Fall Term Lab:. Classically Conditioning a Salivary Response in Dogs. Labs: What to Expect. Eight lab sessions You will work on an ongoing experiment using virtual dogs in a computer program You will collect and graph data from this program

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Intro to Fall Term Lab:

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  1. Classical Conditioning Intro to Fall Term Lab: Classically Conditioning a Salivary Response in Dogs

  2. Labs: What to Expect • Eight lab sessions • You will work on an ongoing experiment using virtual dogs in a computer program • You will collect and graph data from this program • At end of term, an abbreviated lab report based on this experiment is due

  3. Grade Breakdown • Attendance: 5% • Lab Report (including graphs): 7.5% • Total Lab Value: 12.5% (per semester)

  4. The Experiment:Classical Conditioning of a Salivary Response in Dogs • What does this mean? • How will we study this? • What are we looking for?

  5. Classical Conditioning:What does this mean? • Leads to a stimulus eliciting a response that does not naturally occur because of that stimulus • Done by pairing a stimulus that does cause the desired response with a neutral stimulus, until the neutral stimulus alone triggers that response. • An Example

  6. Key Words • “Conditioned Stimulus” (CS) • The neutral stimulus, that before conditioning does not naturally bring about the desired response • In our experiment this is a bell ringing

  7. Key Words continued… • “Unconditioned Stimulus” (US) • The stimulus that naturally evokes the desired response • In our experiment this is food pellets

  8. Key Words continued… • “Inter-Stimulus Interval” or “CS-US Interval” • Amount of time between the presentation of the Conditioned and Unconditioned stimuli

  9. Key Words continued… • “Unconditioned Response” (UR) • The response rendered by the presentation of both CS and US (bell and food) • In our experiment this is salivation

  10. Key Words continued… • “Conditioned Response” (CR) • The response rendered by the presentation of the CS (bell) alone • This is the same as the UR; what differs is the cause of it

  11. Key Words continued… • “Acquisition Trials” • Pairings of the CS and the US • In each of these trials the bell is presented and then the food is given

  12. Key Words continued… • “Extinction Trials” • Presentation of the CS without the US • Ringing the bell but no longer giving any food • Leads to a decrease in the response

  13. Classical Conditioning Overview • 1) US -> UR • 2)CS + US = UR • 3)CS -> CR

  14. Our Experiment:How will we study this? • We will be manipulating 4 variables • As we vary one, all others stay constant 1) Number of Acquisition Trials • Varying the # of pairings of the bell and food • This will vary 3 times 2) Conditioned Stimulus • Varying the loudness of the bell (in decibels) • This will vary 3 times

  15. Our Experiment continued…. Manipulating…. 3) Unconditioned Stimulus • Varying the number of food pellets given • This will vary 3 times 4) CS-US Interval • Varying the length of time between the CS and US • This will vary 3 times

  16. Our Experiment:What are we looking for? • By varying each of those independently we will find: • The optimal number of pairings of the CS and US when classically conditioning • Optimal decibel level for a CS • Optimal number of food pellets to use as US • Optimal length of time to allow pass between presenting the CS and US

  17. Our Experiment What is optimal? • How will we determine which variations are best? • We will measure the average number of drops of saliva secreted by the dogs • Assume that more drops of saliva are an indication of a stronger association/better learned response SalivaStronger Conditioning

  18. Conducting the Experiment:The Computer Program Where is the program? • Click on My Computer • Apps on Caesar (S:) • Double-click the ‘Psych210’ folder • Double-click on the ‘cc’ icon • On all campus computers

  19. Inside the Program • You will be asked the same 7 questions every time you run a trial: • Experimenter’s Name: Type your first name • (Hit Enter after each entry) • Number of Subjects to be Tested: Always type 4 • Number of Acquisition Trials: This will vary

  20. Inside the Program continued… • Number of Extinction Trials: Always type 50 • How intense the CS will be in decibels: This will vary • How strong the US will be: This will vary • How long the CS-US interval will be: This will vary

  21. Inside the Program continued… After you answer those 7 questions: • The program generates data based on your answers • Lists your trials and the measured drops of saliva for each • It asks you to press 1 to copy this file to your H: drive • Press 1 and hit Enter

  22. Inside the Program continued… • Immediately open your H: drive and locate this file • It will be named ‘CC’ • Right-click on this and Rename it • Otherwise each new trial will replace the previous one.

  23. Inside the Program continued… • To start a new trial, press F2 • This will begin the process all over again • For each experiment, you will be told what values need to be entered for each question

  24. Understanding your Data Files • Will see 5 columns of numbers broken into Acquisition Trials and Extinction Trials • Acquisition above, extinction below • The first 4 columns= the 4 individual dogs • How much saliva Dog 1, 2, 3, 4, produced at each trial • The last column to the right is the most important

  25. Understanding your Data Files • The last column of numbers= the average number of saliva drops the 4 dogs produced for each trial • Just those numbers are needed to make your graphs • Graphs will be made in Excel • How-To document can always be accessed on my website • www.stfx.ca/people/jlayes

  26. Graphing your Data:Creating and Interpreting Figures The graphs will show you: • The mean drops of saliva produced over acquisition and extinction trials • You will be able to see how the variations you made to one of the variables affected the saliva produced over trials

  27. Graph example

  28. Next Week: • You will run 3 experiments in the program • Manipulating the number of acquisition trials • 10, 30, 50 • Produce 2 Graphs • One for Acquisition data (last column from top portion of your 3 data files) • One for Extinction data (last column from bottom portion of your 3 data files)

  29. Lab Instructors:Contact Info Please contact us with any questions Dr. Ed Pencer Janea Layes epencer@stfx.ca jlayes@stfx.ca Annex 104 Annex 114F www.stfx.ca/people/epencer www.stfx.ca/people/jlayes

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