Procedures Based on Principles of Respondent Conditioning

1. Procedures Based on Principles of Respondent Conditioning Chapter 14

2. Respondent conditioning • Deals with behaviors that are elicited automatically by some stimulus • Doesn’t produce a new behavior • Causes an existing behavior to occur • Involves reflexive behavior • New stimulus-response sequence is learned

3. Definitions • Operant Conditioning • Behavior that operates on the environment can be modified by its consequences • Operant behaviors – behaviors that operate on the environment to generate consequences • Respondent Conditioning • Also called Pavlovian Conditioning • Behavior is elicited by prior stimuli apart from the consequences from behavior • Respondent Behaviors

4. Terminology • Unconditioned stimulus (US): • natural stimulus producing response • Unconditioned response (UR): • unlearned response • Conditioned stimulus (CS): • originally neutral now elicits reflective response • Conditioned response (CR): • learned reflective response to conditioned stimulus

5. Principle of Respondent Conditioning • A neutral stimulus followed closely in time by a US, which elicits a UR, then the previously neutral stimulus will also tend to elicit the same response

6. Principle of Respondent Conditioning

7. Factors Influencing Respondent Conditioning • The greater the number of pairings of a CS with a US, the greater is the ability of the CS to elicit the CR • Stronger conditioning occurs if the CS precedes the US by about half a second, rather than by a longer time or rather than following the US • Conditioned taste aversion – exception to the rule • A CS acquires greater ability to elicit a CR if the CS is always paired with a given US than if it is only occasionally paired with the US • When several neutral stimuli precede a US, the stimulus that is most consistently associated with the US is the one most likely to become a strong CS • Respondent conditioning will develop more quickly and strongly when the CS or US or both are intense rather than weak

8. Higher Order Conditioning • 1st order • Pair NS and US to produce UR • CS will produce CR • EX: Pair bell and food to produce salivation; bell will produce salivation after conditioning • 2nd order • Pair NS and CS to produce CR • Produce a new CS which elicits the CR • EX: Pair light with bell to produce salivation; light will produce salivation after conditioning

9. Higher Order Conditioning

10. Factors affecting conditioning • Stimulus generalization • Similar stimuli elicit CR • Stimulus discrimination • Respond to specific stimuli, but not similar ones

11. Respondent Extinction • Presenting a CS while withholding the US • CS will gradually loose its capability of eliciting the CR

12. Counterconditioning • Condition a new response to CS at the same time as the former CR is being extinguished

13. Common Respondently Conditioned Responses • Reflexive responses can be conditioned to previously neutral stimili • Biologically adaptive • Digestive System • Circulatory System – increased heart rate, blood flow • Respiratory System – coughing, sneezing, asthma attacks • Other Systems – urinary, reproductive systems • Biological Preparedness – predisposition of members of a species to be more readily conditioned to some stimuli as CSs than to others • Ex: taste aversion – conditioned reflex of digestive system

14. Respondent and Operant Conditioning Compared • Responses • Respondent behaviors are reflexive • Operant behaviors are voluntary • Reinforcers • Respondent conditioning pairs NS with US before the response • Operant conditioning presents reinforcement after the response • Extinction • Respondent conditioning – presentation of CS without US • Operant conditioning – withholding the reinforcer following a previously reinforced response • CSs and SDs • Both produce responses that have been conditioned to them • Conditioning procedures differ • CSs elicit the response conditioned to them • SDs evoke the responses to them

15. Applications of Respondent Conditioning • Aversion Therapy • Repeated pairing of a troublesome reinforcer with an aversive event • Rationale is counterconditioning • Treatment of Chronic Constipation • Presenting a mild, non-painful electric current prior to defecating • Defecation initially elicited by laxative, but drug gradually decreased • Apply current at the same time each day, so that eventually can remove the current and natural environment will elicit defecation response • Treatment of Nocturnal Enuresis (Bed-Wetting) • Bell-pad treatment • Bell connected to pad under the bottom sheet • Bell sounds (US) and awakens (UR) as soon as the first drop of urine makes contact with the pad • Eventually child will wake up before urinating • Has been conditioned to the stimulus of pressure of bladder