Module 9 Classical Conditioning

1. Module 9Classical Conditioning

2. 3 Kinds of Learning • Classical Conditioning • Kind of learning in which a neutral stimulus acquires the ability to produce a response that was originally produced by a different stimulus • Operant Conditioning • Kind of learning in which the consequences that follow some behavior increase or decrease the likelihood of that behavior’s occurrence in the future • Cognitive Learning • Kind of learning that involves mental processes, such as attention and memory • May be learned through observation or imitation • May not involve any external rewards

3. Pavlov’s Experiment: 3 Steps • Select stimulus and response • Establish classical conditioning • Test for conditioning

4. Select Stimulus & Response • Neutral Stimulus • Some stimulus that causes a sensory response, but does not produce the reflex being tested • Bell does not normally cause Sam to salivate • Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) • Some stimulus that triggers a physiological reflex, such as salivation or eye blink • When presented to Sam, food causes him to salivate • Unconditioned Response (UR) • An unlearned, innate, involuntary physiological reflex that is elicited by the UCS

5. Establishing Classical Conditioning • Trial • Common procedure used in classical conditioning • Present both stimuli • Typical trial • Pair the neutral stimulus (tone) with the UCS (food) • Tone + Food = UCR (Salivation)

6. Testing For Conditioning • After 10 to 100 trials, test for the occurrence of classical conditioning • Present the CS (tone) without the UCS (food) • Conditioned stimulus (CS) • Formerly neutral stimulus that has acquired the ability to elicit a response that was previously elicited by the UCS • Conditioned response (CR) • Elicited by the CS • CR is similar to, but not identical in size or amount to, the UCR

7. Other Conditioning Concepts • Generalization • Tendency for a stimulus that is similar to the original CS to elicit a response that is similar to the CR • Carla may also experience anxiety when smelling her own hair shampoo because it is similar to the dentist’s aftershave • Discrimination • Occurs when an organism learns to make a particular response to some stimuli but not others • The smell of Carla’s nailpolish does not elicit feelings of anxiety • Extinction • A procedure in which a CS is repeatedly presented without the UCS • Therefore, the CS no longer elicits the CR

8. Other Conditioning Concepts cont. • Spontaneous Recovery • Tendency for the CR to reappear after being extinguished even though there have been no further conditioning trials

9. How Useful is Classical Conditioning? • Adaptive value • Usefulness of certain abilities or traits that have evolved in animals and humans that increases their chance of survival • Examples include finding food, acquiring mates, and avoiding pain • Taste-aversion learning • Associating a particular sensory cue with getting sick • Thereafter avoiding that particular sensory cue • Rats quickly learn to avoid the smells or taste associated with getting sick after eating poisonous bait • Preparedness • Animals and humans are biologically prepared to associate some combinations of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli more easily than others

10. How Useful is Classical Conditioning? cont. • Garcia showed that taste aversion could occur in one trial • He baited grazing areas with pieces of sheep flesh laced with a chemical that causes coyotes to become sick. As a result, there was an estimated 30-60% reduction in sheep killings by coyotes

11. Conditioned Emotional Response • Feeling some positive or negative emotion when experiencing a stimulus that initially accompanied a pleasant or painful event • Many couples have a special song that becomes emotionally associated with their relationship

12. Contiguity Theory • Classical conditioning occurs because 2 stimuli are paired closely together in time • As a result, the neutral stimulus becomes the CS, which elicits the CR • Because seeing pizza is paired closely in time with eating it, the sight of the pizza alone begins to elicit salivation

13. Cognitive Perspective • An organism learns a predictable relationship between 2 stimuli such that the occurrence of one stimulus predicts the occurrence of another • Classical conditioning occurs because the organism learns what to expect • Currently, there is widespread support for the cognitive perspective explanation of classical conditioning

14. Can Emotional Responses Be Conditioned? • John Watson tried to classically condition an emotional response in a young child named Little Albert • He presented a white rat followed by a loud noise that elicited a startle and crying Source: PhotoDisc, Inc. • Albert developed an emotional response (fear) to the white rat Source: PhotoDisc, Inc.

15. Anticipatory Nausea • Feelings of nausea that are elicited by stimuli associated with nausea-inducing chemotherapy treatments • Patients experience nausea in anticipation of their treatment • Conditioning anticipatory nausea • Neutral stimulus is smell of the treatment room and Michelle’s dish detergent • US is the chemotherapy which elicits nausea & vomiting • Conditioning trials occur when the smell of the treatment room is paired with the chemotherapy • This produces the CR which is that the smell of the treatment room or the detergent elicits nausea

16. Systematic Desensitization • Procedure based on classical conditioning • Person imagines or visualizes fearful or anxiety-evoking stimuli and then immediately uses deep relaxation to overcome the anxiety • Serves as a form of counterconditioning because it replaces fear with relaxation

17. 3 Steps To Systematic Desensitization • Learn to relax • Make an anxiety hierarchy • Imagine and relax