TOPIC 3 - Classical (Respondent) Conditioning

Question 1

Form of learning in which neutral stimulus comes to signal occurrence of a second stimulus
- behaviours elicited by antecedent stimuli
- conditioning process involves manipulation of antecedent stimuli

Answer 1

Classical Conditioning

Respondent/Pavlovian Conditioning

Question 2

Stimulus that naturally elicits an unconditioned response without prior conditioning - automatic

• list the two forms of this type of stimulus:

Answer 2

unconditioned stimulus (US)

1. Appetitive - pleasant US
2. Aversive - unpleasant US

Question 3

Response elicited by the presentation of an unconditioned stimulus
(Usually has survival value)

Answer 3

unconditioned response (UR)

Question 4

Reflex arc, inborn behaviour

Answer 4

Innate

Question 5

Qualities of an effective unconditioned stimulus:

Answer 5

• evokes strong bodily response
• more intense US -> easier to produce later conditioned response

Question 6

Stimulus that doesn’t naturally elicit response

Answer 6

neutral stimulus

Question 7

Previously neutral stimulus that has been paired with unconditioned stimulus -> now elicits conditioned response (similar to unconditioned response)

Answer 7

conditioned stimulus

Question 8

process of learning about a relationship between two variables

Answer 8

acquisition

Question 9

Acquisition process in classical conditioning:

Answer 9

unconditioned stimulus paired + conditioned stimulus -> unconditioned response

• connected conditioned stimulus to unconditioned so that EVENTUALLY, after the acquisition process, it’ll just be conditioned stimulus + unconditioned response

Question 10

Example of Acquisition PROCESS taking place with Jewels

Answer 10

Unconditioned stimulus + conditioned stimulus elicits unconditioned response:

smell of food + sound of can opening elicits salivation

Question 11

Conditioning AFTER ACQUISITION + Jewels example

Answer 11

Conditioned stimulus -> (elicits) -> conditioned response

sound of can opening -> (elicits) -> salivation (smell of food not needed)

Question 12

Response elicited by a conditioned stimulus AFTER that stimulus has been repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus

Answer 12

Conditioned response

• similar to the unconditioned response, but does not need to be identical
• eg: for jewels the unconditioned response is to salivate to food; after acquisition, the conditioned response is to salivate to the sound of the can opening

Question 13

The interval of time between the presentation of the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the occurrence of the (CR)

• basically how long it takes for subject to react to the CS
• requires the CR to occur before the conditioned stimulus prevented (no shit it’s testing if the CS is working)

Answer 13

Latency of the Conditioned Response

Question 14

Conditioned responses tend to get stronger as conditioning proceeds

Answer 14

intensity of the conditioned response

Question 15

Present the conditioned stimulus ALONE with no US (making sure the CS works)

Answer 15

Test Trials

Probe Trials

Question 16

Type of classical conditioning that STARTS with pairing an unconditioned stimulus with a conditioned stimulus to get a conditioned response. Once that first round of conditioning is complete, you take the newly conditioned stimulus, and tie that to ANOTHER conditioned stimulus.

Example: US - smell of food; UR - salivating; CS - sound of can opening; CR - salivating
Let’s say I’ve conditioned Jewels to salivate (CR) to the sound of a can opening (CS). Now I will pay the sound of a can opening with a SECONDARY conditioned stimulus like the sound of a clap (CS1). Jewels salivates to the sound of the can so when I pair with the sound of the clap, eventually she’ll start salivating to the sound of the clap alone (CR1)

Answer 16

Higher Order Conditioning

Question 17

The acquisition phase DURING classical conditioning occurs when the _________ stimulus is paired with _________ stimulus so that the subject produces a(n) _________ response because they’ve associated the _________ stimulus, with the _________ stimulus that is eliciting the unconditioned response.

Answer 17

The acquisition phase DURING classical conditioning occurs when the UNCONDITIONED stimulus is paired with CONDITIONED stimulus (or vice versa) so that the subject produces a(n) UNCONDITIONED response because they’re learning the CONDITIONED stimulus, is associated with the UNCONDITIONED stimulus that is eliciting the unconditioned response.

Question 18

5 factors involving the NS and US that influence conditioning:

Answer 18

(btw NS and US):

1. Nature of NS and US (features)
2. Temporal Relationship (contiguity)
3. Contingency
4. # of pairings (can get mixed up)
5. Previous exposure to the NS (has to be noticeable/salient enough)

Question 19

A more intense unconditioned stimulus will make it _______ easier/harder to produce a conditioned response.

Answer 19

easier

Question 20

Neutral stimulus has to be noticeable enough to get it to be associated with the unconditioned stimulus.
Higher intensity = more _______

Answer 20

Salience

Question 21

Aspects of the NATURE of the NS and US (2):

Answer 21

• are they relevant to each other - eg: music and sound
• physical characteristics

1. meaning
2. physical features

Question 22

When a new compound stimulus is used as a conditioned stimulus, but ONLY A PARTICULAR ELEMENT (the more intense or salient stimulus) is able to elicit the CR.

Answer 22

Overshadowing

Question 23

When a stimulus has two prominent features but one is typically more salient.

• sometimes only one feature might get learned because it’s so much more salient it prevents us from learning about the other (overshadowing)

Answer 23

Compound stimulus

Question 24

5 types of NS (becoming CS) and US temporal relationships:

Answer 24

1. Short-delayed
2. Trace
3. Long-delayed
4. Simultaneous
5. Backward

Question 25

type of temporal relationship in classical conditioning: CS presented alone then US overlaps shortly after onset - MOST EFFECTIVE conditioning procedure

Answer 25

short-delay conditioning - so effective bc so close together in time, easy to link and assume they happen together

Question 26

In short-delay conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus is presented ___________ (time) after the conditioned stimulus.

Answer 26

A minute or less than a minute after (otherwise it’s not considered short-delay conditioning)

Question 27

type of temporal relationship in classical conditioning: CS presented first, and then US overlaps closer to the end of the CS, but the CS is on for a longer time - CS can run for a few minutes to up to a day - think short-delay but longer CS, and US just overlaps for some time at the end - eg: CS is 3 minutes -> US overlaps for last 30 seconds and continues past - eg: CS is 24 hours -> US overlaps for 2 hours and continues past

Answer 27

long-delay conditioning

Question 28

type of temporal relationship in classical conditioning: NO OVERLAP between CS and US, so temporal contiguity matters (how close together in time the CS and US are presented)

Answer 28

Trace conditioning

Question 29

type of temporal relationship in classical conditioning: CS and US onset at the same time

Answer 29

Simultaneous conditioning

Question 30

Criticism of simultaneous conditioning:

Answer 30

Prone to overshadowing when CS and US onset at the same time - the subject may only pay attention to the more biological automatic or salient stimulus, making it less effected than short/long-delayed and trace conditioning

Question 31

With backwards and technically simultaneous conditioning being the exceptions, in all classical conditioning temporal relationships, the _________ stimulus is presented first.

Answer 31

Conditioned stimulus (previously neutral) Conditioned stimulus -> Unconditioned stimulus

Question 32

type of temporal relationship in classical conditioning: Unconditioned stimulus occurs before the conditioned stimulus -> CS usually right after US

Answer 32

Backward conditioning

Question 33

Criticism of backward conditioning: US before CS

Answer 33

inconsistent results: how is the CS going to be known an indicator that the US is coming if the CS is presented after?

Question 34

Temporal relationship/time between NS-US pairings

Answer 34

contiguity

Question 35

Interval between one CS-US exposure (trial 1) and another CS-US exposure (different trials same CS-US)

Answer 35

Intertrial Interval (pretty self explanatory)

Question 36

Contingency between NS and US means that the NS and US ______ reliably - contingency - knowing the US follows the NS, making the NS a reliable predictor of the US.

Answer 36

co-occur

Question 37

Events are close together in time and/or space

Answer 37

Contiguity

Question 38

More repeated pairings of the NS with the US usually forms a stronger association, but the first pairing produces the ________ learning effect because the more surprising something is, the more we learn about it. As the number of pairings trials increases, the learning curve starts to get closer to flattening out because it’s less surprising/only so much you can learn from a pair.

Answer 38

Strongest - First pairing of NS and US produces strongest learning effect

Question 39

Model representing the idea that the learning curve starts to flatten out as the number of trials increases -> indicates theres a maximum learning at which there are no more behaviour changes

Answer 39

Rescorla-Wagner model remember: RW model - learning

Question 40

∆V=k(λ - V)

Answer 40

Rescorla-Wagner Model - represents learning curve in classical conditioning - more trials, less surprising, associate value or degree of learning starts to flatten out as trial number increases

Question 41

Learning something is poisonous or uncomfortable to eat; single occurrence can last a whole lifetime

Answer 41

Conditioned Taste Aversion (CTA)

Question 42

Conditioned Taste Aversion Example:

Answer 42

When I ate a banana when I was 5, and I like accidentally bit down weird, and a massive chunk of it slid down my throat, and made me feel sick. I then avoided bananas for the next 10-12 years of my life. That one time I decided to check out the Vietnamese place near my neighbourhood for boba, I got a hot pink coloured boba, and then had food poisoning for the first time in my life. I should’ve left a bad review. I’m never going back there that was so horrific.

Question 43

eating a (usually novel) food -> experiencing an aversive consequence, even if it’s hours later this is:

Answer 43

Conditioned Taste Aversion

Question 44

__________ is the exception to the rule that classical conditioning generally needs more than one pairing of the NS and US for the NS to become a CS producing a CR.

Answer 44

Conditioned Taste Aversion

Question 45

Pre-exposure (like before the lab) of a stimulus in the absence of a US can interfere with the ability of that stimulus to become a CS. So the NS has to be salient enough, but if it already has a function or use to it, ________ occurs and it may not become a CS.

Answer 45

latent inhibition

Question 46

NS has to be salient and familiar enough to the subject, but not SO familiar that it causes: _______ (2)

Answer 46

latent inhibition

Question 47

Failure of a stimulus to become a CS when it is part of a compound stimulus that includes an older conditioned stimulus that has been effective in the past - old stimulus producing conditioned response ______ the learning of the new stimulus

Answer 47

Blocking blocks

Question 48

When a previous experience with one stimuli affects your experience with another stimuli connected to that first stimuli.

Answer 48

Sensory preconditioning

Question 49

When two neutral stimuli (A and B) occur together. B is conditioned to become a CS and will produce a CR. But then when A is presented alone, it will elicit the same CR as B. Eg: You always eat lasagna and garlic bread together. One day you go to your friends house and eat bad lasagna that makes you sick. You don’t have garlic bread then, but later on, when you’re having your usual lasagna and garlic bread combo or just garlic bread, you feel sick because you remember the food poisoning from your friend’s house, and lasagna is so closely associated to garlic bread for you.

Answer 49

Sensory Preconditioning

Question 50

Emotional response to a stimulus that is acquired through Classical/Respondent conditioning (3) - an automatic emotion gets associated with a stimuli through respondent conditioning - think of Little Albert…poor guy….scared of fluffy creatures - can be positive or negative

Answer 50

Conditioned Emotional Responses

Question 51

The Role of the US influences the Form of the ______. Example: If the US is water -> drinking motions If the US is food -> chewing motions

Answer 51

conditioned response (CR)