MODULE 20 - Classical Conditioning

§Ivan Pavlov

§1849-1936

§Russian physician/ neurophysiologist

§Nobel Prize in 1904

§studied digestive secretions

 

 

Pavlov’s Classic Experiment:  Dogs and salivation (figure 20.2)

 

• Classical Conditioning
  • organism comes to associate two stimuli
  • a neutral stimulus that signals an unconditioned stimulus begins to produce a response that anticipates and prepares for the unconditioned stimulus

 

 

 

Classical Conditioning

• Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
  • stimulus that unconditionally--automatically and naturally--triggers a response
• Unconditioned Response (UCR)
  • unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus
    • salivation when food is in the mouth
• Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
  • originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response
• Conditioned Response (CR)
  • learned response to a previously neutral conditioned stimulus

 

 

Acquisition

• the initial stage in classical conditioning
• the phase associating a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus comes to elicit a conditioned response
• in operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response

 

 

 

Extinction

• diminishing of a CR
• in classical conditioning, when a UCS does not follow a CS
• in operant conditioning, when a response is no longer reinforced

 

 

 Spontaneous Recovery

• reappearance, after a rest period, of an extinguished CR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Generalization

• tendency for stimuli similar to CS to elicit similar responses
• See figure 20.5

 

 

 

Discrimination

• in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a CS and other stimuli that do not signal a UCS