Chapter Eight: Learning

Classical Conditioning

INTRODUCTION

In classical conditioning, a previously neutral stimulus acquires the capacity to elicit a response by its association with a stimulus that already elicits that response.

WHAT'S AHEAD

• Why would a dog salivate when it sees a lightbulb or hears a buzzer, even though they are inedible?
• How can classical conditioning help explain prejudice?
• If you have learned to fear collies, why might you be also scared of sheepdogs?

KEY CONCEPTS

Pavlov's Famous Experiment
New Reflexes From Old
What's Really Learned in Classical Conditioning?
Principles of Classical Conditioning

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Pavlov's Famous Experiment "Psychic Secretions" (p 262)

INTRODUCTION

Pavlov's analysis of his dogs' unwanted "psychic secretions" led to the understanding of one of the basic types of learning, classical conditioning.

KEY CONCEPTS EXPLAINED

Pavlov's dogs were messing up his experiment in salivation and digestion. Instead of waiting until food was put in their mouths to salivate, the dogs began to prematurely salivate to the sight of the person delivering the food.

The next section describes Pavlov's method of understanding the source of these "psychic secretions".

LINKS About Ivan Pavlov

• www link: A biography of Nobel Winner, Ivan Pavlov.
• www.link: A page of web links on the work and impact of Pavlov.

New Reflexes from Old [p.263]

INTRODUCTION

Why did Pavlov's dogs salivate when they saw the dog dish? For the same reason your dog or cat salivates to the sound of the can opener -- association through classical conditioning.

KEY CONCEPTS EXPLAINED

Learning occurs when a neutral stimulus (bowl) is paired with a US (meat) , the neutral stimulus becomes a CS which elicits a CR which is similar to the original UR (salivation).

Remember, the Neutral Stimulus initially elicits no response
	US	Unconditioned stimulus
	UR	Unconditioned response
	CS	Conditioned Stimulus
	CR	Conditioned Response

The sequence in classical conditioning might be helpful to understand how the process works. A Bell is used in this example.

	•	Summary Diagram and View the entire sequence
	•	Before Conditioning: The Effects Of Meat on Salivation	US-->UR
	•	Before Conditioning: The Effects of the Bell on Salivation	NS-->No response
	•	During Conditioning: Bell and Meat Together	NS associated with US
	•	After Conditioning: Bell Elicits Salivation	CS-->CR
	•	Conditioning works best if the original neutral stimulus (bell) precedes the US (meat) by less than a second.
	•	Many diverse stimuli and responses can be classically conditioned.

GLOSSARY

	unconditioned stimulus (US)
	unconditioned response (UR)
	conditioned stimulus (CS)
	conditioned response (CR)
	classical conditioning

LINKS about Classical Conditioning Principles

	An exercise to see the effects of classical conditioning as you train a dog to anticipate a reward.
	Introductory page that links you to a number of learning exercises.

What's Really Learned in Classical Conditioning? [p.264]

INTRODUCTION

Conditioning may be more about predictive information than a simple association between stimuli.

KEY CONCEPTS EXPLAINED

What may be most important about the association between the bowl and the meat is that when the dog sees the bowl, he can be sure the meat is on its way. The bowl signals or predicts the meat. This allows the dog to prepare for digesting the food by salivating. Rescola concluded that the organism is an information seeker using logical relations among events and its preconceptions to form a representation of its world. This is a cognitive view of classical conditioning. Does a rat have a preconception about the world?

LINKS about the cognitive aspects of conditioning

• www link:Review of Rescorla Study on the importance of prediction.

Principles of Classical Conditioning [p.265]

INTRODUCTION

A description of some of the more important processes in classical conditioning

KEY CONCEPTS EXPLAINED

Extinction

	•	Weakening and disappearance of the CR
	•	Ex: If you quit putting meat (US) in the dog's bowl (CS), the dog will eventually stop salivating (CR) to the sight of the bowl.
			Another example of extinction
	•	Spontaneous Recovery
		•	Reappearance of the CR after it has been extinguished
		•	Ex: When you run into an old flame who you thought you had gotten over, but the sight of them stirs up strong feelings, you are experiencing spontaneous recovery. Get over it! You need more extinction!

Higher Order Classical Conditioning (p.259)

	•	Occurs when we associate a new neutral stimulus with an already conditioned stimulus
	•	Ex: Our dog bowser now salivates to a light (poor thing)
			Original conditioning	CS (bowl) ---> CR (salivation)
			New association	Light + CS (bowl) ---> CR (salivation)
			New CS presented alone	CS (light) ---> CR (salivation)
	•	Ex: Student Test Anxiety		A Future link to an experience which is near and dear to many of you.

Stimulus Generalization

	•	A stimulus which is similar to the CS which produced the CR.
	•	Ex: Your dog salivates at the sight of your blue cereal bowl.

Stimulus Discrimination

	•	Different responses are made to similar stimuli.
	•	Ex: You never let your dog eat out of your blue cereal bowl, and he will eventually quit salivating when he sees it. However, he continues to salivate every time he sees his blue dog food bowl.

GLOSSARY

	extinction
	spontaneous recovery
	higher-order classical conditioning
	stimulus generalization
	stimulus discrimination

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