Classical Condition Allows us to associate two related events Textbook definition The learning of a contingency between a particular signal

al and a later event that are paired in time and/or space -Foundation of this method of psychology discovered by Ivan Pavlov -Also called pavlovian conditioning -When an organism has learned the signal between an organism and an event, a contingency has formed between the 2 stimuli Unconditioned Stimulus (US) - Any stimulus or event. Occurs naturally, prior to learning Example Food placed in a dogs mouth or a slice of lemon in your own mouth will trigger a response without any training being necessary The traditional response the US naturally triggers is called: Unconditional Response (UR) The response that occurs after the unconditioned stimulus -Occurs naturally, prior to any learning Example US of lemon in mouse elicits UR of salivation Conditioned Stimulus A previously neutral stimulus that after becoming associated with a US, eventually triggers a response on its own Conditioned Response (CS) Contingency between the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus has been learned -The response that occurs once the contingency between the CS and the US has been learned Example The CS of the sound of the metronome will eventually come to elicit a CR of salivation Example #2 Presenting a CS of lemon visual cues to humans may trigger a CR of salivation to a human observer Instrumental Conditioning Allows us to associate actions and consequences The process by which a contingency between a CS and a US is learned is called an acquisition. Pavlov characterized the process of acquisition as following a negatively accelerating curve Extinction The loss of the CR when the CS no longer predicts the US Extinction involves presenting the CS alone without the US repeatedly through many trials. At first, the CS will elicit a CR, but throughout a few trials, the CS will elicit a CR that is weaker and weaker until it gradually disappears Spontaneous Recovery Extinction involves a new inhibitory learned response. -Original learned associations between the CS and US is NOT unlearned.

-Rather, extinction seems to promote a learned inhibitory response that competes with the original learned contingency EXAMPLE OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING: Michelle has a phobia (fear) of dogs after being bitten as a child. Assuming Michelles fear response is classically conditioned, match the correct item with each term: CS The Dog CR Fear (of dogs) US Being bitten UR Fear (of pain) When a bell is rung near a dog, food is presented, causing the dog to salivate. Over time, the dog begins to salivate from the sound of the bell alone. US food CS a ringing bell UR salivating (seeing food) CR salivating (expecting food) Stimulus Discrimination Restricts the range of CSs that can elicit the CR CS+ Stimulus Presence of a US CS- Stimulus Absense of a US Example of CS+ and CSA dog is trained to learn that when a red light flashes, they will receive a shock. A blue light is also used, but no shock follows. Over time, the dog begins to flinch at the sign of a red light, but not at the sign of a blue shock. Implosive Therapy An individual with a particular phobia is encouraged to confront the fear CS that evokes their anxiety. In this way, the CS is presented in the absence of the associated US. Example Someone with a germ phobia may be asked to sit with their hands covered in dirt and grime for as long as possible while accepting that danger will not follow Systematic Desensitization A more graduate response in compared to implosive therapy

Drug tolerance Is the decreased effectiveness of a drug such as morphine over the course of repeated administration -Research suggests that learnin plays an important role in the development and maintenance of drug tolerance Environmental stimuli may become associated with a drug effect Learning A relatively enduring change in the mechanisms of behavior that occurs due to experience Involves 3 concepts: 1. The Mechanisms of Behaviour There can be many reasons unrelated to learning why behavior might change for instance, fatigue and motivational factors can alter behavior 2. Learning may occur yet not be immediately reflected in performance. In many cases, a learned behavior may only be relevant in particular contexts. Example If you have learned to wear oven mitts before touching a pan on the stove, this does not mean that you should continue to wear oven mitts in any context in anticipation of a potential pan-handling situation 2. Learning involves change that is relatively enduring The changes dont necessarily have to be permanent, but rather that learning should tend to be retained over time whether or not learning Is being continually expressed in behavior. Example Once you have learned to ride a bicycle, you can likely get back on after months or years of not riding and still perform at a similar level with just a little practice SUMMARIZED: -learning is distinct from merely performance of or changes in behaviours; learning is often context specific and goes beyond natural responses to stimuli Latent Learning Acquiring associations that are not immediately expressed or expressed only in appropriate contexts, reflect this distinction and highlights the importance of the specific mechanisms of learning 3. Learning is a process based on experience Maturation - Behaviors that develop and change as an individual matures, often independent of experience Example As a tadpole develops into a frog, and shifts from swimming to hopping, this is not a learned behavior it has lost its tail and developed legs. Example #2 A certain level of maturation is necessary before a child has developed motor control of the physical organs of speech production to produce language, but

before the time, the child has already acquired considerable knowledge of words and their meanings SUMMARIZED: -Not all learning is permanent, but is often retained relatively stronger over time even if the behaviors involved are not continuously expressed -Experiences throughout the lifetime are key to learning and often distinct from developmental changes; adaptations to environmental cues through realizing associations form the foundations of learning Orienting response An automatic shift of attention toward that stimulus or event Must be capable of receiving that response. Ex Flashing an infrared light would NOT be expected to produce an orienting response in a human subject, because we are not physiologically capable of perceiving it. However, if we consider a bird as a subject (who can detect this light) we may observe an orienting response Habituation A decrease in response to a stimulus or event as it is repeatedly presented without any consequence. Tactile stimulation When you first put on a hat, wristwatch, or ring, you are consciously aware of the sensation of pressure on that area of your body. As time passes, this sensory input does not change much and you stop being aware of it. (You have learned that this constant stimulation is unimportant and can safely be ignored) Dishabituation An increase in responding that follows a change in the stimulus to which habituation has occurred Example Although you will habituate to the sensations resulting from wearing a hat, taking the hat off will not immediately return you to the former baseline state of not wearing a hat Sensitization (Increase in responding) Where habituation serves to keep us from being distracted by unimportant stimuli, sensitization focuses attention to stimuli that do have relevance. Example You can readily observe a sensitized response when watching a suspenseful movie with friends. As the music sets the mood and the tension builds, emotions and anxiety become heightened. A carefully placed poke or a well-timed loud noise can create a behavioral response with measurable success

SUMMARIZED: Orienting responses Allow us to selectively attend to potentially important stimuli in our environment, and to avoid being overwhelmed by unimportant stimuli or environmental changes Habituation Through repetitive experience with certain stimuli and a lack of negative consequences, responses are decreased but not eliminated, in order to selectively attend to stimuli of importance Sensitization - An increase in the presentation of stimuli also leads to heightened responsiveness in order to respond suitably to stimuli that may be of direct threat Summary #3: Acquisition Is a gradual process that occurs through continuous presentation of the US and CS together -Acquisition can occur for any two stimuli, even if completely unrelated, so long as there is contiguity, according to early work in classical conditioning, but more modern research has since shown classical conditioning to be more complex -Conditioning increases in strength, but levels off at a certain point either when physical responsiveness is maximized or no further condition can be acquired with the stimuli involved Contiguity Important to the acquisition is the presentation of the US and CS together in time and space continuously in order for learning of the association between the two to occur CS presented alone test trial Only CS presented and conducted repeatedly Extinction trial Reacquisition Once a strong CR has developed, extinction trials begin, and these continue until there is no longer any evidence of the CR. At this point we will add an additional phase to our procedure, and reintroduce conditioning trials where the CS is now paired with the US again Summary #4 -Through continuous presentation of the CS without the US (extinction trials) it is adaptive for acquired responses to be extinguished in order to prevent physical and/or mental resources to be used unnecessarily -Extinction trials differ from test trials, in that test trials are presented only once after acquisition to test conditioning strength

-Extinction does not lead to forgetting through, as is seen through reacquisition, where reintroducing the CS and US after extinction can reform the acquisition faster than originally, though forgetting would suggest a slower rate of acquisition -Study of spontaneous recovery, responding to the CS even after extinction, has indicated the importance of context: extinction is stronger if in the same environment as acquisition Inhibitory Conditioning -The complexity of extinction suggests it may also be a form of learning, though inhibitory learning based on the anticipation of the absence of a biological event -Essentially, individuals learn a new acquisition on top of the old excitatory conditioning, but the original learning is not forgotten Higher-order conditioning - The established CS is now paired with a new stimulus, allowing the new stimulus to become another CS capable of eliciting a CR Example Imagine an experiment which a tone (CS1) is paired with food (US), leading to a response of salivation (CR). After robust conditioning has been established, the tone (CS1) is now paired with a light (CS2), but without any food. After some CS1-CS2 pairings, the light and the tone will separately elicit salivation (CR). Summary #5 -Acquisition of the CR often occurs in response to stimuli similar to the original CS, with response intensity decreasing with decreases in similarity, advantageous for novel, similar situations -Stimulus discrimination though can occur when needed; organisms are able to modify the level of generalization, or it may be achieved through generalization training Temporal Arrangement: Short delay conditioning where the CS is presented approximately several seconds after the US, is often the most effective method of forming associations Simultaneous presentation or delays over several seconds often prevent conditioning Contiguity versus Contingency -Despite Pavlovs stress on the role of continuity as necessary and sufficient, contingency has been shown to be of higher importance Contingency The information in the presentation of the US in response to the CS, has greater relevance for the acquisition of associations

Classical conditioning is also important for maintaining homeostasis for physiological regulation CS+ informs you about what will happen look alive, the US train is about to arrive S+ informs you about what could happen if you produce the appropriate behavior If you act now, reinforcers are standing by CS- informs you of what will not happen The US train will definitely not arrive in the next 20 minutes S- informs you that a response-reinforcer is not currently valid theres no point in acting now, wait for a better opportunity SUMMARY 6 Thorndike & Stamping In -In any random environment, voluntary behavior leading to satisfying consequences becomes more frequent, is stamped in, and behavior leading to displeasing consequences diminishes Skinner & Operant Behavior -Essential to instrumental condition is the association between stimuli and voluntary behaviors that operate to produce certain consequences, a reinforce; anything that increases the probability of the behavior occurring again Major Phenomena -Many parallels in the mechanisms of learning exist between classical and instrumental conditioning, such as the role of environmental cues -Positive discriminative stimuli (S+) Indicate the presence of a reinforce based on the response -Negative discriminative stimuli (S-) Indicate the absence of a reinforce in order to fine tune behavior in response to generalization Positive punishment occurs when the arrival of an aversive stimulus follows a response, thus decreasing the likelihood that the response will occur again Example #1 A rat presses a lever and this results in an electric shock, thus decreasing the probability that the rat will press the lever again Negative punishment When a response leads to the removal of an appetitive stimulus, which decreases the probability of that response occurring again (also called omission training) Example A parent takes away access to a childs favorite toy because he pinched his sister so he is less likely to pinch her again