Psyc Notes Classical Conditioning .odt

Classical Conditioning Biological Constraints on learning ?preparedness? certain species are prepared to learn things easily e.g. conditional taste aversion, avoidance Behaviorism many of the early figures in the study of conditioning (i.e. Watson, skinner) were behaviorists behaviorists: emphasize the implications of control labs experiments on conditioning behaviorists emphasize the importance of observable behaviors as opposed to unobserved or subjective mental process behaviorists emphasize environmentalism rather than innate patterns of behavior Simple Forms of learning Non associative learning habituation: decrease in responsiveness with repeated stimulation sensitization: increase in responsiveness with repeated stimulation Associative learning two or more stimuli are associated the more fundamental form of associative learning is classical or pavlovian conditioning Pavlov won the Nobel prize in Physiology and medicine for his study of reflexes. He was one the first people to study learning scientifically Classical Conditioning Alphabet Soup US ? unconditioned stimulus UR ? unconditioned response CS ? conditioned stimulus CR ? conditioned response Classical Conditioning reflex: US producing a UR take a previously neutral stimulus (CS) and repeatedly paired with a US eventually the CS will result in the CR what a re the temporal conditions that allow for classical conditioning to take place? Short delay conditioning is most effective Temporal contiguity order (CS before US) Classical Conditioning Phenomena Extinction: a reduction in the CR that occurs when the CS is presented without the US Spontaneous Recovery: the reappearance of an extinguished CR following interruption of extinction Generalization: After conditioning to a specific CS organism responds to a different CS Discrimination: organism perceives the difference between two CS and behaves differently depending upon which is presented Broad significance to classical conditioning more than just salivation in dogs many different types of CS and US Many different types of CR ' s and UR ' s general across most animals including humans