Reflexive Behavior and
Respondent Conditioning
Behavioral Objectives
1. Distinguish between Fixed Action Patterns
(FAP) and Modal Action Patterns (MAP)
2. Learn and write about the primary laws of the
reflex and the process of habituation.
3. Review and study Pavlov’s experiments and
related phenomena.
Elicited Behavior

Elicited behavior: behavior that happens in response
of an environmental event (can’t be avoided)
 Reflex: most basic form
– Reflex arc: neural structure that underlies many reflexes
Phylogenetic Behavior
Behavior that are based on the genetic
endowment of the organism, and are present
on the basis of species history
Species specific history provides the organism with a
basic repertory of responses that are elicited by
environmental conditions (i.e., Natural Selection)
1. Behavior relations based on the genetic
endowment of the organism are described as:
(a) operants
(b) reflexes
(c) ontogenetic
(d) phylogenetic.
Complex Behavior: Fixed Action
Patterns (FAP)
Greylag goose
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Part of the repertoire of
all members of a species
The behavior Pattern is
not learned
Once a FAP starts, it will
continue to completion
FAP triggered by sign
stimulus
FAPs are sequences of behavior (a series of
connected movements) that are phylogenetic in origin
– FAPs. Fixed sequence of responses elicited by a
specific stimulus (sign stimulus or releaser)
 Species specific, adaptive responses
The behavior science model prefers to consider all
behaviors as flexible and adaptable
Barlow (1968) refers to this behavior as
modal action pattern (MAP), implying flexibility
rather than rigid genetic control
Reaction chains are similar to FAPs, the major
difference is that each set of responses in reaction
chain requires an appropriate stimulus to set it off
Reaction Chain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jZe_VGLRYI
2. Complex sequences of released
behaviors are called:
(a) traits
(b) reaction chains
(c) fixed action patterns.
(d) second-order conditioned reflexes
Reflexive Behavior
When an unconditioned stimulus elicits an
unconditioned response (US
UR), the relation
is call a reflex: Laws of the reflex
1. The law of the threshold, there is a point below
which no response is elicited and above which a
response always occurs
2. The law of intensity-magnitude, as the intensity
of the stimulus increases, so does the magnitude of
the elicited UR
3. The law of latency, as the intensity of the
stimulus increases, the latency to the appearance of
the elicited UR decreases
3. Reflexive behavior is said to be_______
and ______.
(a) built in; flexible
(b) involuntary; elicited.
(c) respondent; emitted
(d) voluntary; inflexible
Habituation
 Habituation
is a decrease in the strength
of a response after repeated stimulus
presentations
 Examples of habituation—Orienting
responses
 Function of habituation—Allow the
individual to ignore insignificant stimuli
that are repeatedly encounter
Simple Mechanisms of Learning

Habituation: decrease in the strength of an elicited
behavior following repeated presentations of the
eliciting stimulus
– Long and short-term
– Stimulus specific
– Dishabituation

Sensitization: increase in the strength of an elicited
behavior following repeated presentations of the
eliciting stimulus
– Generalization
4. A diminution in the UR due to
repeated presentation of the US is
called:
(a) habituation
(b) extinction
(c) forgetting
(d) sensitization
Ontogenetic Behavior
The ontogenetic history or lifetime of conditioning,
it is a unique characteristic of the organism
Learning builds on species or phylogenetic history to
determine when, where, and what kind of behavior
will be occur at a given moment
According to Darwinian evolution and selection,
organisms with a capacity for respondent learning
were more likely to survive and reproduce
5. Primary laws of the reflex do not
include:
(a) the law of latency
(b) the law of threshold
(c) the law of habituation.
(d) the law of magnitude
Respondent Conditioning: Ivan P. Pavlov
Initial research
interest –physiology
of digestion
 Developed
experimental
procedure using dogs
 Unexpected finding of
conditioned reflexes
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http://www.hermes-press.com/Pavlov3.gif
Classical Conditioning Paradigm
Select a stimulus (unconditioned stimulus) that
reliably elicits an unconditional response (UR)
 Repeated pairings of the US with a conditioned
stimulus (CS) that does not initially elicit the UR
 The CS will elicit the response of interest. This
response to the CS is called the conditioned
response (CR)
 Note---the term “unconditioned” indicates that
the stimulus and response connection is
unlearned
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The Variety of Conditioned
Responses

Eyeblink Conditioning:
The US is puff of air
directed at the eye;
UR is the eyeblink; CS
may be tone, light, or
tactile stimulus
Mazur, Copyright 2006, Prentice Hall
Conditioned Responses cont.
Conditioned Suppression: US is an aversive
event; UR may be to flinch or jump in animals;
Learning is measured via the suppression of
ongoing behavior when CS is present.
 Skin Conductance Response: The conductivity
of the skin is altered by emotions; Increases in
conductivity can be conditioned to any CS paired
with a shock.
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Mazur, Copyright 2006, Prentice Hall
Relative Nature of Stimuli
Conditioned Taste Aversion (CTA)
Taste–aversion often develops after 1
conditioning trial
 The CS is something an individual eats or
drinks; The US is something which makes
an individual ill (e.g., poison).
 Association leads to avoidance of food
which makes one ill
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6. Respondent conditioning might also
be called:
(a) S-R conditioning
(b) S-S pairing.
(c) CS-CR association
(d) R-S learning
Conditioned Taste Aversions (CTA)

If learning occurs reliably after just one
trial, it is hard to know if the learning was
a result of classical conditioning or operant
conditioning
– One kind of learning that occurs after a single
trial is an association between eating
something and getting sick.
– This is referred to as a conditioned taste
aversion.
Contiguity of Stimuli
A Primary law of Association (Aristotle, 350 BC)
Note of caution. The importance of contiguity or
pairing stimuli in time cannot be overestimated
7. To do away with an unwanted CR,
one should:
(a) present the CS without the CR
(b) present the CR without the US
(c) present the US without the CS
(d) present the CS without the US.