Classical Conditioning and the Pupil-Dilation Response
Friday, March 7, 2014
The purpose of this paper is to test and understand the classical conditioning of pupil-dilation
response. The main idea of this basic research method is to test whether or not a bell and a
light switch can be used in order to stimulate and condition a response of pupil dilation. The
following were used during the course of this experiment;
Pupil-Dilation Response
Neutral Stimuli (Ns)
Bell (app)
Unconditioned Stimuli (US)
Light Switch
Unconditioned Response (UR)
Pupils (no dilation)
Conditioned Stimuli (CS)
Bell Sound
Conditioned Response (CR)
Pupil Dilation
Note: This was a self- tested experiment.
Similar to the Naturalistic observation research method, I chose my bathroom as the
natural setting for this experiment. This room is best room in my household to have a light
source and also display complete darkness, all in the same room. Once I was set up in my
observational setting, I then proceeded to record my procedures on a piece of paper with the
use of the tally mark system. Likewise, I decided to repeat the procedures 30 times in order to
maximize the results of my findings. With that said, for this experiment, an app on my phone
was used as the neutral stimuli. This app was used as a bell for its purpose was to emit a sound
similar to that of a bell. This app was used because, I could not find an actual bell anywhere in
my household.
The previous mentioned are just a few of the factors involved in the results of my findings.
KYRON H. BAIN
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In conducting this experiment, my main goal was to create a conditioned reflex. In this
case, this reflex is the pupil dilation that is expected to respond to a conditioned stimulus. The
previous stated is what I hypothesized. On the other hand, my hypothesis did not turn out as
expected, and turned up dissatisfying results.
I believe my experiment resulted in such poor results for many reasons;
1) Random bell delays due to the inconsistency of my phone app (the bell replacement)
2) Dark eyes made it hard to see any actual pupil- dilation response (the test subject).
3) Only one person (myself) played as the observer and the test subject
a. - (Poor results due to multi-tasking).
Based on my experience through testing this concept, despite my disappointing results, I
strongly believe that with a second opportunity to experiment again, I will be able to create
more positive results. Similarly, if the time is to come again where I can test classical
conditioning in this form, I would learn from my experience and go about conducting this
experiment a lot differently. I would do everything the same with a little bit of creativity to
improve the experiment findings. This would once again involve the use of my bathroom and
all factors presented in the chart above. I would then undergo the experiment with at least one
more individual to maximize test results. Then, I would also try to find a new test subject with
brighter colored eyes and larger pupils as it would be easier to analyze any form of pupil
dilation responses, as I found my pupils to be very tiny, and very dark, making it hard to see the
pupils dilate. Improvements to the procedures of this experiment would be very beneficial in
finding more valid and more positive results.
In conclusion, the experiment I conducted was the classical condition of Pupil-Dilation. In
this experiment, I took a neutral stimuli, an unconditioned stimuli, along with an unconditioned
response and tested to see if we could develop a conditioned stimuli to also create a
conditioned reflex. This reflex is the pupil dilation response part of the experiment.
Unfortunately in my case, my results turned out poorly and very dissatisfying. Contrary to my
findings, I believe that if other measures are taken seriously and added to the procedure of this
experiment, that pupil-dilation can be conditioned to control response dilations and create
satisfying results for the observers. Some examples of improvements include different or even
multiple test subjects along with more than one observer. It is with these minor improvements
that one can start to seek more accurate and more consistent positive results.
KYRON H. BAIN
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