Learning and Classical Conditioning

How Do We Learn?
Learning is defined as a relatively permanent
change in an organism’s behavior due to
experience (nurture).
Most learning is associative learning: learning
that certain events occur together.
There are 3 main types of Learning:
1. Classical Conditioning
2. Operant Conditioning
3. Observational Learning
Unit 5: Learning
Associative learning*: learning that two events
are linked together. Both classical and operant
conditioning are types of associative learning.
All Living Animals Learn Through
Association
Classical Conditioning
Terms you must understand:
1.
Unconditioned means it is unlearned and comes
naturally/reflexively. Ex: salivating when presented with food
2.
Conditioned means it is learned and the response does not
come naturally. Ex: getting up when school bell ring
3.
Response: is an external behavior like salivating that occurs
because of a stimulus
4.
Stimulus: external thing, like a bell or food, that may cause a
response (behavior)
Father of Classical Conditioning is
Ivan Pavlov
•
Russian physician/
neurophysiologist
•
Was studying digestive
enzymes in dogs when he
accidentally realized the
importance of associative
learning which would consume
his research for rest of his life.
Dog in Pavlov’s Apparatus

(clip)
Classical Conditioning
(Pavlovian Conditioning)
•
Classical Conditioning is a type of learning in which a
neutral stimulus (i.e. a sound) causes a conditioned
response when that stimulus is paired with an
unconditioned stimulus that causes an unconditioned
response.
•
Begins with a reflex which is unconditioned (unlearned)
•
A neutral stimulus is paired with a stimulus that evokes the
reflex.
•
Eventually the neutral stimulus alone will come to evoke
the reflex.
Components of Classical Conditioning
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
effective stimulus that unconditionallyautomatically and naturally- triggers a response
ex. food
Unconditioned Response (UCR)
unlearned, naturally occurring automatic response
to the unconditioned stimulus
Ex. salivation (when food is in the mouth)
Components of Classical Conditioning
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
previously neutral stimulus that, after association
with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger
a conditioned response Ex. Tone or bell
Conditioned Response (CR)
learned response to a previously neutral
conditioned stimulus ex. Salivation (when the
tone or bell is heard)
Pavlov’s Classic Experiment
Can I Get A Volunteer to Be Conditioned?
What's the Point?
Classical conditioning helps people and
animals to:
• ​adapt to their environment
• avoid poisonous foods.
• ​deal with dangerous situations
Pavlov's Dog in the
Office
Pavlov’s Dog – the Office
UCS (unconditioned stimulus)
offer of mint
UCR (unconditioned response)
put hand out
NS (neutral stimulus):
“da-duh”
CS (conditioned stimulus)
“da-duh”
CR (conditioned response)
put hand out
Extinction
Extinction: the diminishing of a conditioned response.
How would you make extinction occur?
If the conditioned stimulus occurs repeatedly without
the unconditioned stimulus, eventually the conditioned
response will cease.
ex. If Pavlov kept making the tone (CS) without
offering the food (US), the salivation (CR) would
eventually stop.
Generalization vs. Discrimination
• Generalization: tendency for a stimuli similar
to CS to evoke CR. Ex: doesn’t have to be
same tone to make dog’s salivate…they
generalize. It could be bell or something else
similar to the CS
• Discrimination: the ability to distinguish
between a CS and other similar stimuli
.
Ex: dogs wouldn’t salivate to a whistle since it
was too different from the tone.
Lets Read About
Little Albert!
• John Watson conducted the Little
Albert study in 1920 in which he
attempted to modify the behavior of
a 9 month old infant. Started with
white rat which infant originally did
not fear.
• After experiment, Little Albert
feared white rats, rabbits, Santa
Claus, cotton wool, etc.
Identify Components of the
Little Albert Study
• Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS):
loud noise
• Unconditioned Response: (UCR): fear/anxiety
• Conditioned Stimulus (CS):
white rat
• Conditioned Response (CR):
fear/anxiety
• Generalization:
Other furry animals
Garcia’s Taste Aversion Studies
• Set up experiment with rats. Exposed them to sights,
sounds, and tastes (CS) and later also gave them
radiation or drugs that led to nausea and vomiting
(UCR).
• Even if sickened hours later, rats avoided the particular
flavor of water but did NOT develop aversions to the
sights or sounds.
• Taste Aversion became known as the “Garcia Effect.”
Importance of Taste Aversion Studies
• Shows that nature prepares the members of each
species to learn those things crucial to their survival.
• One pairing (unlike many pairings for a typical
classical conditioning experiment) is typically all that
is necessary to bring about the CR.
Some Real World Applications of
Classical Conditioning
• Crack cocaine users feel craving when they
encounter cues associated with highs (people,
places, etc). So drug and rehab counselors advice
them to steer clear of these places and
people…make new friends, move.
• Pairing alcohol with a drug that induces vomiting is
sometimes successful in getting alcoholics to stop
drinking.
Country Time Salivation
Activity
Counterconditioning
• Getting rid of a fear by associating it with something
pleasant.
Ex.: Eliminate a fear of mice by exposing the
subject to mice while providing a pleasant
stimulus like cookies or candy.