Unit 2-4 Notes

Classical Conditioning and Biological Predispositions

• Agonists include cocaine, amphetamine, and methylphenidate, while antagonists include chlorpromazine and haloperidol.
• Dopamine (DA) neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) in the midbrain are crucial, as measured by Schultz during conditioning.
• The unconditioned stimulus (US) is drops of juice, and the unconditioned response (UR) is lick, while visual stimulation serves as the conditioned stimulus (CS).
• Higher DA levels indicate a stronger response and more surprise to the US, reflecting the detection of learning by DA.
• Goal-directed behaviors, such as sign tracking and goal tracking, are observed, with dopamine levels increasing only during sign tracking.
• DA is released from the VTA to the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) in the reward pathway.
• The homeostatic hypothesis of learning suggests that DA in the VTA is activated when learning uses current or past knowledge, and the prediction error signal turns on the response system.
• Biological predispositions are inborn, and the separation of time between the US and CS is critical, with a preference for a few seconds of delay.
• Equipotentiality is challenged by taste aversion, demonstrating that the CS does matter.
• The CS is sometimes context-dependent, as seen in flavor-illness learning and conditioned taste avoidance.
• Drugs of abuse, such as amphetamine, cocaine, and morphine, produce conditioned place preference and conditioned taste avoidance but do not produce conditioned disgust in rats.
• The preparedness of a species influences conditioning, and counter-prepared associations and instinctual drift are observed. Determinants of a conditioned response (CR) include complexity, avoidance behavior, and appetitive behavior.

Associative Learning and Classical Conditioning

• Ivan Pavlov discovered conditioned reflexes through original experiments with digestion on dogs
• Classical conditioning involves unconditioned stimulus (US) like food, conditioned stimulus (CS) like a bell, unconditioned response (UR) like salivation, and conditioned response (CR) like salivation
• The process involves the bell being rung before food is given, leading to salivation occurring with the food, eventually causing salivation when the bell rings
• S-S* learning involves the CS and US, with conditioned excitation making the CS an excitor of behavior and conditioned inhibition predicting the absence of a US
• Tests of conditioned inhibition involve summation, retardation of acquisition, and CS- testing
• Conditioned responses can be autonomic (e.g., heart rate), motivational (e.g., emotions), or somatic (e.g., movement)
• Conditioning preparations include eye blink conditioning (simple reflex) and fear conditioning in mice
• Place conditioning involves administering a drug as the US and observing the rat's response in different compartments
• Alternatives to CS-US conditioning include pseudo-conditioning, sensitization, S-R learning, and postconditioning devaluation
• CS-CS associations involve second order conditioning, sensory preconditioning, and the strength of conditioning
• Laws of association include the frequency, intensity, novelty, contiguity, and contingency of CS-US association
• Different types of conditioning include delay, trace, simultaneous, and backward conditioning, with a focus on the proper timing and sequence of CS and US for effective conditioning

Test your knowledge of classical conditioning and biological predispositions with this quiz. Explore the role of dopamine neurons, conditioned stimuli, and unconditioned responses. Dive into associative learning, Pavlov's experiments, and different types of conditioning.