Learning and Classical Conditioning

Study Notes

Learning is the acquisition of new knowledge, skills, or responses from experience. This results in a relatively permanent change in the learner.
Learning can also occur through simpler, non-associative processes.
Habituation is a decrease in response.
Sensitization is an increase in response.

Classical conditioning is a type of learning where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a stimulus that naturally produces a response.
The neutral stimulus eventually elicits the same response as the naturally producing stimulus.

Unconditioned Stimulus (US): A stimulus that reliably produces a naturally occurring response in an organism (e.g., food).
Unconditioned Response (UR): A reflexive reaction that is reliably produced by an unconditioned stimulus (e.g., salivation response to food).
Conditioned Stimulus (CS): A stimulus that is initially neutral and produces a reliable response in an organism after association with the unconditioned stimulus (e.g., a bell paired with food to trigger salivation).
Conditioned Response (CR): A reaction that is similar to the unconditioned response but is produced by a conditioned stimulus (e.g., salivation response after hearing the bell).
Acquisition: The phase during classical conditioning where the unconditioned stimulus (US) and the conditioned stimulus (CS) are presented together. This leads to an association between them. The example given is Pavlov pairing a metronome sound with food in dogs.
Extinction: The gradual elimination of a learned response when the conditioned stimulus (CS) is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus (US).
Spontaneous Recovery: The tendency of a learned behavior to recover from extinction after a rest period.

Generalization: The tendency for a conditioned response to occur in response to stimuli similar to the original conditioned stimulus.
Discrimination: The ability to distinguish between similar but distinct stimuli.

Second-order conditioning occurs when a conditioned stimulus (CS) is paired with a new stimulus, creating a second conditioned stimulus that also elicits the conditioned response. (Example given: Pairing a light with a bell that has already been associated with food will eventually cause salivation in response to the light alone).