Classical Conditioning PDF

**Classical conditioning-** Ivan.Petrovich.Pavlov was a Russian Physiologist who has started his career to study the function of heart and later on he was started work on physiology of digestion. In this duration he was took interest in study of salivary conditioning and developed a learning theory...

**Classical conditioning-** Ivan.Petrovich.Pavlov was a Russian Physiologist who has started his career to study the function of heart and later on he was started work on physiology of digestion. In this duration he was took interest in study of salivary conditioning and developed a learning theory which is known as conditioning response theory. According to Lefrancois conditioning is a process in which association established between stimulus and response. Pavlov's classical conditioning is also known as Respondent conditioning theory or Type- S conditioning which refers to a form of learning which occurs through the repeated association between two or more different stimuli. The learning situation in classical conditioning is one of **S-S learning** in which one stimulus becomes a signal of another stimulus. Here one stimulus signifies the possible occurrence of another stimulus. **Pavlov's Experiment-** In his experiment Pavlov measure how much a dog's mouth water in response to food or other objects in its environment. At the beginning of his experiment, Pavlov observed that no saliva flowed when he rang a bell. He then trained the dog by sounding the bell and, shortly afterward, presenting food. After the sound of the bell had been paired with food a few times, he observed the effects of the training by measuring the amount of saliva that flowed when he rang the bell and did not present the food. He found that some saliva was produced in response to the bell alone. As training continued, the amount of saliva on tests with the bell alone increased. Thus, after training the dog's mouth watered- salivated- whenever the bell was sounded. The food was termed the **unconditional stimulus (UCS)** because its ability to produce salivation was automatic and did not depend on the dog's learned response. The response of salivation to the food was termed **unconditional response (UCR)**. The bell was termed a **conditioned stimulus (CS)** because its ability to produce salivation depend on its being paired with the food. Salivation in response to the bell was termed a **conditioned response (CR)**. **Four components of classical conditioning: -** 1. **Unconditional stimulus- Food** 2. **Unconditional response- Salivation to the food** 3. **Conditional stimulus- Bell** 4. **Conditional response- Salivation to the bell** 1. **Temporal sequence-** Temporal means time-related, the extent to which a conditioned stimulus precedes or follows the presentation of an unconditioned stimulus. Temporal sequence are four types, first three are called **forward conditioning procedures** and the fourth one is called **backward conditioning procedures.** a. **Simultaneous conditioning-** A form of conditioning in which the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus begin and end at the same time. b. **Delayed conditioning-** A form of forward conditioning in which the onset of the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) begins while the conditioned stimulus (CS) is still present. c. **Trace conditioning-** A form of forward conditioning in which the onset and end of the CS precedes the onset of US with some blank time between the two. d. **Backward conditioning-** A type of conditioning in which the presentation of the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) precedes the presentation of the conditioned stimulus (CS). **2)Extinction-** The process through which a conditioned stimulus gradually loses the ability to evoke conditioned responses when it is no longer followed by the unconditioned stimulus. In another word extinction means disappearance of a learned response due to removal of reinforcement from the situation in which the response used to occur. Over time, the learned behavior occurs less often and eventually stops altogether, and conditioned stimulus returns to neural. In the example of Pavlov's dogs, after Pavlov subsequently rang the bell many times without bringing food, the dogs gradually stopped salivating at the sound. **3) Spontaneous Recovery-** It is the process of reappearance of a weakened conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus after an interval of time following extinction. (CS+CR). It has been demonstrated that after lapse of considerable time, the learned recovers. The amount of spontaneous recovery depends on the duration of the lapsed time after the extinction session. The longer the duration of lapsed time, the greater is the recovery of learned response. Such recovery occurs spontaneously. **4) Stimulus Generalization-** The phenomenon of responding similarly to similar stimuli is known as generalization. One of the most famous examples of stimulus generalization took place in an early psychology experiment. In the Little Albert experiment, the behaviorist John B. Watson and his assistant Rosalie Rayner conditioned a little boy to fear a white rat. However, the boy would exhibit the same response when he saw similar items such as a furry white toy and Watson's white beard. **5) Stimulus Discrimination-** The process by which organisms learn to respond to certain stimuli but not to others. Discriminative response depends on the discrimination capacity or discrimination learning of the organism. For example- suppose a child is conditioned to be afraid of a person wearing a black dress, now he meets another stranger who is wearing gray clothes the child shows no fear. This is an example of discrimination. **6) Higher Order Conditioning-** Higher order conditioning also known as second order conditioning. It refers to a situation in which a stimulus that was previously neutral stimulus paired with a conditioned stimulus produce the same conditioned response as the conditioned stimulus. For example, after pairing a bell with food, and establishing the bell as a conditioned stimulus that elicits salivation (first order conditioning), a light could be paired with the tone. If the light alone comes to elicit salivation, then higher order conditioning has occurred. A diagram is labeled "Higher-Order / Second-Order Conditioning" and has three rows. The first row shows an electric can opener labeled "conditioned stimulus" followed by a plus sign and then a dish of food labeled "unconditioned stimulus," followed by an equal sign and a picture of a salivating cat labeled "unconditioned response." The second row shows a squeaky cabinet door labeled "second-order stimulus" followed by a plus sign and then an electric can opener labeled "conditioned stimulus," followed by an equal sign and a picture of a salivating cat labeled "conditioned response." The third row shows a squeaky cabinet door labeled "second-order stimulus" followed by an equal sign and a picture of a salivating cat labeled "conditioned response."