Classical Conditioning

Psych 1F03

 Kryptonite is an example of an Unconditioned Stimulus (US) – superman can’t help but

get sick/weakened by it
 Kryptonite is a green, therefore Superman would have developed an Unconditioned
Response to kryptonite and start feeling sick/scared whenever he sees anything green

Introduction to Learning:
 Classical Conditioning (Pavlovian conditioning) – allows us to associate two related
events
o The foundation for classical conditioning was done by the famous Russian
physiologist Ivan Pavlov in the 1890s and 1900s
o Through training, the sound of a metronome signalled to a dog that food was on
its way
o The sound of the metronome alone was enough for the dog to start salivating (a
condition reflex or response)

o Pavlov was studying a contingent relationship

 The presentation of 1 stimulus reliably leads to the presentation of another
 Signal  Event

o Classical Conditioning – the learning of a contingency between a particular signal

and a later event that are paired in time and/or space (adaptative process)
 Contingent relationship – when one event reliably predict another, an
association may be formed between these two events
o Classical conditioning – act of learning that one event accurately and reliably
predicts the occurrence of a second event, it is the learning of the existence of a
contingent relationship between two events

 Instrumental Conditioning – allows us to associate actions and consequences

Components of Classical Conditioning:

 Unconditioned Stimulus (US)
o Any stimulus or event
o Triggers a response naturally
o Response occurs without any prior learning

 Unconditioned Response (UR)

o The response that occurs after the unconditional stimulus
o Occurs naturally prior to learning
o Often a biologically programmed reflex
 When a US occurs a UR ALWAYS occurs afterwards

 Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

o Paired with the unconditioned stimulus to produce a learned contingency
 o Conditioned stimulus typically appears before the unconditioned stimulus
 CS  US
 The CS is a previously neutral stimulus that after becoming associated
with the US triggers a conditioned response

 Conditioned Response (CR)

o The response that occurs once the contingency between the CS and the US has
been learned
o Learned response that is associated with a formerly neutral event following
learning
 CS  CR
 CR cannot elicit pain but elicits the fear of pain response

 Bringing it ALL together

o CS (Sight and Smell of Lemon)  US (Taste of Lemon)  UR (Salvation)
o CS (Sight and Smell of Lemon)  CR (Salvation)

 Acquisition
o The process by which a contingency between a CS and US is learned
o Contingencies are learned slowly but MOST of the learning occurs during the
early trials, some happens after
o Special cases where ONE trial is sufficient
 Ex: a rat eating food that makes them sick once, and then they will never
eat it again

 Prior learning = conditioned

 NO prior learning = unconditioned
 Triggering Event = Stimulus
 Outcome = Response

Extinction:
 How long does a contingency last?
o As long as the conditioned stimulus continues to be a reliable queue for the
unconditioned stimulus the contingency will be maintained

 Extinction
o The loss of the CR when the CS no longer predicts the US
o Extinction trial  presenting the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned
stimulus
o Hypothesis One:
 Extinction = Unlearning the CS
o Hypothesis Two:
  Extinction = Learning to Inhibit the CS
 Retraining is quicker than the original training

o Spontaneous Recovery
 The sudden recovery of a conditional response following a rest period
after extinction

 Spontaneous recovery demonstrates that the original contingency is not

unlearned during extinction
 Engagement with the CS is sufficient for spontaneous recovery to occur

The phenomenon of spontaneous recovery led to the understanding that a

contingency is not forgotten. Rather, a new competing inhibitory response
forms a stronger contingency with the conditioned stimulus.

Generalization and Discrimination:

 Generalization occurs when a CR is elicited by stimuli that are similar to the original CS
o Ex: hearing a whistling sound may elicit a conditioned fear response due to war
bombing flashbacks… even if the whistling sound is not the exact same

 Stimulus Generalization
o The process by which stimuli similar to the CS will also elicit a CR
o Adds flexibility and efficiency to classical conditioning
o Ex: being bit by a Doberman, may create a fear of ALL dogs

o Experiment Example:
 The strongest conditioned response is elicited by the original 500 Hertz
training tone
 Stimuli similar to the original tone (475 or 525 hertz) elicits a fear
response at similar levels
 As you test with high or lower frequencies less and less fear is elicited
 Normal distribution

 Stimulus discrimination
o Restricts the range of conditioned stimuli that can elicit a response
o It does the opposite of stimulus generalization
o Discrimination refines the learning process

o Experiment Example:
 500 Hertz tone was repeatedly paired with an electric shock
 Using discrimination training we can eliminate the participants fear of the
600 Hertz tone while maintaining the fear of the 500 Hertz tone by
repeatedly presenting a 600 hertz tone in the absence of the electric shock
 The conditioned feared response for the 600 Hz will diminish
  But the rest of the stimuli along the gradient remain intact

 CS+ (500 Hz tone) – predicts the presence of shock

 CS- (600 Hz tone) – predicts the absence of shock
 Very precise discrimination to stimuli
 Pinpointed response exactly to the 500 Hz tone
o CS+ and CS- elicit a different response depending on the
experimental design
o CS+ and CS- do not differ on a scale of severity

Pairing the CS- with the absence of the US leads to the lack of a UR, and
therefore no CR. An intermediate response is elicited only when the CS- and
the CS+ are presented at the same time.

 Phobias
o A phobia is an exaggerated, intense and persistent fear of certain situations
o Phobias and their treatment can be understood in the context of classical
conditioning
 Two therapies for treating phobias
 Implosive therapy – individual with a phobia is encouraged to
confront the CS the invokes their anxiety using their imagination
o The CS is presented in the absence of the associated US
o Very traumatic and may cause extinction
 Systematic Desensitization – more gradual exposure to the feared
stimulus
o More accessible to most patients

Homeostasis and Compensatory Responses:

 Classical conditioning can regulate physiological regulation and as seen above
behavioural regulation
 Compensatory responses – counteract expected changes to the body
 An example of a compensatory response: release of insulin in the body after
drinking a sugary drink
 Exist to protect the body from stimuli that threatens homeostasis, which are not
necessarily under conscious control

 Compensatory responses lead to increased drug tolerance in familiar environments and a

contingency is learned (ex: environmental cues…such as a needle)
o Drug and the effect of drug is a challenge to homeostasis
o Exposure to an environmental cue such as syringe, is enough to make the body
begin to prepare for the effects of the drug (even though syringe is empty)
o This in turn could cause irritability for the given person (drug withdrawal responses
or drug preparatory responses)
  Coffee Example for a compensatory response:
o Nikita regularly drinks coffee at a café (CS), the environmental cues triggered the
compensatory response (CR), getting her body ready for the stimulating coffee
(US). But because Nikita did not take her coffee, this resulted in withdrawal
symptoms, experiences as being tired and irritable

 Habituation – decrease in responsiveness to a specific stimulus due to repeated exposure

to that stimulus
 Generalization – the process of applying a learned contingency to a set of similar stimuli
 Sensitization – heightened responsiveness due to increased presentation of a stimulus

CS: US:

Taste of Food
Poison

CR:
UR:

Sickness Sickness