2.2 Components and Processes of Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning is all about learning through association. It's like your brain making connections between things that happen together. This process helps explain why you might get hungry when you smell food cooking or feel anxious when you hear a certain ringtone.

The key components of classical conditioning are stimuli and responses. By pairing different stimuli, we can create new learned responses. This chapter breaks down how these associations form, strengthen, weaken, and even transfer to new situations.

Conditioning Processes

Acquisition and Extinction

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• Acquisition refers to the initial learning of the association between the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the unconditioned stimulus (US)
  • Occurs through repeated pairings of the CS and US
  • Results in the CS eliciting the conditioned response (CR) even in the absence of the US
  • Example: A dog learns to salivate (CR) at the sound of a bell (CS) after repeated pairings with food (US)
• Extinction is the gradual weakening and eventual disappearance of the conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus
  • Occurs when the CS is no longer followed by the US
  • Results in a decrease in the strength and frequency of the CR
  • Example: If the bell (CS) is repeatedly rung without presenting food (US), the dog's salivation (CR) will gradually decrease and eventually stop

Spontaneous Recovery and Higher-Order Conditioning

• Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of a previously extinguished conditioned response after a period of rest or non-exposure to the conditioned stimulus
  • Occurs when the CS is presented again after extinction
  • Demonstrates that extinction does not completely erase the original learning
  • Example: If the bell (CS) is presented again after a period of rest following extinction, the dog may show a temporary increase in salivation (CR)
• Higher-order conditioning is the process by which a conditioned stimulus can become associated with a new, neutral stimulus, creating a second-order conditioned stimulus
  • Occurs when a previously conditioned stimulus (CS1) is paired with a new, neutral stimulus (CS2)
  • Results in CS2 eliciting the conditioned response (CR) even without direct pairing with the unconditioned stimulus (US)
  • Example: If a light (CS2) is repeatedly paired with the bell (CS1) that was previously conditioned to elicit salivation (CR), the light alone may eventually elicit salivation

Stimulus Relationships

Generalization and Discrimination

• Generalization refers to the tendency for a conditioned response to be elicited by stimuli similar to the original conditioned stimulus
  • Occurs when the organism responds to stimuli that share characteristics with the CS
  • Allows for flexibility in responding to new, similar stimuli
  • Example: A dog conditioned to salivate to a specific tone may also salivate to tones of similar pitch or frequency
• Discrimination is the ability to distinguish between stimuli and respond differently to them based on their specific characteristics
  • Occurs when the organism learns to respond to the CS but not to other, similar stimuli
  • Allows for precise and specific responding to relevant stimuli
  • Example: A dog may learn to salivate only to a specific tone (CS) and not to other tones or sounds

Stimulus-Stimulus Association

• Stimulus-stimulus association refers to the learning of a relationship between two stimuli, where one stimulus predicts the occurrence of the other
  • Occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together
  • Allows the organism to anticipate and prepare for the second stimulus based on the presence of the first
  • Example: In Pavlov's experiments, the bell (CS) became associated with the food (US), allowing the dog to anticipate the food's arrival upon hearing the bell

Learning Principles

Contiguity and Contingency

• Contiguity refers to the temporal proximity between the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus
  • Requires that the CS and US occur close together in time for learning to take place
  • Optimal learning occurs when the CS slightly precedes the US
  • Example: In Pavlov's experiments, the bell (CS) was presented just before the food (US) to establish the association
• Contingency is the degree to which the occurrence of the unconditioned stimulus is dependent on the presence of the conditioned stimulus
  • Requires that the US occurs more frequently in the presence of the CS than in its absence
  • Stronger contingency leads to faster and more robust learning
  • Example: If the food (US) is only presented when the bell (CS) rings and not at other times, the contingency between the bell and food is high, facilitating learning