Respondent Conditioning Unit 3 Respondent Conditioning

Phylogenic Behavior Kinesis- relation between a stimulus and speed of movement irrespective of direction Wood louse Taxis – relation between stimulus and movement away from the stimulus Positive/negative phototaxis; thermotaxis Fixed action patters: Sequence of behavior movements that are phylogenetic Spider; greylag goose; squirrel Reaction chains: Each response requires a stimulus to set it off Nursing reaction

Reflexive Behavior A reflex is an unlearned (innate, inherited, inborn) functional relation between a specific type of stimulus (S) and a specific response (R) Unconditioned Stimulus (UR) Unconditioned Response

Unconditioned stimulus Unconditioned Response Reflexive Behavior Unconditioned stimulus Unconditioned Response Loud sound or touch to cornea Eye blink (lid closes) Tactile stimulation under lid or chemical irritant (smoke) Lachrymal gland secretion (eyes watering) Irritation to nasal mucosa Sneezing Irritation to throat Coughing Low temperature Shivering, surface vasoconstriction High temperature Sweating, surface vasodilation Loud sound Contraction of tensor tympani and stapedius muscles (reduces amplitude of ear drum) Food or weak acid solution in mouth Salivation Indigestible food in stomach Vomiting Pain stimulus to hand or foot Hand or food withdrawal Stimulus that is either painful or very intense or very unusual Activation syndrome: heart rate increases, adrenaline secretion, liver release of sugar into bloodstream, constriction of visceral blood vessels, dilation of blood vessels in skeletal muscles, galvanic skin response, pupilary dilation, etc.

Laws of Reflex Law of threshold – there is a point in which no response is elicited and above which a response always occurs Law of intensity-magnitude – as the intensity of the US increases so does the magnitude of the elicited UR Law of latency – as the intensity of the US increases, the latency to the appearance of the elicited UR decreases

Habituation Unconditioned stimulus repeatedly elicits an UR and the response gradually declines in magnitude E.g., startle response

Respondent Conditioning If one presents a neutral stimulus and then a second or so later presents an unconditioned stimulus (US) for a reflex response, the neutral stimulus when later presented alone may elicit a type of response similar to the response elicited by the US.

Respondent Conditioning The once neutral stimulus is called conditioned stimulus (CS) The response elicited by the US is called an unconditioned response (UR) The similar response elicited by the CS is called conditioned response (CR)

Respondent Conditioning Insulin production 1. Sugar insulin production 2. Sweet taste + Sugar insulin production 3. Sweet taste insulin production

Respondent Conditioning Could you teach a rat to press a lever using respondent conditioning?

Respondent Extinction Repeatedly presenting the CS in the absence of the US Tone  Food Procedure – what you do Process - outcome

Spontaneous Recovery Increase in the conditioned response after respondent extinction has occurred. Why does it happen?

Generalization Vs. Discrimination Generalization occurs when organism shows a conditioned response to values of the CS that were never trained during acquisition Original CS = 375Hz Tested 75-675 Hz Discrimination occurs when an organism shows a conditioned response to one stimulus but not other similar ones

Temporal Contiguity Delayed – CS a few seconds before US Simultaneous – CS at same time as US Trace – CS comes and goes off before US Backward – US comes and goes off before CS

Compound Stimuli Overshadowing – during original conditioning Blocking – after original conditioning Sensory preconditioning – before original conditioning

Conditioned Suppression Changes in operant behavior may be due to incompatible conditioned emotional responses (p.69)