+ Intro to Fall Term Lab: Classically Conditioning a Salivary Response in Dogs Classical Conditioning

+ Labs: What to Expect Eight lab sessions You will work on an ongoing experiment using virtual dogs in a computer program You will collect and graph data from this program At end of term, an abbreviated lab report based on this experiment is due

+ Grade Breakdown Attendance: 5% Lab Report (including graphs): 7.5% Total Lab Value: 12.5% (per semester)

+ The Experiment: Classical Conditioning of a Salivary Response in Dogs What does this mean? How will we study this? What are we looking for?

+ Classical Conditioning: What does this mean? Leads to a stimulus eliciting a response that does not naturally occur because of that stimulus Done by pairing a stimulus that does cause the desired response with a neutral stimulus, until the neutral stimulus alone triggers that response. An Example

+ Key Words “Conditioned Stimulus” (CS) The neutral stimulus, that before conditioning does not naturally bring about the desired response In our experiment this is a bell ringing

+ Key Words continued… “Unconditioned Stimulus” (US) The stimulus that naturally evokes the desired response In our experiment this is food pellets

+ Key Words continued… “Inter-Stimulus Interval” or “CS-US Interval” Amount of time between the presentation of the Conditioned and Unconditioned stimuli

+ Key Words continued… “Unconditioned Response” (UR) The response rendered by the presentation of both CS and US (bell and food) In our experiment this is salivation

+ Key Words continued… “Conditioned Response” (CR) The response rendered by the presentation of the CS (bell) alone This is the same as the UR; what differs is the cause of it

+ Key Words continued… “Acquisition Trials” Pairings of the CS and the US In each of these trials the bell is presented and then the food is given

+ Key Words continued… “Extinction Trials” Presentation of the CS without the US Ringing the bell but no longer giving any food Leads to a decrease in the response

+ Classical Conditioning Overview 1) US -> UR 2)CS + US = UR 3)CS -> CR

+ Our Experiment: How will we study this? We will be manipulating 4 variables As we vary one, all others stay constant 1) Number of Acquisition Trials Varying the # of pairings of the bell and food This will vary 3 times 2) Conditioned Stimulus Varying the loudness of the bell (in decibels) This will vary 3 times

+ Our Experiment continued…. Manipulating…. 3) Unconditioned Stimulus Varying the number of food pellets given This will vary 3 times 4) CS-US Interval Varying the length of time between the CS and US This will vary 3 times

+ Our Experiment: What are we looking for? By varying each of those independently we will find: The optimal number of pairings of the CS and US when classically conditioning Optimal decibel level for a CS Optimal number of food pellets to use as US Optimal length of time to allow pass between presenting the CS and US

+ Our Experiment What is optimal? How will we determine which variations are best? We will measure the average number of drops of saliva secreted by the dogs Assume that more drops of saliva are an indication of a stronger association/better learned response Saliva Stronger Conditioning

+ Conducting the Experiment: The Computer Program Where is the program? Click on My Computer Apps on Caesar (S:) Double-click the ‘Psych210’ folder Double-click on the ‘cc’ icon On all campus computers

+ Inside the Program You will be asked the same 7 questions every time you run a trial: Experimenter’s Name: Type your first name (Hit Enter after each entry) Number of Subjects to be Tested: Always type 4 Number of Acquisition Trials: This will vary

+ Inside the Program continued… Number of Extinction Trials: Always type 50 How intense the CS will be in decibels: This will vary How strong the US will be: This will vary How long the CS-US interval will be: This will vary

+ Inside the Program continued… After you answer those 7 questions: The program generates data based on your answers Lists your trials and the measured drops of saliva for each It asks you to press 1 to copy this file to your H: drive Press 1 and hit Enter

+ Inside the Program continued… Immediately open your H: drive and locate this file It will be named ‘CC’ Right-click on this and Rename it Otherwise each new trial will replace the previous one.

+ Inside the Program continued… To start a new trial, press F2 This will begin the process all over again For each experiment, you will be told what values need to be entered for each question

+ Understanding your Data Files Will see 5 columns of numbers broken into Acquisition Trials and Extinction Trials Acquisition above, extinction below The first 4 columns= the 4 individual dogs How much saliva Dog 1, 2, 3, 4, produced at each trial The last column to the right is the most important

+ Understanding your Data Files The last column of numbers= the average number of saliva drops the 4 dogs produced for each trial Just those numbers are needed to make your graphs Graphs will be made in Excel How-To document can always be accessed on my website

+ Graphing your Data: Creating and Interpreting Figures The graphs will show you: The mean drops of saliva produced over acquisition and extinction trials You will be able to see how the variations you made to one of the variables affected the saliva produced over trials

+ Graph example

+ Next Week: You will run 3 experiments in the program Manipulating the number of acquisition trials 10, 30, 50 Produce 2 Graphs One for Acquisition data (last column from top portion of your 3 data files) One for Extinction data (last column from bottom portion of your 3 data files)

+ Lab Instructors: Contact Info Please contact us with any questions Dr. Ed PencerJanea Layes Annex 104Annex 114F s