1. Learning: Classical Conditioning Psychology November 11, 2010

2. Learning Definition: a relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs because of experience What can affect learning? Biology/Genetics/Heredity Maturation Physical States Sleep/Fatigue/Emotion/etc Experience Observation/Practice/Rehearsal

3. Classical Conditioning Pavlovian Conditioning Learning through associations

4. CC Terminology Terms to be familiar with Unconditioned Stimulus (US) A stimulus that can elicit a response without any learning Meat Unconditioned Response (UR) An unlearned, inborn reaction to a US Salivation Conditioned Stimulus (CS) A stimulus that comes to elicit a response as a result of being paired with the US Bell Conditioned Response (CR) A response that is similar or identical to the UR that comes to be elicited by a CS Salivation

5. Classical Conditioning Definition A form of learning in which a previously neutral stimulus (CS) is paired with a US to elicit a CR that is identical to, or very similar to, the UR.

6. CC Phenomena Acquisition: rate of conditioning The more often the CS is paired with the US, the quicker it will be learned The CS must come before the US Extinction Process of unlearning a learned response because the US has been removed for a period of time. Spontaneous Recovery: sudden reappearance of CR after apparent extinction Generalization Tendency for similar stimuli to elicit the same response “Little Albert” Discrimination Tendency for an organism to distinguish between varieties in the CS Dogs won’t salivate to different tones of a bell

7. CC Applications Rescorla & Wagner (1972) Predictability: learned association when two events occur close together Expectancy: awareness of the likelihood of a US Alcohol & Nausea Meds Garcia & Koelling (1966) Taste Aversions Fear associations Adaptation Supports Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection