1. Respondent Conditioning
Unit 3
Respondent Conditioning

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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

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

7. 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.

8. 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)

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

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

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

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

13. 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 Hz
Discrimination occurs when an organism shows a conditioned response to one stimulus but not other similar ones

14. 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

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

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