classical conditioning n.

Psychology A process of behavior modification by which a subject comes to respond in a desired manner to a previously neutral stimulus that has been repeatedly presented along with an unconditioned stimulus that elicits the desired response.

Classical or "Pavlovian" Conditioning Theory Classical Conditioning is the type of learning made famous by Pavlov's experiments with dogs. The gist of the experiment is this: Pavlov presented dogs with food, and measured their salivary response (how much they drooled). Then he began ringing a bell just before presenting the food. At first, the dogs did not begin salivating until the food was presented. After a while, however, the dogs began to salivate when the sound of the bell was presented. They learned to associate the sound of the bell with the presentation of the food. As far as their immediate physiological responses were concerned, the sound of the bell became equivalent to the presentation of the food. Classical conditioning is used by trainers for two purposes: To condition (train) autonomic responses, such as the drooling, producing adrenaline, or reducing adrenaline (calming) without using the stimuli that would naturally create such a response; and, to create an association between a stimulus that normally would not have any effect on the animal and a stimulus that would. Stimuli that animals react to without training are called primary or unconditioned stimuli (US). They include food, pain, and other "hardwired" or "instinctive" stimuli. Animals do not have to learn to react to an electric shock, for example. Pavlov's dogs did not need to learn about food. Stimuli that animals react to only after learning about them are called secondary or conditioned stimuli (CS). These are stimuli that have been associated with a primary stimulus. In Pavlov's experiment, the sound of the bell meant nothing to the dogs at first. After its sound was associated with the presentation of food, it became a conditioned stimulus. If a warning buzzer is associated with the shock, the animals will learn to fear it. Secondary stimuli are things that the trainee has to learn to like or dislike. Examples include school grades and money. A slip of paper with an "A" or an "F" written on it has no meaning to a person who has never learned the meaning of the grade. Yet students work hard to gain "A's" and avoid "F's". A coin or piece of paper money has no meaning to a person who doesn't use that sort of system. Yet people have been known to work hard to gain this secondary reinforcer. (See an interactive visual guide to CC here - and an amusing take on classical conditioning here.)

Classical Conditioning Ding-Dong

What do you do when you hear a bell ring? When some teachers hear a bell one of the first things they do is walk out into the hallway. Even when theyre at home. Alone. The call of the bell is simply such a strong habit that these teachers will produce the right behavior (going into the hall to monitor) at the wrong place (their own home). In this chapter we will look at Classical Conditioning, perhaps the oldest model of change there is. It has several interesting applications to the real world, ones you may not have thought about it. Lets look at the components of this model. Components Of Classical Conditioning The easiest place to start is with a little example. Consider a hungry dog who sees a bowl of food. Something like this might happen: FOOD > SALIVATION The dog is hungry, the dog sees the food, and the dog salivates. This is a natural sequence of events, an unconscious, uncontrolled, and unlearned relationship. See the food, then salivate. Now, because we are humans who have an insatiable curiosity, we experiment. When we present the food to the hungry dog (and before the dog salivates), we ring a bell. Thus, > BELL > FOOD > SALIVATION We repeat this action (food and bell given simultaneously) at several meals. Every time the dog sees the food, the dog also hears the bell. Ding-Dong, Alpo. Now, because we are humans who like to play tricks on our pets, we do another experiment. We ring the bell (Ding-Dong), but we dont show any food. What does the dog do? Right,

BELL > SALIVATE The bell elicits the same response the sight of the food gets. Over repeated trials, the dog has learned to associate the bell with the food and now the bell has the power to produce the same response as the food. (And, of course, after youve tricked your dog into drooling and acting even more stupidly than usual, you must give it a special treat.) This is the essence of Classical Conditioning. It really is that simple. You start with two things that are already connected with each other (food and salivation). Then you add a third thing (bell) for several trials. Eventually, this third thing may become so strongly associated that it has the power to produce the old behavior. Now, where do we get the term, Conditioning from all this? Let me draw up the diagrams with the official terminology.

Unconditioned simply means that the stimulus and the response are naturally connected. They just came that way, hard wired together like a horse and carriage and love and marriage as the song goes. Unconditioned means that this connection was already present before we got there and started messing around with the dog or the child or the spouse or the customer or voter or whomever were toying with. Stimulus simply means the thing that starts it while response means the thing that ends it. A stimulus elicits and a response is elicited. (This is circular reasoning, true, but hang in there.) Another diagram,

We already know that Unconditioned means unlearned, untaught, preexisting, alreadypresent-before-we-got-there. Conditioning just means the opposite. It means that we are trying to associate, connect, bond, link something new with the old relationship. And we want this new thing to elicit (rather than be elicited) so it will be a stimulus and not a response. Finally, after many trials we hope for,

Lets review these concepts.

1. UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS: a thing that can already elicit a response. 2. UNCONDITIONED RESPONSE: a thing that is already elicited by a stimulus. 3. UNCONDITIONED RELATIONSHIP: an existing stimulus-response connection. 4. CONDITIONING STIMULUS: a new stimulus we deliver the same time we give the old stimulus. 5. CONDITIONED RELATIONSHIP: the new stimulus-response relationship we created by associating a new stimulus with an old response. There are two key parts. First, we start with an existing relationship, UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS > UNCONDITIONED RESPONSE. Second, we pair a new thing (CONDITIONING STIMULUS) with the existing relationship, until the new thing has the power to elicit the old response. A Little History And A Comparison The example we used here is from the first studies on classical conditioning as described by Ivan Pavlov, the famous Russian physiologist. Pavlov discovered these important relationships around the turn of the 20th century in his work with dogs (really). He created the first learning theory which precedes the learning theory most people know quite well, reinforcement theory (AKA operant conditioning). We will look at reinforcement theory in a separate chapter, but for now I do want to make a point: Classical conditioning says nothing about rewards and punishments which are key terms in reinforcement theory.

Consider our basic example,

There is nothing in here about rewards or punishments, no terminology like that, not even an implication like that. Classical conditioning is built on creating relationships by association over trials. Some people confuse Classical Conditioning with Reinforcement Theory. To keep them separated just look for the presence of rewards and punishments. Classical conditioning has been described as stimulus substitution. in this process, a new stimuluspreviously a neutral oneis substituted for the stimulus which originally elicited the response. Pavlovs dog learning to make an old response (salivation) to a new

stimulus. The subject dog in the Palovian method is conditioned or trained to salivate in response of the sound of the bell, a flash of light, the ticking of a metronome, or some other previously neutral stimuli. First the bell sounded, followed by the presentation of food, which evokes the inborn salivary response. After repeated presentations of the sound followed by the food, the sound itself is adequate to elicit the salivation. Conditioning (learning) has occurred when the sound of the bell alone, which was previously a neutral stimulus for salivation, elicits the salivary response. The bell is now referred to as conditional stimulus and salivation response to the bell is called a conditional response. Basic terms in studying conditioning (Pavlov) Salivation in response to food placed in the mouth is a neutral, unlearned responsein short, a reflex. Thus, this response is called an unconditional reflex. The food, because it elicited the unconditioned reflex automatically, is called the unconditioned stimulus. When Pavlovs repeated presentation of the bell followed by food led the dog to salivate in response of the bell alone. This salivation was a conditioned reflex, which emphasized the arousal of the reflex was dependent upon a stimulus other then the neutral one. Similarly, he referred to the bell or other previously neutral stimulus as the conditional stimulus. Later, the widespread adoption of the adjective conditioned replaced conditional. Also it became apparent in later search that mans conditioned responses are strictly speaking, not reflexes. For these reasons, the following terms have become widely used: unconditioned stimulus(US), unconditioned response(UR), conditioned stimulus(CS), and conditioned response(CR). Classical conditioning ay inilarawan bilang pampasigla pagpapalit. sa prosesong ito, ang isang bagong pampasigla-dati ng isang neutral na isa-ay substituted para sa estimulo na kung saan orihinal na elicited ang tugon. Pavlov ang aso pag-aaral sa isang lumang tugon (paglalaway) sa isang bagong pampasigla. Ang paksa aso sa Palovian paraan ay nakakondisyon o sinanay upang maglaway sa tugon ng ang tunog ng kampanilya, isang flash ng ilaw, ang gris ng isang metronom, o ilang iba pang mga dati neutral stimuli. Una kampanilya tunog, na sinundan sa pamamagitan ng pagtatanghal ng mga pagkain, na evokes ang katutubo salivary tugon. Pagkatapos ng mga paulit-ulit na mga pagtatanghal ng ang tunog na sinusundan ng sa pagkain, ang tunog mismo ay sapat na upang magtamo ang paglalaway. Conditioning (pag-aaral) ay naganap kapag ang tunog ng kampanilya nag-iisa, na kung saan ay dati ng isang neutral na pampasigla para sa paglalaway, elicits ang salivary tugon. Kampanilya na ngayon ang tinutukoy sa bilang kondisyon na pampasigla at paglalaway tugon sa ang kampanilya ay tinatawag na isang kondisyon tugon. Basic termino sa pag-aaral ng conditioning (Pavlov) Paglalaway sa tugon sa pagkain na inilagay sa bibig ay isang neutral, walang pinag-aralan tugon-sa maikling salita, ang isang anino. Kaya, ang tugon na ito ay tinatawag na isang ganap na anino. Pagkain, dahil ito elicited ang unconditioned pinabalik sa awtomatikong, ay tinatawag na unconditioned pampasigla. Kapag paulit-ulit na pagtatanghal ng Pavlov ng kampanilya na sinundan ng pagkain na humantong ang aso sa maglaway sa tugon ng kampanilya lamang. Paglalaway ito ay isang nakakondisyon pinabalik, na emphasized

ang pagpukaw ng anino ay umaasa sa isang pampasigla sa iba pang pagkatapos ay ang neutral isa. Katulad nito, siya ay tinutukoy ang kampanilya o iba pang dati neutral pampasigla bilang kondisyon pampasigla. Mamaya, ang kalat na kalat na pag-aampon ng pang-uri kundisyon pinalitan kondisyon. Rin ito naging maliwanag sa mamaya sa paghahanap na nakakondisyon tugon ng tao ay mahigpit na nagsasalita, hindi reflexes. Para sa mga kadahilanang ito, ang mga sumusunod na tuntunin ay naging malawak na ginamit: unconditioned pampasigla (US), unconditioned tugon (UR), nakakondisyon pampasigla (CS), at nakakondisyon tugon (CR). The Unconditioned Stimulus The unconditioned stimulus is one that unconditionally, naturally, and automatically triggers a response. For example, when you smell one of your favorite foods, you may immediately feel very hungry. In this example, the smell of the food is the unconditioned stimulus. The Unconditioned Response The unconditioned response is the unlearned response that occurs naturally in response to the unconditioned stimulus. In our example, the feeling of hunger in response to the smell of food is the unconditioned response. The Conditioned Stimulus The conditioned stimulus is previously neutral stimulus that, after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus, eventually comes to trigger a conditioned response. In our earlier example, suppose that when you smelled your favorite food, you also heard the sound of a whistle. While the whistle is unrelated to the smell of the food, if the sound of the whistle was paired multiple times with the smell, the sound would eventually trigger the conditioned response. In this case, the sound of the whistle is the conditioned stimulus. The Conditioned Response The conditioned response is the learned response to the previously neutral stimulus. In our example, the conditioned response would be feeling hungry when you heard the sound of the whistle.