Chapter 6: Learning

Chapter 6: Learning

1. Learning: is any relatively durable change in behaviour, attitude, or knowledge that is due to experience.

2. Pavlov’s Research

   • Pavlov used an apparatus to measure the amount of saliva produced when a dog ate. The flow of saliva occurred naturally whenever food was placed in the dog’s mouth, as salivation is an involuntary, reflex response.

3. Pavlov’s Method

   • Dog was restrained in a harness to avoid extraneous variables. Meat powder was placed directly on the dog’s tongue or in the bowl.
   • A tube was surgically attached to the dog’s cheek near one of the salivary glands and a fistula was made so that the saliva drained straight out into a measuring device. Further on, more sophisticated measuring devices were used to measure the speed of saliva flow

4. Classical Conditioning

   • A response that is automatically produced by one stimulus becomes associated, or linked, with another stimulus that would not normally produce this response

5. Key Elements of classical condition

   • 1. Unconditioned Stimulus: The unconditioned stimulus (UCS) is any stimulus that consistently produces a particular, naturally occurring, automatic response. This response is usually involuntary and controlled by the PNS
   • 2. Unconditioned Response: The unconditioned response (UCR) is the response that occurs automatically when the UCS is presented.
   • 3.Conditioned Stimulus: The conditioned stimulus (CS) is the stimulus that is neutral at the start of the conditioning process and does not normally produce the UCR.
   • 4. Conditioned Response:The conditioned response (CR) is the learned response that is produced by the CS.

6. Key Processes in Classical Conditioning

   • Acquisition: the overall process during which the organism learns to associate 2 events.
   • Extinction:is the gradual decrease in the strength or rate of a CR that occurs when the UCS is no longer presented.
   • Spontaneous Recovery: does not always occur and when it does it is often short-lived.