Describe Pavlov’s early life
career path
What were the psychic secretions that became a focus of Pavlov’s work? Why did Pavlov shift the focus of his work from digestive processes to psychic secretions? (p. 59)
Psychic secretions were salivary responses elicited by stimuli predicting food rather than food itself. He shifted focus because these responses revealed important psychological processes about learning and prediction.
Describe Pavlov’s work with dogs that illustrates Pavlovian conditioning. Define unconditional reflexes
conditional reflexes
Comment: In describing Pavlovian conditioning…
Neutral stimulus = stimulus that does not initially elicit the response but can become a CS after pairing. It is simply the CS before conditioning.
Describe Wallace and Rosen’s demonstration (2000)… (pp. 60–61)
Rats show strong fear/avoidance to odor from fox feces. This innate response helps survival by avoiding predators.
Is the presentation of the two stimuli… (p. 63)
Yes
Define higher-order Pavlovian conditioning… (pp. 63–64)
Higher-order: a CS is paired with another CS. Frolov showed a CS paired with an established CS could elicit CR. Increases importance by extending learning beyond direct US pairings.
Comment: Chance uses higher-order conditioning…
Second-order = CS predicts another CS. Higher orders weaken as distance from US increases.
Describe Staats and Staats’ (1957)… (pp. 63–64)
Words paired with positive/negative stimuli changed attitudes toward neutral words
How can response latency… (pp. 65–66)
Latency = time to respond; shorter latency indicates stronger conditioning. Problem: may reflect factors other than conditioning.
Describe the use of test trials… (p. 65)
Present CS alone and measure CR. Example: tone alone after conditioning to see if salivation occurs.
Describe the method of measuring… (p. 65)
Measure intensity/amplitude of CR. Example: stronger salivation = stronger conditioning.
Define pseudoconditioning… (pp. 65–66)
Response increase due to repeated US exposure
Describe the following four ways… (pp. 66–69)
Trace: CS ends before US (moderately effective). Delayed: CS overlaps US (most effective). Simultaneous: CS and US together (weak). Backward: US before CS (ineffective/inhibitory).
What is a contingency?… (p. 69)
Contingency = predictive relationship between CS and US. Rescorla showed conditioning depends on prediction
What is CS-US contiguity… (pp. 69–70)
Temporal closeness of CS and US. Short intervals are more effective; depends on response type.
What is a compound stimulus?… (p. 72)
Two stimuli presented together. Pavlov’s assistant showed one stimulus may dominate response.
Define overshadowing… (p. 72)
More salient stimulus dominates learning. Salience/intensity determines overshadowing.
How does prior experience… (p. 74)
Prior exposure reduces conditioning effectiveness. Latent inhibition = slower learning after pre-exposure.
Define blocking… (pp. 74–75)
Existing CS prevents new stimulus from becoming CS. Blocking vs overshadowing: blocking involves prior learning; overshadowing does not.
Describe how blocking… (p. 75)
Helps ignore irrelevant cues but may prevent learning useful new associations.
What is sensory preconditioning? (p. 75)
Two neutral stimuli paired
Describe the relationship between number of pairings… (pp. 75–76)
Not linear; rapid early learning then slows (decelerating curve). Supports quick adaptation for survival.
What is the relationship between length of the intertrial interval… (p. 76)
Longer intervals generally improve conditioning effectiveness.
