Chapter 5 Cause and Effect Summary of Classical Pavlovian Conditioning procedure for Excitatory Conditioning o Before Bell No response BUT US Food UR Salivation o During CS Bell FOLLOWED BY US Food UR Salivation o After CS Bell CR Salivation o CS US temporal relationships in various classical conditioning paradigms for excitatory conditioning Delay Conditioned stimulus presented for awhile then Unconditioned stimulus presented at the same time Good learning Trace Conditioned stimulus presented then stopped unconditioned stimulus presented after Requires memory system Simultaneous Both presented at the same time No learning Backward Unconditioned stimulus presented then stopped Conditioned stimulus presented after No learning o What makes for good excitatory conditioning Theory of Contiguity proposed by John Locke and British Empiricists Things that occur together in time or space become associated because of their contiguity Short CS US interval good temporal contiguity CS presented before US good contingency o A paradox that demands exploration Reported by Kamin 1968 Initial training CS light o US shock UR fear After initial training CS light CS tone US UR Test CS light alone CS tone alone Light elicits fear Tone does not elicit fear even though it has good contiguity and contingency Phenomenon is called the Kamin Blocking effect or simply the blocking effect o A US factor important for Classical Conditioning Kamin idea of US surprisingness Blocking according to this ideas occurs because the US is already well predicted when new CS is added New CS is unnecessary to predict US some conditioning occurs Aplysia o Marine snail o Simple nervous system o It can be stimulated with a water pick o Experimenter can record from identifiable neurons o Learning in the gill withdrawal reflex Gill withdrawal reflex protective Sensitization pinch or shock tail first withdrawal happens faster Reasoning in classical conditioning Another account of blocking o If p then q if potential causes A and X are both effective causes of a particular outcome then the outcomes should be stronger when both are present than when only one is present o not q The outcome is not stronger when A and X are both present A X than when only A is present o Therefore not p Thus A and X are not both effective causes of the outcome o Strong evidence that classical conditioning may involve more complex processes than just mechanical reasoning Edward Lee Thorndike o Studied cats in puzzle boxes o Came up with Law of Effect and Negative Law of Effect o Proposed 2 ways to learn Trial and error learning gradual learning curve Insight learning sudden stepped learning o What Thorndike observes Trial and error learning gradual learning curve Development of the Skinner Box o Depression of lever operates a food dispenser o Response is recorded o Pigeons play ping pong Biological predispositions and Roadblocks limitations on learning abilities a k a constraints on learning o Garcia Koelling Taste aversion learning study Audiovisual CS Bright noisy water Flashing light and clicking relay when drinking Taste CS Tasty water sweet taste while drinking Rats got both CS s together paired with shock or gut sickness Later tested with each CS separately Garcia Effect Better learning occured when Interoceptive internal stimuli and responses were paired OR exteroceptive external stimuli and responses were paired Poorer learning when combine Belongingness a constraint on learning o Cook Mineka See adults with fear of snakes or flowers Young rhesus monkeys with no prior fear of snakes or flowers Easily developed fear of snakes Did not develop fear of flowers Biological predisposition to learn