Classical Conditioning

Learning through association with a neutral stimulus paired with an unconditioned stimulus, which produces a natural unconditioned response.

Neutral Stimulus (NS): an environmental stimulus that does not naturally produce a response

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): produces a natural unlearned behavioural response

Unconditioned Response (UCR): Any response that occurs naturally without learning it

Conditioned Stimulus (CS): associated with UCS, so that now it produces the same response the UCS would do on its own

Conditioned Response (CR): learned behaviour is the response to a learned stimulus (CS)

NOTE:

  • The NS becomes the CS
  • The UCR and the CR are the same
  • NS + UCS = CRHigher Order Conditioning: pairing another neutral stimulus with the original neutral stimulusGeneralisation: extending the original association to include similar stimuli

    Discrimination: only responding to the original conditioned stimulus

    Extinction: the association between the CS and the UCS is no longer there

    Spontaneous Recovery: after the response has extinguished, it may suddenly reappear for no apparent reason

    One Trial Learning: an association is made after just one pairing of the NS and the UCS