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  • Classical conditioning is a way of learning where a stimulus that triggers

  • a biological response is paired with a new stimulus that then results in the

  • same reaction. The most famous work in classical

  • conditioning was done by Ivan Pavlov in the 1890s. During this time Pavlov did a

  • lot of research around the digestive processes of dogs. One day during his

  • research Pavlov noticed that the dogs began to salivate in the presence of the

  • technician who normally fed them. He wondered if the technician was a trigger

  • that stimulated a response associated with food? To find out he constructed an

  • experiment that would allow him to measure a dog's output of saliva. First

  • he served the dog food. Then he served food while playing the sounds of a

  • metronome and repeated the process a few times.

  • finally he removed the food and only played the metronome. The dogs began to

  • salivate in response to the metronome alone. Pavlov concluded that if a new

  • stimulus was present when the dog was given food then that stimulus became

  • associated with food and caused salivation on its own.

  • When he published his findings Pavlov called the food an "unconditioned

  • stimulus" because its effects on the dog were not learned instead they triggered

  • an "unconditioned response" that happened naturally and completely out of the

  • dog's control. the metronome is at first a "neutral stimulus" through the process

  • of repetitive pairing with food the dog learns to connect the two. This means

  • that the "neutral stimulus" becomes the "conditioned stimulus" and the response to

  • that a "conditioned response". He also reported that 1) learning occurred most

  • rapidly when the interval between the sound and the appearance of the food was

  • short. 2) the saliva produced by the sound differed in composition from that

  • produced by the food, which means that the conditioned response was not an

  • exact replica of the unconditioned response. 3) while there are several forms

  • of conditioning such as forward and backward conditioning, classical

  • conditioning cannot create new behavior or be used for training, but instead

  • triggers involuntary biological responses. 4) we can almost entirely

  • undo the conditioning. This happens through extinction: when we repeatedly

  • present the conditioned stimulus in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus.

  • So what occurs inside the brain? When a dog sees the food the signals from the

  • eyes and nose stimulate the brain which activates the salivation glands to

  • secrete saliva to aid the dog with the digestion. When a dog hears a sound the

  • ears send a signal to the brain which takes note but has no reason to activate

  • anything. When the two different neurological processes are being

  • activated simultaneously new synaptic connections occur between the auditory

  • stimulus and the behavioral response. Over time these synapses are

  • strengthened so that it only takes the sound to activate the pathway leading to

  • salivation. You can try this popular classroom

  • exercise: take a friend, sit down and relax for two minutes. Then allow your

  • partner to check and record your pulse rate. Your partner will then tap a pencil

  • on the desk, five times. Right after stand up and hop on one leg for 30 seconds and

  • then check your pulse again! Repeat the procedure four times having the partner

  • record all data. After relaxing for the fifth time your partner will tap the

  • pencil five times as usual now instead of getting up for your exercise, only

  • check your pulse. If the conditioning was successful your

  • pulse rate will rise even without engaging in exercise!

  • What do you think does classical conditioning always work? If so, are

  • commercials a form of mental manipulation and should we limit

  • advertising in public spaces?

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Classical conditioning is a way of learning where a stimulus that triggers

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