Classical Conditioning

1. Classical Conditioning
Dr. Pratibha Sagar
Department of Education

2. Classical Conditioning
New Reflexes from Old
Principles of Classical
Conditioning
What is Actually Learned in
Classical Conditioning

3. New Reflexes From Old

4. New Reflexes From Old
• Classical Conditioning: The
process by which a previously
neutral stimulus acquires the
capacity to elicit a response
through association with a
stimulus that already elicits a
similar or related response.

5. Principles of Classical
Conditioning
• Acquisition
• Extinction
• Spontaneous Recovery
• Higher-Order Conditioning
• Stimulus Generalization
• Stimulus Discrimination

6. Acquisition
• The initial learning of a behavior
• The gradual formation of an
association between the
conditioned and unconditioned
stimuli

7. Acquisition
• A neutral stimulus
that is consistently
followed by an
unconditioned
stimulus will become
a conditioned
stimulus.

8. Extinction
• The weakening and
eventual disappearance of
a learned response; in
classical conditioning, it
occurs when the
conditioned stimulus is no
longer paired with the
unconditioned stimulus.

9. Extinction
• Pairings of the CS and UCS lead to
conditioning whereas presentation of
the CS only leads to loss of the
conditioned response
• Extinction refers to loss of response to
a CS presented without the UCS
–Extinction is not forgetting

10. Extinction
• Extinction is useful in clinical
situations
–Extinction of a phobia can be
treated by exposure to the CS only

11. Extinction

12. Spontaneous Recovery
• After a while, the extinguished CS
again produces a CR
• Even a single pairing of the CS with
the US will reestablish the CR
• Is temporary and will quickly fade
• New Acquisition: The organism
learns that original association no
longer holds true

13. Spontaneous Recovery
• Spontaneous
recovery:
Reappearance
of a conditioned
response after
extinction

14. Acquisition, Extinction, &
Spontaneous Recovery

15. Higher Order Conditioning
• A procedure in which a neutral
stimulus becomes a conditioned
stimulus through association with
an already established conditioned
stimulus.

16. Higher-Order Conditioning
–Children learn to pair
McDonald’s restaurant with
food, and later learn that the
two golden arches are a
symbol for McDonald’s

17. Higher-Order Conditioning

18. Stimulus Generalization
• After conditioning, the
tendency to respond to a
stimulus that resembles one
involved in the original
conditioning.

19. Stimulus Generalization
• After the CR is established, not
only the US but also the stimuli
that are similar to CS will be able
to produce CR.
• But the farther the CS is from
this similar stimulant, the less it
produces CR

20. Stimulus Discrimination
• Learning to differentiate
between two similar stimuli if
one is consistently associated
with the unconditioned
stimulus and the other is not

21. Stimulus Discrimination
• The tendency to respond
differently to two or more similar
stimuli.
• In classical conditioning, it occurs
when a stimulus similar to the
condition stimulus (CS) fails to
evoke a conditioned response
(CR).

22. Stimulus Discrimination

23. Generalization &
Discrimination
Varying Pitch Frequencies