Classical Conditioning and the Pupil Dilation Response

Our understanding of classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning has allowed us to unlock many of the answers we sought to learn about human behavior. Classical conditioning is a technique of behavioral training, coined by Ivan Pavlov, which basically states that an organism learns through establishing associations between different events and stimuli. This helps us understand human behavior in an assortment of ways. It makes it clear that almost everything we do is based on patterns of stimulus and response. For example, if you were bitten aggressively by a dog as a child, you may be still scared of dogs today. That is because the dog caused you pain, which in turn caused you have anxiety towards dogs.

Classical conditioning is a type of associative learning which occurs when two stimuli are paired together repetitively and therefore become associated with each other eventually producing the same response. Classical conditioning was developed from the findings of Ivan Pavlov to account for associations between neutral stimuli and reflexive behavior such as salivation. Pavlov (1927) accidently discovered that dogs began to salivate before they had tasted their food. To support his theory, he carried out experiments using dogs which involved measuring the amount of saliva they produced. In his experiments, food started off as an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) which produced salivation, an unconditioned response (UCR). They are both unconditioned as they occur naturally without being learned. The dogs were presented with a bell (NS), this provided no salivation. The bell and food were presented together and after many trails an

Classical conditioning is the relationship of an automatic response with a neutral occurrence. There are many main components to classical conditioning. Acquisition which is the learning part of classical conditioning where the conditioned stimulus is paired with the unconditioned stimulus. An unconditioned stimulus is a stimulus that instinctively causes a response. An unconditioned response is the response to the unconditioned stimulus that the researcher will document. A Neutral stimulus is a stimulus that may not get a response initially however after time, develops an instinctive response. A conditioned stimulus is a neutral stimulus after is has taught the response by training based on the conditioning. A conditioned response is the response to the conditioned stimulus. Extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination are all a part of the classical conditioning process (Nevid,

To learn more about this phenomenon, researchers conducted a study by which they attempted to condition a dog’s leg reflex by flashing a light before giving a small shock to the dog’s paw. Several trials took place in the following order: flashing of the light, shock, then a leg reflex. After several trials, the dog paired the light with the shock. It came to the point where the dog began to respond immediately after the light flash, even when a shock was not paired with it. It would be assumed that the light flash is now the conditioned stimulus and that the leg reflex is now the conditioned response. However, to be sure of this, researchers decided to test if there is a reflex when a beep sound is presented. Indeed, there was a response after the presentation beep. The elicited response, which was at first

In 1903 a Russian physiologist by the name of Ivan Pavlov first developed an experiential model of learning called Classical Conditioning (Lautenheiser 1999). An example if Classical Conditioning would be ringing a bell when it is time for your pet to eat. The pet hears the bell and over time is conditioned that when the bell rings its dinner time thus begins to salivate, and eventually learns to be conditioned to responding to the bell in a specific manner. The bases was that neutral stimulus would be put together with an excitatory one and over time the neutral stimulus would, at some point down the line elicit the response that was associated with the original unlearned response. Pavlov later added an element known as the nonexcitatory, conditioned stimulus which is but together with an unconditioned stimulus (Lautenheiser 1999).

Students were split into small groups of 3-4 students. Of each group, one student was elected to be the test subject for both conditions; visual feedback and non-visual feedback Once chosen, the student’s force production baseline was determined using the force transducer. The transduces was gripped as hard as possible for five seconds. Once a baseline was identified, the subject again gripped

Review Sheet Results 1. Describe how increasing the stimulus frequency affected the force developed by the isolated whole skeletal muscle in this activity. How well did the results compare with your prediction? Your answer: When the stimulus frequency was at the lowest the force was at its lowest level out of all of the experiments. As the stimulus frequency was increased to 130, s/s the force increased slightly but fused tetanus developed at the higher frequency. When the stimulus frequency was increased to the amounts of 146-150 s/s, the force reached a plateau and maximal tetanic tension occurred, where no further increases in force occur from additional stimulus frequency. 2. Indicate what type of force was developed by the isolated skeletal muscle in this activity at the following stimulus frequencies: at 50 stimuli/sec, at 140 stimuli/sec, and above 146 stimuli/sec. Your answer: At 50- Unfused

The aim of this investigation is to explore whether reflexes are better suing a preferred hand or non-preferred hand. The method of this conducting this experiment was using a ruler and dropping it between the index finger and thumb of the participants being experimented on and measuring the distance the ruler has been dropped.

To begin the experiment, Watson and his team started off by questioning if a loud noise would cause a fear reaction. The sound of choice for this part would be a hammer on a suspended steel bar. The first strike of the bar startled the

Although classical conditioning is something that most people experience in a daily basis, it may also be the first thing someone remembers in a day. According to Olson and Hergenhahn (2009) classical conditioning is defined as a type of learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally brings about that response. In this paper the subject is to describe the theory of classical conditioning as well as describing a scenario in which one could apply classical conditioning theory to, and bring forth the scenario by showing illustrations of how this could be used

For the second stage, a white rat was used as Watson’s CS, the CS must be a neutral stimulus that initially has no effect on the UR. Little Albert showed no phobia towards the rat before conditioning occurred. By pairing the US with the CS, the infant learned to associate the loud noise of the hammer and metal bar with the white rat. After strengthening the association between the US and the CS by repetition, Little Albert eventually became fearful and upset when only presented with the once neutral stimulus, the white rat. This response was the CR which marked the completion of step three. Little Albert was now afraid of the white rat because it triggered his fear of the loud noise. Classical conditioning can be used to prove many forms of behavior between subjects when looking at the the right unconditioned/ conditioned stimuli and unconditioned/ conditioned responses. The theory of classical conditioning can be used to explain the development of distrust and trust issues in the relationships between people.

The process of classical conditioning follows the procedure from Pavlov’s salivation experiment. Before conditioning, when a bowl of dog food is presented the dog would “naturally” salivate at the mouth “in response to food”. Because this response occurs “automatically” and “prior training” isn’t required for hunger, this reaction is called an unconditioned response (UCR) which “is the response that is naturally elicited by the [UCS]” (Powell et al., 2013, pp. 112-115). When referring to a natural response--one is referring to an elicited reaction that is characterized as “an unlearned or innate reaction to [a] stimulus” (Powell et al., 2013, p. 115). Furthermore, the dog food is considered an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), which “is a stimulus that naturally elicits a response” (Powell et al., 2013, p. 115). According to Pavlov’s experiment, when a bell chimes without the presentation of dog food, the dog will not instinctually salivate (Powell et al., 2013, p. 112). Since the bell didn’t initially “elicit salivation” naturally, it’s called a neutral stimulus (NS) (Powell et al., 2013, p. 112). However, through conditioning, as the bell tone pairs with dog food continuously, the dog begins to salivate. Finally, after the conditioning process is completed, the pairing of “food” and the bell “now elicits salivation” (Powell et al., 2013, p. 112). Since the dog’s salivation required some type of continual prompting or, “prior training”, it’s reaction is considered a conditioned response (CR) “and the [bell]” is the conditioned stimulus (CS). By definition, a conditioned stimulus “is any stimulus that, although initially neutral, comes to elicit a response because it has been associated with an unconditioned stimulus” (Powell et al., 2013, p. 115). Responses triggered by a

Starting with the precious work of Charles Darwin in 1850 who investigated the effect of emotion and fear in animals, the relationship between cognitive or emotional processes and pupil dilation has been discussed for more than a century (Darwin et al., 1998, Hess, 1975; Steinhauer, 2002). The first description of psychosensory reactions can be dated to 1911, when the neurologist and psychiatrist Oswald Bumke came to the following conclusion:

What are the biological constraints in Classical Conditioning? Report the procedure and results of two studies supporting your answer.

There are two groups of reflexes in the human body, with two ways to categorize each of them. Reflexes can either be inborn and connected through the nervous system, or they can be learned through practice. Another way to explain a reflexive category would be autonomic reflexes or somatic reflexes. Autonomic reflexes are those which are unaware to us and act on visceral organs of the body, whereas somatic reflexes involve skeletal muscle stimulation. Both types of reflexes are put into effect via the nervous system. (1)