Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning
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 on 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 usually 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 with 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 a 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! Why do you think classical
conditioning always works? If so, are commercials a form of mental
manipulation and should we limit advertising in public spaces? Sprouts videos are published under the
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