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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