Intro to Fall Term Lab:

+

Intro to Fall Term Lab:Classically Conditioning a Salivary Response in Dogs

ClassicalConditioning

+Labs: What to Expect

Eight lab sessions

You will work on an ongoing experiment using virtual dogs in a computer program

You will collect and graph data from this program

At end of term, an abbreviated lab report based on this experiment is due

+Grade Breakdown

Attendance: 5% Lab Report (including graphs): 7.5%

Total Lab Value: 12.5% (per semester)

+The Experiment:Classical Conditioning of a Salivary Response in Dogs

What does this mean?

How will we study this?

What are we looking for?

+Classical Conditioning:What does this mean?

Leads to a stimulus eliciting a response that does not naturally occur because of that stimulus

Done by pairing a stimulus that does cause the desired response with a neutral stimulus, until the neutral stimulus alone triggers that response.

An Example

http://www.break.com/usercontent/2009/11/the-office-altoid-experiment-1499823

+Key Words

“Conditioned Stimulus” (CS)

The neutral stimulus, that before conditioning does not naturally bring about the desired response

In our experiment this is a bell ringing

+Key Words continued…

“Unconditioned Stimulus” (US)

The stimulus that naturally evokes the desired response

In our experiment this is food pellets


“Inter-Stimulus Interval” or “CS-US Interval”

Amount of time between the presentation of the

Conditioned and Unconditioned stimuli


“Unconditioned Response” (UR)

The response rendered by the presentation of

both CS and US (bell and food)

In our experiment this is salivation


“Conditioned Response” (CR)

The response rendered by the presentation of the CS (bell) alone

This is the same as the UR; what differs is the cause of it


“Acquisition Trials”

Pairings of the CS and the US

In each of these trials the bell is presented and then the food is given


“Extinction Trials”

Presentation of the CS without the US

Ringing the bell but no longer giving any food

Leads to a decrease in the response

+Classical Conditioning Overview

1) US -> UR

2)CS + US = UR

3)CS -> CR

+Our Experiment:How will we study this?

We will be manipulating 4 variables As we vary one, all others stay constant

1) Number of Acquisition Trials Varying the # of pairings of the bell and food

• This will vary 3 times

2) Conditioned Stimulus Varying the loudness of the bell (in decibels)


+Our Experiment continued….Manipulating….

3) Unconditioned Stimulus Varying the number of food pellets given


4) CS-US Interval Varying the length of time between the CS and US


+Our Experiment:What are we looking for?

By varying each of those independently we will find:

The optimal number of pairings of the CS and US when classically conditioning

Optimal decibel level for a CS

Optimal number of food pellets to use as US

Optimal length of time to allow pass between presenting the CS and US

+Our ExperimentWhat is optimal? How will we determine which variations are best?

We will measure the average number of drops of saliva secreted by the dogs

Assume that more drops of saliva are an indication of a stronger association/better learned response

Saliva Stronger Conditioning

+Conducting the Experiment:The Computer Program

Where is the program?

Click on My Computer Apps on Caesar (S:)

Double-click the ‘Psych210’ folder• Double-click on the ‘cc’ icon

On all campus computers

+Inside the Program

You will be asked the same 7 questions every time you run a trial:

Experimenter’s Name: Type your first name (Hit Enter after each entry)

Number of Subjects to be Tested: Always type 4

Number of Acquisition Trials: This will vary

+Inside the Program continued… Number of Extinction Trials: Always type 50

How intense the CS will be in decibels: This will vary

How strong the US will be: This will vary

How long the CS-US interval will be: This will vary

+Inside the Program continued…

After you answer those 7 questions:

The program generates data based on your answers

Lists your trials and the measured drops of saliva for each

It asks you to press 1 to copy this file to your H: drive

Press 1 and hit Enter


Immediately open your H: drive and locate this file

It will be named ‘CC’

Right-click on this and Rename it

Otherwise each new trial will replace the previous one.


To start a new trial, press F2

This will begin the process all over again

For each experiment, you will be told what values need to be entered for each question

+Understanding your Data Files

Will see 5 columns of numbers broken into Acquisition Trials and Extinction Trials

Acquisition above, extinction below

The first 4 columns= the 4 individual dogs How much saliva Dog 1, 2, 3, 4, produced at each

trial

The last column to the right is the most important

+Understanding your Data Files

The last column of numbers= the average number of saliva drops the 4 dogs produced for each trial

Just those numbers are needed to make your graphs

Graphs will be made in Excel How-To document can always be accessed on my

website www.stfx.ca/people/jlayes

+Graphing your Data:Creating and Interpreting Figures

The graphs will show you:

The mean drops of saliva produced over acquisition and extinction trials

You will be able to see how the variations you made to one of the variables affected the saliva produced over trials

+Graph example

+Next Week:

You will run 3 experiments in the program

Manipulating the number of acquisition trials 10, 30, 50

Produce 2 Graphs One for Acquisition data (last column from top

portion of your 3 data files) One for Extinction data (last column from

bottom portion of your 3 data files)

+Lab Instructors:Contact Info

Please contact us with any questions

Dr. Ed Pencer Janea [email protected] [email protected] Annex 104 Annex 114Fwww.stfx.ca/people/epencer www.stfx.ca/people/jlayes

Intro to Fall Term Lab:

Documents

Transcript of Intro to Fall Term Lab: