Lesson 6: Classical Conditioning

And here you were thinking that you like FCUK because they make quality clothing!

From last lesson….

Explain the difference between developmental plasticity and adaptive plasticity.

From last lesson….

Explanation of the difference should refer to developmental plasticity as primarily involving changes in the brain’s neural structure in response to experience during its growth and development, and adaptive plasticity as primarily involving changes occurring in the brain’s neural structure to enable adjustment to experience, to compensate for lost function and/or to maximise remaining functions in the event of brain damage.

Today’s Lesson

 Describe  Pavlov’s original

experiments 

Describe and apply the key elements of classical conditioning (conditioned stimulus, unconditioned stimulus, conditioned response, unconditioned response, and neutral stimulus) 

Classical Conditioning

A simple form of learning, which occurs through repeated association of two (or more) different stimuli

Learning is said to have occurred when a particular stimulus consistently produces a response that it did not previously elicit

Learn to associate two events, stimuli, eventually, one stands for the other in our minds.

Classical Conditioning

How does your dog know its time for a walk? Why do certain songs have meaning to

different people? Why do people have phobias? Why cant I ever, ever, ever eat that again?

Why do we buy ‘brand name’ products?

ALL of these things are learned through classical conditioning!

Advertisers are conditioning you to buy their product!

Coke Ad - Happiness

Coke Ad - Xmas

Lynx Ad

Nike Ad

Ivan Pavlov and his dogs

The discovery of CC was an accident

Wanted to study digestion and the role of saliva

Rerouted saliva ducts to a test tube so measurements could be taken

Research ran into trouble when the dogs began to fill their cheek tubes before the food was presented

The dogs were learning to anticipate food at the sight of the lab tech guy

Ivan Pavlov and his dogs

Ivan Pavlov and his dogs

The Main Elements of Classical Conditioning

The Neutral Stimulus (NS) - the name given to the conditioned stimulus before it becomes conditioned. In Pavlov's experiment NS = Bell or Lab technician etc…

The Condoned Stimulus (CS) - the stimulus which is neutral at the start of conditioning. It wouldn't normally produce the Unconditioned response (UCR), but does so eventually because of its association with the Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS). CS = Bell or Lab technician etc…

  The Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) - Any stimulus that consistently

produces a particular response. In Pavlov's Exp. UCS = food.

The Unconditioned Response (UCR) - A response which occurs automatically when the Unconditioned Stimulus is presented. In Pavlov's experiment. UCR = Salivation.

The Continued Response (CR) - the behaviours which is identical to the UCR but is caused by the CS after conditioning. In Pavlov's expt. CR = Salivation in response to the Bell (CS).

Classical Conditioning examples

UCS – Walking UCR – Excitement

NS – Lead CS – Lead CR – Excitement

The dog has learned to associate the dog lead with being taken for a walk

UCS – Good times with friends

UCR – Positive mood

NS – Song CS – Song CR – Positive mood

We learn to associate the song with the good times we had

UCS – Good looking people, fun, sexy, cool, happiness

UCR – Feeling good / desire to be like this

NS – Coke CS – Coke CR – Feeling Good about coke / desire to buy

coke

We learn to associate coke with positive images. Coke becomes meaningful and we are more likely to purchase it over other drinks

UCS –Images of attractive, fit, cool, famous, successful, tough people

UCR – Desire to achieve status of modes

NS – Nike CS – Nike CR – Desire to achieve status of models /purchase

Nike

We learn to associate Nike with being fit, cool, fun, high status, successful thus we are more likely to purchase Nike over Big W brand because we do not associate Big W with any of these ideas

UCS – rebellion, alternative, cool, counter culture

UCR – feeling unique and hip

NS – FCUK CS – FCUK CR – FCUK making us feel unique and hip

We learn to associate FCUK with the image of rebellious cool, we are thus more likely to purchase FCUK over Target clothing.

Why buy brand names?

Because we are conditioned to see tangible value that is not there!

Physically the products are often made from the same materials, sometimes even in the same factory (footwear and clothing especially)

The value we perceive is emotional! Advertising adds emotional value to

a product

Why buy brand names?

Coles-Myer executive quoted in response to an official enquiry – “non-branded footwear often incorporates the same or similar methods of construction, technology and components/materials. Moreover it is often sourced from the same factory as branded footwear. The commercial reality is that without a brand the consumer perceives no value that warrants a premium price.”

Advertising is Classical Conditioning

Advertising executive – “If you think about what Pavlov did, he actually took a neutral object and, by associating it with a meaningful object, made it a symbol of something else, he imbued it with imagery, he gave it added value, and isn’t that what we try and do in modern advertising”

On average people in western countries are exposed to 9000 advertising messages a day

Classical Conditioning hard wires your brain – fMRI research

When subjects drank un branded cola only the taste sensing parts of the brain become active

When subjects could see coke labelling the hippocampus (memory) and parts of the frontal lobe (emotions etc) also became active

Recognition and positive reaction to Coke has been hard wired into the brain

Which will you buy?

You are what you buy?

Nearly half of the worlds 8 – 12 year olds say that the clothes and brands they wear describe who they are!

Advertising to children aims to create hard wired ‘brand loyalty’

If they get you young enough they can ensure that your brain becomes wired to prefer their product

You then continue to purchase their product out of habit

Elements of Classical Conditioning

Extinction

When the UCS is no longer presented along with the CS

Eventually the CS becomes meaningless

CR stops

Spontaneous Recovery

Extinction has occurred

A rest period take place

When CS reintroduced the CR again appears

CR is weaker than when first conditioned

Stimulus Generalisation

The organism will respond by producing a CR to stimuli that are similar to the CS

Eg. Dogs in Pavlovs experiment would salivate to a bell, a chime, an alarm clock etc.

Eg. A child who was bitten by a dog now fears all dogs not just pit bull terriers

Stimulus Discrimination

The organism only responds to the CS and no other similar stimuli

Eg. Your dog gets excited when you put your Nike runners on, not any other white shoes

Eg. Consumers only by coke, not any cola in red and white packaging

EG. You only buy billabong, not the rip off surfalong brand

Activities

Learning Activity 1 Now it is your turn to condition a dog just like Pavlov did

all those years ago. Go to the following site and have a crack at it! http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/pavlov/pavlov.html

 

Learning Activity 2 In groups of 3 create a podcast simulating classical

conditioning. The podcast must include and explain all the key terms. (In red at the start of this wiki).