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MEMORY AND LEARNING
HCC – WEST LOOP
MR. ALAS, MS
PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE
Psychology changed dramatically during the
early 20th-century as another school of
thought known as behaviorism rose to
dominance.
Behaviorism was a major change from
previous theoretical perspectives, rejecting
the emphasis on both the conscious and
unconscious mind.
BEHAVIORISM
Behavioral approach was the primary paradigm in
psychology between 1920s to 1950 :
 Based on a number of underlying assumptions
regarding methodology and behavioral
analysis
 Behaviorism strove to make psychology a
more scientific discipline by focusing purely on
observable behavior.
Psychology should be
seen as a science
Psychology should be seen as a science  Theories need to be supported by empirical data
obtained through careful and controlled observation and
measurement of behavior.
People have “no free will”
 a person’s environment determines their behavior
There is little difference between the learning that takes
place in humans and that in other animals.
 Therefore research can be carried out on animals as well
as humans.
PSYCHOLOGY BACKGROUND
Behavior is the result of stimulus –
response
 all behavior, no matter how complex, can be
reduced to a simple stimulus – response
association
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
A process of behavior modification by which:
 a subject comes to respond in a desired
manner to a previously neutral stimulus
 has been repeatedly presented along with
an unconditioned stimulus that elicits the
desired response.
LEARNING
Behavior is the result of stimulus –
response
All behavior, no matter how complex, can be
reduced to a simple stimulus – response
association.
IVAN PAVLOV (1849-1936)

Pavlov demonstrated that this learning process could be used to make an
association between and environmental stimulus and a naturally
occurring stimulus
 Demonstrated behaviors could be learned via conditioned
associations
PHYSIOLOGICAL APPARATUS
FILM ON DR.PAVLOV
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhqumfpx
uzI
LITTLE ALBERT VIDEO
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hBfnXA
CsOI#action=share
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt0ucxOr
PQE
Abbreviations
US
UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS
A stimulus that elicits a response without
conditioning
CS
CONDITIONED STIMULUS
A neutral stimulus that when paired with an
unconditioned stimulus (UCS) elicits a similar
response
Abbreviations
UR
UNCONDITIONED RESPONSE
Automatic response elicited by the
unconditioned stimulus
CR
CONDITIONED RESPONSE
A response that is learned by pairing the originally
neutral conditioned stimulus (CS) with the
unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
CONVERSION OF UCS TO CR
 Pavlovian (or classical) conditioning builds on
reflexes: We begin with an unconditioned
stimulus and an unconditioned response -- a
reflex! We then associate a neutral stimulus with
the reflex by presenting it with the
unconditioned stimulus. Over a number of
repetitions, the neutral stimulus by itself will
elicit the response! At this point, the neutral
stimulus is renamed the conditioned stimulus,
and the response is called the conditioned
response.
EXAMPLE OF CLASSICAL CONDITINING
ACQUISITION TERMS
The food is an unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
and the salivation is the unconditioned response
(UCR). The bell is a neutral stimulus until the
dog learns to associate the bell with food. Then
the bell becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS)
which produces the conditioned response (CR)
of salivation after repeated pairings between
the bell and food.
The Unconditioned Response
(UCR)
The unconditioned response is the unlearned
response that occurs naturally in response to
the unconditioned stimulus.
In our example, the feeling of hunger in
response to the smell of food is the
unconditioned response.
The Unconditioned Stimulus
(UCS)
The unconditioned stimulus is one that
unconditionally, naturally, and automatically
triggers a response.
For example, when you smell one of your
favorite foods, you may immediately feel very
hungry. In this example, the smell of the food is
the unconditioned stimulus.
The Conditioned Stimulus
(CS)
The conditioned stimulus is previously neutral stimulus
that, after becoming associated with the
unconditioned stimulus, eventually comes to trigger a
conditioned response.
In our earlier example, suppose that when you smelled
your favorite food, you also heard the sound of a
whistle. While the whistle is unrelated to the smell of
the food, if the sound of the whistle was paired
multiple times with the smell, the sound would
eventually trigger the conditioned response. In this
case, the sound of the whistle is the conditioned
stimulus.
The Conditioned Response
(CR)
The conditioned response is the learned
response to the previously neutral stimulus.
In our example, the conditioned response
would be feeling hungry when you heard the
sound of the whistle.
Extinction
When the occurrences of a conditioned
response decrease or disappear. In classical
conditioning, this happens when a conditioned
stimulus is no longer paired with an
unconditioned stimulus.
For example, if the smell of food (the unconditioned stimulus) had
been paired with the sound of a whistle (the conditioned
stimulus), it would eventually come to evoke the conditioned
response of hunger. However, if the unconditioned stimulus (the
smell of food) were no longer paired with the conditioned
stimulus (the whistle), eventually the conditioned response
(hunger) would disappear.
Generalization
Stimulus Generalization is the tendency for the
conditioned stimulus to evoke similar responses
after the response has been conditioned.
For example, if a child has been conditioned to
fear a stuffed white rabbit, the child will exhibit
fear of objects similar to the conditioned
stimulus
Acquisition
Acquisition is the initial stage of learning when a
response is first established and gradually
strengthened.
For example, imagine that you are conditioning a
dog to salivate in response to the sound of a bell. You
repeatedly pair the presentation of food with the
sound of the bell. You can say the response has been
acquired as soon as the dog begins to salivate in
response to the bell tone. Once the response has
been acquired, you can gradually reinforce the
salivation response to make sure the behavior is well
learned.
Discrimination
Discrimination is the ability to differentiate
between a conditioned stimulus and other
stimuli that have not been paired with an
unconditioned stimulus.
For example, if a bell tone were the
conditioned stimulus, discrimination would
involve being able to tell the difference
between the bell tone and other similar sounds
Generalization
Occurs when there is a small difference in the
presented stimulus and the original conditioned
stimulus.
If Pavlov’s dog heard a bell of a similar tone, the
dog would still salivate.
Spontaneous recovery
Reappearance of the conditioned response
after a rest period or period of lessened
response.
If the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned
stimulus are no longer associated, extinction
will occur very rapidly after a spontaneous
recovery.
JOHN WATSON – LITTLE ALBERT
EXPERIMENT
LITTLE ALBERT
"Little Albert" was 11 months old. He was described as a remarkably stable
infant who rarely displayed fear of anything. He was not afraid of animals,
including the white laboratory rat. He was, however, afraid of loud noises
(US). Watson and Rayner decided to take advantage of his natural fear
response (UR) to loud noises; they wanted to see whether they could
condition Little Albert to fear the white laboratory rat (initially, a neutral
stimulus), by pairing it with the presentation of a loud noise (US). Watson
and Rayner produced the loud noise by striking a large steel pipe with a
hammer, just above and behind Little Albert's head. After only seven paired
presentations of the rat and the loud noise, Little Albert began to cry and try
to crawl away (CR) as soon as he saw the rat (CR), even though the rat was
not paired with the loud noise on this occasion. The fear response
generalized to other furry objects, including a rabbit, a dog, a fur coat, and a
Santa Claus mask. Little Albert had not displayed fear of any of these objects
prior to the pairing of the loud noise with the presentation of the rat. Little
Albert's fear response to all of these furry objects persisted for over a month
while Little Albert remained in the hospital. (However, Watson and Rayner
did take steps to "freshen" his responses to the furry objects by pairing them
with the loud noise periodically.)
FILL IN THE BLANK
• Neutral Stimulus:
• Unconditioned Stimulus:
• Unconditioned Response:
• Conditioned Stimulus:
• Conditioned Response:
STIMULUS GENERALIZATION
After conditioning, Albert feared not just the
white rat, but a wide variety of similar white
objects as well. His fear included other furry
objects including Raynor's fur coat and Watson
wearing a Santa Claus beard.
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING EXAMPLE
APPLICATION OF CC IN
ADVERTISEMENT
CAN STIMULI ELICIT SEXUAL
RESPONSES?
THE END