PSYC 101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Conditioned Taste Aversion, Classical Conditioning, Fear Conditioning

• School: Capilano University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 101
• Professor: Alberta

Document Summary

Pavlov studied digestion, using dogs as a model species for his experiments. As part of his normal research procedure, he collected saliva and other gastric secretions from the dogs when they were presented with meat powder. Pavlov considered the possibility that digestive responses were more than just simple reflexes elicited by food. A stimulus is an external event or cue that elicits a perceptual response;this occurs regardless of whether the event is important or not. Food, water, pain or sexual contact elicit responses instinctively (without any learning being required) Urs could include hunger, drooling, expressions of pain, and sexual responses. Although much information pay pass through the dog"s brain, in pavlov"s experiments on classical conditioning an association was made between the clicking sound of a metronome and the food. During conditioning, weak synapses fire at the same time as related strong synapses. The simultaneous activity strengthens the connections in the weaker synapse.