PSYC 301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Rodent, Electrodermal Activity, Habituation

• School: McGill University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 301
• Professor: Anne Almey

Document Summary

Have people put their fingers on a metal plate. Trace conditioning: tone (cs) was followed by a shock (us); people will end up picking up finger (cr) when they heard the tone (cs). Initially this was considered to be aversive classical conditioning. Then this was recognized as a different type of learning. Shock causes increased running (ur): they are trying to escape. Group a: instrumental avoidance: us followed the tone unless running. Group b: classical conditioning: us always followed the tone. Result: the avoidance group ran much faster than the classically conditioned animals. Explanation: learn this response will eliminate shock so rapidly increase this behavior. The behavior was reinforced by the lack of shock. Both are instrumental responses resulting from negative reinforcement. Explanation: if a tone and a shock happen simultaneously, then you have no way to predict the shock escape response.