Technical Reading Psychology 1702

|UNIVERSIDAD COOPERATIVA DE COLOMBIA “Profesionales con Criterios Políticos” Villavicencio – Meta – Colombia Faculty of Psychology English II – group 1702 – Technical reading III Name: _______________________________

Code: __________ Date _____________

PAVLOV’S EARLY WORK: THE BASIC NATURE OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING In order to examine the process of classical conditioning in a systematic manner, Pavlov inserted a small rubber tube into the salivary glands of his canine subjects. After they had fully recovered from this minor operation, the dogs were placed in an apparatus designed to accomplish two goals. First, it restrained their movements, and second, it enabled Pavlov to obtain a precise record of the amount of saliva that was secreted (see Figure 4-4). Actual conditioning procedures were then begun. During these procedures, some neutral stimulus which had previously been shown to have no noticeable effect upon the dog’s rate of salivation (e.g., a bell) was presented for a brief period of time. A second stimulus, known to exert a strong effect upon salivation (e.g., a small quality of dried meat powder squirted directly into the subject’s mouth) was the quickly delivered. The bell (or other neutral stimulus) was termed the conditioned stimulus (or CS.) This was because at first it did not cause subjects to salivate, and only gradually acquired this ability. The meat powder was termed the uncon-ditioned stimulus (or UCS). This was because it produced salivation the first time it was presented, without any prior conditioning. Each pairing of these two stimuli served as conditioning trial, and a number of such trials were conducted, one after another. The major purpose, of course, was to determine whether the bell would gain the ability of elicit salivation as result of repeated pairing with the meat powder. To determine whether this was the case, special test trials were employed. On these trials, the bell was rung, but no meat powder was presented. As you might expect on the basis of the shower example presented earlier, it was found that on these occasions subjects did in fact begin to salivate when they heard the bell. (For a related example of classical conditioning, please see Figure 4-5. And for an example of a stimulus which will almost certainly elicit a conditioned response from you, please see Color Plate 4-1.) Because reactions to the bell began to occur only as conditioning pro-ceeded, they were termed conditioned responses (CR’s). In contrast, since reactions to the meat powder took place the very first time it was presented, in a seemingly automatic manner, they were termed unconditioned responses (UR’s). It is important to note that although the responses induced by con-ditioned and unconditioned stimuli are often very similar, they are by no means identical. “For example”, conditioned responses are often smaller and are slower to occur than unconditioned responses, and they are frequently different in form as well. Thus, although conditioned stimuli often elicit strong reactions from subjects, they do not usually evoke responses identical in all respects to those produced by unconditioned stimuli. Vocabulary for the written test: Stimulus: Estimulo Restrain: Restringir – Contener Procedure: Procedimiento Secrete: Segregar Conditioned response: Respuesta Condicionada Seemingly: Aparentemente

Although: Aunque Elicit: Provocar Noticeable: Perceptible Brief: Breve

Teacher William Céspedes