Carefully review the following example of a classical conditioning experiment: 3
ID: 3499976 • Letter: C
Question
Carefully review the following example of a classical conditioning experiment: 3 A person is presented with a 2 second tone at a comfortable volume. A heart rate monitor shows no significant changes when the tone is presented on the first occasion. As soon as the tone turns off, a mildly painful shock is administered to the person's finger- tip. When the shock is delivered, the heart rate accelerates for a minute or two before returning to normal. The tone is presented again and is immediately followed by the finger-tip shock. This sequence of events repeats 10 times. The next day, the tone is again presented by itself (without being followed by the shock). Unlike the first time the person was exposed to the tone, this time their heart rate accelerates significantly in response to the tone Discussion Question: 1) Identify the unconditioned stimulus (US) and unconditioned response (UR) and the conditioned stimulus (CS) and conditioned response from among the following terms: a) Tone b) Shock c) Accelerated heart rate following the shock d) Accelerated heart rate following the tone 2) Briefly explain why you chose the particular stimulus or response as the CS, US, UR, or CR in the example above.Explanation / Answer
Classical Conditioning is a type of associative learning. A stimulus is associated with a response. There are four major elements of classical conditioning. An Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS), is a stimulus which produces a response without any kind of prior learning. An Unconditioned Response (USR), is an automatic response which is unlearned and is elicited on presentation of unconditioned stimulus. Conditioned Stimulus (CS) in classical conditioning is previously a neutral stimulus that eventually elicits the Conditioned Response (CR) after being paired with the Unconditioned Stimulus (US).
In the above case, tone is an unconditioned stimulus (US). Shock is the unconditioned response (USR) to the tone. Accelerated heart rate following the shock is the conditioned stimulus (CS). Accelerated heart rate following the tone is the conditioned response (CR).
Tone is the US because it had no effect on the person at first. It was a neutral stimulus. However, when paired with the shock it retrieved a response of accelerated heart following the tone.