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The elements or variables of classical conditioning are four: unconditioned stimulus (EI), conditioned stimulus (EC), unconditioned response (RI) and conditioned response (CR). Classical conditioning, also called Pavlovian conditioning, respondent conditioning, stimulus-response model, or association learning (ER), is a type of associative learning that was first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov.
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Unconditioned stimulus (EI).
Any stimulus that, prior to the experimental treatment in question, produces a consistent and measurable response. By itself, unconditioned stimuli are those that produce innate reflexes in a strict sense, (but unconditioned stimuli can be used as those that consistently produce a response, previously and independently of the experimental situation in question, although the answer is not innate). The unconditioned stimulus must produce the response consistently, that is, uniformly and with a certain intensity or power.
The conditioned stimulus (EC). It is a stimulus that does not produce the conditioned response before its pairing with the US and, therefore, is originally a neutral stimulus in relation to these responses. If the conditioned response is produced in a reflexive way originally, it must be of a much lower intensity and rapidly extinguished by the repeated presentation of said CD in isolation before starting the experimental treatment. This reflex response produced spontaneously by the CS is called the alpha response. c) Unconditional response (RI).
It is the response that is reflexively, measurable and regularly produced by the unconditioned stimulus. Gormezano points out, the same EI produces or evokes the reaction of several effector systems, so that the unconditional responses to the same EI can be several. This forces us to clearly define the key that we are going to choose to define the conditioned response.
It is also necessary to distinguish IR from pseudo-conditioned or beta responses, which is a special sensitization of the effector systems that produces the isolated presentation of IE, in such a way that before there is any CS-IE association, when the subject is presented with a The neutral stimulus will spontaneously produce the pseudoconditioned response, due to the special sensitization that the isolated anterior presentation of IE has produced.
Conditioned response (CR). It is the response that is learned and it is not exactly the same as IR, but only similar. Usually it is to measure intensity than IR. The CR is properly the response that is provoked by the isolated presentation of the CE, once the CE-US connection has been established. The CR has to be clearly specified, defining it as the key response among all the responses of the effector systems excited by the EI.
A good criterion for specifying it is that it must occur in the same effector system as the IR. CR must be distinguished from alpha responses that are unconditional responses to CS in the same effector system in which the conditioned response has been defined. Other Variables There are other variables that influence the associability between the conditioned and the unconditioned stimulus, which are different from mere temporal contiguity.
There is the type of unconditioned stimulus that appears and the motivational circumstances of the subject. Also an important variable in the force with which the conditioning occurs is the previous experience with the stimuli. Two phenomena that influence conditioning stand out:
- The repeated exposure to a stimulus produces isolated latent inhibition for the conditioning of the stimulus.
- The learned irrelevance is the effect produced by the pre-exposure of the animal to the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus without associating them.
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