BA: Pavlov's dog Research

• Pavlov (1902) started from the idea that there are some things that a dog does not need to learn.

  For example, dogs don’t learn to salivate whenever they see food. This reflex is ‘hard-wired’ into the dog.

  Pavlov showed that dogs could be conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell if that sound was repeatedly presented at the same time that they were given food.
• What were Pavlov's dogs secured in during the experiments?


  Harnesses
• What was the purpose of the device used in Pavlov's experiments?


  To gauge the frequency of their salivary gland secretions
• What did Pavlov monitor throughout the course of the experiments?


  The rates of salivation
• What was presented to the dogs first in the experiment?


  The food
• What type of response was salivation classified as in Pavlov's experiments?


  An unconditioned (innate) response
• In Pavlov's experiments, what was the relationship between the food and salivation?


  The food was the unconditioned stimulus and salivation was the unconditioned response
• Unconditioned Stimulus (Food) > Unconditioned Response (Salivate)

  Neutral Stimulus (Metronome) > No Response
• What procedure did Pavlov begin with his dogs?


  The conditioning procedure
• What was introduced just before Pavlov gave food to his dogs?

  The clicking metronome
• What happened after a number of repeats of the conditioning procedure?

  Pavlov presented the metronome on its own
• What was the effect of the metronome on its own after conditioning?


  It caused an increase in salivation
• What is the conditioned stimulus in Pavlov's experiment?


  The metronome
• What is the conditioned response in Pavlov's experiment?


  Salivation
• What association did the dog learn in Pavlov's experiment?


  The association between the metronome and the food
• Why is the response called a conditioned response?


  Because it was learned through conditioning
• What is another name for a conditioned response?

  Pavlovian response
• What happens to a neutral stimulus in the conditioning process?


  It becomes a conditioned stimulus
• What are the key components of Pavlov's conditioning experiment?


  • Conditioned Stimulus: Metronome
  • Unconditioned Stimulus: Food
  • Conditioned Response: Salivation
  • Neutral Stimulus becomes Conditioned Stimulus after conditioning
• In extinction, the conditioned stimulus (the bell) is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus (the food).

  Over time, the dog stops associating the sound of the bell with the food, and the conditioned response (salivation) weakens and eventually disappears.

  In other words, the conditioned response is “unconditioned” or “extinguished.”