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Journal ArticleDOI

Probability of shock in the presence and absence of CS in fear conditioning.

01 Aug 1968-Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology (J Comp Physiol Psychol)-Vol. 66, Iss: 1, pp 1-5
TL;DR: 2 experiments indicate that CS-US contingency is an important determinant of fear conditioning and that presentation of US in the absence of CS interferes with fear conditioning.
Abstract: 2 experiments indicate that CS-US contingency is an important determinant of fear conditioning and that presentation of US in the absence of CS interferes with fear conditioning. In Experiment 1, equal probability of a shock US in the presence and absence of a tone CS produced no CER suppression to CS; the same probability of US given only during CS produced substantial conditioning. In Experiment 2, which explored 4 different probabilities of US in the presence and absence of CS, amount of conditioning was higher the greater the probability of US during CS and was lower the greater the probability of US in the absence of CS; when the 2 probabilities were equal, no conditioning resulted. Two conceptions of Pavlovian conditioning have been distinguished by Rescorla (1967). The first, and more traditional, notion emphasizes the role of the number of pairings of CS and US in the formation of a CR. The second notion suggests that it is the contingency between CS and US which is important. The notion of contingency differs from that of pairing in that it includes not only what events are paired but also what events are not paired. As used here, contingency refers to the relative probability of occurrence of US in the presence of CS as contrasted with its probability in the absence of CS. The contingency notion suggests that, in fact, conditioning only occurs when these probabilities differ; when the probability of US is higher during CS than at other times, excitatory conditioning occurs; when the probability is lower, inhibitory conditioning results. Notice that the probability of a US can be the same in the absence and presence of CS and yet there can be a fair number of CS-US pairings. It is this that makes it possible to assess the relative importance of pairing and contingency in the development of a CR. Several experiments have pointed to the usefulness of the contingency notion. Rescorla (1966) reported a Pavlovian 1This research was supported by Grants MH13415-01 from the National Institute of Mental Health and GB-6493 from the National Science Foundation, as well as by funds from Yale University.

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Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2017
TL;DR: This chapter covers association measures and productivity measures with respect to lexico-grammatical patterns in English with a focus on the use of LaSalle's inequality criterion.
Abstract: This chapter covers association measures and productivity measures with respect to lexico-grammatical patterns.

1 citations

Book ChapterDOI
Nobuyuki Kawai1
01 Jan 2019
TL;DR: This chapter gives an overview of the fact that, with regard to biological fear-related stimuli in classical conditioning of fear in people, conditioning is quick, there is high resistance to extinction, associative learning is established even when the stimuli are subconscious, and there are illusory correlations between stimuli and aversion.
Abstract: The preparedness theory of phobias hypothesizes that certain associations tend not to form because the particular combination of stimulus and response was not “prepared” in the process of evolution. In this chapter, I will discuss subsequent theoretical developments as well as related experimental results. Specifically, in this chapter I will give an overview of the fact that, with regard to biological fear-related stimuli in classical conditioning of fear in people, (1) conditioning is quick, (2) there is high resistance to extinction, (3) associative learning is established even when the stimuli are subconscious, and (4) there are illusory correlations between stimuli and aversion.

1 citations

01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: The caracteristicas metodologicas implicitas in la practica del Analisis Experimental de la Conducta (AEC) se confrontan con las ideas propuestas anteriormente as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: El presente trabajo se situa en la perspectiva de analizar los procesos implicados en el desarrollo de la actividad cientifica, mas que en el estudio de las caracteristicas formales de los productos cientificos. Dicho abordaje se realiza desde la teoria skinneriana de la conducta (condicionamiento operante). Asi, se estudian tres momentos de la actividad cientifica: a) la seleccion del dato cientifico como conducta verbal discriminativa, b) el establecimiento de relaciones entre variables entendido como deteccion de relaciones de contingencia entre eventos y, c) la derivacion de nuevos conceptos como u n caso de conducta gobernada por reglas. Por otra parte, las caracteristicas metodologicas implicitas en la practica del Analisis Experimental de la Conducta (AEC) se confrontan con las ideas propuestas anteriormente. Finalmente, se concluye que dichas caracteristicas del AEC son altamente consistentes con el analisis de la actividad cientifica como conducta operante, dandose cuenta del alto grado de coherencia alcanzado por los conductistas radicales respecto a, por un lado, los aspectos formales de su practica investigadora (AEC) y, por otro, al contenido de sus productos teoricos (condicionamiento operante).

1 citations


Cites background from "Probability of shock in the presenc..."

  • ...Esta se ha desarrollado en el campo de la psicología del condicionamiento para explicar como detectan la causalidad tanto los orga nismos inferiores (p. ej., Catania & Keller, 1981; Hammond, 1980; Rescorla, 1967; 1968) como los humanos (p. ej., Dickinson & Shanks, 1985; Shanks, 1985)....

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References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This "truly random" control procedure leads to a new conception of Pavlovian conditioning postulating that the contingency between CS and US, rather than the pairing of CS andUS, is the important event in conditioning.
Abstract: The traditional control procedures for Pavlovian conditioning are examined and each is found wanting. Some procedures introduce nonassociative factors not present in the experimental procedure while others transform the excitatory, experimental CS-US contingency into an inhibitory contingency. An alternative control procedure is suggested in which there is no contingency whatsoever between CS and US. This \"truly random\" control procedure leads to a new conception of Pavlovian conditioning postulating that the contingency between CS and US, rather than the pairing of CS and US, is the important event in conditioning. The fruitfulness of this new conception of Pavlovian conditioning is illustrated by 2 experimental results.

1,328 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, three groups of dogs were trained with different kinds of Pavlovian fear conditioning for three different types of dogs: randomly and independently; for a second group, CSs predicted the occurrence of USs; and for a third group, S predicted the absence of the USs.
Abstract: Three groups of dogs were Sidman avoidance trained They then received different kinds of Pavlovian fear conditioning For one group CSs and USs occurred randomly and independently; for a second group, CSs predicted the occurrence of USs; for a third group, CSs predicted the absence of the USs The CSs were subsequently presented while S performed the avoidance response CSs which had predicted the occurrence or the absence of USs produced, respectively, increases and decreases in avoidance rate For the group with random CSs and USs in conditioning, the CS had no effect upon avoidance

160 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Rats in an experimental group were given 30 trials of differential CER and then the CS+ and CS− were combined during CER extinction, resulting in less suppression for the experimental group than shown by a control group, interpreted as a demonstration of the active inhibitory properties of CS−.
Abstract: Rats in an experimental group were given 30 trials of differential CER and then the CS+ and CS− were combined during CER extinction. The combination resulted in less suppression for the experimental group than shown by a control group which had a CS+ and a formerly random stimulus combined during extinction. This was interpreted as a demonstration of the active inhibitory properties of CS−.

44 citations


"Probability of shock in the presenc..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Although such an account is plausible for the present data, it fails to explain the active inhibition of fear found by Rescorla and LoLordo (1965), Rescorla (1966), and Hammond (1967)....

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