PSYC 387 Unit 2 Questions and Verified Answers
Describe Pavlov's early life, career path, and other factors that led him to study the
digestive processes and the salivary reflex in the dog. When did Pavlov become
interested in psychic reflexes? (pp. 57-60) Correct Answer: Pavlov spent several
years doing research on the physiology of digestion. He began with research on the
circulatory system. He was able to study the salivary glands, stomach, liver,
pancreas, and parts of the intestine by developing special surgical procedures that
redirected animals' digestive fluids outside the body where they could be measured.
The salivary duct of a dog was detached from its usual place inside the mouth and
directed through an incision in the cheek, into a glass tube. He was able to observe
the actions of the glands in this way. He wanted to understand how the body breaks
food down into chemicals that can be absorbed into the blood. Starting with the
salivary reflex. Pavlov would bring a dog into the laboratory, put food in its mouth
and observe the results.
What were the psychic secretions that became a focus of Pavlov's work? Why did
Pavlov shift the focus of his work from digestive processes to psychic secretions? (p.
59) Correct Answer: Salivary secretions. He shifted his attention to these glands
when he noticed that the dogs began salivating after entering the laboratory only
after they were fed there a number of times, he wanted to know why.
Describe Pavlov's work with dogs that illustrates Pavlovian conditioning. Define
unconditional reflexes, conditional reflexes, unconditional stimulus, unconditional
response, conditional stimulus, and conditional response. What terms are used in
place of these? (pp. 60-62) Correct Answer: Pavlov began to observe the external
stimuli of the dog at the time of salivation, such as the vessel it received the food
from, the sight of the food, sight of the person presenting the vessel, sound of his
footsteps, etc. rather than the actual food in the dog's mouth. He noticed that there
are two kinds of reflexes. One being the largely inborn/mainly permanent reflex
(food being put into dogs mouth): these are the unconditional reflexes (inborn,
unlearned, species reflexes. They occur unconditionally. The second type is
conditional reflexes (acquired, learned, individual reflexes), not present at birth but
must be conditioned into the organism, via experience, they are conditional because
they depend on many conditions. An unconditional reflex consists of an
unconditional stimulus and provokes an unconditional response behavior. A
,conditional reflex consists of a conditional stimulus and evokes the conditional
response.
Describe Wallace and Rosen's demonstration (2000) that rats show a strong
response to an odorous chemical derived from fox feces. How does this assist in
survival? (pp. 60-61) Correct Answer: When a rat encounters a predator, it is usually
too late for defensive maneuvers. Thus, the rat has a tendency to freeze or run away
when it detects the odour from the feces, before danger occurs.
Is the presentation of the two stimuli (i.e., the neutral stimulus and the
unconditional stimulus) independent of the behavior of the animal? Explain.
Provide an original example illustrating that an organism whose behavior is subject
to Pavlovian conditioning is more likely to survive than an organism whose
behavior is not subject to such conditioning. (p. 63) Correct Answer: The
appearance of the two stimuli is independent of behaviour. The CS and the US are
presented regardless of how the animal behaves. Example: the dog did not have to
salivate to get the food.
Define higher-order Pavlovian conditioning. Describe Frolov's demonstration of
higher-order conditioning. Correct Answer: The procedure of pairing a neutral
stimulus with a well-established controlled stimulus. Frolov presented the sound of
a metronome, followed by food until the sound became a conditioned stimulus, he
then began presenting a black square along with the metronome and noticed that
the black square began to elicit the salivary conditioned response.
Why does higher-order conditioning increase the importance of Pavlovian
conditioning? (pp. 63-64) Correct Answer: because it means that many more stimuli
can come to elicit conditional responses.
Describe Graham and Desjardins' (1980) study in which the experimenters used
Pavlovian conditioning to influence the mating behaviour of male rats. (pp. 63-64)
Correct Answer: They demonstrated that a male rat that responds to a sexually
receptive female by increasing the level of certain hormones will respond in a
similar manner to an odor that has been paired with a receptive female. Because of
the higher order conditioning, a neutral stimulus became a conditioned stimulus.
, Describe Staats and Staats' (1957) classic experiment of verbal higher-order
conditioning. (pp. 63-64) Correct Answer: They asked college students to look at
nonsense syllables such as YOF, LAJ, and QUG as they were flashed on the screen.
At the same time, the students repeated words spoken by the experimenters. For
some of the students, the experimenters paired the syllable YOF with positive
words such as beauty, gift, and win. and the syllable XEH with negative words such
as thief, sad, enemy. For other students, the pairings were reversed. After, they
rated each nonsense syllable on a scale of 1-7, pleasant to unpleasant. The results
showed that the syllables came to elicit emotional responses. The neutral stimulus
(nonsense syllable) was paired with the conditioned stimulus (the
pleasant/unpleasant words).
How can response latency be used to measure Pavlovian conditioning? Correct
Answer: By noting when salivation begins you can tell when the dog is salivating to
the tone as well as to the food, to see when the neutral stimuli have become the
conditioned stimuli. The response latency decreases as the pairings increase. I.e. the
dog may begin salivating even before the tone stops.
How is the use of latency as a measure of Pavlovian conditioning problematic? (pp.
65-66) Correct Answer: In some conditioning studies, the interval between the
controlled stimulus and the appearance of the uncontrolled stimulus is so short that
using response latency as a measure of learning is difficult. It is hard to decipher
what the response is related to.
Describe the use of test trials to measure Pavlovian conditioning. Provide an
original example of this use of test trials. (p. 65) Correct Answer: To test for
conditionings in situations where measures of latency response are unhelpful is to
use test trials (probe trials). This involves presenting the controlled stimulus alone
(without the US). periodically, perhaps on every fifth trial. If the dog salivates when
it gets no food, the salivation is clearly a conditional response to the tone rather
than the food. These test trials are represented on a graph and the frequency in
conditional response is represented in relation to the conditional stimuli.
Describe the method of measuring Pavlovian conditioning by means of intensity or
amplitude of the CR. Provide an original example. (p. 65) Correct Answer: Pavlov
found that the first CR's are apt to be very weak (only a drop or 2 of saliva) but with
repeated trials, the saliva flow in response to the CS increases rapidly. The increase
Describe Pavlov's early life, career path, and other factors that led him to study the
digestive processes and the salivary reflex in the dog. When did Pavlov become
interested in psychic reflexes? (pp. 57-60) Correct Answer: Pavlov spent several
years doing research on the physiology of digestion. He began with research on the
circulatory system. He was able to study the salivary glands, stomach, liver,
pancreas, and parts of the intestine by developing special surgical procedures that
redirected animals' digestive fluids outside the body where they could be measured.
The salivary duct of a dog was detached from its usual place inside the mouth and
directed through an incision in the cheek, into a glass tube. He was able to observe
the actions of the glands in this way. He wanted to understand how the body breaks
food down into chemicals that can be absorbed into the blood. Starting with the
salivary reflex. Pavlov would bring a dog into the laboratory, put food in its mouth
and observe the results.
What were the psychic secretions that became a focus of Pavlov's work? Why did
Pavlov shift the focus of his work from digestive processes to psychic secretions? (p.
59) Correct Answer: Salivary secretions. He shifted his attention to these glands
when he noticed that the dogs began salivating after entering the laboratory only
after they were fed there a number of times, he wanted to know why.
Describe Pavlov's work with dogs that illustrates Pavlovian conditioning. Define
unconditional reflexes, conditional reflexes, unconditional stimulus, unconditional
response, conditional stimulus, and conditional response. What terms are used in
place of these? (pp. 60-62) Correct Answer: Pavlov began to observe the external
stimuli of the dog at the time of salivation, such as the vessel it received the food
from, the sight of the food, sight of the person presenting the vessel, sound of his
footsteps, etc. rather than the actual food in the dog's mouth. He noticed that there
are two kinds of reflexes. One being the largely inborn/mainly permanent reflex
(food being put into dogs mouth): these are the unconditional reflexes (inborn,
unlearned, species reflexes. They occur unconditionally. The second type is
conditional reflexes (acquired, learned, individual reflexes), not present at birth but
must be conditioned into the organism, via experience, they are conditional because
they depend on many conditions. An unconditional reflex consists of an
unconditional stimulus and provokes an unconditional response behavior. A
,conditional reflex consists of a conditional stimulus and evokes the conditional
response.
Describe Wallace and Rosen's demonstration (2000) that rats show a strong
response to an odorous chemical derived from fox feces. How does this assist in
survival? (pp. 60-61) Correct Answer: When a rat encounters a predator, it is usually
too late for defensive maneuvers. Thus, the rat has a tendency to freeze or run away
when it detects the odour from the feces, before danger occurs.
Is the presentation of the two stimuli (i.e., the neutral stimulus and the
unconditional stimulus) independent of the behavior of the animal? Explain.
Provide an original example illustrating that an organism whose behavior is subject
to Pavlovian conditioning is more likely to survive than an organism whose
behavior is not subject to such conditioning. (p. 63) Correct Answer: The
appearance of the two stimuli is independent of behaviour. The CS and the US are
presented regardless of how the animal behaves. Example: the dog did not have to
salivate to get the food.
Define higher-order Pavlovian conditioning. Describe Frolov's demonstration of
higher-order conditioning. Correct Answer: The procedure of pairing a neutral
stimulus with a well-established controlled stimulus. Frolov presented the sound of
a metronome, followed by food until the sound became a conditioned stimulus, he
then began presenting a black square along with the metronome and noticed that
the black square began to elicit the salivary conditioned response.
Why does higher-order conditioning increase the importance of Pavlovian
conditioning? (pp. 63-64) Correct Answer: because it means that many more stimuli
can come to elicit conditional responses.
Describe Graham and Desjardins' (1980) study in which the experimenters used
Pavlovian conditioning to influence the mating behaviour of male rats. (pp. 63-64)
Correct Answer: They demonstrated that a male rat that responds to a sexually
receptive female by increasing the level of certain hormones will respond in a
similar manner to an odor that has been paired with a receptive female. Because of
the higher order conditioning, a neutral stimulus became a conditioned stimulus.
, Describe Staats and Staats' (1957) classic experiment of verbal higher-order
conditioning. (pp. 63-64) Correct Answer: They asked college students to look at
nonsense syllables such as YOF, LAJ, and QUG as they were flashed on the screen.
At the same time, the students repeated words spoken by the experimenters. For
some of the students, the experimenters paired the syllable YOF with positive
words such as beauty, gift, and win. and the syllable XEH with negative words such
as thief, sad, enemy. For other students, the pairings were reversed. After, they
rated each nonsense syllable on a scale of 1-7, pleasant to unpleasant. The results
showed that the syllables came to elicit emotional responses. The neutral stimulus
(nonsense syllable) was paired with the conditioned stimulus (the
pleasant/unpleasant words).
How can response latency be used to measure Pavlovian conditioning? Correct
Answer: By noting when salivation begins you can tell when the dog is salivating to
the tone as well as to the food, to see when the neutral stimuli have become the
conditioned stimuli. The response latency decreases as the pairings increase. I.e. the
dog may begin salivating even before the tone stops.
How is the use of latency as a measure of Pavlovian conditioning problematic? (pp.
65-66) Correct Answer: In some conditioning studies, the interval between the
controlled stimulus and the appearance of the uncontrolled stimulus is so short that
using response latency as a measure of learning is difficult. It is hard to decipher
what the response is related to.
Describe the use of test trials to measure Pavlovian conditioning. Provide an
original example of this use of test trials. (p. 65) Correct Answer: To test for
conditionings in situations where measures of latency response are unhelpful is to
use test trials (probe trials). This involves presenting the controlled stimulus alone
(without the US). periodically, perhaps on every fifth trial. If the dog salivates when
it gets no food, the salivation is clearly a conditional response to the tone rather
than the food. These test trials are represented on a graph and the frequency in
conditional response is represented in relation to the conditional stimuli.
Describe the method of measuring Pavlovian conditioning by means of intensity or
amplitude of the CR. Provide an original example. (p. 65) Correct Answer: Pavlov
found that the first CR's are apt to be very weak (only a drop or 2 of saliva) but with
repeated trials, the saliva flow in response to the CS increases rapidly. The increase
