Author: jhr5211

In this blog, I am going to be discussing classical conditioning: a type of learning in which an organism learns to associate a stimulus. The example we discussed in class was Pavlov’s experiments and how he was able to create a learned response (conditioned response) based on a stimulus (conditioned stimulus) that his subjects, the dogs, would originally not have that response to. Classical conditioning occurs when the neutral stimulus comes before the unconditioned stimulus, which is the thing that naturally elicits a response. With this type of learning, extinction occurs when the conditioned response, which is the response to the conditioned stimulus, diminishes because the unconditioned stimulus no longer follows the conditioned stimulus. This is seen with Pavlov’s dogs beginning to not salivate at the sight of the conditioned stimulus (bell) when the unconditioned stimulus (food) is not presented after. My experience with classical conditioning comes from my dog and food too. Whenever we open the door to the pantry, my dog hears it and runs to it, waiting for a treat. He associated the sound/sight of the door opening to him getting a treat. The unconditioned stimulus is the treat behind the door and the unconditioned response is him getting there to beg for it. After many times of the door opening and us calling to give him a treat, he only has to hear the door open, which is the conditioned stimulus, and he waits and begs for the treat, which is now the conditioned response. Extinction would occur here if my dog ran to the door after he heard it open and a treat wasn’t given to him repeatedly. This is because he would eventually dissociate the stimuli and not give the same response. This example in my life shows classical conditioning because of my dog being conditioned to think a treat was coming to him when it was just a door opening.

In this blog, I am going to discuss retrieval cues, which is when memories are held in storage by a web of associations. These associations will help the person retrieve the memory. For example, Jimmy is at a family reunion and is speaking to his cousins that he hasn’t seen him in years. One of his cousins, Jamie, brings up a time when Jimmy ran around the house naked during a Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone laughs as they remember the funny moment, but Jimmy doesn’t remember this event happening at all. They then explain that it was the Thanksgiving at Aunt Linda’s house when they first moved to Pennsylvania. These pieces of information required Jimmy to think about the time in the past and he then makes associations to the event and remembers the scene. I have had many experiences when associations have helped me retrieve a memory such as taking tests. In high school, I specifically remember taking biology tests that were mainly based off the textbook reading. During the test, I would always think back to the pages I read and where the information would be. I had studied so much that when I thought of a page, I could remember what piece of info was on it and even where it was on the page. This would allow me to recall it and answer the questions correctly on the test. These instances relate to retrieval cues because when ever I forgot something like a definition or example, I would think back to the pages I read. Then I would make associations and remember where the piece of information was in the book and then recall it. This is a fascinating topic and technique for remembering things that you might have forgotten. Making associations is the most important part of being able to retrieve the info from your memory.