Ride the Storm: Navigating Through Unstable Periods / Katerina Rudko (Belka G...
Classical conditioning: Generalization, discrimination, extinction, and spontaneous recovery
1. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Factors that affect conditioning
Generalization—when a stimulus similar to the CS
(higher pitched bell) also elicits the CR (salivation), even
if it has never been paired with the UCS (food)
Image credit: Pearson Scott Foresman
2. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Factors that affect conditioning
Discrimination—when a CR (salivation) is made to one
stimulus (higher pitched bell) but not to another similar
stimulus (lower pitched bell)
3. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Factors that affect conditioning
Extinction—the decline and eventual disappearance of
the CR (salivation); occurs by repeatedly presenting the
CS (bell) in the absence of the UCS (food)
You can think of it as weakening/
breaking the association
4. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Factors that affect conditioning
Spontaneous recovery
Reappearance of an
extinct CR (salivation) after
a period of time with no
exposure to the CS (bell)
Figure credit: Hockenbury, D.H. & Hockenbury, S.E. (2011).
Discovering Psychology (5th ed.) p. 118. New York: Worth.