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Chapter 6: Problem 2

At a psychology lecture, each student receives 10 lemon wedges. The professor instructs the students to bite into a lemon wedge anytime a large blue dot appears within her slide presentation. Nearly every time the students bite into lemons, their mouths pucker. The 11th time a blue dot appears on the screen, many students' mouths pucker visibly. In this case, what are the US, UR, \(\mathrm{CS}\), and CR?

Short Answer

Expert verified
US = Lemon wedges, UR = Mouth puckering, CS = Blue dot, CR = Mouth puckering.

Step by step solution

01

Identify the Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

The Unconditioned Stimulus (US) is something that naturally and automatically triggers a response without any learning. In this case, the lemon wedges are the US because they naturally cause the students' mouths to pucker.
02

Identify the Unconditioned Response (UR)

The Unconditioned Response (UR) is a natural reaction that occurs in response to the US. Here, the UR is the puckering of the students' mouths caused by the taste of the lemon wedges.
03

Identify the Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

The Conditioned Stimulus (CS) is a previously neutral stimulus that, after being paired with the US, begins to trigger a similar response. The blue dot on the screen is the CS because it becomes associated with the act of biting into a lemon wedge.
04

Identify the Conditioned Response (CR)

The Conditioned Response (CR) is the learned response to the CS. In this scenario, the CR is the puckering of the students' mouths in response to seeing the blue dot, even without biting into a lemon wedge.

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Key Concepts

These are the key concepts you need to understand to accurately answer the question.

Unconditioned Stimulus
In classical conditioning, the Unconditioned Stimulus (US) is a stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response without any prior learning. It is intrinsically connected to the organism's natural reflexes. For example, in our exercise, the lemon wedges serve as the US. They naturally cause mouth puckering because of their sour taste, without any need for additional learning or conditioning.
Unconditioned Response
The Unconditioned Response (UR) is the unlearned reaction that occurs naturally in response to the Unconditioned Stimulus (US). This response is automatic and requires no prior training. In the exercise, the UR is the puckering of the students' mouths when they bite into the lemon wedges. This puckering happens naturally and is a direct reaction to the sourness of the lemons.
Conditioned Stimulus
A Conditioned Stimulus (CS) is a previously neutral stimulus that, after being paired repeatedly with the Unconditioned Stimulus (US), begins to evoke a similar response on its own. It's a crucial part of the classical conditioning process. In our example, the blue dot on the screen acts as the CS. Initially, the blue dot doesn't cause any response. However, after several pairings with the lemon wedges (US), the blue dot alone eventually starts to trigger the same puckering response.
Conditioned Response
The Conditioned Response (CR) is the learned response to the previously neutral but now conditioned stimulus. It's what happens after the conditioning process takes place. In this scenario, the students' mouths puckering at the sight of the blue dot, even without the presence of lemon wedges, is the CR. This reaction occurs because the students have learned to associate the blue dot with the sour taste of the lemons.
Learning Process
The learning process in classical conditioning involves forming associations between stimuli. It begins with an unconditioned stimulus (US) that elicits an unconditioned response (UR). By consistently pairing a neutral stimulus with the US, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS). Over time, this CS begins to trigger a conditioned response (CR) similar to the original UR. In the exercise:
  • US: Lemon wedges
  • UR: Mouth puckering
  • CS: Blue dot on the screen
  • CR: Mouth puckering at the sight of the blue dot
The process reflects how organisms can learn to anticipate and respond to new stimuli based on past experiences.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Identify each statement as an example of negative punishment, positive punishment, negative reinforcement, or positive reinforcement. a. Whenever a puppy barks, it gets its belly rubbed, so it barks more. b. A professor directs all questions to the student who arrives late to class. c. A person with a clean driving record receives a reduced insurance premium. d. Your date arrives an hour late, and you refuse to speak for the rest of the evening.

On the first day of summer school, the air conditioner in Matt's history classroom broke down. All the other rooms were unaffected. After several weeks of attending class in the sweltering room, Matt started sweating every time he approached the history room. In this example of classical conditioning, identify the US, UR, CS, and CR.

Jason just moved his dog's food to the cupboard, which creaks noisily when it is opened. In which situation is Jason's dog likely to learn an association between the sound of the cupboard opening and the food? a. The door reliably opens shortly after the food is delivered. b. The door reliably opens shortly before the food is delivered. c. The door reliably opens just as the food is delivered. d. The door reliably opens along with the sound of a can opener, which has previously signaled food delivery.
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