Today, I simply would like you to spend some time with the material you read about yesterday. Look at the powerpoints I posted. Classical conditioning can be a confusing concept, and even more so if we're not in class. In Classical Conditioning, two stimuli are repeatedly paired.  A response that is at first elicited by the first stimulus is elicited by the second stimulus alone. (think about a bad thunderstorm...you flinch when you hear the BOOM of thunder. But if you notice the flash of lightning before the thunder, you flinch when you see the flash in anticipation of the sound of thunder) Review the terminology and pay attention to how the Unconditioned Stimulus, Unconditioned Response, Neutral Stimulus, Conditioned Stimulus (formerly Neutral Stimulus), and Conditioned response work together. We will review this when we return.  

In this clip from the Office, Dwight has been classically conditioned to want a breath mint because one was offered to him several times when he heard the computer make the error beep. He associated the error beep with the receiving of a mint and came to expect that one would be offered every time the beep occurred. 

This clip is a little more vague because we never see the conditioning occurring, but it is evident that the dragon has been tortured and associates the clanging sound of the rattle/bell (whatever you want to call that thing they are shaking) with pain and it visibly recoils and shies away from the sound. It has been conditioned so that just the sound of the clanging evokes a response of being in pain.  

This clip (my favorite, by the way) is much like the dragon in the last clip. Bart has had several mishaps and has sustained repeated injuries attempting to get the cupcakes so he associates the cupcakes with pain, and by the end of the clip, expresses anxiety and avoidance of cupcakes altogether. 

Song of the day

This song comes from back in the day also. About 20 years ago I was in a band touring all over the country. We spent 2 summers on Van's Warped Tour and got to meet a lot of really great musicians and see a ton of cool bands. Here's a fun song from a band I met on the Warped Tour called Hepcat. I always liked this song, and hope you do too. No worries! Enjoy!