1. Although the behavioural consequence of conditioning may appear to be merely the development of an anticipatory reflex, the underlying process is fundamental to learning about the relationship among environmental events. Sensory preconditioning tells us that when neutral stimuli co-occur, an association forms between them. Presumably, the informal equivalent of sensory preconditioning will be occurring all the time as an animal goes about its normal everyday business. Simply moving through the environment will expose the animal to sequences of events that go together, and the associations that form among them will constitute an important piece of knowledge – a ‘map’ of its world.
2. As a laboratory procedure, classical conditioning is important because it allows exploration of the nature of associative learning. The observed CR (salivation, pecking, or whatever) may not be of much interest in itself, but it provides a useful index of the otherwise unobservable formation of an association. Researchers have made extensive use of simple classical conditioning procedures as a sort of ‘test bed’ for developing theories of associative learning. Some of these will be described in a later section of this chapter.
3. As a mechanism of behavioural adaptation, classical conditioning is an important process in its own right. Although the CRs (such as salivation) studied in the laboratory may be trivial, their counterparts in the real world produce effects of major psychological significance. Here are two examples from the behaviour of our own species.
2. As a laboratory procedure, classical conditioning is important because it allows exploration of the nature of associative learning. The observed CR (salivation, pecking, or whatever) may not be of much interest in itself, but it provides a useful index of the otherwise unobservable formation of an association. Researchers have made extensive use of simple classical conditioning procedures as a sort of ‘test bed’ for developing theories of associative learning. Some of these will be described in a later section of this chapter.
3. As a mechanism of behavioural adaptation, classical conditioning is an important process in its own right. Although the CRs (such as salivation) studied in the laboratory may be trivial, their counterparts in the real world produce effects of major psychological significance. Here are two examples from the behaviour of our own species.
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