Key Concepts of Classical Conditioning

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

A stimulus that elicits a response innately or without conditioning.

Generalization

Occurs when there is a small difference in the presented stimulus and the original CS.

Neutral Stimulus (NS)

A stimulus that does not produce a response.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A neutral stimulus that when paired with an unconditioned stimulus elicits a similar response.

Conditioned Response (CR)

A response that is learned by pairing the originally neutral stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus.

Unconditioned Response (UR)

Automatic response elicited by the unconditioned stimulus.

Discrimination

Discrimination occurs when a CR does not occur when there is a difference between the presented stimulus and the original CS.

Acquisition

The acquisition phase is the consistent pairing of the NS and the US whereby the NS becomes the CS and elicits the CR.

Extinction

The extinction phase is when the CR no longer occurs after introduction of the CS.