Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-8r8nv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-09T00:45:26.851Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Classical Conditioning: Still Going Strong

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2009

Marcel van den Hout  and
Harald Merckelbach
Marcel van den Hout
Affiliation:
Limburg University, The Netherlands
Harald Merckelbach
Affiliation:
Limburg University, The Netherlands
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This paper summarizes developments in the field of classical conditioning. Attention is paid to four common misconceptions of what is classical conditioning. First, classical conditioning does not ensue as a simple result of temporal pairing of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli. Rather, conditioned reacting occurs if and to the degree that the subject is able to predict the occurrence of one stimulus from the presence of another one. Second, what is learned during classical conditioning is not necessarily a response to a cue, but rather a probabilistic relationship between various stimuli. Third, classical conditioning is not only manifested in responses mediated by the autonomic nervous system, but also in immunological parameters, in motoric behaviour and in evaluative judgments. Fourth, the nature of the conditioned and the unconditioned stimulus is (often) not a matter of indifference: particular combinations of CS and US produce more powerful conditioning effects than do other combinations. In the second part of the paper, the potential relevance of these developments is illustrated. Discussions are included about anxiety, addictions and food aversions/conditioned nausea.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , January 1991 , pp. 59 - 79
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Ader, R. (1985). CNS immune systems interactions: conditioning phenomena. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 9, 760–763.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ader, R. and Cohen, N. (1982). Behaviorally conditioned immunosuppression and murine systemic Lupus erythematosus. Science 215, 1534–1536.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bauer, R. M. (1984). Autonomic recognition of names and faces in prosopagnosia. Neuropsychologia 22, 457–469.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bayens, F., Crombez, G., Bergh, O. Van Den and Eelen, P. (1988). Once in contact always in contact: evaluative conditioning is resistant to extinction. Advances in Behaviour Research and Therapy 10, 179–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bergh, O. Van Den, Huyk, C. Van, Eelen, P. and Bayens, F. (1989). Geconditioneerde misselijkheid en braken bij kankerpatienten ten gevolge van chemotherapie. Gedrag en Gezondheid 16, 149–158.Google Scholar
Bernstein, I. L. and Borson, S. (1986). Learned food aversions: a component of anorexia syndromes. Psychological Review.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernstein, I. L. and Webster, W. M. (1980). Learned taste aversion in humans. Physiology and Behaviour 25, 363–366.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bernstein, I. L., Webster, W. M. and Bernstein, I. D. (1982). Food aversions in children receiving chemotherapy for cancer. Cancer 50, 2961–2963.3.0.CO;2-L>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burish, T. G. and Carey, M. P. (1986). Conditioned aversive responses in chemotherapy patients: theoretical and developmental analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinican Psychology 5, 593–600.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, M. and Mineka, S. (1989). Observational conditioning of fear to fear-relevant versus fear-irrelevant stimuli in Rhesus monkeys. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 98, 448–459.Google Scholar
Davey, G. C. L. (1987). An integration of human and animal models of Pavlovian conditioning: associations, cognitions, and attributions. In Davey, G. C. L. (Ed). Cognitive Processes and Pavlovian Conditioning in Humans. Chichester: Wiley, pp. 83–115.Google Scholar
Davey, G. C. L. (1988). Cognitive Processes and Pavlovian Conditioning in Humans. Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Davey, G. C. L. (1989a). Dental phobias and anxieties: evidence for conditioning processes in the acquisition and modulation of a learned fear. Behaviour Research and Therapy 27, 51–58.Google Scholar
Davey, G. C. L. (1989b). UCS revaluation and conditioning models of acquired fears. Behaviour Research and Therapy 27, 521–528.Google Scholar
Davies, P. (1987). Conditioning and perception. In Davey, G. C. L. (Ed). Cognitive Processes and Pavlovian Conditioning in Humans. Chichester: Wiley, pp. 183–210.Google Scholar
Dawson, M. E. and Schell, A. M. (1987). Human autonomic and skeletal classical conditioning: The role of conscious cognitive factors. In Davey, G. C. L. (Ed). Cognitive Processes and Pavlovian Conditioning in Humans. Chichester: Wiley, pp. 27–56.Google Scholar
De Silva, P. (1988). The modification of human food aversion: a preliminary study. Journal of Behaviour Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 19, 217–220.Google Scholar
Eikelboom, R. and Stewart, J. (1982). Conditioning of drug-induced physiological responses. Psychological Review 89, 507–528.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Emmelkamp, P. M. G. (1982). Phobic and Obsessive Compulsive Disorders: Theory, Research and Practice. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Furedy, J. J., Riley, D. M. and Fredrikson, M. (1983). Pavlovian extinction, phobias, and the limits of the cognitive paradigm. Pavlovian Journal of Biological Science 18, 126–133.Google Scholar
Garcia, J. and Koelling, R. (1972). Relation of cue to consequence in avoidance learning. In Seligman, M. E. P. and Hager, J. L. (Eds). Biological Boundaries of Learning. New York: Appleton.Google Scholar
Garcia, J., McGowan, B. K. and Green, K. F. (1973). Biological constraints on conditioning. In Seligman, M. E. P. and Hager, J. L. (Eds). Biological Boundaries of Learning. New York: Appleton.Google Scholar
Greene, P. G. and Seime, R. J. (1987). Stimulus control of anticipatory nausea in cancer chemotherapy. Journal of Behaviour Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 18, 61–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hawton, K., Salkovskis, P. M., Kirk, J. and Clark, D. M. (Eds) (1989). Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Psychiatric Problems. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kamin, L. J. (1969). Predictability, surprise, attention and conditioning. In Campbell, B. A. and Church, R. M. (Eds). Punishment and Aversive Behaviors. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, pp. 279–296.Google Scholar
Kamin, L. J. (1972). Attention-like processes in classical conditioning. In Jones, M. R. (Ed). Miami Symposium on the Prediction of Behavior: Aversive Stimuli. Coral Gables, Fl: University of Miami Press, pp. 9–32.Google Scholar
Laberg, J. C. and Ellertsen, B. (1987). Psychophysiological indicators of craving in alcoholics: effects of cu-exposure. British Journal of Addiction 82, 1341–1348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Logue, A. W. (1979). Taste aversion and the generality of the laws of learning. Psychological Bulletin 86, 276–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Logue, A. W., Logue, K. R. and Strauss, K. E. (1983). The acquisition of taste aversions in humans with eating and drinking disorders. Behaviour Research and Therapy 21, 275–289.Google Scholar
Lubow, R. E. (1973). Latent inhibition. Psychological Bulletin 79, 398–407.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mackintosh, N. J. (1983). Conditioning and Associated Learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Macrae, J. R., Scoles, M. T. and Siegel, S. (1987). The contribution of Pavlovian conditioning to drug tolerance and dependance. British Journal of Addiction 82, 371–380.Google Scholar
Malloy, P. and Levis, D. J. (1988). A laboratory demonstration of persistent human avoidance. Behavior Therapy 19, 229–241.Google Scholar
Mannsfield, J. G. and Cunningham, C. L. (1980). Conditioning and extinction of tolerance to the hypothermic effects of ethanol in rats. Journal of Comparative Physiological Psychology 94, 962–969.Google Scholar
Marks, I. M. (1978). Exposure treatments: conceptual issues and clinical applications. In Agras, W. S. (Ed). Behaviour Modification Principles and Clinical Applications. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.Google Scholar
Marks, I. M. (1987). Fears, Phobias and Rituals. Panic, Anxiety and their Disorders. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Martin, I., Levey, A. (1988). Learning what will happen next: cognition, evaluation and cognitive processes. In Davey, G. (Ed). Cognitive Processes and Pavlovian Conditioning in Humans. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Merckelbach, H., Hout, M. A. Van Den and Molen, G. M. Van Der (1989). The phylogenetic origin of phobias: a review of the evidence. In Emmelkamp, P. M. G. et al. (Eds). Fresh Perspectives on Anxiety Disorders. Amsterdam: Swets, pp. 87–99.Google Scholar
McLellan, A. T., Childress, A. R., Ehrman, R. W. and O'Brian, C. P. (1986). Extinguishing conditioned responses during treatment for opiate dependence: turning laboratory findings into clinical procedures. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment 3, 33–40.Google Scholar
McNally, R. J. (1987). Preparedness and phobias: a review. Psychological Bulletin 101, 283–303.Google Scholar
McSweeney, F. K. and Bierley, C. (1984). Recent developments in classical conditioning. Journal of Consumer Research 12, 619–630.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newlin, D. B. (1986). Conditioned compensatory response to alcohol placebo's in humans. Psychopharmacology 88, 247–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Öhman, A. (1986). Face the beast and fear the face: animal and social fears as prototypes for evolutionary analyses of emotion. Psychophysiology 23, 123–145.Google Scholar
Öst, L. G. and Hugdahl, K. (1981). Acquisition of phobias and anxiety response patterns in clinical patients. Behaviour Research and Therapy 19, 439–447.Google Scholar
Rankin, J., Hodgson, R. and Stockwell, T. (1983). Cue exposure and response prevention with alcoholics: a controlled trial. Behaviour Research and Therapy 21, 435–446.Google Scholar
Rescorla, R. A. (1988). Pavlovian conditioning. It's not what you think it is. American Psychologist 43, 151–160.Google Scholar
Rescorla, R. A. and Wagner, R. A. (1972). A theory of Pavlovian conditioning: variations in the effectiveness of reinforcement and nonreinforcement. In Black, A. H. and Prokasy, W. F. (Eds). Classical Conditioning II: Current Research and Theory. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, pp. 64–99.Google Scholar
Seligman, M. E. P. (1970). On the generality of the laws of learning. Psychological Review 77, 406–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siegel, S. (1983). Classical conditioning, drug tolerance and drug dependence. In Israel, Y. and Smart, F. B. (Eds). Research Advances in Alcohol and Drug Problems, pp. 207–246.Google Scholar
Siegel, S. (1984). Pavlovian conditioning and heroin overdose. Reports by overdose victims. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society 22, 428–430.Google Scholar
Siegel, S., Hinson, R. E. and Mitchell, D. (1981). Morphine induces attenuation of morphine tolerance. Science 212, 1533.Google Scholar
Siegel, S., Hinson, R. E., Krank, M. D. and McCully, J. (1982). Heroine “Overdose” death: the contribution of drug associated environmental cues. Science 216, 436–437.Google Scholar
Siegel, S., Sherman, J. E. and Mitchell, D. (1980). Extinction of morphine analgesic tolerance. Learning and Motivation 11, 289–301.Google Scholar
Skinner, B. F. (1938). The Behavior of Organisms. New York: Appleton.Google Scholar
Smith, M. C., Coleman, S. R. and Gormezano, I. (1969). Classical conditioning of the rabbit's nictitating membrane response at backward, simultaneous, and forward CS–UCS intervals. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 69, 226–231.Google Scholar
Subkov, A. A. and Zilov, G. N. (1937). The role of conditioned reflex adaptation in the origin of hyperergic reactions. Bulletin de Biologie et de Medecine Experimentale 4, 294–296.Google Scholar
Thyer, B. A., Baum, M. and Reid, L. D. (1988). Exposure techniques in the reduction of fear: a comparative review of the procedure in animals and humans. Advances in Behaviour Research and Therapy 10, 105–127.Google Scholar
Turkann, J. S. (1989). Classical conditioning: the new hegemony. Behavioral and Brain Science 12, 121–137.Google Scholar
White, K. and Davey, G. C. L. (1989). Sensory preconditioning and UCS inflation in human “fear” conditioning. Behaviour Research and Therapy 27, 161–166.Google Scholar
Williams, D. R. and Williams, H. (1969). Auto-maintenance in the pigeon: sustained pecking despite contingent non-reinforcement. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 12, 511–520.Google Scholar
Wolpe, J. (1973). The Practice of Behavior Therapy. New York: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.