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Together with operant conditioning, classical conditioning became the foundation of behaviorism, a school of psychology which was dominant in the mid-20th century and is still an important influence on the practice of psychological therapy and the study of animal behavior. instrumental learning and human associative memory), a number of observations differentiate them, especially the contingencies whereby learning occurs. Though it is sometimes hard to distinguish classical conditioning from other forms of associative learning (e.g. Ĭlassical conditioning is a basic behavioral mechanism, and its neural substrates are now beginning to be understood. During the Russian physiologist's study of digestion, Pavlov observed that the dogs serving as his subjects drooled when they were being served meat. However, classical conditioning can affect operant conditioning in various ways notably, classically conditioned stimuli may serve to reinforce operant responses.Ĭlassical conditioning was first studied in detail by Ivan Pavlov, who conducted experiments with dogs and published his findings in 1897. salivation) that is usually similar to the one elicited by the potent stimulus.Ĭlassical conditioning is distinct from operant conditioning (also called instrumental conditioning), through which the strength of a voluntary behavior is modified by reinforcement or punishment. It also refers to the learning process that results from this pairing, through which the neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response (e.g. food) is paired with a previously neutral stimulus (e.g. ( March 2020)Ĭlassical conditioning (also known as Pavlovian or respondent conditioning) is a behavioral procedure in which a biologically potent stimulus (e.g. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points.
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