Glossary

asymptotic level	The maximum level of conditioning.



autoshaping	A key-peck or bar-press response established by periodic reinforcements.



backward conditioning	A paradigm in which the UCS is presented and terminated prior to the CS.



blocking	The prevention of the acquisition of a CR to a second stimulus (CS₂) when two stimuli are paired with a UCS and conditioning has already occurred to the first stimulus (CS₁).



conditioned emotional reaction	The ability of a CS to elicit emotional reactions as a result of the association of the CS with a painful event.



conditioned immune system enhancement	The ability of a CS to elicit enhanced immune system functioning as a CR.



conditioned immune system suppression	The suppression of immune system functioning as a CR elicited by a CS.



conditioned inhibition	The permanent inhibition of a specific behavior as a result of the continued failure of that response to reduce the drive state. Alternatively, a stimulus (CS2) may develop the ability to suppress the response to another stimulus (CS1) when the CS1 is paired with a UCS and the CS2 is presented without UCS.



conditioned reflex	The acquisition of a new S-R association as a result of experience.



conditioned response	A learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus.



conditioned stimulus	A stimulus that becomes able to elicit a learned response as a result of being paired with an unconditioned stimulus.



conditioned withdrawal reaction	When environmental cues associated with withdrawal produce a conditioned craving and motivation to resume drug use.



contiguity	The temporal pairing of CS and UCS.



contrapredaredness	An inability to associate a specific conditioned stimulus and a specific unconditioned stimulus despite repeated conditioning experiences.



CS-UCS interval	The interval between the termination of the CS and the onset of the UCS.



cue-controlled relaxation	The conditioning of relaxation to a CS as a result of the association of that stimulus with exercises that elicit relaxation as a UCR.



cue predictiveness	The consistency with which the CS is experienced with the UCS, which influences the strength of conditioning.



delayed conditioning	A paradigm in which the CS onset precedes the UCS, and CS termination occurs either with UCS onset or during UCS presentation.



disinhibition	When the conditioned stimulus elicits a conditioned response after a novel stimulus is presented during extinction.



external inhibition	The presentation of a novel stimulus during conditioning suppresses response to the conditioned stimulus.



extinction of conditioned response	When the conditioned stimulus does not elicit the conditioned response because the unconditioned stimulus no longer follows the conditioned stimulus.



eyeblink conditioning	When a CS becomes able to elicit a conditioned eyeblink as a result of being paired with a puff of air or a brief electrical shock below the eye.



fear conditioning	The conditioning of fear to a CS as a result of the association of that CS with a painful event.



flavor-aversion learning	Avoidance of a flavor that precedes an illness experience.



higher-order conditioning	The phenomenon that a stimulus (CS₂) can elicit a CR even without being paired with the UCS if the CS₂ is paired with another conditioned stimulus (CS₁).



inhibition	Pavlov's idea that presentation of the CS without the UCS activates a central inhibitory state that suppresses the CR.



inhibition of delay	The prevention of a response to the CS until just prior to the UCS in a trace conditioning paradigm.



latent inhibition	The idea that exposure to neutral stimuli establishes an inhibitory state that later impairs excitatory conditioning to that stimulus.



preparedness	An evolutionary predisposition to associate a specific conditioned stimulus and a specific unconditioned stimulus.



reciprocal inhibition	Wolpe's term for the idea that only one emotional state can be experienced at a time.



salience	The property of a specific stimulus that allows it to become readily associated with a particular UCS.



sensory preconditioning	The initial pairing of two stimuli, which will enable one of the stimuli (CS₂) to elicit the CR without being paired with a UCS if the other stimulus (CS₁) is paired with UCS.



sign tracking	The orientation toward stimuli that enables animals to approach and contact reinforcers.



simultaneous conditioning	A paradigm in which the CS and UCS are presented together.



spatial-temporal hierarchy	A hierarchy where phobic scenes are related to distance (either physical or temporal) to the phobic object.



spontaneous recovery	The return of a CR when an interval intervenes between extinction and testing without additional CS-UCS pairings, or when the instrumental or operant response returns without additional reinforced experience.



stimulus narrowing	The restriction of a response to a limited number of situations.



suppression ratio	A measure of the fear produced by a specific conditioned stimulus obtained by dividing the number of operant responses during that CS by the number of responses during the CS and without the CS.



systematic desensitization	A graduated counterconditioning treatment for phobias in which the relaxation state is associated with the phobic object.



temporal conditioning	A technique in which the presentation of the UCS at regular intervals causes the time of the UCS to become able to elicit the CR.



thematic hierarchy	A hierarchy in which phobic scenes are related to a basic theme.



trace conditioning	The CS is presented and terminated prior to UCS onset with this conditioning paradigm.



unconditioned reflex	An instinctual response to an environmental event.



unconditioned response	An innate reaction to an unconditioned stimulus.



unconditioned stimulus	An environmental event that can elicit an instinctive reaction without any experience.



vicarious conditioning	The development of the CR to a stimulus after observation of the pairing of CS and UCS.

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