Question

Lio has ripped open a bag of Monsta Treats, a behavior Lio has clearly engaged in before, which has resulted in the monster drooling on him.]

a. In this cartoon, identify the unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, and conditioned response. 

b. Use this example to explain generalization and discrimination.

c. What would need to happen in order to bring about extinction? What would spontaneous recovery look like?

Answer 1

1. The cartoon of "Monsta Treats" is similar to the classical conditioning experiment of Pavlov. The Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) is the main stimulus (meat powder in Pavlov's experiment) which triggers the first response, Unconditioned Response (UR) is the first response to the Unconditioned Stimulus (US) (such as salivation of the dog in Pavlov's experiment), Conditioned Stimulus (CS) is a neutral stimulus (such as the sound of a bell) which is paired with the UCS and starts to elicit the same response as the UCS elicits. The Conditioned Response (CR) is the response that is only triggered by the CS. Based on this explanation and the cartoon mentioned in the question, the following are answers:
   • UCS: Monsta Treats (like meat powder in Pavlov’s experiment).
   • UR: Drooling of the monster (like dog’s salivation in Pavlov’s experiment).
   • CS: Sound created when Lio ripped off the bag (like the sound of the bell Pavlov’s experiment).
   • CR: Drooling of the monster just after listening to the sound of ripping a bag.
2. The same example can be generalized in some other context. Stimulus generalization refers to the fact that people tend to respond in a similar way while interacting with distinct but similar stimuli. For example, the Moster in this example will most probably drool out each time whenever he will listen to the similar but another sound created during ripping off the bag.
3. Extinction refers to the process in which the organism is not provided with CS and UCS for some period of time in order to extinguish the CS. The exposure of stimuli is delayed for a certain period of time. Therefore, in order to bring the extinction in the behavior of the monster (drooling on Lio), the exposure of the sound (created by ripped off the bag) to the monster should be stopped. Spontaneous recovery is the instant recovery of the learning, which is the conditioned response, after the delay or extension. Therefore, the monster will more likely to drool out even after a certain period of delay, if he will be presented again with the sound created by the ripped off the bag.