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Definition
Eyeblink conditioning is a type of classical conditioning that has been used for 90 years to investigate associative learning and, increasingly, its neural substrates. The most common conditioned stimulus (CS) has been a pure tone, although other auditory, visual, and, occasionally, tactile stimuli have been used. The unconditioned stimulus (US) has usually been a mild puff of air to the cornea or a brief electrical pulse delivered to the skin around the eye. Both USs reliably elicit a brief closure of the outer eyelids and, where present, the inner eyelid – the nictitating membrane – as the unconditioned response (UR). Depending on a variety of conditions, CS–US pairings produce the acquisition of a conditioned response (CR) to the CS (Kehoe and Macrae 2002).
Theoretical Background
Experimentation using eyeblink conditioning has made fundamental and continuing contributions to theories of conditioning at behavioral and neural levels. The basic...
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References
Christian, K. M., & Thompson, R. F. (2003). Neural substrates of eyeblink conditioning: Acquisition and retention. Learning & Memory, 11, 427–455.
Coleman, S. R. (1975). Consequences of response-contingent change in unconditioned stimulus intensity upon the rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) nictitating membrane response. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 88, 591–595.
Kehoe, E. J., & Macrae, M. (2002). Fundamental behavioral methods and findings in classical conditioning. In J. W. Moore (Ed.), A neuroscientist’s guide to classical conditioning (pp. 171–231). New York: Springer.
Wagner, A. R., & Brandon, S. E. (1989). Evolution of a structured connectionist model of Pavlovian conditioning (AESOP). In S. B. Klein & R. R. Mowrer (Eds.), Contemporary learning theories: Pavlovian conditioning and the status of traditional learning theory (pp. 149–190). Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
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Kehoe, E.J. (2012). Eyeblink Conditioning. In: Seel, N.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_1025
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_1025
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