The first panel shows a photo of Ivan Petrovich Pavlov observing a dog on which he conducted his behaviorist experiments. Accompanying text reads: During his experiments with dogs, Ivan Pavlov noticed them salivating before food was even presented. Somehow the dogs had learned to associate the lab assistant’s approaching footsteps with eating. This observation led to Pavlov’s discovery of classical conditioning, in which we learn to associate a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus that produces an automatic, natural response. The crucial stage of this process involves repeated pairings of the two stimuli.
The second panel shows Pavlov’s Experiment involving three phases namely: before conditioning, during conditioning, and after conditioning. The information presented is as follows:
Phase 1, Before Conditioning: One part shows a dog salivating in front of a food bowl. The food bowl is labeled unconditioned stimulus and it points to the drooling dog which is labeled unconditioned response (salivates). Text reads: Dog salivates automatically when food is presented. The other part shows a buzzer labeled neutral stimulus (buzzer sound) and a dog showing no response. A thought bubble corresponds to the dog, symbolizing no response. Text reads: Buzzer means nothing to dog, so there is no response.
Phase 2, During Conditioning: A buzzer labeled neutral stimulus (buzzer sound) plus a bowl of food labeled unconditioned stimulus points to a drooling dog labeled unconditioned response (salivates). This process is repeated 4 times. Text reads: In the process of conditioning, buzzer is repeatedly sounded right before dog receives food. Over time, dog learns that buzzer signals arrival of food.
Phase 3, After Conditioning: A buzzer labeled conditioned stimulus (buzzer sound) points to a drooling dog labeled conditioned response (salivated). Text reads: Dog has now learned to associate buzzer with food and will begin salivating when buzzer sounds.
The third panel depicts human conditioning in three phases namely: before conditioning, during conditioning, and after conditioning. The information presented is as follows: A question reads, have you been conditioned?
Phase 1, Before conditioning: First part shows a McDonalds logo labeled neutral stimulus and a vector woman accompanied by no response thought bubble. Second part shows French fries labeled unconditioned stimulus pointing to a vector woman holding her stomach labeled unconditioned response (stomach growls).
Phase 2, During conditioning: McDonald’s logo labeled neutral stimulus plus a pack of French fries labeled Unconditional stimulus points to a vector woman holding her stomach labeled Unconditioned response (stomach growls). An icon of an alarm beside the vector woman indicates that this step is repeated over time.
Phase 3, After conditioning: A McDonald’s logo labeled conditioned stimulus points to vector woman holding her stomach labeled conditional response (stomach growls). Text reads: Classical conditioning is an involuntary form of learning that happens every day. Does your stomach rumble when you see the McDonald's “golden arches”? Just like Pavlov's dogs, we learn through repeated pairings to associate neutral stimuli (the golden arches) with food (French fries). Once this association is formed, the sight of the golden arches can be enough to get our stomachs rumbling.