ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces phylogenic behavior, which is species-specific behavior that is present at birth. It explores simple reflexes, reflexive sequences, and reaction chains. The three laws of the reflex are described, as well as the principles of habituation. Respondent conditioning (ontogenic behavior) involves the conditioning of reflexes and this process is delineated. The importance of respondent contingency (correlation of CS and US) and contiguity (timing) is described. Functions that oppose a CR, such as the conditioned compensatory response, can also be respondently conditioned. The conditioned taste aversion and conditioned taste preference paradigms are reviewed with flavor having varying stimulus functions. Respondent extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination are reviewed. Second-order conditioning in which a neutral stimulus is paired with a CS to produce a second-order CS is also described. The implications of respondent conditioning are extended to an analysis of drug use and abuse. Finally, more advanced issues of complex conditioning and compound-stimulus effects such as overshadowing and blocking are introduced. Also, the Rescorla–Wagner model of conditioning predicts the extent to which a CS acquires associative strength on a given trial.
