In psychologist Robert Rescorla's classical conditioning experiment, one group of rats experienced a tone just before each of 20 shocks. A second group of rats experienced the same number of tone-shock pairings plus an additional 20 shocks with no tone. Rescorla found that the rats in the first group showed a much stronger conditioned fear response than the rats in the second group. How did Rescorla explain this finding?
A)It was an example of the partial reinforcement effect.
B)Spontaneous recovery had occurred in the second group of rats.
C)The tone was a more reliable predictor of the shock for the first group of rats.
D)The interval between the tone and the shock was too great for the second group of rats to acquire a strong conditioned response (CR).

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Rescorla's finding is explained by the concept of predictive value: the idea that classical conditioning occurs to the extent that the conditioned stimulus (CS) provides information about the occurrence of the unconditioned stimulus (US). The tone in the first group of rats was a more reliable predictor of the shock because it was always present prior to the shock, while in the second group of rats, 20 of the shocks occurred without the tone. Therefore, the first group of rats developed a stronger conditioned fear response because the tone provided a more reliable cue for the impending shock.

In Psychologist Robert Rescorla's Classical Conditioning Experiment, One Group of Rats