Question

Which rule of association does the statement 'Association is only acquired if US occurs soon after CS, there is no long delay between CS and US, and CS precedes US' reflect?

1) Rule of Contiguity
2) Rule of Similarity
3) Rule of Contrast
4) Rule of Frequency

Answer 1

The statement 'Association is only acquired if US occurs soon after CS, there is no long delay between CS and US, and CS precedes US' reflects the Rule of Contiguity in classical conditioning, emphasizing temporal proximity for effective association learning.

Step-by-step explanation:

The statement 'Association is only acquired if US occurs soon after CS, there is no long delay between CS and US, and CS precedes US' reflects the Rule of Contiguity. This rule is a principle of classical conditioning that was first noted by Ivan Pavlov, the psychologist who discovered classical conditioning. According to the Rule of Contiguity, the effectiveness of the conditioned stimulus (CS) in eliciting a conditioned response (CR) is increased when the CS is presented immediately before the unconditioned stimulus (US) and without a long delay. This rule highlights the importance of temporal association—how close in time the two stimuli occur—regarding the formation of associations in learning processes.

Using the example from Robert Rescorla's research, we understand that learning can be affected by the predictability of the association between CS and US. In the case mentioned where Ari's dad served dinner at 6:00 consistently, this consistent timing allowed for a strong association to be created. Conversely, Soraya's irregular dinner time schedule did not form a reliable association, which illustrates the importance of the Rule of Contiguity for association learning.