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
Rescorla explain this finding by stating that the tone experienced by the group of rats just before each of 20 shocks was a reliable predictor of the shock for the first group.
The psychologist Robert Rescorla stated in his famous classical conditioning experiment that 2 stimuli does not produce the same level and kind of conditioning. Conditioning works in a better way, if the conditioned stimulus will act as a reliable signal that projects the appearance of an unconditioned stimulus.
Evolutionary theory highlights the adaptive value of within-species variability. Optimal biological and behavioral strategies differ depending on the nature of the environmental context as well as the characteristics of the organism such as age, sex, health, or physical size.
