Laws of Reflexes and Conditioning

1st Law of the Door

It is an objective factor (all stimuli). The threshold sets a minimum quantity which must be a stimulus to generate a reaction. It is characteristic of each kind – depends on other stimuli.

2nd Law of Latency

It is an objective factor. Latency is the interval of time between stimulus and response. E ‘R (‘ = latency). If there is an immediate response, it is called Interrupt (because it is not possible). The more intense the stimulus, the lower the latency.

3rd Law of Magnitude

A greater magnitude of the stimulus will result in a stronger reaction.

4th Law of Post-Download

The stimulus needs to exceed a threshold. In the absence of a stimulus, the reaction may continue. Example: I draw a picture, the flash makes me wink. But the flash stops, and I am still blinking. The more intense the stimulus, the longer the reaction.

5th Law of Temporal Summation

The magnitude of the reaction will be the same if:

  • A) We repeat the stimulus several times
  • B) We increase the intensity of the stimulus and it occurs 1 time.

This law relates to the learning process. Example: A child is being noisy. If we say “be quiet” a thousand times, the child may not be quiet. But if we shout “BE QUIET!” the child will stop.

6th Law of Refractory Phase

The reaction, after constant repetition, becomes weaker. Example: The first few times that the teacher enters the room, the students become quiet. Then they start talking, and she silences them, and they start talking again, and she silences them again, but they stay quiet for a shorter time. This law plays a role in “negative” learning processes.

7th Law of Fatigue

Classical conditioning, Phase III. Leave the EC ‘RC. The repetition of this phase (EC’ RC) will soon make the reaction decrease. No original stimulus decreases the reaction.

8th Law of Facilitation

Refers to the mirror. A stimulus causes a reaction – if we add a reinforcing stimulus, the reaction is enhanced. Example: I am overweight, I diet – but if my friends start a diet, I make my diet stricter. The reinforcing stimulus on its own produces nothing.

9th Law of Inhibition

Refers to the reflection – it is like the opposite of the 8th law. If we add another stimulus, the reaction decreases. Example: Injection causes crying – Injection + candy causes less crying.

10th Law of Conditioning Type S

Reflections are superimposed, one booster and one not. These are going to unite to augment the reaction.

11th Law of Stimulus Estimation of the Rate

If in classical conditioning we remove the original stimulus, the strength of the reaction diminishes. Note: What is written in my book and what the teacher said is different. The law states that if we have a reinforcing stimulus (+), removing the booster will decrease the reaction.

12th Law of Type R Conditioning

Operant conditioning. If you add a booster to the stimulus, the reaction is more intense. If you use more reinforcement, the intensity of R increases. Example: Good behavior + gift (booster) = better behavior + more gifts.

13th Law of Extinction of Type A

If the stimulus is decreased, the reaction also decreases.

14th Law of Support

One stimulation can cause more than one reaction. These can be run concurrently if they are not topographically superimposed (using the same means of the effector organ. Example: Whistling uses half the air topographically. Running uses the land). Example: In a football game, when scoring a goal, you can jump and scream.

15th Law of Prepotency

If we have two reactions that overlap geographically (using the same effector space) and are not supported (cannot be done at the same time), one will discard the other. The more intense reaction will discard the other. Example: A tree falls on me, I can escape. But if I see my little brother is under the tree, I will try to save him. I have only one option, and the one with greater magnitude will be chosen.

16th Law of the Algebraic Sum

We have two incompatible reactions (opposite directions) using the same effector. It may be that both are done simultaneously, but not completely, but rather “half and half” (resulting in an algebraic sum). Example: There is a fire, I want to escape (use legs). But I get something stuck on my leg, so I sit still. The reaction is that I will run but occasionally I will stop because of my leg.

17th Law of Combination

Two reactions using the same means can be triggered “at once”, and so they will be modified. Example: A dog is chasing me, I run, I see a bump in the road, I run and jump. The stimuli are not necessarily simultaneous, but close in time and space.

18th Law of Addition

If two stimuli produce the same form of response, and in addition, have a common response scale, the latency will be lower. Example: I hit a baby, it cries for 5 minutes. I scream at it, it cries for 2 minutes. I scream and hit it, it cries for 10 minutes.

19th Law of Chaining

Refers to the mirror. A stimulus causes a reaction. The reaction can be a boost to another reaction. Discrimination refers to the previous stimulus that we think the reaction will still be used because it has nothing to do. Only one person.

20th Law of Induction

An abrupt change in the reflection (time or intensity) can lead to a change in the reaction. Induction: sum of individual cases in specific situations that can be specialized. Faced with similar stimuli, we may have different reactions. Example: Injection causes screaming. After repeating this several times, we give a vaccine (almost the same) and there may be a more or less intense reaction.

21st Law of Extinction of Chained Reflexes

This law is related to the 19th law. It refers to the reflex. If we have a sequence of stimuli – response / stimulus + — Reinforcer reaction / stimulus, etc. etc. etc. We remove the booster, and all that follows will not happen. Only operant.

22nd Law of Discrimination of Stimulus Type S

We have a primitive stimulus + one reinforcing stimulus. If the magnitude of the booster is larger than the primitive, you can skip the primitive stimulus. Example: An overweight child goes to the nutritionist, who tells him he has to diet. This stimulus is not intense enough to make the child diet. But if his teammates laugh at him, he will start dieting, not because the nutritionist said so, but because his teammates laughed at him.

23rd Law of Discrimination of Stimulus in Type R

When applying a particular reinforcement learning scheme, the strength of the reaction is determined by this. In other words, the reaction will depend on the reinforcement that we use. Operant conditioning. Example: If I approach a dog and it wags its tail (positive reinforcement), I will approach it again. But if I approach it and it bites me (negative reinforcement), I will stay away.

24th Law of Operating Reserve

The Law of Operating Reserve states that the reinforcement is not used completely, but rather a certain amount is reserved for later use. We use the same reinforcement (or the reserve of it) in different cases and have different magnitudes and results. In other words, we have a reinforcement, we use it (but do not exhaust it) and reuse it in other cases, and the reactions will have different magnitudes.