Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Associative Learning01:27

Associative Learning

Associative learning is a fundamental concept in behavioral psychology, wherein a connection is established between two stimuli or events, leading to a learned response. This process is critical in understanding how behaviors are acquired and modified. Conditioning, the mechanism through which associations are formed, can be divided into two main types: classical conditioning and operant conditioning, each elucidating different aspects of associative learning.
Classical conditioning, also known...
Conditioned Taste Aversion01:14

Conditioned Taste Aversion

Conditioned taste aversion, also known as sauce béarnaise syndrome, is a phenomenon in which an individual develops an aversion to a certain food taste following a negative experience, typically illness. This form of aversion is a type of classical conditioning in which the taste of the food (conditioned stimulus, CS) is associated with the experience of illness (unconditioned stimulus, UCS).
A notable characteristic of conditioned taste aversion is that it often requires only a single exposure...
Auditory Perception01:17

Auditory Perception

The auditory system is essential for sound perception, utilizing various critical structures. When sound waves enter the outer ear, they travel through the ear canal and cause the eardrum to vibrate. These vibrations are then transmitted to the middle ear, where three tiny bones – the malleus, incus, and stapes – amplify the sound. This amplification is crucial, as it ensures that the sound vibrations are strong enough to be conveyed to the inner ear. These vibrations then reach the cochlea, a...
Classical Conditioning in Daily Life01:17

Classical Conditioning in Daily Life

Classical conditioning, a fundamental principle of associative learning, explains various phenomena observed in daily life, such as fear development, the placebo effect, taste aversion, and drug habituation. These applications demonstrate the profound impact of associative learning on human behavior and physiological responses.
John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner famously demonstrated the development of fear through classical conditioning in their experiment with Little Albert. They paired the...
Avoidance Learning and Learned Helplessness01:14

Avoidance Learning and Learned Helplessness

Avoidance learning and learned helplessness are critical concepts in understanding behavioral responses to negative stimuli.
Avoidance learning occurs when an organism learns that a specific behavior can prevent an unpleasant outcome. For example, a student who receives a bad grade may start studying harder to avoid future poor grades. This behavior persists even when the negative outcome is no longer present. Avoidance learning is powerful because it maintains behavior in the absence of the...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Stress across timescales: differential effects of acute and chronic stress on auditory processing and perception.

Hearing research·2026
Same author

Altered folate metabolism disrupts auditory function from neonatal vocalizations to adult perceptual precision.

Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders·2026
Same author

Prefrontal inhibitory mechanisms associated with Putamen activity during valence learning revealed by multimodal fMRI-fMRS.

Communications biology·2025
Same author

Repetitive stress decreases norepinephrine's dynamic range in the auditory cortex.

Neuropharmacology·2025
Same author

Integrated Ising model with global inhibition for decision-making.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2025
Same author

Rate and noise in human amygdala drive increased exploration in aversive learning.

Nature·2025
Same journal

Glycosylation in Alzheimer's disease.

Nature neuroscience·2026
Same journal

Neuropixels harness the light.

Nature neuroscience·2026
Same journal

Clarity in clearance pathways.

Nature neuroscience·2026
Same journal

Hypothalamic specification in a dish.

Nature neuroscience·2026
Same journal

Author Correction: A route for cerebrospinal fluid flow through leptomeningeal arterial-venous overlaps enables macromolecule and fluid shunting.

Nature neuroscience·2026
Same journal

Author Correction: Prefrontal engrams of long-term fear memory perpetuate pain perception.

Nature neuroscience·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Behavioral Determination of Stimulus Pair Discrimination of Auditory Acoustic and Electrical Stimuli Using a Classical Conditioning and Heart-rate Approach
10:50

Behavioral Determination of Stimulus Pair Discrimination of Auditory Acoustic and Electrical Stimuli Using a Classical Conditioning and Heart-rate Approach

Published on: June 6, 2012

Auditory aversive learning increases discrimination thresholds.

Jennifer Resnik1, Noam Sobel, Rony Paz

  • 1Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.

Nature Neuroscience
|May 10, 2011
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Aversive learning increases perceptual thresholds in humans, worsening stimulus discrimination. This effect, unlike positive learning, suggests a mechanism for rapid danger detection through broader sensory generalization.

More Related Videos

A Low Cost Setup for Behavioral Audiometry in Rodents
09:23

A Low Cost Setup for Behavioral Audiometry in Rodents

Published on: October 16, 2012

High Resolution Quantitative Synaptic Proteome Profiling of Mouse Brain Regions After Auditory Discrimination Learning
10:36

High Resolution Quantitative Synaptic Proteome Profiling of Mouse Brain Regions After Auditory Discrimination Learning

Published on: December 15, 2016

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Behavioral Determination of Stimulus Pair Discrimination of Auditory Acoustic and Electrical Stimuli Using a Classical Conditioning and Heart-rate Approach
10:50

Behavioral Determination of Stimulus Pair Discrimination of Auditory Acoustic and Electrical Stimuli Using a Classical Conditioning and Heart-rate Approach

Published on: June 6, 2012

A Low Cost Setup for Behavioral Audiometry in Rodents
09:23

A Low Cost Setup for Behavioral Audiometry in Rodents

Published on: October 16, 2012

High Resolution Quantitative Synaptic Proteome Profiling of Mouse Brain Regions After Auditory Discrimination Learning
10:36

High Resolution Quantitative Synaptic Proteome Profiling of Mouse Brain Regions After Auditory Discrimination Learning

Published on: December 15, 2016

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Sensory perception

Background:

  • Traditional animal studies use distinct stimuli for fear conditioning.
  • Human studies typically show improved discrimination thresholds after training.
  • Previous research has not explored how aversive learning specifically impacts human discrimination thresholds.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the effect of aversive learning on human perceptual discrimination thresholds.
  • To compare the impact of aversive versus positive reinforcement on discrimination.
  • To explore the underlying mechanisms of altered perceptual thresholds following aversive conditioning.

Main Methods:

  • Human participants underwent conditioning using olfactory or auditory stimuli as aversive or positive reinforcers.
  • Discrimination thresholds were measured before and after conditioning.
  • Subjective aversion and potential confounds like attention and bias were assessed.

Main Results:

  • Aversive learning significantly increased discrimination thresholds, impairing performance.
  • Subjective aversion intensity correlated with the degree of threshold increase.
  • Positive reinforcement and mere exposure decreased thresholds, consistent with prior research.

Conclusions:

  • Aversive learning promotes wider stimulus generalization by increasing perceptual thresholds.
  • This suggests a low-level neural mechanism for rapid threat detection.
  • Reduced specificity for risk-related stimuli may enhance survival responses.