Eliciting Motor Responses Through Pavlovian Conditioning

Abstract

Classical conditioning theory involves learning a new behaviour through the process of association. In simple terms, two stimuli are linked together to produce a newly learned response in a person or animal. It is the process of associating, and consequently, providing meaning to a neutral stimulus with another meaningful stimulus, in order to elicit similar response and the basic processes that occur in classical conditioning include acquisition, stimulus generalisation, stimulus discrimination, and extinction. It is, in fact, no doubt that Pavlovian theory is also known as the theory of classical conditioning has an impeccable illustration of associative learning, this paper attempts to depict its application to learning motor skills as well as to critically evaluate its influence in sports.