"H.M." was hesitant to shake hands with a doctor who had pricked him with a pin the day before. This memory was most likely due to __________________.
A) his good semantic memory
B) his poor procedural memory
C) operant conditioning
D) classical conditioning

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

H.M.'s hesitation to shake hands with the doctor is an example of classical conditioning. The pinprick served as the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), which elicited an unconditioned response (UCR) of pain. The doctor's presence became associated with the pinprick, eventually leading to the doctor's presence becoming a conditioned stimulus (CS) that elicited a conditioned response (CR) of hesitation or fear. H.M.'s procedural memory was impaired, but his semantic memory was intact, and operant conditioning was not relevant to this situation.

"HM" Was Hesitant to Shake Hands with a Doctor Who