1 Matching Annotations
  1. Mar 2023
    1. how he was so accustomed to this kind of way, that, at the sound of pints and flagons, he would on a sudden fall into an ecstasy, as if he had then tasted of the joys of paradise; so that they, upon consideration of this, his divine complexion, would every morning, to cheer him up, play with a knife upon the glasses, on the bottles with their stopples, and on the pottle-pots with their lids and covers, at the sound whereof he became gay, did leap for joy, would loll and rock himself in the cradle, then nod with his head, monochordizing with his fingers, and barytonizing with his tail.

      Gargantua found comfort in hearing or seeing things that signaled him getting some drink, so he instantly became happy if he was upset. It was a form of classical conditioning for him - "the sounds of pints and flagons he would fall into ecstasy."

      What is classical conditioning? As mentioned in the article "Classical conditioning is one of those unconscious learning methods and is the most straightforward way in which humans can learn. Classical conditioning is the process in which an automatic, conditioned response is paired with specific stimuli."

      Rehman I, Mahabadi N, Sanvictores T, Rehman CI. Classical Conditioning. In: StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing, Treasure Island (FL); 2022. PMID: 29262194. https://europepmc.org/article/nbk/nbk470326#free-full-text