5 - Learning Theory

Question 1

non-associative forms of learning

Answer 1

habituation

sensitisation

Question 2

define habituation

Answer 2

becoming accustomed to certain things so show a decrease in responding over trials due to repeated exposure of same stimulus

Question 3

is habituation permanenet

Answer 3

no as dishabituation can occur

Question 4

is habituation stimulus specific or unspecific

Answer 4

specific

Question 5

define sensitisation

Answer 5

increase in responding over many trials as become sensitive to the arrival of a particular stimulus due to being repeatedly exposed to it

Question 6

what point in trials can sensitisation occur

Answer 6

early trials of habituation

Question 7

describe Karmin’s experimental condition

Answer 7

A presented w shock in phase 1

A and B together w shock in phase 2

Question 8

what did was the result of Karmin’s experimental condition

Answer 8

animals didn’t freeze in anticipation of shock when only B shown

Question 9

describe Karmin’s control condition and results

Answer 9

phase 1: nothing
phase 2: A, B, and shock
test: animals froze expecting shock when only B presented

Question 10

Karmin explained the results how

Answer 10

surprise is important and animals think noise predicts shock

Question 11

how was the experimental condition explained by Karmin

Answer 11

don’t learn B as a shock predictor as surprised when shock and A occured in phase 1, so primed to think A causes the shock

Question 12

how did Karmin explain the control condition

Answer 12

surprised when A and B occur w a shock so in the test they freeze as think A and B cause the shock

Question 13

describe unblocking

Answer 13

phase 1: A and shock

phase 2: A, B, and 2 shocks so learn something about B, causing them to freeze when only b PRESENTED

Question 14

Criticisms of Karmin

Answer 14

used an aversive outcome which if different to a reward, and this can’t be replicated in humans

Question 15

define error driven learning

Answer 15

when something happens which wasn’t completely expected, there’s a change in the assoc strength btwn 2 sitmuli so learning poccurs

Question 16

what do 0 and 1 mean in terms of assoc strength

Answer 16

0 if don’t expect second stimulus to happen when another is presented
1 if they do expect

Question 17

what does the change in assoc strength represent

Answer 17

surprise

Question 18

equation for change in assoc strength

Answer 18

correlation of what happened - correlation of what expected to happen/existing assoc strength based on prev experiences

Question 19

(EDL) what is there an error between

Answer 19

what we expect to happen and what actually happens

Question 20

over trials, how would we expect the assoc strength to change

Answer 20

assoc strength small in first trial, steep increase in first 10, then plateaus as no more learning occurs

Question 21

in blocking how does the assoc strength change

Answer 21

increases in phase 1 then plateaus end of phase

phase 2: strength = 1 as A present so no learning occurs and not surprised

Question 22

describe the process of summation/cue competition

Answer 22

when stimuli presented in compound, assoc strength added together

Question 23

in summation, what happens when 2 or 1 stimuli are presented

Answer 23

if two, they each get half the assoc strength, and if one, get all of it

Question 24

describe conditioned inhibition

Answer 24

training an animal to learn that a stimuli can act as an inhibitor to the outcome occuring

Question 25

describe the summation test

Answer 25

tone or noise = reward; tone and light = no reward

know there is a reward w tone so surprised when no reward w tone and light, and learn light present = no reward

Question 26

define retardation of acquisition

Answer 26

how much is learnt about a conditioned inhibitor when paired with an outcome

Question 27

what happens in the tone/light/noise experiment when studying ret of acquisition

Answer 27

delay in how quickly it’s learnt that the inhibitor leads to a reward as don’t expect it to lead to one since assoc strength of it w a reward is -1

Question 28

define long term potentiation

Answer 28

when two neurons fire together, a process occurs in the brain for them to be functionally connected and assoc together biologically

Question 29

in LTP, what happens when one neuron is activated

Answer 29

other neuron is activated as they are a functional unit

Question 30

what happens in the brain when presenting food as a reward since it’s conditioned

Answer 30

midbrain dopaminergic neurons show burst of activity in response before assoc forms, which then moves from reward presentation to predictor presentation

Question 31

what happens to dopamine activity when presenting the predictor and no reward

Answer 31

depression in activity as expect reward but don’t receive

Question 32

describe the procedure for the dopamine blocking study

Answer 32

stage 1: noise - reward stage 2: light + noise = reward

test: group A had light = no reward; group B had light = reward

Question 33

results for the dopamine blocking activity for group A

Answer 33

group A had no dopamine activity or induced neuronal response or depression as learnt noise not light predicted a reward

Question 34

results for the dopamine blocking activity for group B

Answer 34

dopamine activity neuronal activation following reward

Question 35

results for the dopamine blocking activity if absence of reward after blocked stimulus

Answer 35

no neuronal response

Question 36

results of the conditioned inhibition/summation study where tone = reward but light + tone = no reward

Answer 36

inhibitor = no reward and inhibitor + predictor = no reward had no dopaminergic activity and no prediction error as didn’t expect a reward w the inhibitor

Question 37

dopamine has been suggested to be a biological signal of what

Answer 37

surprise

facilitates learning

Question 38

what is the alpha response

Answer 38

effect of drug which has a positive hedonic effect on the body, and this response gets smaller over time

Question 39

what is the beta response

Answer 39

body compensating for effect and has a -ive hedonic effect but body ends up overcompensating

Question 40

define tolerance

Answer 40

beta response kicks in before anything is injected so the alpha response seems smaller but is actually the same as the start, just a more -ive intensity

Question 41

describe conditioned compensatory responses for drugs

Answer 41

NS = drug
US = contextual cues and stimuli
UR = beta effect of bodily processing and addressing the compensating effect