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Neuroscience and Behaviour > Associative Learning > Flashcards

Associative Learning Flashcards

1
Q

Associative learning

A

Learning that occurs through pairing events

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2
Q

4 types of conditioning

A

Delay, trace, simultaneous and backward

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3
Q

Blocking

A

Prior learning re. stimulus can block learning re new stimulus

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4
Q

Rescorla-Wagner theory

A

Rescorla-Wagner theory: The change ∆ in the associative strength V = the salience of the CS (α) the salience of the US (b) and the amount of surprise (the difference between the strength of the US (λ), and how much US you expected (ΣV)

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5
Q

What is the term for the max strength of the US?

A

Asymptote (λ)

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6
Q

What is a conditioned inhibitor in terms of R-W?

A

Stimuli acquire negative strength until they predict absence of the US

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7
Q

Explain overshadowing and blocking in terms of R-W…

A

Overshadowing = 2 CS’s at once. A limited amount of associative strength means that the stimuli inhibit learning about the other

Blocking = stimulus 1 already reaches asymptote meaning there can be no further learning about stimulus 2

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8
Q

Is only a pairing adequate to form an association?

A

No, because we won’t be able to differentiate between learning and coincidental incidents if it was.

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9
Q

What is delay conditioning?

A

If the CS immediately precedes the US

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10
Q

What is trace conditioning?

A

If the CS takes time to impact the US

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11
Q

What is simultaneous conditioning?

A

If the US and CS are simultaneous

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12
Q

Latency means?

A

Duration of time

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13
Q

Mahoney and Ayres (1976) found that?

A

A forward relationship between the CS and the US is good for associative learning. Highest learning is observed in trace and delay conditioning compared to simultaneous. No learning is observed in backward conditioning.

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14
Q

What did Rescorla (1968) find?

A

Pairings are less important than correlation. Two stimuli won’t be associated with one another unless they occur together.

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15
Q

What is blocking?

A

It refers to the situation where a conditioned stimulus (CS) that has already been associated with an unconditioned stimulus (US) blocks or prevents the formation of an association between a new CS and the same US when they are presented together

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16
Q

Besides pairing, what’s essential for learning to occur?

A

The unconditioned stimulus needs to be surprising.

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17
Q

Rescorla and Wagner (1972) found that

A

Association strength increases in each trial.

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18
Q

What determines changes in associative strength according to the RW model?

A

The discrepancy between the actual US outcome and the organism’s expectation or prediction based on the presence of the CS. If the US is surprising or unexpected given the CS, more learning occurs.

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19
Q

What is learning?

A

Persistent change in behaviour in response to experience

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20
Q

What is habituation?

A

Repeated stimuli => weakening of response

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21
Q

What is evaluative conditioning?

A

Neutral stimulus gaining positive or negative valence

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22
Q

Shaping (what type of conditioning?)

A

Instrumental conditioning. Behaviour gradually taught through reinforcing successive approximations of target behaviour

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23
Q

Autoshaping (what type of conditioning?)

A

Classical conditioning. Subject naturally begins to respond to conditioned stimulus as if unconditioned, even without training.

24
Q

Second-order conditioning vs sensory preconditioning

A

SOC = S2 -> S1 pairings precede S1 -> US pairings
SPC = S1 -> US pairings precede S2 –> S1 pairings

25
Q

Mental representations

A

Mental state accompanying experience of stimulus

26
Q

Response representations

A

Mental state accompanying performance of a response

27
Q

Conditioned inhibition

A

Stimulus predicts omission of expected US

28
Q

Discriminative stimulus

A

Signals when response will be followed by US

29
Q

What is a sign stimulus?

A

Part of a stimulus that is sufficient to evoke a behavioural response in an animal

30
Q

Fixed action pattern

A

Stereotyped response triggered by sign stimulus. MCQ could be, what type of response is typically triggered by a sign stimulus…

31
Q

Supernormal stimulus

A

Stimuli more effective than naturally occurring stimuli e.g. red pencil better than a beak

32
Q

Thorndike law of effect. Describe how it differs from more modern views/

A

Thorndike’s law of effect argues that a positive stimulus will lead to a response whereas aversive stimuli will lead to avoidance responses.
Believed the US acted as a glue to reinforce S-R association i.e. child would continue to tidy up without praise as praise had strengthened the association between parents instructions and tidying up. However, these days, it is believed that the US does play a role – animal responds to get its value.

So Thorndike thought: Sd => R (US)
Whereas these days it is believed that US => R (Sd)

33
Q

Types of reinforcement

A

Positive/negative = adding or taking away
Punishment/reward = whether it’s nice or nasty

34
Q

Passive vs active vs signalled avoidance

A

Passive = refraining from response
Active = active response to avoid aversive stimulus
Signalled = a specific signal such as a warning shock leads to a response

35
Q

Sidman avoidance

A

An aversive stimulus e.g. shock comes after a specified time period e.g. 5s. However a response e.g. pressing a lever will delay that shock e.g. by 10s. Key idea is that animal is learning based on time passing rather than a specific stimulus.

36
Q

Kamin (1969) did what experiment?

A

Terminating a warning signal. Response led to either a tone or a buzzer or both being stopped. Animals learned most when both the tone and the buzzer were stopped together. Both = CR’s.

37
Q

Signalled inhibitor

A

A stimulus that signals the absence of the US. E.g. bring a friend on a night out who ruins the fun. Can lead to extinction e.g. if buzzer ceases to signal shock, however this can take many trials (e.g. Solomon’s dog => 490 trials).

38
Q

What is V? (in the RWM equation)

A

Strength of the association between the CS and the US. A strong V means the association is very strong. Delta V is the change in association after each pairing.

39
Q

What is alpha? (in the RWM equation)

A

Alpha is the salience of the CS. Its intrinsic perceptual intensity.

40
Q

What is beta? (in the RWM equation)

A

Beta is the salience of the US, usually the “lure” of the food. For instance, rats love peanut butter, so it will have a high beta value.

41
Q

What is lambda? (in the RWM equation)

A

Lambda is the quantity of the unconditioned stimulus.

42
Q

The amount of learning that occurs in each pairing depends on:

A
  1. How noticeable your CS is
  2. How noticeable your US is
  3. How big your US is
43
Q

What is sigma V?

A

The sum of the associative strength of everything else present in the trial. Basically how much the US was predicted.

44
Q

What is lambda - sigma V?

A

How surprising the US is. The quantity minus how much it was being expected.

45
Q

What is sigma V if a stimulus has never been presented before?

A

Zero

46
Q

What happens if the stimulus gets less surprising? What happens to delta V?

A

The amount of learning reduces. Delta V reduces and goes to zero.

47
Q

What is an asymptote?

A

The maximum amount of associative strength that completely offsets the size of the US. No more strength can be acquired. The maximum associative strength equals lambda.

48
Q

How does lambda go up and what does this do?

A

By increasing the quantity of food. This increases learning.

49
Q

Mackintosh (1976)

A

Mackintosh (1976) did some experiments where he compared conditioning with a light, light + small sound, and light + big sound. He found that if you just condition the light on its own, the animals are very afraid. If you condition them with a small noise, then there was some learning about the noise, but not much more than with the light alone. However, a lot of learning occurred when the sound was loud.
The more salient the second stimulus, the more learning it “takes” from the light.
The surprise is going to be determined by how much strength is already present.

50
Q

What are Q competition effects?

A

The competition for associations with a particular US.

51
Q

What is inhibition?

A

The taking away of an association. For instance, the CS paired with a US will only get associated if the US is surprising. If you present the CS without the US, the association goes away.

If you take away the US, the value of lambda will become zero, because there’s nothing present. The lack of US is surprising, so the content of the lambda-sigma V becomes negative. The associative strength goes down again.

52
Q

Give an example of negative associative learning

A

If you associate a light (CS) with food (US) until asymptote and then have further trails with light (CS1), a noise (CS2), and no food, negative associative learning will occur, which is shared between the light and the noise. As they reduce, the strength of the light will reduce but not up to zero (because it started so high), but the associative strength of the noise will go down to negatives.

53
Q

What are conditioned inhibitors?

A

Stimuli with negative associative strength

54
Q

What happens to avoidance responses once a shock is taken away?

A

Avoidance responses go on for a long time after the shock is taken away and it takes much longer to extinguish. The fact that the avoidance response (inhibitor) is present tells the animal that the expected shock isn’t going to happen. You’re pairing a CS that predicts shock with an inhibitor for shock.

RWM explains that what you’re extinguishing is the warning signal with an inhibitor that has negative associative strength, so the lack of shock isn’t surprising. Because the inhibitor and the CS cancel each other out to zero.

55
Q

What is prediction error and how is it represented?

A

If the US is surprising, the CS will not adequately predict it, leading to prediction error. The difference between what the US is and what the CS predicts describes the size of the error (lambda - V).

56
Q

What is the overexpectation effect?

A

When there are two CSs used to predict one US, they overpredict it, and the association thus reduces.

57
Q
A

Neuroscience and Behaviour (12 decks)

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