Associative Learning Flashcards
What is associative learning?
Learning the relationship between two events
Give two examples of associative learning
Pavlovian or classical conditioning
Operant or instrumental condition (skinner)
How does classical associative learning work?
event 1- stimulus
event 2- stimulus
How does operant associative learning work?
event 1- action
event 2- stimulus
What are the 2 key assumptions for associative learning?
- simple conditioned associations are the building blocks of learning
- same laws of learning apply regardless of what is being learned or who is doing the learning
Explain the 3 stages of pavlovian’s prototype (Pavlov’s dog)
- Unconditioned stimulus (food) produces an unconditioned response (saliva)
- Conditioned stimulus (bell) produces an unconditioned stimulus (food) which in
turn produces an unconditioned response (saliva) - Conditioned stimulus (bell) produces a conditioned response (saliva)
a. The need for an unconditioned stimulus is removed
What is acquisition and extinction?
the ability for the experiment to work/the strength of the
conditioned response drops gradually.
What is temporal contiguity?
the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus must be
close in time
What is contingency?
The fact that the conditioned stimulus reliably then predicts the unconditioned stimulus
What is a cognitive view?
knowledge about the relationship between two stimuli
What is spontaneous recovery?
the idea that extinction is learning a new association
What is latent inhibition?
the idea that past learning experience changes acquisition of new learning associations
What are examples of biological constraints?
-the concept of preparedness
(some associations are biologically advantaged)
-phobias
-conditioned taste aversions
What was garcia & koellings experiment in 1966?
They investigated bright and noisy water
Outcomes was that sickness meant you would avoid flavoured water whereas pain would elicit the avoidance of bright and noisy water
Give another example of classical conditioning (other than Pavlov’s dogs)
Chemotheraphy:
A conditioned stimulus, i.e the sights/smells and thoughts preceding treatment could lead to a conditioned response of nausea and vomiting without the need for the unconditioned stimulus which is the chemo itself
What is second order conditioning?
When a new conditioned stimulus is able to elicit a conditioned response as the new conditioned stimulus has been successfully paired with the old conditioned stimulus
What is generalisation?
The idea that the greater the similarity of the new conditioned stimulus, the more likely to elicit a conditioned response
What does discrimination refer too?
Differences via reinforcement
What is reinforcement?
the strengthening of a behaviour due to it’s association with a stimulus
(which can either be a positive or a negative one)
Who are the 3 types of reinforces?
- Primary reinforcers are unconditioned and are inherently reinforcing
- Secondary reinforcers are conditioned and become reinforcing
- Social - Examples of social reinforcers are consequences of behaviour such as smiling, nodding,
attention or verbal praise
What are the two types of reinforcement?
- those that increase responding
- positive reinforcement
- negative reinforcement - those that decrease responding
- extinction
- punishment
Explain how positive reinforcement works
-via rewards for good behaviour
What is shaping?
reinforcements of successive approximations of desired act/behaviour
What is chaining?
complex behaviours are broken into component parts, each stage in the sequences is positively reinforced and then the reinforcer cues the next stage in the sequence
What is a token economy?
a system of behaviour modification based on the systematic reinforcement of target behaviour. The reinforcers are symbols or tokens that can be exchanged for other reinforcers
Explain how negative reinforcement works
Negative reinforcement occurs when an aversive (unpleasant) stimulus is removed as a
result of operant behavior and the rate of the behavior increases
What are the two types of punishment?
- positive punishment - aversive stimulus or condition added e.g shock or smacking
- negative punishment - pleasant stimulus of condition is subtracted e.g. time out