Avoidance Punishment Flashcards
Shuttle Avoidance Task
Negative reinforcement: Learn to escape first, then we learn to avoid
Ex: an animal has to shuttle back and forth in a box to avoid an aversive stimulus
Escape
light&shock: cross barrier -> removal of shock
SD R SR
THEN…
Avoidance:
light: cross barrier -> avoidance of shock
SD R SR
Two-Process Theory of Avoidance
Hobard Mowrer: explained the motivation for avoidance behaviour - two processes are involved in learning an avoidance response: classical + operant conditioning
Process 1 of TPTA
ESCAPE:
- CC of a fear response to a CS - light(NS/CS) is paired with a shock (US)
Light: Shock -> Fear
NS US UR
Light -> Fear
CS CR
Process 2 of TPTA
AVOIDANCE
- OC of a fear response to an SD
- reduction of fear: negative reinforcement (moving away from the CS (light))
Light: cross barrier -> reduction in fear
SD R SR
fear response is elicited by a conditioned stimulus, that becomes an SD which signals the feared thing - which initiates negative reinforcement to avoid the feared thing
Problems with TPTA
Many difficulties
- avoidance responses are often persistent so even when avoidance isn’t necessary, animals would still perform the act- if an animal repeatedly encounters the CS in the absence of the US, the fear of CS should extinguish, but the behavior doesn’t extinguish, exposures to the CS are too brief for extinction to take place
Theory of incubation
if you associate a fearful event with a stimulus you will avoid that stimulus whenever possible
brief exposures might sometimes strengthen a conditioned fear response which counteracts processes of extinction
ex: each time you briefly encounter a dog, your fear response grows stronger
Avoidance conditioning and Phobias
when you constantly avoid the CS, you’ll never learn to be unfearful of it, so avoidance learning is linked to the development and maintenance of phobias
limitations to applying models of experimental avoidance conditioning to human phobias
1: usually takes several trials, real phobias as often acquired after a single exposure
2. humans avoid the CS at all costs not just what it signals
approach avoidance conflict
- when an event is far away, the rewarding aspects outweigh the punishing ones
- as the event approaches the aversive aspect increases more than the rewarding ones
avoidance conditioning and OCD
repetitive stereotypes actions that are carried out in response to the obsessions
- may have an obsessive worry about germs and have a compulsive tendency to shower many times each day
- people feel responsible for events that are highly improbable and are unable to recall a conditioning event that could account for the obsessional anxiety response
OCD + 2 process theory: obsessions, compulsions, and their effects on anxiety:
they have opposite effects on anxiety
obsessions: increased anxiety
compulsions: decrease anxiety
OCD vs. Phobias
OCD involves an active avoidance response
- will do something to decrease the anxiety
Phobic involves a passive avoidance response
- don’t do something so reduce the anxiety
Exposure and response prevention
- A method of treating OCD - first effective treatment
- gradual increases in prolonged exposure to the anxiety arousing event, while not engaging in the compulsive behaviour pattern that reduces anxiety
1. systematic desensitization - pairs relaxation with a succession of stimuli that elicit increasing lvls of fear - imagining the fearful thing
2. flooding therapy - prolonged exposure to a feared stimulus (not gradual exposure)
cannot perform compulsive behaviours during!!
hyperactivity and OCD
people with OCD have hyperactivity in the frontal part of the brain which control inhibition, error monitoring, feelings of rightness
healthy controls don’t have the same amount of intrusive thoughts
brain volume and OCD
lower grey matter volume in different parts of the region
