Behaviour Modification - Part A Flashcards
What does behaviour modification imply?
Implies the intentional or structured use of conditioning or learning procedures to modify behaviour
What animals habituate more readily than adult animals?
young animals
Why is habituation necessary?
Saves an animal from being continuously and needlessly startled or frightened by chronic harmless stimuli
What is the paradigm for habituation?
US (bang) —> emotional activation
US (bang) - repetitive presentations —> weak emotional activation
US (bang) - repetitive presentations —> no emotional activation
Will an animal habituate if the US is loud and frequent?
The louder and more frequent it is, the harder it will be to habituate however, animals will STILL habituate it will just take longer
What is desensitization?
An intentional or structured habituation program; desensitization is a type of intentional habituation
What is flooding?
When the stimulus is presented repetitively at full strength the desensitization process is referred to as flooding
*flooding is a type of desensitization
What is learned helplessness?
Can happen if you flood an animal; animal is so overwhelmed that they shut down and that is why they have stopped reacting
What has to happen for an animal to continue to be habituated?
Habituation is an active process, the animal must continue to be periodically exposed to the stimuli
- behaviours that are learned have to be maintained
- habituation is a learning process that requires maintenance
What is gradual habituation referred to as?
Systematic desensitization
How does systematic desensitization work?
over a series of systematic stages the stimulus intensity is gradually increased until the animal is habituated to the stimulus at full strength or near full strength
When is systematic desensitization used?
Used with unhabituated fears with fears or phobias that may be acquired by virtue of classical conditioning
What are unconditioned reflexes?
At birth, an animal is born with a set of reflex behaviours that do not depend upon the conditions of our experiences
ex. salivation
Define unconditioned stimulus (US)
Naturally and involuntarily causes a response
Define unconditioned response
Unlearned response to an unconditioned stimulus
Define conditioned stimulus
Previously neutral stimulus that after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus, eventually triggers a conditional response
ex. a clicker
Define conditioned response
Learned response to the previously neutral stimulus
How do we get from a UR to a CR?
- repeated pairings of the CS with the US
- once the CS alone is able to produce the UR, we can now consider the UR a CR
*the CR begins to look exactly like the UR
What is classical conditioning also known as?
= associative learning or respondent conditioning
*if you say “associated with” it is implying that you mean classical conditioning
Why can we not account for all of our behaviour and experiences as the accumulation of conditioned reflexes?
Something has to be LEARNED to evoke a UR and reflexes are not learned
What temporal paradigm is best for classical conditioning?
Pavlov suggested that the trace paradigm is best; the CR develops faster if the CS slightly precedes the US (by a second or two), but that the CR will still occur if far longer delays are used.
What is the paradigm for classical conditioning of an internal appetitive (positive) response to a clicker (neutral stimulus)?
- US (food) —> UR (internal appetitive emotion)
- CS (clicker) —> US (food) —> internal appetitive emotion
- CS (clicker) —> internal appetitive emotion
What is the paradigm for classical conditioning of unpleasant, AVERSIVE emotional reactions?
- US (pain) —> Aversive emotional rxn
- CS (sight of syringe) —> US (pain) —> Aversive emotional rxn
- CS (sight of syringe) —> Aversive emotional rxn
With repeated pairing of the CS with the US, what happens to the CR?
The CR becomes more reliable and grows in magnitude (acquisition)
- aka the response grows
If after acquisition, the CS is repeatedly presented without the US, what happens to the CR?
The CR becomes weaker in magnitude and occurs less reliably (extinction)
What is acquisition?
Refers to the CR; with repeated pairings of the CS + US, the CR will become more reliable and grow in magnitude
- ex. a dog is shown meat (CS), and gets to eat it (US), so it salivates (CR)
What is extinction?
Refers to the CR; if after acquisition, the CS is repeatedly presented without the US, the CR becomes weaker in magnitude and occurs less reliably
- ex. a dog is shown meat (CS), but never gets to eat it (no US), so stops salivating (no CR)
What do acquisition and extinction refer to?
The magnitude of the CR
- acquisition = growing in magnitude
- extinction = weaker in magnitude
What is conditioned suppression?
When a CS is paired with an aversive US the CR that appears may be indicated by the flinching or “freezing” of the subject
- whenever you see a “non-response’ by an animal be careful of how you interpret it
What is excitatory and inhibitory referring to?
The CS!
- refer to the predictive character of the CS, not to whether what is predicted is good or bad
What is an excitatory CS?
A CS that more or less reliably predicts a US
- it is effective in producing a CR
- ex. an excitatory CS may predict food OR strong shock
What is an inhibitory CS?
A CS that more or less reliably predicts no US
- it does not produce a CR
What is the spread of excitation or inhibition called?
Irradiation
What is irradiation?
Once a CS (Bell A) has been established, similar stimuli (Bell B) may also produce a CR, with the magnitude of the CR depending on the similarity of the new stimulus to the CS
What do we term the effect stimulus of irradiation?
Generalization
What is discrimination learning?
Formation of differentiation between stimuli. If a new stimulus (Bell B) is presented occasionally with no US, AND our CS (Bell A) is presented at other times with a US, the generalized responding to the new stimulus gradually fades.
What might a US be?
Ex. food, electric shock, puff of air to eye, brain stimulation, loud noise, caffeine
When is a US effective?
If it evokes a reasonably strong bodily response.
How is a US classifed?
As APPETITIVE or AVERSIVE, roughly corresponding to whether we view them as pleasant or as unpleasant
- the more intense the US, the easier it is to produce a CR (there are limits to this however)
Does habituation need to be maintained? If so, how is this accomplished?
Habituation is an active process, and for animals to continue to be habituated they must be periodically exposed to the stimuli.
What aspect is important when establishing a CS?
The salience of the CS!
What are control procedures used for in classical conditioning?
Used to ensure that any CRs that occur are due to the pairing of some CS with some US and not to other factors.
Pseudoconditioning?
- non-associative learning
- occurs when a CS produces a response that looks like a CR without any pairing with a US
What is S-S association?
An association has been learned between 2 stimuli
Does the US work like a reward?
NO! If it did, it would mean classical conditioning would simply be a case of instrumental conditioning or learning that depends on the consequences of responses.
