Ch. 6: Learning Flashcards
Modeling definition
Imitating a behavior seen in others
Vicarious learning definition
Learning to engage in a behavior or not after seeing others being rewarded or punished for engaging in it.
Definition of learning
A relatively enduring change in behavior resulting from experience.
Non-associative learning
The simplest form of learning; occurs after repeated exposure to a single stimulus or event. For example, people who live near airports become accustomed to the sound of airplanes flying overhead, meanwhile the same sound may cause alarm or at least be very noticeable for someone who has not learned to ignore it. There are two types: habitual and sensitization. Both subforms of this learning are consequences of alterations of the levels of neurotransmitter released by the presynaptic neuron; less neurotransmitter release is habituation, and more is sensitization.
Associative learning
The linking of two events that –in general– take place one after the other. Associations happen through conditioning.
Observational learning
Acquiring or changing behavior after exposure to another individual performing that behavior.
Habituation learning
Subform of non-associative learning. If something is neither beneficial or harmful, habituation leads us to ignore it. Note: we can still perceive the stimuli, we just don’t react to them because you have learned that they are not important. Similarly, the stopping of a stimuli you have become habituated to becomes notable, which is called dishabituation. All animals have habituation and dishabituation.
Sensitization (learning)
Subform of non-associative learning. Is an increase in behavioral response (to be contrasted with habituation which is a decrease) after exposure to a stimulus. The stimuli that most often lead to sensitization are those that are threatening or painful.
Classical/Pavlovian conditioning
A neutral stimulus is conditioned to produce a response because it is associated (through conditioning) with a stimulus that already produces that response. It is a way that animals came to predict the occurrence of events. For this reason, learning happens much easier if the conditioned stimulus comes before the unconditioned stimulus, rather than after.
Neutral stimulus in Classical conditioning
Anything that is not normally associated with the natural stimulus.
Acquisition and contiguity
The formation of an association between a conditioned stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus. The critical element in the acquisition of a learned association is that stimuli occur together in time, which is known as contiguity. Specifically, research has shown that classical conditioning is most effective when the conditioned stimulus comes right before the unconditioned stimulus during conditioning.
Second order conditioning
Being conditioned to have the same response to a second stimulus as an original unconditioned stimulus as well as the original conditioned stimulus, through conditioning with the conditioned stimulus.
Stimulus generalization
Stimuli that are similar to a specific conditioned stimulus evoke a response that varies in proportion to how close the subsequent stimulus is with the original conditioned stimulus.
Stimulus discrimination
Animals learn to differentiate between two similar stimuli if one is consistently associated with the unconditioned stimulus and the other is not.
Extinction
Conditioned stimuli die off over time if they do not come in conjunction with the unconditioned stimuli. This is a form of learning rather than unlearning, in that the animal learns that the conditioned stimuli no longer applies.
Spontaneous recovery
Some time after the extinction of a conditioned stimulus, if the conditioned stimulus is once again randomly applied, the animal will respond to it with the unconditioned response, albeit with reduced intensity. This happens because extinction is a form of learning that happens on top of the original conditioned stimulus and so does not extinguish it.
T/F: all stimuli are equally likely to become associated with an unconditioned response.
False. Some pairings of stimuli are more likely to become associated than others.
Conditioned taste aversion
Becoming ill after eating something, even if the illness is truly completely unrelated in cause from the food, can cause the person to form a distaste for the food in the future. It is especially likely to occur with a novel taste. Conditioned taste aversions are very easy to produce with food, but very difficult to produce with light or sound. This implies that the value of a response is linked to the evolutionary experience of that species.
Biological preparedness
The theory that some animals are genetically programmed to fear specific objects (like monkeys fearing snakes).
The Roscorla-Wagner model
Predicts that animals learn that some predictors (ie. CS) are more predictive than others. This implies that learning is proportional to the extent that the US’s appearance is unexpected or surprising
Positive prediction error
More of the US happens than expected/predicted. Dopamine activity is associated with positive prediction errors.
Negative prediction error
Less of the US happens than expected/predicted.
Phobia + how phobias develop
An acquired fear that is out of proportion with to the real threat of an object or situation. According to classical conditioning, phobias develop through generalization of a fear experience.
Fear conditioning
Classical conditioning that makes animals fear neutral objects.
Operant conditioning + contrast with classical
The idea that animals operate on their environments to produce effects. Operant conditioning is a learning process where an action’s consequences determine the likelihood of that action being repeated. So, in operant conditioning, the animal makes associations between events that it can control. This contrasts how in classical conditioning the association is made between events that the animal cannot control.
Law of effect
Any behavior that leads to a “satisfying state of affairs” is likely to occur again. Any behavior that leads to an “annoying state of affairs” is less likely to occur again.
Reinforcer
A stimulus that occurs after a response and increases the likelihood that the response will be repeated.
Shaping (process)
Teaching an animal to do something via operant conditioning by reinforcing behaviors that are increasingly more similar to the desired final behavior.
Primary reinforcers
Stimuli that act as reinforcers and satisfy biological needs and are otherwise necessary for survival.
Secondary reinforcers
Stimuli that act as reinforcers and do NOT satisfy biological needs.
Assigning value to a reinforcer for its effectiveness
Measured by seeing how much time a person would spend on the thing when they were free to do whatever they wanted.
Positive reinforcement
Increases the probability that a behavior is repeated through the administration of a stimulus after the behavior.
Negative reinforcement
Increases the probability that a behavior is repeated through the removal of an unpleasant stimulus.
Continuous reinforcement
Rewarding every time the behavior occurs.
Partial reinforcement
Not rewarding behavior every time it occurs. For instance, partial reinforcement can be administered according to the number of behavioral responses or the passage of time.
Ratio schedule (of reinforcement)
Reinforcement based on the number of times a behavior occurs.
Interval schedule (of reinforcement)
Reinforcement based on a specific unit of time.
Fixed schedule
Predictable schedule that repeats
Variable schedule
Schedule… varies
Partial Reinforcement extinction effect
The greater persistence of behavior when it is conditioned through partial conditioning as opposed to continuous. This is because under continuous reinforcement, the animal can easily tell when the reward stops, meanwhile under partial reinforcement it is less predictable when the next will happen.
Punishment + conditions for effectiveness
Reduces the probability that a behavior will reoccur. Research has shown that for punishment to be effective, it must be reasonable, unpleasant, and applied immediately so that the connection between the unwanted behavior and the punishment is clear.
Positive punishment
Decreases the probability that a behavior will reoccur through the administration of a stimulus.
Negative punishment
Decreases the probability that a behavior will reoccur through the removal of a usually pleasant stimulus.
Behavior modification
The use of operant conditioning techniques to eliminate unwanted behaviors and replace them with more desired behaviors. The rationale behind this is that the unwanted behaviors were learned and so can be unlearned.
Latent learning
Learning that takes place without reinforcement through observation, or some other neutral method.
Insight learning
After a while of contemplating a problem, a solution suddenly emerges after either a period of inaction or contemplation of the problem.
Is dopamine more correlated with the wanting or the liking of a reward?
The wanting.
Modeling
The imitation of behavior
Vicarious learning
Through vicarious learning, people learn about an action’s consequences by watching others being rewarded or punished for performing the action
Mirror Neurons
While watching behavior, mirror neurons in the brain fire in the same way that would if the person was actually performing the action they are watching.
Premack’s principle
A logical consequence of Premack’s theory is that a more-valued reinforcer can be used to promote a less-valued activity
