Ch. 6: Learning

Question 1

Modeling definition

Answer 1

Imitating a behavior seen in others

Question 2

Vicarious learning definition

Answer 2

Learning to engage in a behavior or not after seeing others being rewarded or punished for engaging in it.

Question 3

Definition of learning

Answer 3

A relatively enduring change in behavior resulting from experience.

Question 4

Non-associative learning

Answer 4

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.

Question 5

Associative learning

Answer 5

The linking of two events that –in general– take place one after the other. Associations happen through conditioning.

Question 6

Observational learning

Answer 6

Acquiring or changing behavior after exposure to another individual performing that behavior.

Question 7

Habituation learning

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

Sensitization (learning)

Answer 8

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.

Question 9

Classical/Pavlovian conditioning

Answer 9

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.

Question 10

Neutral stimulus in Classical conditioning

Answer 10

Anything that is not normally associated with the natural stimulus.

Question 11

Acquisition and contiguity

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

Second order conditioning

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

Stimulus generalization

Answer 13

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.

Question 14

Stimulus discrimination

Answer 14

Animals learn to differentiate between two similar stimuli if one is consistently associated with the unconditioned stimulus and the other is not.

Question 15

Extinction

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 16

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.

Question 17

T/F: all stimuli are equally likely to become associated with an unconditioned response.

Answer 17

False. Some pairings of stimuli are more likely to become associated than others.

Question 18

Conditioned taste aversion

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

Biological preparedness

Answer 19

The theory that some animals are genetically programmed to fear specific objects (like monkeys fearing snakes).

Question 20

The Roscorla-Wagner model

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Positive prediction error

Answer 21

More of the US happens than expected/predicted. Dopamine activity is associated with positive prediction errors.

Question 22

Negative prediction error

Answer 22

Less of the US happens than expected/predicted.

Question 23

Phobia + how phobias develop

Answer 23

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.

Question 24

Fear conditioning

Answer 24

Classical conditioning that makes animals fear neutral objects.

Question 25

Operant conditioning + contrast with classical

Answer 25

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.

Question 26

Law of effect

Answer 26

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.

Question 27

Reinforcer

Answer 27

A stimulus that occurs after a response and increases the likelihood that the response will be repeated.

Question 28

Shaping (process)

Answer 28

Teaching an animal to do something via operant conditioning by reinforcing behaviors that are increasingly more similar to the desired final behavior.

Question 29

Primary reinforcers

Answer 29

Stimuli that act as reinforcers and satisfy biological needs and are otherwise necessary for survival.

Question 30

Secondary reinforcers

Answer 30

Stimuli that act as reinforcers and do NOT satisfy biological needs.

Question 31

Assigning value to a reinforcer for its effectiveness

Answer 31

Measured by seeing how much time a person would spend on the thing when they were free to do whatever they wanted.

Question 32

Positive reinforcement

Answer 32

Increases the probability that a behavior is repeated through the administration of a stimulus after the behavior.

Question 33

Negative reinforcement

Answer 33

Increases the probability that a behavior is repeated through the removal of an unpleasant stimulus.

Question 34

Continuous reinforcement

Answer 34

Rewarding every time the behavior occurs.

Question 35

Partial reinforcement

Answer 35

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.

Question 36

Ratio schedule (of reinforcement)

Answer 36

Reinforcement based on the number of times a behavior occurs.

Question 37

Interval schedule (of reinforcement)

Answer 37

Reinforcement based on a specific unit of time.

Question 38

Fixed schedule

Answer 38

Predictable schedule that repeats

Question 39

Variable schedule

Answer 39

Schedule… varies

Question 40

Partial Reinforcement extinction effect

Answer 40

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.

Question 41

Punishment + conditions for effectiveness

Answer 41

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.

Question 42

Positive punishment

Answer 42

Decreases the probability that a behavior will reoccur through the administration of a stimulus.

Question 43

Negative punishment

Answer 43

Decreases the probability that a behavior will reoccur through the removal of a usually pleasant stimulus.

Question 44

Behavior modification

Answer 44

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.

Question 45

Latent learning

Answer 45

Learning that takes place without reinforcement through observation, or some other neutral method.

Question 46

Insight learning

Answer 46

After a while of contemplating a problem, a solution suddenly emerges after either a period of inaction or contemplation of the problem.

Question 47

Is dopamine more correlated with the wanting or the liking of a reward?

Answer 47

The wanting.

Question 48

Modeling

Answer 48

The imitation of behavior

Question 49

Vicarious learning

Answer 49

Through vicarious learning, people learn about an action’s consequences by watching others being rewarded or punished for performing the action

Question 50

Mirror Neurons

Answer 50

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.

Question 51

Premack’s principle

Answer 51

A logical consequence of Premack’s theory is that a more-valued reinforcer can be used to promote a less-valued activity