Ch.7 "Learning" Flashcards
Learning involves…
the acquisition of new knowledge, skills, or responses from experience that result in a relatively permanent change in the state of the learner.
What ideas does learning emphasize?
: it’s based on experience
: it produces changes in the organism
: the changes are relatively permanent
How did behaviorists view learning?
as purely behavioral; does not incite any mental activity
Pavlov’s main work:
classical conditioning; salivation of dogs
what is classical conditioning?
when a neutral stimulus produces a response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally produces a response; learning to salivate to a sound, conditioned through food
What are the four basic elements of classical conditioning?
: unconditioned stimulus
: unconditioned response
: conditioned stimulus
: conditioned response
What is an unconditioned stimulus?
something that produces a naturally occurring reaction in an organism
What is an unconditioned response?
a reflexive reaction that is reliably produced by an unconditioned stimulus
What is a conditioned stimulus?
a stimulus that is initially neutral and produces no reliable response in an organism
What is a conditioned response?
a reaction that resembles an unconditioned response but is produced by a conditioned stimulus.
What is acquisition?
the phase of classical conditioning when the CS and the US are presented together.
What are cue exposure therapies?
exposing drug addicts to a familiar CS without being given the drug; results in extinction of the association between CS and the effects of drugs
What is second-order conditioning?
associating a totally different stimulus, through an earlier CS to produce the same conditioned response; black square with the tuning fork, black square will eventually elicit salivation alone
What is extinction?
the gradual elimination of a learned response that occurs when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented.
What is spontaneous recovery?
the tendency of a learned behavior to recover from extinction after a rest period.
What is generalization?
when the conditioned response is observed even though the conditioned stimulus is slightly different from the original one during acquisition.
What is discrimination?
the capacity to distinguish between similar but distinct stimuli
Who was Watson?
Huge behaviorist, supported Pavlov; “Little Albert” experiment
What are the elements of classical conditioning?
: cognitive
: neural
: evolutionary
What is the Rescorla-Wagner model?
introduced a cognitive component to classical conditioning; predicted that conditioning would be easier when the conditioned stimulus was an unfamiliar event.
What is delay conditioning?
the conditioned stimulus followed immediately by the unconditioned stimulus, the CS overlaps the US, then end at the same time
What is Trace conditioning?
same procedure as delay conditioning, except the conditioned stimulus ends before the unconditioned stimulus begins.
Does Trace conditioning require awareness?
yes
People in vegetable and minimally conscious states show…
Trace conditioning
What part of the Amygdala is responsible for emotional conditioning?
the central nucleus
What is freezing?
a defensive reaction that includes behavioral and physiological responses
What neural elements is the central nucleus connected to?
: Midbrain
: Hypothalamus
What happens if the link between the central nucleus and the midbrain is severed?
the freezing response stops
What happens if the link between the central nucleus and the hypothalamus is severed?
the autonomic (physiological) responses associated with fear stop.
What is biological preparedness?
learning certain kinds of associations over others.
The cerebellum is involved with…
delay conditioning
The hippocampus is involved with…
trace conditioning
the amygdala involved with…
fear conditioning
What is operant conditioning?
a type of learning in which the consequences of an organism’s behavior determine whether it will be repeated in the future; involves active behaviors
Thorndike…
examined instrumental behavior
What is instrumental behavior?
behavior that requires an organism to do something
What is the law of effect?
states that behaviors that are followed by a “satisfying state of affairs” tend to be repeated as opposed to those that have an “unpleasant state of affairs”
What is operant behavior?
behavior that an organism produces that has some impact on the environment
Positive reinforcement…
a rewarding stimulus is presented
Negative reinforcement…
an unpleasant stimulus is removed
Positive punishment…
unpleasant stimulus is administered
Negative punishment…
rewarding stimulus is removed
Primary reinforcers…
Food, comfort, shelter, warmth, etc.
Secondary reinforcers…
verbal approval, grins, trophies, money
What is the overjustification effect?
when external rewards undermine the intrinsic satisfaction of performing a behavior.
Stimulus control…
develops when a particular response only occurs when an appropriate discriminative stimulus is present; learning takes place in contexts
What are the three-term contingencies?
a discriminative stimulus produces a response that produces a reinforcer
Interval schedules:
based on the time intervals between reinforcements
Ratio schedules:
based on the ratio of responses to reinforcements
Fixed interval schedule (FI):
reinforcers are presented at fixed time periods, provided that the appropriate response is made
Variable interval schedule (VI):
a behavior is reinforced based on an average time that has expired since the last reinforcement
Fixed ratio schedule (FR):
reinforcement is delivered after a specific number of responses have been made.
Continuous reinforcement:
presenting reinforcement after each response; produces less responses
Variable ratio schedule (VR):
the delivery of reinforcement is based on a particular average number of responses; produces more responses
Intermittent reinforcement:
when only some of the responses made are followed by reinforcement; hard to extinguish
Intermittent-reinforcement effect:
the relationship between intermittent reinforcement schedules and the robustness of the behavior they produce; the fact that operant behaviors that are maintained under intermittent reinforcement schedules resist extinction better than those maintained under continuous reinforcement.
What is shaping?
learning that results from the reinforcement of successive steps to a final desired behavior.
Delusions and superstitious behaviors are based on…
mistaken beliefs regarding casual relationships
What is latent learning:
something is learned but it is not manifested as a behavioral change until sometime in the future.
What is a cognitive map?
a mental representation of the physical features of the environment
Pleasure centers reside mostly in the…
limbic system
The medial forebrain bundle meanders its way from…
the midbrain through the hypothalamus into the nucleus accumbens.
Dopaminergic:
the neurons in the medial forebrain bundle, especially the nucleus accumbens; they release dopamine
Observational learning is:
learning something based on watching someone else do it
What is a diffusion chain?
the passing down of a behavior originally learned through observational learning
What is implicit learning?
learning that takes place largely independent of awareness of both the process and the products of information acquisition
What is habituation?
the process of responding less to prolonged stimuli
