Chapter 1: Experimental: Learning (3-5%) Flashcards
E.L. Thorndike: Law of Effect
Postulated a cause-and-effect chain of behavior revolving are reinforcement. Individuals do what rewards them and stop doing what doesn’t bring some reward.
Learning
The relatively permanent or stable change in behavior as the result of experice.
+ Some theorist assert that animals learn in order to manipulate rewards & punishments
+ Others believe animals learn through temporal relationships or pairing
+ Many types of learning come into play at different points
Kurt Lewin (Behaviorism): Theory of Association
Association is the grouping things together based on the fact that they occur together in time and space. Organisms associate certain behaviors with certain rewards and certain cues with certain situations.
Ivan Pavlov (Digestion and dogs): Classical/Pavlovian Conditioning
Teaching an organism to respond to a neutral stimulus by pairing the neutral stimulus with a not-so-neutral stimulus.
John B. Watson: Founded the School of Behaviorism
Idea of learning and all behavior was that everything could be explained by stimulus-response chains and that conditioning was the key factor in developing these chains
B.F. Skinner
Conducted the first scientific experiment to prove Thorndike concepts in Law-of-Effect and Watson’s idea of cause and effect behavior.
Operant Conditioning
The idea of behavior being influenced primarily by reinforcement.
Skinner Box
Proved that animals are influenced by reinforcement
Classical/Pavlovian Conditioning
The pairing a neutral stimulus w/ a not so neutral stimulus; this creats a relationship b/t the two
Neutral Stimulus (NS)
A stimulus that does not produce a specific response on its own.
(EX. Pavlov- the light before he conditioned a response to it
Unconditional Stimulus (UCS)
The not-so-neutral stimulus.
(Ex. Pavlov: the UCS is the food. W/o conditioning, the stimulus elicts the response of salivating.
Conditional Stimulus (CS)
The neutral stimulus once paired w/ UCS. CS has not naturally occurring response, but is conditioned through the pairing of US.
(Ex. CS (light) is paired w/ UCS (food), CS alone w/ produce a response (salivating))
Unconditional Response
The neutrally occurring response of UCS.
Ex. Sa;ivation in response to food
Conditioned Response
The response to the CS elicits after conditioning. The UCS and CR become the same thing.
(Ex. salivating due to food or a light)
Simultanous Conditioning
The UCS (food) and the CS (light) are presented at the time time
Higher Order Conditioning / Second-Order Conditioning
A conditioning technique in which a previous CS now acts as a UCS.
(Ex. Light used a the UCS after conditioned, food is taken away. The light is paired w/ a bell (CS) until the bell itself elicited saliva.
Forward Conditioning
Pairing of the CS (light)and UCS (food), in which the CS is presented before the UCS
Delayed Conditioning
Presentation of the CS (light) begains before that of the UCS (food) and lasts until the UCS is presented
Trace Conditioning
CS (light) is present and terminated before the UCS (food) is presnted
Backward Conditioning
The CS (light) is presented after the UCS (food). (Proven to be ineffective)
Inhibitary Conditioning
Once classically conditioning is achieved. A ssecond CS is added and the UCS is removed. But would have hard time pairing the two CS’s
(Ex. Bell(cs)+food(ucs)=salivation(cr)
Tone(cs)+bell(cs)=no response
Operant / Instrumental Conditioning (Skinner)
Aims to influence a response through various reinforcements. The idea that we do reaps rewards and don’t do things that don’t reap rewards.
Shaping
Rewarding behavior that bring closer to a desired act.
Differential Reinforcement of Successive Approximation
Rewarding desired behavior
Parimary Reinforcement
A natural reinforcement. Something that is reinforcing on its own w/o the requirement of learning. (Ex. food & water)
Secondary Reinforcement
A learned reinforcement. Often learned through society.
Positive Reinforcement
A type of reward/positive event acting as a stimulus that increase the likeilyhood of a particular response
Negative Reinforcement
(Not punishment) Reinforcement through the removal of a negative event. Works by taking away something that he/she dislikes
*Punishment- Encourages a subject to stop behaving in a certain way
Continuous Reinforcement Schedule
Every correct response is met w/ some form of reinforcement. This type of reinforcement strategy facilitates the quickest learning, also the most fragile learning; reward stop coming, performance stops
Partial Reinforcement Schedule
Not all correct responses are met w/ reinforcement. The strategy may require a longer learning time. Once learned, behaviors are more resistant to extinction
Fixed Ratio Schedule
A reinforcement is delivered after a consistent number of responses
Variable Ratio Schedule
Learning takes the most time to occur, but, the learning is least likely to become extingushed. The ratio cannot be predicted (slot machine)
Fixed Interval Schedule
Rewards come after the passage of a certain period of time rather than the number of behaviors
Token Economy
Desirable behaviors are reinforced w/ tokens, which can be cashed in for primary reinforcers