Chapter 4

Question 1

acquisition

Answer 1

the process of developing and strengthening a conditioned response through repeated parings of a neutral stimulus (NS) with an unconditioned stimulus (US)

Question 2

asymptote

Answer 2

the maximum amount of conditioning that can take place in a particular situation is known as the asymptote of conditioning

(more intense USs produce stronger and more rapid conditioning than do less intense US, more intense NSs result in stronger and more rapid conditioning than do less intense)

Question 3

extinction

Answer 3

the conditioned response is weakened or eliminated when the conditioned stimulus (CS) is repeatedly presented in the absence of an unconditioned stimulus (US)

also refers to the procedure whereby this happens

Question 4

spontaneous recovery

Answer 4

the reappearance of a conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus CS following a rest period after extinction

Question 5

disinhibition

Answer 5

sudden recovery of a conditioned response during an extinction procedure when a novel (unfamiliar) stimulus is introduced

Question 6

stimulus generalization

Answer 6

the tendency of a CR to occur in the presense of a stimulus that is similar to the CS

Question 7

semantic generalizations

Answer 7

generalization of a conditioned response to verbal stimuli that are similar in meaning the CS

Question 8

stimulus discrimination

Answer 8

the tendency for a response to be elicited more by one stimulus than another

Question 9

experimental neurosis

Answer 9

experimentally produced disorder in which animals exposed to unpredictable events develop neurosis-like symptoms

Question 10

high-order conditioning

Answer 10

the process whereby a neutral stimulus that is associated with a CS (rather than a US) also becomes a CS

Question 11

sensory preconditioning

Answer 11

one stimulus is conditioned as a CS, another stimulus with which it was previously associated can also become a CS.

Question 12

US revaluation

Answer 12

a process that involves the post-conditioning presentation of the US at a different level of intensity, thereby altering the strength of response to the previously conditioned

Question 13

overshadowing

Answer 13

the phenomenon whereby the most salient member of a compound stimulus is more readily conditioned as a CS and thereby interferes with conditioning of the less salient member

Question 14

blocking

Answer 14

the phenomenon whereby the presence of an established CS interferes with the conditioning of a new CS.

Question 15

occasion setting

Answer 15

a procedure in which a stimulus (known as an occasion setter) signals whether a CS is likely to be followed by a US and thereby controls whether the CS will elicit a CR

Question 16

latent inhibition

Answer 16

the phenomenon whereby a familiar stimulus is more difficult to condition as a CS than is an unfamiliar (novel) stimulus