Chapter 5- Instrumental Conditioning: Foundations

Question 1

Goal Directed/ Instrumental Behaviour:

Answer 1

• Responding is necessary to produce a desired environmental outcome
  
  • Occurs because it was previously effective in producing a certain consequence

Question 2

Thorndike’s Law of Effect:

Answer 2

• If a response “R”, in the presence of stimulus “S” is followed by a satisfying event, the association between the stimulus and the response becomes strengthened
  
  • If the response is followed by an annoying event, the S-R association is weakened

Question 3

Discrete-Trial Procedures:

Answer 3

• Limited opportunities to respond, opportunities to respond are scheduled by experimenter
  
  • i.e. Put rat in maze, remove rat from maze between trials
  • Runway/ straight alley maze

T maze

Question 4

Runway/ straight alley maze

Answer 4

◦ Start-> barrier-> goal box
◦ Barrier removed, rat runs to goal box to get food
◦ Running speed
◦ Latency

Question 5

Running Speed

Answer 5

• How fast rat gets from start box to goal box

* Increases with repeated training trials

Question 6

Latency

Answer 6

• Time it takes animal to leave start box and begin running

* Decreases as training progresses

Question 7

T Maze

Answer 7

◦ Start box and alleys arranged in a maze (goal boxes located at end of each arm in T
◦ Test to see if newborn rats can tell their mother apart from another female rat
◦ Placed mother rat at right end of T, other rat at other end, pups learned to turn right, even if female rats were removed

Question 8

Skinner’s Free-Operant Procedures:

Answer 8

• Allows animal to repeat instrumental response without constraint over and over again until the end of an experimental session
  
  • Small chamber contains lever for rat to push for food, can push as many times as it wants to

Question 9

Operant Response:

Answer 9

• Depend on the effect that the response has on the environment, not on muscle movements
  
  • i.e. rat can press lever with right paw, left paw…etc

Question 10

Instrumental Response:

Answer 10

Any response that is required to produce a desired consequence

Question 11

Magazine Training:

Answer 11

• Carefully designed training steps that guide subject to desired behaviour
  
  • Want to train rat to press lever to get food
  • First step is to pair sound of food delivery device (food magazine) with release of food into cup

Question 12

Response Shaping:

Answer 12

• Learning operant response following magazine training
  
  • Food given to rat if anything related to pressing lever is performed (i.e. stand on hind legs, stand on hind legs over response lever…etc)

Question 13

Successful Shaping of Behaviour:

Answer 13

• Involves 3 components
  
  • Clearly define final response you want the trainee to perform
  • Assess starting level of performance
  • Divide progression from starting point to final target behaviour into steps

Question 14

Positive Reinforcement:

Answer 14

• Instrumental response produces an appetitive stimulus
  
  • i.e. Putting away toys -> gets a cookie
  • Positive contingency between instrumental response and appetitive stimulus
  • Produces increase in rate of responding

Question 15

Positive Punishment:

Answer 15

• Instrumental response produces an aversive stimulus
  
  • Positive contingency between the instrumental response and stimulus outcome (outcome is aversive)
  • Produces decrease in rate of responding
  • i.e. late to a meeting->boss yells at you

Question 16

Negative Reinforcement (Avoidance):

Answer 16

• Instrumental response turns off aversive stimulus
  
  • Negative contingency between response and aversive stimulus
  • Increases instrumental responding
  • i.e. opening an umbrella to stop rain from getting you wet

Question 17

Omission Training/Negative Punishment:

Answer 17

• Instrumental response results in removal of a appetitive stimulus
  
  • Phone taken away after failing a test
  • Negative contingency between response and environmental event
  • Decrease in instrumental responding

Question 18

Differential Reinforcement of Other Behaviour (DRO):

Answer 18

In omission training, individual periodically receives appetitive stimulus if they are engaged in behaviour other than the response specified by the procedure (other behaviour reinforced)

Question 19

Behavioural Variability vs. Stereotypy:

Answer 19

• Instrumental conditioning procedures produce repetitions of same response
  
  • Stereotypy in responding does develop if it is allowed or required by procedure
  • Instrumental conditioned can also be used to produce variable responses (behaviour required for reinforcement different from behaviour on preceding trials)
  • Response variability increases if variability is required for reinforcement (i.e. need to draw a different square to get reinforced)

Question 20

Belongingness:

Answer 20

• Certain responses naturally belong with a reinforcer due to animal’s evolutionary history
  
  • i.e. pulling latch are naturally related to release from confinement, yawning and scratching self is not

Question 21

Instinctive Drift:

Answer 21

• Extra responses that develop in reinforcement situations are due to animals instinctively performing these actions due evolution
  
  • i.e. pigs burying coins instead of putting them in a piggy bank

Question 22

Negative Behavioural Contrast:

Answer 22

Decrease responding if large reinforcer goes down to small reinforcer (i.e. giving $10 when previously $25 was given)

Question 23

Positive Behavioural Contrast:

Answer 23

Increase responding when small reinforcer goes up to large reinforcer

Question 24

Anticipatory Negative Contrast:

Answer 24

• Saccharin solution given to rats before given cocaine
  
  • Find that saccharin flavour loses hedonic value in anticipation of much greater hedonic value of cocaine
  • May explain why individuals addicted to cocaine get little satisfaction from other reinforcers that others enjoy

Question 25

Temporal Relation:

Answer 25

Time between response and reinforcer

Question 26

Temporal Contiguity:

Answer 26

• Special case of temporal relation

* Delivery of reinforcer immediately after response

Question 27

Response-Reinforcer Contingency:

Answer 27

• Extent to which instrumental response is necessary and sufficient to produce reinforcer
  
  • Causal relation between response and reinforcer, but learning is disrupted (perfect causal relation is not sufficient to produce vigorous instrumental responding)

Question 28

Credit Assignment Problem:

Answer 28

• Difficult to determine which response results in delivery of reinforcer if delay is long
  
  • Presentation of conditioned/secondary reinforcer (such as praise) can help over come this problem

Question 29

Marking Procedure:

Answer 29

Mark target instrumental response to make it distinguishable from other activities of organism (i.e. shine a light after target response)

Question 30

Superstitious Behaviour:

Answer 30

• Behaviour performed even if food is provided regardless of behaviour
  
  • i.e. pigeon keeps pecking even if food is given if they don’t peck

Question 31

Accidental/ Adventitious Reinforcement:

Answer 31

Accidental pairing of response with delivery of reinforcer

Question 32

Terminal Responses:

Answer 32

• Response occurred mainly toward the end of interval between successive reinforcers (i.e. pecking occurred more at end of food- food interval than other times)
  
  • Species typical responses that reflect anticipation of food as time draws closer to next food presentation
  • Animal displays focal search responses near food cup

Question 33

Interim Responses:

Answer 33

• Response more likely to occur toward middle of interval between food deliveries
  
  • Reflecting other sources of motivation that are prominent early in interfood interval, when food presentation is unlikely
  • Animals display general search responses that take animal away from food cup

Question 34

Activity Deficit Hypothesis:

Answer 34

• Inescapable shock group show learning deficit following exposure to inescapable shock because inescapable shocks encourage animals to become inactive or freeze
  
  • Cannot explain instances in which exposure to inescapable shock disrupts choice learning

Question 35

Attention Deficit Hypothesis

Answer 35

• Inescapable shock reduces extent to which animals pay attention to their own behaviour, which results in learning deficit

Question 36

Stimulus Relations in Escape Conditioning:

Answer 36

• Examined why exposure to escapable shock is not nearly as bad as exposure to inescapable shock
  
  • Shock cessation feedback cues

Safety signal feedback cues

Question 37

Shock cessation feedback cues

Answer 37

◦ Reponse produced stimuli experienced at start of escape response, before shock is turned off
◦ i.e. light presented during last 3 seconds of shock presentation

Question 38

Safety signal feedback cues

Answer 38

◦ Response produced stimuli experienced as animal completes response, just after shock has been turned off
◦ Lights turned off at end of each shock presentation