Chapter 6 - Conditioning and Learning Flashcards
What is learning?
Relatively permanent change in behaviour due to experience
What is associative learning?
Formation of simple associations between stimuli and responses
What is cognitive learning?
Higher-level learning involving thinking, knowing, understanding, and anticipation
What is reinforcement?
Any event that increases the probability of a response occurring again
What is a reflex?
An automatic response to a stimulus
What are antecedents and consequences?
Antecedents: events that precede a response
Consequences: effects that follow a response
What is classical conditioning?
Learning in which reflex responses are associated with new stimuli
What is operant conditioning?
Learning based on the consequences of responding
What is an unconditioned stimulus?
Elicits a response by itself
What is an unconditioned response?
An innate reflex response elicited by a US
What is a neutral stimulus?
A stimulus that does not evoke a response
What is a conditioned stimulus?
A stimulus that evokes a response because it has been paired up with a US
What is a conditioned response?
A learned response elicited by a conditioned stimulus
What is acquisition?
The period in conditioning during which a response is reinforced
What is respondent reinforcement?
Reinforcement that occurs when a US closely follows a CS
What is the optimal delay between a CS and a US?
1/2 to 5 seconds
What is higher order conditioning?
Classical conditioning in which a conditioned stimulus is used to reinforce further learning (CS used as US, look at table on pg. 230)
What did Pavlov believe?
Classical conditioning does not involve any higher mental processes
What is the informational view?
Perspective that explains learning in terms of information imparted by events in the environment.
What is expectancy?
Anticipation concerning future events
What is extinction?
Weakening of a conditioned response through removal of reinforcement
What is spontaneous recovery?
Reappearance of a learned response after its extinction
What is stimulus generalization?
Responding similarly to stimuli which are similar to an already conditioned stimulus
What is stimulus discrimination?
The learned ability to respond differently to similar stimuli
What is a conditioned emotional response?
Emotional responses linked to previous nonemotional stimuli by classical conditioning
(A boy being scared of a dog once and thus being scared of dogs)
What happens in the brain when a CER occurs?
The amygdala becomes more active, producing feelings of fear
What is desensitization?
Gradually exposing a phobic person to feared stimuli while the person is relaxed
What is vicarious classical conditioning?
Classical conditioning brought on by observing another person react to a stimulus
What is the law of effect?
Responses that lead to desirable effects are repeated
Responses that lead to undesirable effects are not repeated
What is an operant reinforcer?
Any event that reliably increases the probability or frequency of responses it follows
What happens in operant conditioning?
Subjects learn to expect that a certain response will have a certain effect
For rats in a Skinner box, minimal learning would occur if the delay between pressing the bar and receiving food past what time?
50 seconds
What is response chaining?
Assembly of separate responses into a series of actions that lead to reinforcement
What are superstitious behaviours?
Behaviours repeated because they seem to produce reinforcement, even though they are unnecessary
What is shaping?
Gradually molding responses to a final desired pattern
What is operant extinction?
Weakening or disappearance of nonreinforced operant responses
What is positive reinforcement?
Reinforcement in which a response is followed by a reward or something similar
What is negative reinforcement? (careful!)
Reinforcement in which a response is followed by an end to discomfort or something similar
What is punishment?
Any event that follows a response and decreases its likelihood of it occurring again
What is response cost?
Removal of a positive reinforcer after a response is made
What are primary reinforcers?
Non-learned reinforcers that satisfy physiological needs
What are secondary reinforcers?
Learned reinforcers that gain reinforcing properties by association with primary reinforcers
What are token reinforcers?
Tangible secondary reinforcers. e.g. money
What are social reinforcers?
Reinforcement based on receiving attention, approval, or affection from others
What is feedback?
Information returned to a person about the effects a response had
What three things make feedback most effective?
When it is:
Frequent
Immediate
Detailed
What is programmed instruction?
Any learning format that presents information in small amounts, gives immediate practice, and continuous feedback
What is partial reinforcement?
A pattern in which only a portion of all responses are reinforced
What is the partial reinforcement effect?
Responses acquired with partial reinforcement are more resistant to extinction
What is a fixed ratio schedule? How strong are the response rates it produces?
A set number of correct responses must be made to get a reinforcer.
Very high response rates
What is variable ratio schedule? How strong are the response rates it produces?
A varied number of correct responses must be made to get a reinforcer (random).
High response rates
What is a fixed interval schedule? How strong are the response rates it produces?
A reinforcer is given only when a correct response is made after a set amount of time has passed since the last reinforced response. Responses made during the time interval are not reinforced. (Rat on an FI-30-second schedule has to wait 30 seconds after the last reinforced response before pressing the bar will pay off)
Moderate response rates
What is a variable interval schedule? How strong are the response rates it produces?
A reinforcer is given for the first correct response made after a varied amount of time has passed since the last reinforced response. Responses made during the time interval are not reinforced.
(Rat has to wait a varied amount of time before pressing the bar again will pay off)
Slow, steady response rates with tremendous resistance to extinction
