Chapter 6: Learning Flashcards
What is Classical Conditioning?
is a type of learning in which a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response originally evoked by another stimulus.
Who pioneered Classical Conditioning?
Ivan Pavlov, got dogs to salivate when a tone was presented
What is the main purpose of classical conditioning?
regulates involuntary, reflexive responses.
What are some examples for Classical Conditioning?
emotional responses, such as fears and physiological responses such as immunosuppression and sexual arousal.
Responses controlled through classical conditioning are said to?
be elicited
Classical Conditioning begins with?
- unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that elicits an unconditioned response (UCR)
What is it called before any stimulus is added?
Neutral Stimulus
What happens when the NS is paired with the UCS?
it becomes a CS that elicits a conditioned response (CR)
What occurs when the CS and UCS are paired, gradually resulting in a CR?
Acquisition
What does Acquisition mean?
Acquisition is a formation of a conditioned response tendency.
What occurs when a CS is repeatedly presented alone until it no longer elicits a CR?
Extinction
What does extinction mean?
is the gradual weakening of a conditioned response tendency.
What is spontaneous recovery?
the reappearance of an extinguished response after a period of non-exposure to the CS.
What is generalization?
occurs when an organism responds to new stimuli besides the original stimulus.
When a CR is elicited by a new stimulus that resembles the original CS, as in Watson and Rayner’s study of Little Albert.
Generalization
When a CR is not elicited by a new stimulus that resembles the original CS.
Discrimination
What is discrimination?
occurs when an organism does not respond to other stimuli that resemble the original stimulus.
What is High-order Conditioning?
occurs when a CS functions as if it were a US.
What is Operant Conditioning?
responses come to be controlled by their consequences.
Who pioneered operant conditioning?
B.F Skinner, who showed rats and pigeons tend to repeat responses that are followed by favorable outcomes.
What does Operant Conditioning mainly do?
regulates voluntary, spontaneous responses.
What are some examples of Operant Conditioning?
studying, going to work, telling jokes, asking someone out, and gambling.
When does reinforcement occur?
When an event following a response increases an organism’s tendency to make that response.
Responses controlled through operant conditioning are said to be?
emitted
What is a Skinner box?
demonstrations of O.C typically occur in a skinner box, where an animals reinforcement is controlled.
What key dependents variables is the animals response rate?
monitored by a cumulative recorder, with results portrayed in graphs.
What is Acquisition in Operant Conditioning?
occurs when a response gradually increases due to contingent reinforcement.
Acquisition may involve shaping?
the reinforcement of closer and closer approximations of the desired response.
When does extinction occur in O.C?
when responding gradually slows and stops after reinforcement is terminated.
When does generalization happen in O.C?
occurs when responding increases in the presence of a stimulus that resembles the original discriminative stimulus.
When does discrimination occur in O.C?
occurs when responding does not increase in the presence of a stimulus that resembles the original discriminative stimulus.
What is the primary reinforcers?
inherently reinforcing, whereas secondary reinforcers develop through learning.
When does intermittent reinforcement occur?
When a response is reinforced only some of the time.
What is the ratio schedules?
the reinforcer is given after a Fixed Response (FR) or Variable (VR) number of nonreinforced responses.
What is in interval schedules?
the reinforcer is given for the first response that occurs after a fixed (FI) or variable (VI) time interval has elapsed.
What tend to lead to higher response rates?
Ratio schedules (FR and VR)
What tends to yield more resistance to extinction?
Variable Schedules (VR and VI)
When does positive reinforcement occur?
when a response is followed by the presentation of a rewarding stimulus.
When does a Negative reinforcement occur?
When a response is followed by the removal of an aversion stimulus.
What are the key roles that play in negative reinforcement?
escape learning and avoidance learning
What are the key roles that play in negative reinforcement?
escape learning and avoidance learning
When does punishment occur?
When an event following a response weakens the tendency to make that response.
What did John Garcia find in recognizing biological constraints on learning?
almost impossible to create some associations, whereas conditioned taste aversions are readily acquired in spite of long CS-UCS delays, which he attributed to evolutionary influences.
When does preparedness appear?
to explain why people acquire phobias to ancient sources of threat much more readily than to modern sources of threat.
What did Tolman’s study find?
learning can take place in the absence of reinforcement.
What did Robert Rescorla show on the process of classical conditioning?
the predictive value of a CS.
