Chapter 6: Learning

Question 1

Learning

Answer 1

A relatively permanent change in the state of the learner due to experience.

Question 2

Habituation

Answer 2

A general process in which repeated or prolonged exposure to a stimulus results in a gradual reduction in responding.

Question 3

Classical conditioning

Answer 3

When a stimulus evokes a response because of being paired with a stimulus that naturally evokes a response.

Question 4

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

Answer 4

Something that reliably produces a naturally occurring reaction in an organism.

Question 5

Unconditioned response (UR)

Answer 5

A reflexive reaction that is reliably elicited by an unconditioned stimulus.

Question 6

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

Answer 6

A stimulus at first does not produce the response that is eventually conditioned by pairing with an unconditioned stimulus.

Question 7

Conditioned response (CR)

Answer 7

A reaction to a conditioned stimulus produced by pairing it with an unconditioned stimulus.

Question 8

Acquisition

Answer 8

The phase of classical conditioning when the CS and the US are presented together.

Question 9

Second-order conditioning

Answer 9

Conditioning where the US is a stimulus that acquires its ability to produce learning from an earlier procedure in which it was used as a CS.

Question 10

Extinction

Answer 10

The gradual elimination of a learned response that occurs when the CS is no longer followed by the US.

Question 11

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 11

The tendency of a learned behavior to recover from extinction a rest period.

Question 12

Excitatory association

Answer 12

A process that increases the likelihood of a response.

Question 13

Inhibitory association

Answer 13

A process that decreases the likelihood of a response.

Question 14

Generalization

Answer 14

An increase in responding to a stimulus because of its simularity to a CS that was paired with a US.

Question 15

Discrimination

Answer 15

The capacity to distinguish between similar but distinct stimuli.

Question 16

Contingency

Answer 16

The organism has an expectation about how well the CS signals the appearance of the US.

Question 17

Biological preparedness

Answer 17

A propensity for learning particular kinds of associations over others.

Question 18

Operant conditioning

Answer 18

A type of learning in which the consequences of an organism’s behavior determine whether it will be repeated in the future.

Question 19

Law of effect

Answer 19

The principle that behaviors that are followed by a ‘satisfying state of affairs’ tend to be repeated and those that produce an ‘unpleasant state of affairs’ are less likely to be repeated.

Question 20

Operant behavior

Answer 20

Behavior that has some impact on the environment, which, in turn, changes because of that impact.

Question 21

Reinforcer

Answer 21

Any stimulus or event that functions to increase the likelihood of the behavior that led to it.

Question 22

Punisher

Answer 22

Any stimulus or event that functions to decrease the likelihood of the behavior that led to it.

Question 23

Overjustification effect

Answer 23

Circumstances when external rewards can undermine the intrinsic satisfaction of performing a behavior.

Question 24

Fixed interval (FI) schedule

Answer 24

Reinforcement will become available when a fixed time period has elapsed following the previous reinforcement. The first response after this interval will produce the reinforcer.

Question 25

Variable interval (VI) schedule

Answer 25

Reinforcement will become available when a time period has elapsed following the previous reinforcement, but unlike the FI schedule, the length of the waiting period varies from one reinforcer to the next.

Question 26

Fixed ratio (FR) schedule

Answer 26

Reinforcement will be delivered after a specific number of responses have been made.

Question 27

Variable ratio (VR) schedule

Answer 27

Reinforcement will be delivered after a specified average number of responses have been made.

Question 28

Intermittent reinforcement

Answer 28

An operant conditioning relationship in which only some of the responses made are followed by reinforcement.

Question 29

Intermittent reinforcement effect

Answer 29

Operant behaviors that are maintained under intermittent reinforcement schedules resist extinction better than those maintained under continuous reinforcement.

Question 30

Shaping

Answer 30

Learning that results from reinforcement of successive approximations to i final desired behavior.

Question 31

Latent learning

Answer 31

A condition in which something is learned but it is not manifested as a behavioral change until sometime in the future.

Question 32

Cognitive map

Answer 32

A mental representation of the physical features of the environment.

Question 33

Spatial representation

Answer 33

The capacity to encode, process and store information about the shape and layout of the physical environment.

Question 34

Observational learning

Answer 34

Learning takes place by watching the actions of others.

Question 35

Implicit learning

Answer 35

Learning that takes place largely independent of awareness of the process and the products of information acquired.