Chapter 6: Learning

Question 1

Change in an organism’s behavior or thought as a result of an experience

Answer 1

Learning

Question 2

Process of responding less strongly over time to repeated stimuli

Answer 2

Habituation

Question 3

Form of learning in which animals come to respond to a previously neutral stimulus that had been paired with another stimulus that elicits an automatic response

Answer 3

Classical conditioning (Pavlovian conditioning)

Question 4

A stimulus that elicits an automatic response

Answer 4

Unconditioned stimulus

UCS

Question 5

Automatic response to a non neutral stimulus that does not need to be learned

Answer 5

Unconditioned response

UCR

Question 6

Response previously associated with a non neutral stimulus that is elicited by a neutral stimulus through conditioning

Answer 6

Conditioned response (CR)

Question 7

Initially neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a response due to association with an unconditioned stimulus

Answer 7

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

Question 8

Process by which organisms display a less pronounced conditioned response to conditioned stimuli that differ from the original conditioned stimulus

Answer 8

Stimulus discrimination

Question 9

Developing a conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus by virtue of its association with another conditioned stimulus

Answer 9

Higher-order conditioning

Question 10

Difficulty in establishing classical conditioning to a conditioned stimulus we’ve repeatedly experienced alone, that is, without the unconditioned stimulus

Answer 10

Latent inhibition

Question 11

Learning controlled by the consequences of the organism’s behavior

Answer 11

Operant conditioning

Question 12

Grasping the underlying nature of a problem

Answer 12

Insight

Question 13

Principle asserting that if a stimulus followed by a behavior results in a reward, the stimulus is more likely to give rise to the behavior in the future

Answer 13

The Law of Effect (Thorndyke)

Question 14

Small animal chamber constructed by Skinner to allow sustained periods of conditioning to be administered and behaviors to be recorded unsupervised

Answer 14

Skinner box

Question 15

Outcome or consequence of a behavior that strengthens the probability of the behavior

Answer 15

Reinforcement

Question 16

Presentation of a stimulus that strengthens the probability of the behavior

Answer 16

Positive reinforcement

Question 17

Removal of a stimulus that strengthens the probability of the behavior

Answer 17

Negative reinforcement

Question 18

Outcome or consequence of behavior that weakens the probability of the behavior

Answer 18

Punishment

Question 19

Stimulus that signals the presence of reinforcement

Answer 19

Discriminative stimulus

Question 20

Pattern of reinforcing behavior

Answer 20

Schedule of reinforcement

Question 21

Reinforcing a behavior every time it occurs, resulting in faster learning but faster extinction than only occasional reinforcement

Answer 21

Continuous reinforcement

Question 22

Only occasional reinforcement of a behavior, resulting in slower extinction than if the behavior had been reinforced continually

Answer 22

Partial reinforcement

Question 23

Pattern in which we provide reinforcement following a regular number of responses

Answer 23

Fixed ratio schedule (FR)

Question 24

Pattern in which we provide reinforcement after a specific number of responses on average, with the number varying randomly

Answer 24

Variable ratio schedule (VR)

Question 25

Pattern in which we provide reinforcement for producing the response at least once following a specified time interval

Answer 25

Fixed interval schedule (FI)

Question 26

Pattern in which we provide reinforcement for producing the response at least once during an average time interval, with the interval varying randomly

Answer 26

Variable interval schedule (VI)

Question 27

Conditioning a target behavior by progressively reinforcing behaviors that come closer and closer to a target

Answer 27

Shaping

Question 28

Neutral objects that becomes associated with a primary reinforcer

Answer 28

Secondary reinforcer

Question 29

Item or outcome that naturally increases the target behavior

Answer 29

Primary reinforcer

Question 30

Learning that’s not directly observable

Answer 30

Latent learning

Question 31

Mental representation of how a physical space is organized

Answer 31

Cognitive map

Question 32

Learning by watching others

Answer 32

Observational learning

Question 33

Cell in the prefrontal cortex that becomes activated when an animal performs an action or observes it being performed

Answer 33

Mirror neuron

Question 34

Evolutional predisposition to learn some pairings of feared stimuli over others owing to their survival value

Answer 34

Preparedness

Question 35

Tendency for animals to return to innate behaviors following repeated reinforcement

Answer 35

Instinctive drift

Question 36

An individuals preferred or optimal method of acquiring new information

Answer 36

Learning style