Chapter 7 Terms Flashcards
Learning
The acquisition, from experience, of new knowledge, skills, or responses that results in a relatively permanent change in the state of the learner.
Habituation
A general process in which repeated or prolonged exposure to a stimulus results in a gradual reduction in responding.
Sensitization
A simple form of learning that occurs when presentation of a stimulus leads to an increased response to a later stimulus.
Classical Conditioning
A type of learning that occurs when a neutral stimulus produces a response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally produces a response.
Unconditioned Stimulus (US)
Something that reliably produces a naturally occurring reaction in an organism.
Unconditioned Response (UR)
A reflexive reaction that is reliably produced by an unconditioned stimulus.
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
A previously neutral stimulus that produces a reliable response in an organism after being paired with a unconditioned stimulus.
Conditioned Response (CR)
A reaction that resembles an unconditioned response but is produced by a conditioned stimulus.
Second-order conditioning
A type of learning where a conditioned stimulus is paired with a stimulus that became associated with the unconditioned stimulus in an earlier procedure.
Acquisition
The phase of classical conditioning when the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus are presented together.
Extinction
The gradual elimination of a learned response that occurs when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus.
Spontaneous Recovery
The tendency of a learned behavior to recover from extinction after a rest period.
Generalization
The conditioned response is observed, even though the conditioned stimulus is slightly different from the conditioned stimulus used during the acquisition.
Discrimination
The capacity to distinguish between similar but distinct stimuli.
Biological Preparedness
A propensity for learning particular kinds of associations over others.
Operant Conditioning
A type of learning in which the consequences of an organism’s behavior determine whether it will repeat that behavior in the future.
Law of effect
The principle that behaviors that are followed by a “satisfying state of affairs” tends to be repeated, and those that produce an “unpleasant state of affairs” are less likely to be repeated.
Operant Behavior
Behavior that an organism performs that has some impact on the environment.
Reinforcer
Any stimulus or event that increases the likelihood of the behavior that led to it.
Punisher
Any stimulus or event that decreases the likelihood of the behavior that led to it.
Fixed-interval Schedule (FI)
An operant conditioning principle whereby reinforcers are presented at fixed time periods, provided that the appropriate response is made.
Variable-interval Schedule (VI)
An operant conditioning principle whereby behavior is reinforced on the basis of an average time that has expired since the last reinforcement.
Fixed-ratio Schedule (FR)
An operant conditioning principle whereby reinforcement is delivered after a specific number of responses have been made.
Variable-ratio Schedule (VR)
An operant conditioning principle whereby the delivery of reinforcement is based on a particular average number of responses.
Intermittent Reinforcement
An operant conditioning principle whereby only some of the responses made are followed by reinforcement.
Intermittent Reinforcement Effect
The fact that the operant behaviors that are maintained under intermittent reinforcement schedules resist extinction better than do those maintained under continuous reinforcement.
Shaping
Learning that results from the reinforcement of successive steps to a final desired behavior.
Latent Learning
A process in which something is learned, but it is not manifested as a behavioral change until sometime in the future.
Cognitive Map
A mental representation of the physical features of the environment.
Observational Learning
A process by which an organism learns from watching the actions of others.
Implicit Learning
Learning that takes place largely independent of awareness of both the process and the products of information acquisition.
