Chapter 8 Flashcards
Thorndike and skinner agree that _______ occur in the presence of particular stimuli
reinforcers
who was more rigid in instrumental conditioning: Thorndike or Skinner?
thorndike!
behavior is shaped by …
stimulus control
examples of stimulus control
alcohol consumption is different in your grandma’s house vs. a frat
it is normal to undress in your room but not in the middle of LH14
Reynolds (1961) did a study on compound stimulus, presenting a triangle in a circle to see the most preferred/influential stimuli. What were the results?
one pigeon responds to red circle while the other pigeon responds to the triangle, this showed stimulus discrimination
stimulus discrimination
differential responding to 2 or more stimuli
stimuli can be _____ (ex. color and sound) and ______ (ex. cheesy and meaty)
distinct; shared
stimulus generalization
responding in a similar fashion to 2 or more stimuli
ex. generalizing across burritos
training stimulus discrimination in the Guttman and Kalish study showing pigeons to peck at 580 nm/yellowish orange color resulted in what?
a steep gradient was seen in pigeons who could see color, peaked at 580 nm while a flat gradient was seen in a color blind pigeon
what 4 things determine which features of a stimulus gain control over behavior?
sensory capacity
presence of other cues
type of reinforcement
type of response
what 4 things determine which features of a stimulus gain control over behavior: sensory capacity
must be in sensory range
- ex. not everyone tastes brussel sprouts the same way
stimuli must come in contact with the subject
- ex. mobiles are often designed for adults not the infants
what 4 things determine which features of a stimulus gain control over behavior: presence of other cues
overshadowing: the strength of one stimulus interferes with the conditioning of the target stimulus
ex. big pictures > words in kids books
what 4 things determine which features of a stimulus gain control over behavior: type of reinforcement (forsee and lorlordo study with avoiding shock vs. receiving food)
subject: pigeons
training:
- group 1: step on treadle in presence of (light and tone) to receive food
- group 2: step on treadle in presence of (light and tone) to avoid shock
tests:
- light and tone
- light alone
- tone alone
results:
- pigeons trained with food responded to light, not. sound (vision = food system)
- pigeons trained with shock responded to tone, not light (audition = defense system)
reflects belongingness
what 4 things determine which features of a stimulus gain control over behavior: type of response (dog and metronome study)
dobrzecka study:
subjects: dogs
training:
- group 1: left-right discrimination / spatial response
- buzzer in back = lift left front leg
- metronome in from = lift right front leg
- group 2: go/no go task
- buzzer in back = lift right front leg (go)
- metronome in front = do NOT life leg (no go)
testing:
- switch placement of buzzer and metronome
results:
- dogs trained in L-R discrimination responded based on LOCATION (ex. right leg with buzzer in front)
- dogs trained in go/no go task responded based on QUALITY/SOUND (ex. raised leg only to buzzer sound)
spatial response to spatial feature
quality response to quality feature
elemental vs. complex stimuli
ele - simple (ex. traffic light (green/yellow/red))
com - orchestra/symphony, burritos, etc.
stimulus elemental approach
stimulus elements are treated as separate features of the environment
configural cue approach
stimulus features are integral to a whole that cannot be divided into parts
support assumptions of Gestalt theory!
stimulus generalization may effect (2 things)
- similarity of stimuli (pavlov)
- some stimuli are too similar to be differentiated (ex. difference between 2 celebs that look alike) - lack of experience or training (lashley and wade)
- training is necessary before stimuli can be differentiated
stimulus discrimination training
a procedure used to bring behavior under control of a stimulus (using stimuli that are more alike)
stiimulus discrimination procedure
subjects trained w/ 2 stimuli:
- stim 1: red light
- stim 2: green light
- reinforcement only with red light
red light = S+
green light = S-
once trained, S+ and S- become discriminative stimuli
discrimination training: training determines the _____ of stimulus control
extent
pigeon experiment that were exposed to tones (jenkins and harrison)
subject: pigeons
training: 3 groups
- group 1: reinforced in presence of 1000 cps tone (S+). No tone, no reinforcement
- group 2: reinforced in presence of 1000 cps tone AND not reinforced on a 950 cps tone (S-)
- group 3: 1000 cps tone on all the time (active control)
test: responses to various tones (300-3500 cps)
results:
- G1: pecking around 1000 cps
- G2: tight pecking at 1000 cps
- G3: pecking indiscriminately
discrimination training _____ stimulus control
increases
specificity of stimulus control _____ with focused training
increased
when the goal was expert discrimination: the more _____ offered the better discriminator you will be
examples
discriminative procedures can tell us if _______ states are detectable
internal
ex. can tell if a BORG has high quality or low quality vodka in it!
ex. can tell if a stimulant is cocaine or meth
hungry pigeons discrimination experiment
training 1: general
- injected with 3.0 mg/kg cocaine
- pecking for food on VI schedule on cocaine (S+)
- generalization test 1 (across doses)
training 2: discrimination procedure
- cocaine sessions (S+):
- cocaine @ 3.0 mg/kg, pecking reinforced
- saline sessions (S-):
- saline pecking not reinforced
- generalization test 2 (across doses)
pigeons recognize cocaine intoxication dosage better after training 2
kenneth space coined 2 terms about what we learn in discrimination training:
excitatory stimulus gradient: once a S+ is conditioned, stimuli differing from it evoke a reduced response
inhibitory stimulus gradient: once a S- is conditioned, stimuli differing from it evoke a greater response
t/f: excitatory and inhibitory stimulus gradients do not co-occur
FALSE; they do co-occur
what leads to S+ and S- learning?
discrimination training
intradimensional discrimination
training procedure designed to highlight discrete differences within a similar stimuli
peak shift phenomenon in training experiment
subjects: pigeons
- S+ training:
- all reinforced @ 550 nm
- S- training:
- G1: S- @ 590 nm
- G2: S- @ 555 nm
- G3: no S-
results:
- as S- nears S+, the gradient moves AWAY from the original S+
in discrimination procedures, what are emphasized?
differences!
stimulus equivalence training
encourages generalized responding to stimuli that may differ on one or more feature
advertising is notorious for encouraging equivalence (ex. buffalo u = bing)
what provides an important source of stimulus control?
context!
results of male quail study
change in context preference
context becomes a stimulus control
results of experiment where hungry pigeons were in bright and quiet skinner boxes vs. dim and loud skinner boxes
didn’t have to pay attention to context BUT did anyway!
context controlled behavior associated with training without explicit pairing with reinforcement
showed context can activate memory of the contingency, not reinforcement
evidence of Modulators!
modulator
a stimulus determining a response-reinforcer contingency
activated memory of contingency that, in turn, predicts response reinforcer
modulators DO NOT: (3 things)
facilitate responding by themselves
serve as a CS+
serve as a secondary reinforcer
Top Hat:
a steep stimulus-response gradient would suggest that:
the subject is displaying stimulus generalization
the subject is demonstrating stimulus equivalency
the subject is showing stimulus discrimination
the subject is not learning anything
the subject is showing stimulus discrimination
response gradient = discrimination learning
Top Hat:
Animals are reinforced to respond to the presence of a black square and trained to not respond in the presence of a white square. How would responding to a dark grey square compare to responding on a light grey square if both were presented during a session?
animals would not respond to either square
animals would respond to both but would respond to the lighter square more than the darker square
animals would not respond to the lighter square and only respond to the darker square
animals would respond to both but would respond to the darker square more than the lighter square
animals would respond to both but would respond to the darker square more than the lighter square
respond closer to S+ than S-
Top Hat:
a pigeon is trained to peck in the presence of a 440 cps tone and is never reinforced for pecking in the presence of a 450 cps tone. After training pigeons will peck most to a
435 cps tone
440 cps tone
445 cps tone
the pigeon will peck to any tone
435 cps tone
peak shift!
