Chapter 8: Learning Flashcards
What is learning?
a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge as a result of experience
What is an experience?
an event in which you participated (as an actor or observer)
What is change?
loss or gain of behavior
What is habituation?
process by which we “tune out” & stop responding to irrelevant stimuli
What are contingencies?
“if-then” arrangement
-for learning to occur, a stimulus must provide the subject information about the likelihood that certain behaviors will occur
What is classical conditioning?
previously neutral stimuli comes to elicit autonomic responses
Who was Ivan Pavlov?
a Russian physiologist who was originally studying salvation in dogs
What made Pavlov study behavior?
he noticed that doing something that was associated with food (like ringing a bell) made the dogs salivate, even if the food was not present
What is an unconditioned stimulus?
stimulus that reflexively triggers an autonomic response
What is an unconditioned response?
behavior or response triggered by the unconditioned stimulus (UNLEARNED)
What is an example of an unconditioned stimulus and response?
Pavlov’s dogs salivating (response) to the sight of food (stimulus) [dogs don’t learn to salivate to food, it’s automatic]
What is a conditioned stimulus?
initially neutral stimulus that now elicits a similar response to one triggered by an unconditioned stimulus
What is a conditioned response?
same type of response originally elicited by the unconditioned stimulus (but now is elicited by the conditioned stimulus)
What is an example of a conditioned stimulus and response?
Pavlov’s dogs salivating (response) when a bell is rung (stimulus) (because it is associated to getting food)
What is acquisition?
period in which learning is happening, the response to the conditioned stimulus
What is extinction?
conditioned response weakens and then stops because it is no longer paired with an unconditioned stimulus
What is an example of extinction?
ringing a bell that is associated with food constantly, but not giving food to dogs will stop the salivation
What is spontaneous recovery?
conditioned response suddenly returns after extinction is complete
Will the conditioned response be weaker during spontaneous recovery compared to before?
yes
Is relearning during spontaneous recovery faster or slower than initial learning?
faster
What is stimulus generalization?
conditioned response is triggered by a stimulus similar to the original conditioned stimulus
What is stimulus discrimination?
conditioned response is not exhibited in the presence of other stimuli because they are sufficiently different from the original conditioned stimuli
What is one-trial learning?
conditioning occurs after a single experience involving relatively fear, pain, or sickness
What does one-trail learning help us do?
prevents us from getting into similar situations later
What is conditioned taste aversion?
(one trial) when getting sick paired with a food or drink leads to feeling nauseous in the presence of the same food/drink later
Who was John B. Watson?
a behaviorist that experimented with observable behavior and conditioned responses (with Little Albert)
What was the “Little Albert” experiment?
a rat was placed in front of Albert and originally he showed no fear towards the rat, but the scientists rang a loud bell when Albert was with the rat causing Albert to be startled and crying (they repeated this several times) and now Albert started crying every time he was presented with a rat (even if the bell wasn’t rung)
What happened to Albert after the experiment?
he started to portray stimulus generalization and became fearful of rabbits, a dug, fur coats (things that looked similar to the white rat)
What is operant conditioning?
voluntary behavior comes to be controlled by consequences following its occurrence (using rewards and punishments to modify behavior)
What is the Law of Effect?
behaviors producing pleasant consequences are likely to be repeated in similar situations and behaviors producing negative consequences are less likely to be repeated
Who was Edward Thorndike and what did he do?
he was a psychologist that worked with cats and he constructed a puzzle box in which cats where put inside with a lock that could only be opened from the inside. he put a bowl of food outside the box and measured how long it took the cat (through trial and error) to get out of the box (when he did repeated trials he noticed that the cats became faster and faster at getting out)
What is trial and success learning?
learning from repeated trials and successes (rather than failures)