Chapter Six - Learning Flashcards
Acquisition
Learning phase during which a conditioned response is established.
Classical Conditioning
(PAVLOV) 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.
Cognitive Map
Mental representation of how a physical space is organized.
Conditioned Compensatory Response
A CR that is the opposite of the UCR and serves to compensate for the UCR.
Conditioned Response
CR response previously associated with a non-neutral stimulus that is elicited by a neutral stimulus through conditioning.
Continuous Reinforcement
Reinforcing a behaviour every time it occurs, resulting in faster learning but faster extinction than only occasional reinforcement.
Discriminative Stimulus
(S^d) Stimulus associated with the presence of reinforcement.
Extinction
Gradual reduction and eventual elimination of the conditioned response after the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus.
Fetishism
Sexual attraction to nonliving things.
Fixed Interval Schedule
Pattern in which we provide reinforcement for a response at least once following a specified time interval.
Fixed Ratio Schedule
Pattern in which we provide reinforcement following a regular number of responses.
Habituation
Process of responding less strongly over time to repeated stimuli.
High Order Conditioning
Developing a conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus by virtue of its association with another conditioned stimulus.
Insight
Grasping the underlying nature of a problem.
Instinctive Drift
Tendency for animals to return to innate behaviours following repeated reinforcement.
Latent Inhibition
Difficulty in establishing classical conditioning to a conditioned stimulus we’ve repeatedly experienced alone, that is, without the unconditioned stimulus.
Latent Learning
Learning that’s not directly observable.
Law of Effect
Principle asserting that if a stimulus followed by a behaviour results in a reward, the stimulus is more likely to give rise to the behaviour in the future.
Learning
Change in an organisms behaviour or thought as a result of experience.
Learning Style
An individuals preference or optimal method of acquiring new information.
Mirror Neuron
Cell in the prefrontal cortex that becomes activated by specific motions when an animal both performs and observes that action.
Negative Reinforcement
The removal of a stimulus following a behaviour that strengthens the probability of the behaviour.
Observational Learning
Learning by watching others.
Operant Conditioning
Learning by the consequences of the organisms behaviour.
Partial Reinforcement
Only occasional reinforcement of a behaviour, resulting in slower extinction than if the behaviour had been reinforced continually.
Positive Reinforcement
The presentation of a stimulus following a behaviour that strengthens the probability of the behaviour.
Preparedness
Evolutionary predisposition to learn some pairings of feared stimuli over others owing. to their survival value.
Primary Reinforcer
Item or outcome that naturally increases the target behaviour.
Punishment
Outcome or consequence of a behaviour that weakens the probability of the behaviour.
Reinforcement
Outcome or consequence of a behaviour that strengthens the probability of the behaviour.
Renewal Effect
Sudden re-emergence of a conditioned response following extinction when an animal is returned to the environment in which the conditioned response was acquired.
Schedule of Reinforcement
Pattern of reinforcing behaviour.
Secondary Reinforcer
Neutral object that becomes associated with a primary reinforcer.
Shaping by Successive Approximations
Conditioning a target behaviour by progressively reinforcing behaviours that come closer and closer to the target.
Skinner Box
Small animal chamber constructed by skinner to allow sustained periods of conditioning to be administered and behaviours to be recorded unsupervised.
Spontaneous Recovery
Sudden re-emergence of an extinct conditioned response after a delay following an extinction procedure.
Stimulus Discrimination
Process by which organisms display a less pronounced conditioned response to conditioned stimuli that differ from the original conditioned stimulus.
Stimulus Generalization
Process by which conditioned stimuli that are similar but not identical to the original conditioned stimulus elicit a conditioned response.
Unconditioned Response
Automatic response to a non neutral stimulus that does not need to be learned.
Unconditioned Stimulus
Stimulus that elicits an automatic response without prior conditioning.
Variable Interval Schedule
Pattern in which we provide reinforcement for a response at least once during an average time interval, with the interval varying randomly.
Variable Ratio Schedule
Pattern in which we provide reinforcement after a specific number of responses on average, with the number varying randomly.
