Conditioning Flashcards
Acquisition
Acquiring a new conditioned response, surprised to receive US (according to Restora Wagner model)
Extinction
Losing CR due to running CS alone - not forgetting association between the two, but more so new knowledge that CS does not predict US, this knowledge competes and suppresses old knowledge. surprised not to receive US (according to Restora Wagner model)
Renewal
If a rat is in a different environment during extinction, it is more likely to come back to initial environment and have CR return.
Behaviorist vs Cognitivist View of Classical Conditioning
A new stimulus response association (behaviorist view)
Using Conditioned Stimulus to predict unconditioned stimulus (cognitive view)
How to test two different views of classical conditioning
Devaluation, devaluing unconditioned stimulus by making animal habituate to it
S-R prediction: Animals learn a direct association between the light (CS) and fear (UR), so devaluation of the noise (US) will have no effect on fear
S-S prediction: Animals learn an association between the light (CS) and noise (US), so devaluing the noise (US) will decrease fear
Inflation, strong shock, increasing unconditioned stimulus
In both cases, S-S prediction of cognitive view is more accurate
Contiguity Theory
Learning occurs when pairing CS and US at same time
Challenges to Contiguity Theory
Conditioned taste aversion: even if food eaten leads to sickness a few hours later, we can pair these two together.
Blocking: Learning that the light predicts shock, blocks the pre-conditioned group from learning about the tone (not all about the timing)
Contingency Theory
Learning occurs if CS predicts the US
Amount of conditioning is proportional to amount of info that CS provides
Blocking: Light (CS1) already fully predicts shock, so animals don’t learn about the tone (CS2)
Rescorla Wagner Model
Amount of learning is related to how surprising the US is, similar to error driven learning
US received - US expected * learning parameter
Can explain:
–Acquisition (surprised to receive US)
–Extinction (surprised not to receive US)
–Blocking (not surprised to receive US because CS1
predicts it)
Discriminative stimulus (SD)
ensures that we select behaviors that are appropriate for the situation
Ex. traffic light context helps one understand when to press accelerator vs brake
Damage to Dorsal striatum:
Leaves intact the ability to learn simple R→O relationships
Impairs the ability to learn about discriminative stimuli (SD→R associations)
Reveals that this region is necessary for learning which responses (R) are appropriate in which contexts (SD)
Variable Ratio Schedule vs Fixed ratio
Variable, not a fixed amount of times that you get the outcome, you’re more likely to keep responding (just like opening FIFA packs, don’t know when you will get rewarded)
Arousal vs Valence
Arousal: degree of bodily changes that occur during response
Valence: subjective quality (positive or negative)
–Mildly happy = low arousal, positive valence
–Extremely scared = high arousal, negative valence
How do you treat phobias?
Exposure therapy, similar to extinction, repeatedly playing conditioned stimulus without unconditioned stimulus. Even after extinction, renewal can happen if context changes, i.e. going from doctors office to dog park, one will think they are just as vulnerable again.
Fear Learning, amygdala lesion
If amygdala lesioned, despite repeated tone (CS) – shock (US) pairings, no fear response to the tone
