Final Flashcards
Contingency
A dependency between events.
- An event may be stimulus contingent (dependent of the appearance of the stimulus) or response contingent (dependent on the appearance of the behavior)
Contiguity
Nearness of events in time (temporal contiguity) or space (spacial contiguity)
Operant Conditioning
- B.F. Skinner (1938)
- A learning process in which the likelihood of a specific behavior is increased or decreased through positive or negative reinforcement each time the behavior is exhibited, so that the subject comes to associate the pleasure or displeasure of the reinforcement with the behavior.
Higher-order Conditioning
A variation of Pavlovian conditioning in which a stimulus is paired, not with a US, but with a well-established CS.
Modal Action Pattern
A series of interrelated acts found in all or nearly all members of a species.
- Also called “fixed action pattern”, “species-specific behavior”, or “species-typical behavior”.
- Formally called “instincts”
- They have a strong genetic component
Unconditioned Stimulus (US)
The stimulus that elicits an unconditioned response.
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
The stimulus part of a conditional reflex
- The stimulus that elicits a conditional response
Unconditioned Response (UR)
The response elicited by an unconditioned stimulus.
Conditioned Response (CR)
The response part of a conditional reflex
- The response elicited by a conditional stimulus.
Conditional Reflex
A reflex acquired through Pavlovian conditioning and consisting of a conditional stimulus and a conditional response.
Latent Inhibition
In Pavlovian conditioning, the failure of a CR to appear as a result of prior presentation of the CS in the absence of the US.
Blocking
Failure of a stimulus to become a CS when it is part of a compound stimulus that includes an effective CS.
- The effective CS is said to block the formation of a new CS.
Compound stimulus
Two or more stimuli presented simultaneously, often as a CS.
Overshadowing
Failure of a stimulus that is part of a compound stimulus to become a CS.
- The stimulus is said to be overshadowed by the stimulus that does come a CS.
Spontaneous Recovery
The sudden reappearance of a behavior following it extinction.
Habituation
A decrease in the intensity or probability of a reflex response resulting from repeated exposure to a stimulus that elicits that response.
Sensitization
An increase in the intensity or probability of a reflex response resulting from earlier exposure to a stimulus that elicits that response.
Trace Conditioning
A Pavlovian conditioning procedure in which the CS begins and ends before the US is presented.
Delayed Conditioning
A Pavlovian conditioning procedure in which the CS starts before, and then overlaps with, the US.
Simultaneous Conditioning
A Pavlovian conditioning procedure in which the CS and the US occur at the same time.
Backward Conditioning
A Pavlovian conditioning procedure in which the US precedes the CS.
Counterbalancing
Counterbalancing is a type of experimental design in which all possible orders of presenting the variables are included.
- For example,
- If you have two groups of participants:
- group 1 and group 2
- If you have two groups of participants:
- -Two levels of an independent variable
- level 1 and level 2
- You would present one possible order
- group 1 gets level 1
- group 2 gets level 2
- You would present one possible order
- Present the opposite order
- group 1 gets level 2
- group 2 gets level 1
- Present the opposite order
- This way you can measure the effects in all possible situations.
Counterconditioning
The use of Pavlovian conditioning to reverse the unwanted effects of prior conditioning.
With-in Subject Experiment
A research design in which the independent variable is made to vary at different time for the same subject.
- Thus, each subjects serves as both an experimental and control subject.
- Also called “single-subject” or “single case” experiment.
Between Subject Experiment
An experimental design in which the independent variable is made to vary across two or more groups of subjects.
- Also called “between-treatment” or “group experiment”.
Stimulus-Substitution Theory
In Pavlovian conditioning, the theory that they CS substitutes for the US.
- Assumes that the CR is essentially the same as the UR.
Rescorla-Wagner Model
A theory of Pavlovian conditioning based on the assumption that the amount of learning that can occur on a particular trial is limited by the nature of the CS and US and the amount of learning that has already occurred.
Forgetting
Deterioration in learned behavior following a period without practice.