Final Exam Flashcards
Concurrent Schedule
Subject chooses to respond to one of two keys, each with a different schedule. ex) variable interval 60 sec and fixed ratio 10 - then measure how the subject distributes attention.
Matching Law
Relative rate of responding on a particular response alternate = the relative rate of reinforcement for that alternative. ex) Vollmer _ Bourret (2000): The matching law predicts that the proportion of shots taken from 3-point range should match the proportional reinforcement rate produced by such shots.
Behavior Therapy
A range of treatments and techniques which are used to change an individual’s maladaptive responses to specific situations.
Choice With Commitment
Can’t alternate back and forth between choices of reinforcement schedules. Pigeons prefer variable ratio over fixed ratio.
Self Control
Preference for a large-delayed reward over a small immediate reward. ex) Drug addiction + ADHD
Stimulus Discrimination
The ability to distinguish between two stimuli. ex) Ordering a dish at one restaurant because you know that other restaurants don’t offer that same menu item
Differential Responding
Responding in different ways or at different rates in the presence of different stimuli.
Stimulus Generalization
Responding in similar ways or at the same rates in the presence of a different stimuli. ex) Dog trained to drool at clicking noise may also drool at similar noises.
Creating Stimulus Generalization Through Therapy
1) Equalize treatment situation and natural environment
2)Conduct treatment in new settings
3)Use exemplars (use many different stimuli)
4)Condition new responses to stimuli that are common to various situations
5) Make training incidental to other activities (If child pays attention to a specific toy, use this to help teach a behavior).
6) Once a response is acquired through training, the behavior can be maintained by naturally available reinforcers.
Factors that influence whether a stimulus controls behavior
1) Sensory capacity + orientation (dogs and sensitive hearing)
2) Ease of conditioning (more intense stimulus will control responding)
3) Type of instrumental response
Positive Punishment
Delivery of an aversive stimulus. ex) spanking for bad behavior
Negative Punishment
Omission or loss of a positive reinforcer. ex) getting a time out
Intrinsic Punishment
A behavior that is inherently punishing on its own. ex) exercising, going to class
Extrinsic Punishment
Punishment that follows a behavior. ex) Drinking and getting hung over later, getting an F on a paper
Problems with Punishment
1) Punishment of inappropriate behavior does not strengthen occurrence of correct behavior
2) The person applying punishment could become a discriminative stimulus meaning unwanted behavior would only be suppressed in the presence of that person
3) Punishment might teach avoidance of the punisher
4) Punishment elicits a strong emotional response which overrides learning
5) Punishment can elicit aggression
6) Teaches that punishment is an acceptable means of conditioning behavior - child abuse
7) Punishment reinforces the person using it because it produces immediate effects
Benefits of Punishment
1) Punishment can sometimes lead to an increase in social behavior
2) Punishment sometimes leads to improvement in mood
3) Punishment can increase attention to environment
Effective Use of Punishment
1) Make it immediate
2) Should follow each occurrence of unwanted behavior initially
3) Should be intense enough to suppress the target behavior
4) Negative punishment is preferable to positive punishment
5) Accompanied with an explanation if possible
6) Combine with positive reinforcement of appropriate behavior
Conditioned Suppression
Punishment does not weaken behavior, but produces an emotional reaction that interferes with the occurrence of the behavior
Avoidance
The avoidance response consists of any behavior other than the behavior being punished, thus punishment does not weaken behavior
Premack Approach
A low probability behavior can be used to punish a high probability behavior. ex) having to run a mile for eating outside of your diet.
Observational Learning
Learning that occurs when an observer watches a model’s behavior and changes their own behavior accordingly
Bandura and Bobo the clown
Children who watched a video of an adult beating up a Bobo doll would make them more likely to do the same
Vicarious emotional conditioning
Learning of emotional responses by seeing emotional responses of others. ex) fear and disgust reactions which are important for survival.
Advertising and Vicarious Emotion
Exaggerated happy faces used in advertisement. Positive emotions are associated with what they are trying to sell.
Vicarious Emotional Conditioning and Higher Order Conditioning
Vicarious Emotional Conditioning is an example of higher order classical conditioning. ex)
CS2: Bear -> CS1: Look of fear in others -> US: Scary event
Observational Learning - Acquisition
Paying attention to the behavior of the model. We are more likely to pay attention if:
1) Model behavior achieves a desirable goal
2) We got reinforced for paying attention to the model
3) We can understand and duplicate the behavior
4) The model is someone who resembles us or we respect/admire.
Observational Learning - Performance
Actually doing the behavior:
1) More likely to perform if we saw the model getting reinforced
2) We are less likely to perform if we saw a model get punished
3) More likely to perform if we get reinforced or less likely if we get punished
4) Learning history - ex) when it is appropriate to swear
Short Term Memory
Stores a limited amount of information for no more than about 30 seconds without rehearsing it
Long Term Memory
Stores a seemingly unlimited amount of information potentially for a lifetime.
Explicit (Declarative) Memory
Facts or Events:
1) Episodic - when and where of life happenings (autobiographical memory)
2) Semantic - Knowledge about the world like facts
Implicit (Non-Declarative) Memory
No conscious recollection of memory. ex) motor skills
Sensory Memories
Last up to several seconds:
1) Echoic - Auditory Memories
2) Iconic - Visual Memories
Encoding
Process of getting information into the brain’s memory system:
1) Automatic
2) Effortful
Rehearsal
Amount learned = time spent learning
Spacing Effect
Rehearsal works best when spaced out
Serial Position Effect
Tendency to forget things in the middle of a list
Encoding Strategies
1) Meaning - Think of examples that are personally meaningful
2) Imagery - Mental images help us remember better
3) Chunking - Condensing large amounts of information into something smaller (acronyms)
4) Hierarchies
Storage - Semantic Network Theory
Items of knowledge are interconnected in the brain. ex) chair and table
Storage - Long Term Potentiation
Increase in synaptic efficiency. RNA synthesis increases during learning. ex) enriched rats have neurons better prepared to learn
Where is memory stored
Memory is stored all around the brain and not in a single area
Retrieval - Distinctiveness
Flashbulb memories, Von Restorff effect (The more something stands out, the more likely you are to remember it)
Retrieval - Testing Effects
Retrieval is helped by previous retrieval attempts (studying)
Retrieval - Retrieval Cues/Priming
Stimuli that help to retrieve knowledge (Context -> Knowledge). ex) sounds, smells, and sights associated with learning something
False Retrieval/Memory
Mistaken recall of some stimulus or event that did not actually occur.
Elizabeth Loftus
Every time we remember something, we merely remember a reconstruction of the event. This means that eyewitness testimony is no longer the gold standard.
False Presupposition
Implanting a memory through the use of another question to create an incorrect initial assumption
Retroactive Forgetting
Learning something new pushes out old knowledge.
Proactive Forgetting
Old knowledge inhibits new knowledge
Hippocampus, Stress, and Depression
Hippocampus is part of the limbic system - emotion. Decreased brain derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) causes the depletion of neurons in the brain. This causes the hippocampus to shrink which is associated with depression.
Hippocampal Independent Memory
Non declarative/implicit memory, delay conditioning, motor skills.
Hippocampal Dependent Memory
Episodic, semantic, spatial, associative (trace conditioning), single-item, recognition, and familiarity memories
Amygdala and Emotional Memory
Amygdala gives emotional content to memory, evaluates social stimuli (recognition of emotion in others), and assists in learning conditioned responses to stimuli associated with fear.
Amygdala + Hippocampus - Depression + PTSD
When someone has PTSD or depression, they have smaller hippocampi and increased amygdala activity
Habituation
Decrease in strength of response to repeated presentation of the same stimulus - specific to repeated stimulus of low intensity
Sensitization
Increase in responding to repeated presentation - Not stimulus specific/generalizes and is high intensity
Conditioned Stimulus
An originally irrelevant stimulus that after association with the US, comes to trigger a conditioned response.
Unconditioned Stimulus
A stimulus that naturally triggers a response
Conditioned Response
The learned response to the previously neutral CS
Unconditioned Response
The naturally occurring response to the US
Sign-tracking
An individual’s tendency to interact with a cue that predicts reward. ex) food, water, conspecifics, etc. CS generally has to be discrete, localized, and visual.
Short Delay Procedure
CS starts and the US is presented later. The CS and US must overlap for any period of time. Most effective for learning.
Long Delay Procedure
CS starts and the US is presented 5-10 minutes later.
Trace Procedure
CS starts and stops, after a short (trace) interval, US is presented. Trace can be any amount of time but the CS and US cannot overlap.
Inhibitory Conditioning
CS predicts the absence of the US. For this to occur, there has to have been an excitatory context for the US to begin with.
Anxiety Disorders
Persistent distressing anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety. ex) Phobias and OCD
Systematic Desensitization (Treatment)
Presents the CS (feared object) multiple times without the US occurring. CR begins to diminish. Done gradually in attempt to extinguish the old CR of fear and replace it with a less dysfunctional CR.
Flooding (Treatment)
Intense exposure to anxiety-triggering stimuli. ex) Fear Factor
Aversive Conditioning (Treatment)
Replacing a positive response with a negative response. ex) Antabuse and alcohol (Antabuse makes you sick if you use alcohol after taking it)
Learned Helplessness
A sense of powerlessness gained from a persistent failure to succeed or a traumatic event. ex) Dog shock experiments
Best conditions for Operant Conditioning
Reinforcement is swift, certain, awesome/severe, and has belongingness.
Belongingness/Salience
Concepts, elements, or skills are more easily learned if they are perceived as belonging together.
Jenkins and Moore
a. The Jenkins and Moore study (1973) involved two groups, and like all other Jenkins studies, autoshaping
b. Group 1 was exposed to grain and autoshaped to the light, treating it as food.
c. Group 2 was exposed to water and autoshaped to the light, treating it as liquid.
d. This supports stimulus substitution because both groups treated the key light as if it was the stimulus itself (e.g. trying to “drink the light”). Ergo, they mentally substituted the CS with the US.
Procrastination
Putting things off which progressively leads to more and more anxiety building up
Internal Locus of Control
Outcomes occur due to your own effects
External Locus of Control
Outcomes are outside of the individual’s control. More likely to use emotion-focused coping strategies.
Operant Conditioning
A method of learning that uses rewards and punishment to modify behavior
Magazine Training
Classical Conditioning (sign tracking): Subject’s familiarization with the mechanism that delivers the reinforcer.
Positive Reinforcement
An instrumental response increases likelihood as a result of a positive stimulus being presented following the response and not presented in the absence of the response
Negative Reinforcement
If the instrumental response is performed, an aversive stimulus is terminated or prevented from occurring
Positive Punishment
Occurrence of the instrumental response results in delivery of an aversive stimulus
Negative Punishment/Omission
Instrumental response prevents delivery of a pleasant or appettitive stimulus
