Instrumental conditioning and association

Question 1

What are modal action patterns? What is a sign stimulus?

Answer 1

Lecture 4, slide 13

Question 2

Give examples of sign stimuli in nature? What is a supernormal stimulus?

Answer 2

Lecture 4, slide 14-16

Question 3

Describe thirst as a primary motivational state. How is it regulated?

Answer 3

Lecture 4, slide 22-23

Question 4

Describe hunger as a primary motivational state. How is it regulated?

Answer 4

Lecture 4, slide 24-25

Question 5

What role does the hypothalamus have on motivational states>

Answer 5

Lecture 4, slide 26

Question 6

What is the difference between Pavlovian conditioning and Instrumental conditioning? What is some evidence for Instrumental learning?

Answer 6

Lecture 4, slide 28

Question 7

What are the different types of Instrumental learning?

Answer 7

Lecture 4, slide 29

Question 8

What are the different possible schedules of reinforcement? What effects do they have on behaviour?

Answer 8

Lecture 4, slide 35, 39

Question 9

What is Herrenstein’s Matching Law? Why can behaviour not be used to measure motivational states? What is Secondary Reinforcement?

Answer 9

Lecture 5, slide 2

Question 10

What is the role of the probability of an outcome in learning? What is paradoxical choice?

Answer 10

Lecture 5, slide 3

Question 11

Give a study that illustrates paradoxical choice.

Answer 11

Lecture 5, slide 4

Question 12

What is activity-based anorexia? What causes it?

Answer 12

Lecture 5, slide 6-7

Question 13

Describe a study that shows that stimuli can form associations with response-outcome pairs.

Answer 13

Lecture 5, slide 10-11

Question 14

What role does outcome have in goal-directed behaviour? What is a study that shows outcome has a role in goal-directed behaviour?

Answer 14

Lecture 5, slide 12

Question 15

What is a ‘Pavlovian Chicken’?

Answer 15

Lecture 5, slide 13

Question 16

What is the criteria for goal-directedness? What are some methods for testing if an action is goal-directed?

Answer 16

Lecture 5, slide 15

Question 17

What is reinforcer devaluation? How can its effect on behaviour be tested? What does the absence of a devaluation effect suggest?

Answer 17

Lecture 5, slide 16

Question 18

Where are the outcome representations in the brain?

Answer 18

Lecture 5, slide 17

Question 19

How does Balleine et al. (2009) show that motivation effects behaviour?

Answer 19

Lecture 5, slide 24, 27-31
-goal criterion: outcome is the goal of an action
-for an outcome to be represented as a goal it needs incentive
-animals need to learn that outcomes change motivational states in order to learn the incentive value of a stimulus (e.g. food reduces hunger) and thus carry out goal-directed behaviour.
Before animals learn the incentive value of a stimulus, the behaviour they are carrying out is not goal-directed.

Question 20

What is OCD characterised by?

Answer 20

Lecture 5, slide 32