Key Terms Flashcards
Reflex
a relationship between a specific event and a simple response to that event (not a particular kind of behaviour)
Modal action pattern
a series of related acts found in all/nearly all members of a species (aka fixed action patterns, species-specific behaviour)
General behaviour traits
the tendency to engage in a certain kind of behaviour (e.g. shyness, aggression, anxiousness)
Learning
a change in behaviour due to experience
Behaviour
anything a person/animal does that can be measured (as this is necessary for scientific analysis)
Experience
a change in the environment
Stimuli
physical changes/environmental events in an organism’s environment that affect behaviour
Habituation
a reduction in the intensity or probability of a reflex response as a result of repeatedly evoking the response (i.e. a change in behaviour due to experience)
Experiment
a study in which a researcher manipulates one or more variables (independent variables) and measures the effects of this manipulation on one or more other variables (dependent variables)
Between-subjects experiment
researcher identifies two or more groups of participants; independent variable made to differ across groups; some participants exposed (experimental group) and some not (control group)
matched sampling
experiment participants with identical features identified and paired up then split into different groups
Within-subject experiment
participant’s behaviour observed before (baseline period) then during or after (treatment period) experimental treatment
ABA reversal design
return to baseline i.e. repeat experiment within same study
Unconditional reflexes
reflexes that are present at birth, permanent, and found in all members of species with little variability (e.g. dog salivating when food put into its mouth)
Conditional reflexes
reflexes that are not present at birth and must be acquired through experience, and are relatively impermanent compared to unconditional reflexes
Classical conditioning
procedure (or experience) of pairing a US and a CS
Higher-order conditioning
the procedure of pairing a neutral stimulus with a well-established CS
Third-order conditioning
a neutral stimulus is paired with a CS(2) (i.e. a CS that is paired to a CS)
Pseudoconditioning
the tendency of a neutral stimulus to elicit a CR after a US has elicited reflex response
Trace conditioning
CS begins and ends before US appears (i.e. a gap in between)
Delay conditioning
CS and US overlap (i.e. US appears before CS disappears)
Simultaneous conditioning
CS and US coincide exactly
Backward conditioning
CS follows the US
Contingency
an if-then statement (i.e. X occurs if and only if Y occurs)
Interstimulus interval
interval between the CS and US
Compound stimulus
two or more stimuli presented simultaneously with US, then each presented alone
Overshadowing
when one stimulus more effective than the other, lesser stimulus does not become a CS
Latent inhibition
the appearance of a stimulus without US interferes with ability of that stimulus to become a CS later
Blocking
when NS is part of a compound stimulus with an effective CS, novel stimulus does not become CS
Sensory preconditioning
if participant exposed to pairing of two NS without US, then later exposed to NS1 and a CS, participant may have CR to NS2
Intertrial interval
gap between successive trials (i.e. between each pairing of CS and US)
Spontaneous recovery
reappearance of behaviour after extinction
Stimulus-substitution theory
CS merely substitutes for US in evoking the reflex response
Preparatory response theory
UR is an innate response to deal with US, but CR is a response to prepare for US
Compensatory response theory
CR prepares animal for US by compensating for its effects
Rescorla-Wagner model
argues that there is a limit to the amount of conditioning that can occur in pairing of two stimuli
Conditioned emotional responses
emotional reactions learned through classical conditioning
Counterconditioning
use of Pavlovian conditioning to reverse effects of previous conditioning
In vivo exposure therapy
person directly exposed to frightening stimulus
Systematic desensitization
therapist and client develop list of incrementally more frightening stimuli related to phobia,
then therapist supports client in imagining scenes while instructing them to relax
never experience terrifying fear during this process, but gradual desensitization
Law of effect
behaviour is a function of its consequences
Operant learning
experiences whereby behaviour is strengthened or weakened by its consequences
Primary reinforcers
innately effective, not dependent on learning experiences (aka unconditioned reinforcers)
Satiation
phenomenon where PR loses its effectiveness (e.g. the more full you are, the less food works)
Secondary reinforcers
not innately effective; the result of learning experiences (aka conditioned reinforcers)
Generalized reinforcers
reinforcers that have been paired with many different kinds of reinforcers and can therefore be used in wide variety of situations (e.g. money)
Natural reinforcers
events that follow spontaneously/automatically from a behaviour (e.g. pedaling moves bike forward)
Contrived reinforcers
events that are provided by someone for the purpose of modifying behaviour (e.g. work bonus)
Contingency
the degree of correlation between a behaviour and its consequence
Contiguity
the gap in time between a behaviour and its reinforcing consequence
Motivating operation
anything that changes the effectiveness of a consequence
Establishing operations
motivating operations that increase the effectiveness of a consequence
Abolishing operations
motivating operations that decrease the effectiveness of a consequence
Relative value theory
relative values of activities determine whether given activity will reinforce another
Premack principle
high-probability behaviour reinforces low-probability behaviour
Response-deprivation theory
behaviour becomes reinforcing when individual is prevented from engaging in the behaviour at its normal frequency
Two-process theory
both classical and operant learning are involved in avoidance learning
One-process theory
avoidance learning involves only operant learning
Shaping
training procedure to reinforce successive approximations of a desired behaviour
Behavior chain
a connected sequence of behaviour which usually must be completed in a particular order
Chaining
teaching an animal or person to perform a behaviour chain
Backward chaining
begin with the last link in chain and work backward toward first element
Problem
a situation in which reinforcement is available but behaviour necessary to produce it is not
Superstition
any behaviour that occurs repeatedly even though it does not produce the reinforcers that maintain it
Learned helplessness
learned through exposure to inescapable aversives
Schedules of reinforcement
distinctive rules describing the contingency between a behaviour and reinforcement
Schedule effects
distinctive patterns of behaviour produced under various reinforcement schedules
Run rate
the rate at which behaviour occurs once it has resumed following reinforcement
Extinction
a previously reinforced behaviour is never followed by reinforcers → decline in behaviour frequency
Extinction burst
abrupt increase in behaviour following extinction
Duration schedules
reinforcement contingent on continuous performance for fixed or variable period of time
Noncontingent reinforcement schedules
reinforcement delivered independently of behaviour
Progressive schedules
rules describing contingencies change systematically
Progressive ratio
requirement for reinforcement increases in predetermined way, often immediately
Break point
point at which rate of behaviour falls off sharply or stops entirely
Ratio stretching
thinning a reinforcement schedule
Ratio strain
when ratio is stretched too rapidly/too far and performance breaks down
Compound schedules
various combinations of simple schedules
Multiple schedule
behaviour under influence of two or more simple schedules, each associated with a particular stimulus –> change is signalled
Mixed schedule
behaviour under influence of two or more simple schedules, each associated with a particular stimulus –> change is not signalled
Chain schedule
reinforcement delivered only on completion of last in a series of schedules (with signal of change)
Tandem schedule
reinforcement delivered only on completion of last in a series of schedules (with no signal of change)
Cooperative schedule
reinforcement dependent on behaviour of two or more individuals
Concurrent schedule
two or more schedules available at once, so subject can make a choice
Partial reinforcement effect
tendency of behaviour that has been maintained on an intermittent schedule to be more resistant to extinction than behaviour that has been on continuous reinforcement
Discrimination hypothesis
theorizes that extinction takes longer after intermittent reinforcement because it is harder to distinguish between extinction and an intermittent schedule than between extinction and CRF
Frustration hypothesis
nonreinforcement of previously reinforced behaviour is frustrating (an aversive emotional state), so anything that reduces frustration will be reinforcing
Sequential hypothesis
PRE is a result of differences in sequence of cues during training
Response unit hypothesis
PRE is an illusion – behaviour on intermittent reinforcement only seems to be more resistant to extinction because we fail to account for the response units required for reinforcement
Matching law
given two behaviours (B1 and B2), each on its own reinforcement schedule (r1 and r2, respectively), relative frequency of each behaviour equals relative frequency of reinforcement available
Disruption theory
early theory of punishment that proposed that response suppression was due to disruptive effects of aversive stimuli, so punished behaviour is only temporarily suppressed
Response prevention
preventing behaviour from occurring by altering environment (e.g. think ahead)
Differential reinforcement
combine nonreinforcement of unwanted behaviour with reinforcement of another
Differential reinforcement of alternative behaviour
reinforcement made available for specified alternative to unwanted behaviour (i.e. provide another way to obtain same reinforcement)
Differential reinforcement of incompatible behaviour
reinforce a behaviour that is incompatible with unwanted behaviour, necessarily reducing rate of unwanted behaviour
Differential reinforcement of low rate
reinforce behaviour only if it occurs at low rate
Delusions
false beliefs that often (but not always) have an organic basis
Goldiamond’s Paradox
the occasional absence of maintaining consequences is required for reinforcement to be available on other occasions
Constraint-induced movement therapy
restricting movement of normal limb to reinforce consequences of using defective limb
Observational learning
learning by observing events and their consequences
Social observational learning
observing behaviour of another individual and consequences of model’s behaviour
Asocial observational learning
learning from consequences of observed events in the absence of a model
Ghost condition
solution shown but to observer, does not appear that a model caused the solution
Imitation
to perform an observed act, whether modeled or not
Over-imitation
tendency to imitate observed behaviour even when it is clearly irrelevant to producing reinforcement
Social cognitive theory
cognitive processes account for learning from models (but environmental and biological events also influence behaviour)
Operant learning model
observational learning is just a variation of operant learning → so modeled behaviour and consequences serve as cues that similar behaviour will be reinforced or punished in the observer
Generalization
tendency for the effects of a learning experience to spread
Vicarious generalization
generalization across people/observational learning
Response maintenance
generalization over time (the opposite of forgetting)
Response generalization
generalization across behaviours
Stimulus generalization
tendency for changes in behaviour in one situation to spread to other situations
Generalization gradient
data on stimulus generalization plotted on a graph shows that the more closely a stimulus resembles the training stimulus, the more similar the behaviour to the training behaviour
Mental rotation
experiment in which people are shown images that have been rotated and asked if image is inverted
Stimulus discrimination
tendency for behaviour to occur in certain situations but not in others
Discrimination training
procedure for establishing discrimination
Pavlovian discrimination training
one conditional stimulus (CS+) regularly paired with a US and another conditional stimulus (CS-) regularly appears alone
Operant discrimination training
one stimulus (S+ or SD) indicates behaviour will have reinforcing consequences and another stimulus (S- or Sdelta) indicates behaviour will not have reinforcing consequences
discriminative stimuli
stimuli that signal different consequences for behaviour
Simultaneous discrimination training
discriminative stimuli presented at the same time
Successive discrimination training
S+ and S- alternate (usually randomly) – when S+ appears, behaviour reinforced; when S- appears, behaviour not reinforced
Matching to sample
task is to select the stimulus that matches a standard using two or more comparison stimuli (i.e. alternatives) which include S+ and one or more S-
Errorless discrimination training
S- presented in very weak form and for short periods → disc seldom pecked → then strength of S- increased but bird still did not peck it
Differential outcomes effect
improvement in discrimination learning as a result of different consequences
Concept
any class the members of which share one or more defining features
Stimulus control
when discrimination training brings behaviour under the influence of discriminative stimuli
Peak shift
phenomenon in generalization data for peak behaviour to shift away from S-
Forgetting
deterioration in performance of learned behaviour following retention interval
Retention interval
a period during which learning or practice of the behaviour does not occur
Free recall
individual given opportunity to perform previously learned behaviour → if the performance takes longer or there are more errors, forgetting has occurred
Prompted/cued recall
a variation of free recall – consists of presenting prompts (that were not present during training) to increase likelihood behaviour will be produced
Relearning method
measures forgetting in terms of amount of training required to reach previous level of performance
Recognition
participant has to identify the material previously used (e.g. multiple choice tests)
Delayed matching to sample
matching to sample but participant prevented from performing following sample until delay ends
Extinction method
when extinction proceeds more rapidly after retention interval than it would have immediately after training, forgetting has occurred
Gradient degradation
a flattening of a generalization gradient → to the extent that training establishes stimulus control, any decline in steepness of generalization gradient indicates forgetting
Overlearning
phenomenon that learning continues even after we seem to have achieved mastery
Proactive interference
previous learning can interfere with recall
paired associate learning
technique in which person must learn a list of word pairs so that when given first word, participant must produce the second
Retroactive interference
when what we learn increases forgetting of previous learning
Context
stimuli present during learning that are not directly relevant to what is learned (e.g. studying environment)
Cue-dependent forgetting
when stimuli of learning context absent, performance suffers
Instinctive drift
tendency of an animal to revert to a fixed action pattern, which sets limits on learning
Continuum of preparedness
an animal comes to a learning situation genetically prepared to learn (in which case learning proceeds quickly), unprepared (in which case learning proceeds steadily but more slowly) or contraprepared (in which case learning is slow and irregular)
