Learning

Question 1

Instinctual behaviours

Answer 1

Examples: imprinting, homing, migratory behaviours, etc.

Question 2

Pavlov’s experiment 1890s

Answer 2

NS –> no response
US –> UR
Repeatedly pair NS and US –> UR
Results: CS –> CR

Question 3

Reflexive behaviours

Answer 3

Examples: eye-blinking, ‘sucking’ and ‘gripping’ in babies; some reflexive behaviours may disappear as you grow older

Question 4

Habituation

Answer 4

Decline in the tendency to respond to stimuli that have become familiar due to repeated exposure; ensures that benign stimuli do not interrupt our activity or cause us to expend unnecessary energy

Question 5

Classical conditioning

Answer 5

A neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with a stimulus that automatically elicits a particular response –> previously neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus that also elicits a similar response; classical conditioning is not so much the replacement of the US by the CS, but a learning mechanism where the CS (and the CR) prepare the animal for the onset of the US and UR

Question 6

Watson & Raynor 1920: Little Albert experiment

Answer 6

Conditioned fear (fear associated with certain stimuli)

Question 7

Fetishes

Answer 7

A person has heightened sexual arousal in the presence of certain inanimate objects, with the object becoming a conditioned stimulus that can elicit arousal on its own; evidence that it is due to classical conditioning

Question 8

Is classical conditioning the replacement of the US by the CS?

Answer 8

No, classical conditioning is a learning mechanism where the CS (and the CR) prepare the animal for the onset of the US and UR

Question 9

Edwards & Acker 1972

Answer 9

Found that WWII veterans reacted to sounds of battle even 15 years after the war

Question 10

Compensatory reaction hypothesis

Answer 10

Sometimes, the UR and the CR can be opposites: insulin injections (US) deplete blood sugar levels (UR), and after a number of such injections, the body reacts to the CS in an opposite way to how it reacts to the US (blood sugar levels go up as the body ‘prepares’ itself for the injection); could lead to drug overdose if the CS is not present when drug is taken/ administered

Question 11

Siegel 1989

Answer 11

Tested the tolerance of rats for ‘overdoses’ of heroin in novel or usual environments –> rats more likely to overdose if they were given drug in new as opposed to usual environment where they had drugs (evidence for compensatory reaction hypothesis)

Question 12

Acquisition

Answer 12

Process by which a conditioned stimulus comes to produce a conditioned response

Question 13

Trace/ forward conditioning

Answer 13

CS comes before US, but there is a gap between them; not as effective as delayed forward conditioning

Question 14

Simultaneous conditioning

Answer 14

CS and US start and end together; often fails to produce a CR

Question 15

Backwards conditioning

Answer 15

CS begins after US; least effective form of classical conditioning

Question 16

Delayed forward conditioning

Answer 16

Conditioned stimulus comes just before/ overlaps with the unconditioned stimulus; most effective form of classical conditioning

Question 17

Contingency

Answer 17

How good of a predictor your conditioned stimulus is for the unconditioned stimulus

Question 18

Contiguity

Answer 18

Learning occurs due to temporal proximity of CS and US

Question 19

Extinction

Answer 19

If you present the conditioned stimulus without ever presenting the unconditioned stimulus, then the CR would gradually decrease; rate of decrease depends on factors such as initial response strength

Question 20

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 20

A CS-CR relation is extinguished, however, after a period with no CS presentations, the CS may elicit the CR again

Question 21

Flooding therapy

Answer 21

Fear elicited by a CS (certain phobias) is eliminated by the process of extinction

Question 22

Stimulus generalisation

Answer 22

A conditioned response formed to one conditioned stimulus will occur to other, similar stimuli

Question 23

Generalisation gradients

Answer 23

Stimuli closer to the CS produce greater CRs

Question 24

Stimulus discrimination

Answer 24

Occurs when an organism does not respond to stimuli that are similar to the stimulus used in training

Question 25

Discrimination training

Answer 25

Organism is reinforced for responses to one stimulus and not the other --> if organism learns to discriminate, it will respond more to the reinforced stimulus

Question 26

Systematic desensitisation

Answer 26

Takes a similar stimulus that produces a lesser reaction and repeatedly exposes the subject to it → generalising extinction rather than the acquisition of a response

Question 27

Blocking

Answer 27

Conditioning does not occur if a good predictor of the US already exists

Question 28

Higher-order conditioning

Answer 28

Once a stimulus has become an effective CS for a certain CR, then that stimulus can be used to condition other stimuli; effect begins to diminish after a number of trials

Question 29

Sensory preconditioning

Answer 29

Learning occurs in the absence of UR; classical conditioning reveals the association already learned between two events

Question 30

Taste-aversion learning

Answer 30

When an individual avoids a certain food or drink due to prior illness/ bad experience with it (substance makes them nauseous)

Question 31

Thorndike 1874-1935: Law of Effect

Answer 31

Law of Effect: Positive consequences increased the likelihood or probability of a response; behaviours are ‘stamped out’ if followed by negative consequences

Question 32

Instrumental conditioning

Answer 32

Concerns the probability/ likelihood of a response changing as a result of its consequences; the subject emits the response in order to produce a reward

Question 33

Skinner 1904-1990

Answer 33

Skinner’s version of the Law of Effect: When a response is followed by a reinforcer, the strength of the response increases, and when a response is followed by a punisher, the strength of the response decreases

Question 34

Positive reinforcement

Answer 34

Adding a stimulus or event contingent upon a response increases that behaviour

Question 35

Negative reinforcement

Answer 35

Removing a stimulus or event contingent upon a response increases that behaviour

Question 36

Positive punishment

Answer 36

Adding a stimulus or event contingent upon a response decreases that behaviour

Question 37

Negative punishment

Answer 37

Removing a stimulus or event contingent upon a response decreases that behaviour

Question 38

Cumulative record

Answer 38

Graph of responses from a conditioning experiment

Question 39

Continuous reinforcement

Answer 39

Every instance of a response is reinforced; useful for shaping behaviour

Question 40

Partial or intermittent reinforcement

Answer 40

A designated response is reinforced only some of the time (useful for maintaining behaviours); less likely to undergo extinction because individuals are used to the unreliable nature of the reinforcement

Question 41

Ratio schedule

Answer 41

Depends on the number of responses, fixed and variable

Question 42

Interval schedule

Answer 42

Response is still important, but what determines whether or not a response will be reinforced depends on the passage of time

Question 43

Fixed-ratio schedule

Answer 43

Reinforcer is given after a fixed number of non-reinforced responses

Question 44

Variable-ratio schedule

Answer 44

Reinforcer is given after a variable number of non-reinforced responses; the number of non-reinforced responses varies around a predetermined average

Question 45

Fixed-interval schedule

Answer 45

Reinforcer is given for the first response after a fixed period of time has elapsed

Question 46

Variable-interval schedule

Answer 46

Reinforcer is given for the first response after a variable time interval has elapsed; interval lengths vary around a predetermined average

Question 47

Gaetani et al. 1986: Engineering compensation systems (effects of commissioned vs. wage payment)

Answer 47

Found that in this particular case, ratio reinforcement (commission-based pay) was more effective than interval reinforcement (hourly pay)

Question 48

Partial-reinforcement extinction effect

Answer 48

Partial reinforcement schedules provide greater resistance to extinction

Question 49

Side-effects of extinction:

Answer 49

1. Increase in response rate before it goes down 2. Increase in response topography (participant takes a different approach in the hopes of being reinforced); example: extinction-induced aggression

Question 50

What led to the development of Premack’s Principle?

Answer 50

Didn't take into account how the significance of stimuli can change depending on context (Premack took issue with the idea of trans-situational reinforcers - reinforcers that have the same impact regardless of the situation)

Question 51

Premack's Principle

Answer 51

Behaviours are either high probability or low probability; behaviour is reinforced when it is followed by higher probability behaviours

Question 52

Mitchell & Stoffelmayr 1973

Answer 52

Demonstrated Premack's Principle with schizophrenic individuals

Question 53

Honig & Slivka 1964

Answer 53

Found that the effects of punishment are easily generalised

Question 54

Reynolds 1969

Answer 54

Found that one stimulus dimension had overshadowed learning of the other stimulus dimension

Question 55

Herrnstein & DeVilliers 1980

Answer 55

Found that non-human animals could form categories or concepts from complex stimuli

Question 56

The Kelloggs 1933

Answer 56

Raised the chimpanzee Gua alongside their son; Gua learned to understand some commands, but never any English words

Question 57

The Hayes 1951

Answer 57

Raised Vicki; she learned to make three ‘recognisable’ words (papa, mama, and cup)

Question 58

1960s attempts at teaching sign language to chimpanzees

Answer 58

Communication possible, but little evidence of syntax

Question 59

Communication between humans and non-human primates (symbols)

Answer 59

Rumbaugh developed 'Yerkish’ language for non-human primates; pygmy chimpanzee/ bonobo was tested and results were compared to those of a two-year-old human - had the ability to understand sentences compared to human children’s performance (skill of a two or 2.5-year-old child)

Question 60

Breland & Breland 1961

Answer 60

Demonstrated biological constraints on instrumental conditioning (pig and raccoon)

Question 61

Tolman & Honzik 1930

Answer 61

Found that rats actively process information rather than operating on a stimulus-response relationship; latent learning

Question 62

Observational learning

Answer 62

Occurs when an organism's response is influenced by the observation of others’ behaviour (models)

Question 63

Palameta & Lefebvre 1985

Answer 63

Found that group exposed to observational learning was quicker to display the same behaviour (in this case, eating the seed)

Question 64

Cook & Mineka 1987

Answer 64

Fear of snakes learnt by observation, but also biological constraints - no fear of flowers learned

Question 65

Bandura et al. (1963, 1965)

Answer 65

Aggression learned through modelling (observational learning)

Question 66

Bandura et al. 1967

Answer 66

Showing boy playing fearlessly with dog helped to reduce fear (observational learning)

Question 67

Bandura (four key processes for observational learning):

Answer 67

1. Attention: extent to which we focus on others’ behaviour 2. Retention: retaining a representation of others’ behaviour 3. Production: ability to actually perform actions we observe 4. Motivation: need to perform actions we witness (usefulness)

Question 68

Poche et al. 1988

Answer 68

Observational learning was effective in teaching abduction-prevention skills to children, but not as effective as observational learning paired with rehearsal