Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Mind, Brain & Behaviour > Learning > Flashcards

Learning Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
The Brain flashcards
1
Q

What is learning?

A

The process by which experience produces a relatively enduring and adaptive change in an organism’s capacity for behaviour

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

How is learning adaptive?

A

It allows organisms to predict what will happen next and to behave accordingly

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What three things must each organism learn?

A

Which events are or are not important to survival and wellbeing
Which stimuli indicate that something important is about to happen
Whether it’s responses will produce positive or negative consequences

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

How does behaviourism describe learning?

A

The effect of environmental inputs on behavioural outputs

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What are the three behaviourist theories of learning?

A

Habituation and Sensitisation
Classical Conditioning
Operant Conditioning

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What is habituation?

A

A decrease in the response to a repeated stimulus

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

How is habituation adaptive?

A

It means organisms learn not to waste energy responding to irrelevant stimuli

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What is sensitisation?

A

An increase in the response to a repeated stimulus

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

How is sensitisation adaptive?

A

It helps organisms respond appropriately when a stimulus is likely to be dangerous or threatening

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What is classical conditoning?

A

A form of learning in which one stimulus is associated with another and comes to elicit the same response as that stimulus

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What is the most famous illustration of classical conditioning?

A

Pavlov’s dogs

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What was the unconditioned stimulus in Pavlov’s study?

A

The food

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What was the unconditioned response in Pavlov’s study?

A

Salivation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What was the neutral (then later conditioned) stimulus in Pavlov’s study?

A

The tone

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What was the conditioned response in Pavlov’s study?

A

Salivation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Why are the unconditioned stimulus and response unconditioned?

A

Because there is a pre-existing, reflective association between them

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What is the difference between the unconditioned and conditioned response?

A

The conditioned response is dependent on the learned CS-UCS association

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Give two examples of human classical conditioning:

A

Learning that certain flavours predict sickness
Learning that certain sights or sounds predict pain

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Which temporal sequence produces the most effective classical conditioning?

A

Forward pairing, then simultaneous parking, then backward pairing

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What is forward pairing?

A

Where the conditioned stimulus precedes the unconditioned stimulus

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

What are the two types of forward pairing?

A

Forward short-delay pairing
Forward trace pairing

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

What is forward short-delay pairing?

A

The conditioned stimulus appears and remains present when the unconditioned stimulus arrives

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

What is forward trace pairing?

A

The conditioned stimulus appears and then disappears before the unconditioned stimulus arrives

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

Which is more effective, forward short-delay pairing or forward trace pairing?

A

Forward short-delay pairing

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

What are the four characteristics that make classical conditioning most effective?

A

There are repeated CS-UCS pairings
The UCS is more intense
The sequence involves forward pairing
The time interval between CS and UCS is short

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

When is maintenance of classical conditioning best?

A

When there are occasional CS-UCS pairings after the initial learning period

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

What is extinction?

A

The process of presenting a conditioned stimulus without the accompanying unconditioned stimulus, meaning that over repeated trials, the conditioned stimulus loses the ability to produce the conditioned response

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

How is extinction adaptive?

A

It is a waste of energy to produce the conditioned response if the unconditioned stimulus is not going to appear

29
Q

What is spontaneous recovery from extinction?

A

When there has been a delay between extinction trials, the subsequent re-presentation of the conditioned stimulus elicits the conditioned response again, however, the response is weaker than when originally learned

30
Q

What does spontaneous recovery imply?

A

That extinction involved inhibiting the conditioned response rather than unlearning it

31
Q

What is generalisation?

A

When stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus also elicit the conditioned response

32
Q

What is discrimination?

A

Learning to produce a conditioned response to the conditioned stimulus but not to other stimuli which do not signal the arrival of the unconditioned stimulus, even if they are similar to the conditioned stimulus

33
Q

How is discrimination adaptive?

A

It avoids wasting energy producing responses when the unconditioned stimulus is not likely to appear

34
Q

What is higher-order conditioning (or second-order conditioning)?

A

First, the organism learns a CS-UCS pairing so that the conditioned stimulus elicits a conditioned response. A new conditioned stimulus is then repeatedly paired with the original conditioned stimulus, meaning that subsequently, the new conditioned stimulus produced the same conditioned response as the original one

35
Q

What is different about the response elicited by higher-order conditioning?

A

It is usually weaker and more readily extinguished

36
Q

What are exposure therapies?

A

Therapies seeking to extinguish learned associations

37
Q

How do exposure therapies work?

A

Patients with phobias are exposed to the feared stimulus in the absence of an unconditioned stimulus, such that extinction occurs

38
Q

What is aversion therapy?

A

A controversial “treatment” that attempts to instil an aversion to a stimulus by pairing it with an unpleasant unconditioned stimulus

39
Q

How can classical conditioning affect medical treatments?

A

Chemotherapy treatments may show anticipatory nausea and vomiting at the sight of the treatment room

40
Q

How else can classical conditioning be applied?

A

Influencing attitudes to products

41
Q

What is operant conditioning?

A

It involved learning associations between actions and outcomes

42
Q

What is a famous illustration of operant conditioning?

A

Thorndike’s study

43
Q

What happened in Thorndike’s study?

A

Animals learnt to escape from a box by pressing a lever - initially they responded at random but over successive trials they learnt to press the lever straight away

44
Q

What is Thorndike’s Law of Effect?

A

Actions which are followed by pleasant consequences become more likely
Actions which are followed by unpleasant consequences become less likely

45
Q

What is a Skinner Box?

A

An apparatus in which a lever can be pressed to release a food pellet

46
Q

What is Skinner’s three-part contingency?

A

Antecedent conditions
Behaviour
Consequences

47
Q

Is generalisation involved in operant conditioning?

A

Yes

48
Q

What are discriminative stimuli?

A

They signal that a particular behaviour will produce particular consequences - animals learn to discriminate between situations in which the response will lead to the outcome and those in which it will not

49
Q

What is reinforcement?

A

It occurs when the consequences strengthen the behaviour

50
Q

What is positive reinforcement?

A

The behaviour is repeated because it leads to the presentation of a stimulus

51
Q

What is negative reinforcement?

A

The behaviour is repeated because it leads to removal of a stimulus

52
Q

What is punishment?

A

It occurs when the consequences weaken the behaviour

53
Q

What is positive punishment?

A

The behaviour becomes less frequent because the behaviour leads to presentation of a stimulus

54
Q

What is negative punishment?

A

The behaviour becomes less frequent because it leads to the removal of a stimulus

55
Q

What are primary reinforcers?

A

Stimuli that satisfy biological needs

56
Q

What are secondary reinforcers?

A

Stimuli that are not intrinsically valuable to the organism but have acquired reinforcing properties by being associated with primary reinforcers

57
Q

What is operant extinction?

A

The weakening of a learned response when the behaviour is no longer being reinforced

58
Q

What is low resistance to extinction?

A

Behaviours that disappear rapidly when not being reinforced

59
Q

What is high resistance to extinction?

A

Behaviours that continue to be performed long after the reinforcement has stopped

60
Q

How is punishment used to modify children’s behaviour?

A

Positive punishment could be used, but could be counterproductive as it involves giving attention, which may serve as a positive reinforcer for the original behaviour
Negative punishment may be more effective

61
Q

What is shaping?

A

A technique developed by Skinner in which an individual is rewarded for making progressively closer approximations to a desired behaviour

62
Q

What is continuous reinforcement?

A

Every response is reinforced - it leads to faster learning

63
Q

What is partial reinforcement?

A

Only some responses are reinforced - it usually leads to slower extinction

64
Q

What are the four kinds of partial reinforcement?

A

Fixed interval
Variable interval
Fixed ratio
Variable ratio

65
Q

What is fixed interval reinforcement?

A

Responses are reinforced a fixed amount of time after the last reinforced response

66
Q

What is variable interval reinforcement?

A

Responses are reinforced a variable amount of time after the last reinforced response

67
Q

What is fixed ratio reinforcement?

A

A fixed proportion of responses are reinforced

68
Q

What is variable ratio reinforcement?

A

A variable proportion of responses are reinforced

69
Q

What is the benefit of variable ratio reinforcement?

A

It tends to be especially resistant to extinction

Mind, Brain & Behaviour (17 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions