Learning Flashcards
Habituation
Learning not to respond to the repeated presentation of a stimulus
Learning
A lasting change in behavior or mental processes that results from experience
Mere exposure effect
A learned preference for stimuli to which we have been previously exposed
Behavioral learning
Forms of learning, such as classical conditioning and operant conditioning, that can be described in terms of stimuli and responses
What sort of learning does classical conditioning explain?
Classical conditioning is a basic form of learning in which a stimulus that produces an innate reflex becomes associated with a previously neutral stimulus, which then acquires the power to elicit essentially the same response.
Classical conditioning
A form of behavioral learning in which a previously neutral stimulus acquires the power to elicit the same innate reflex produced by another stimulus.
Neutral stimulus
Any stimulus that produces no conditioned response prior to learning. When it is brought into a conditioning experiment, the researcher will call it a conditioned stimulus (CS). The assumption is that some conditioning occurs after even one pairing of the CS and UCS.
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
In classical conditioning, the stimulus that elicits an unconditioned response
Unconditioned response (UCR)
In classical conditioning, the response elicited by an unconditioned stimulus without prior learning.
Acquisition
The initial learning stage in classical conditioning, during which the conditioned response comes to be elicited by the conditioned stimulus.
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
In classical conditioning, a previously neutral stimulus that comes to elicit the conditioned response. Customarily, in a conditioning experiment, the neutral stimulus is called a conditioned stimulus when it is first paired unconditioned stimulus (UCS).
Conditioned response (CR)
In classical conditioning, a response elicited by a previously neutral stimulus that has become associated with the unconditioned stimulus.
Extinction (in classical conditioning)
The weakening of a conditioned response in the absence of an unconditioned stimulus.
Spontaneous recovery
The reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response after a time delay
Stimulus generalization
The extension of a learned response to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus.
Stimulus discrimination
A change in responses to one stimulus but not to stimuli that are similar
Experimental neurosis
A pattern of erratic behavior resulting from a demanding discrimination learning task, typically one that involves aversive stimuli.
Taste-aversion learning
A biological tendency in which an organism learns, after a single experience, to avoid a food with a certain taste, if eating it is followed by illness.
How do we learn new behaviors by operant conditioning?
In operant conditioning, the consequences of behavior, such as rewards and punishments, influence the chance behavior will occur again.
Operant
An observable, voluntary behavior that an organism emits to “operate” on, or have an effect on, the environment.
Operant conditioning
A form of behavioral learning in which the probability of a response is changed by its consequences–that is, by the stimuli that follow the response.
Law of effect
The idea that responses that produced desirable results would be learned, or “stamped” into the organism.
Reinforcer
A condition (involving either the presentation or removal of a stimulus) that occurs after a response and strengthens that response.
Positive reinforcement
A stimulus presented after a response and increasing the probability of that response happening again.
Negative reinforcement
The removal of an unpleasant or aversive stimulus, contingent on a particular behavior. Compare with punishment.
Operant chamber
A boxlike apparatus that can be programmed to deliver reinforcers and punishers contingent on an animal’s behavior. The operant chamber is often called a “Skinner box”.
Reinforcement contingencies
Relationships between a response and the changes in stimulation that follow the response.
Continuous reinforcement
A type of reinforcement schedule by which all correct responses are reinforced.
Shaping
An operant learning technique in which a new behavior is produced by reinforcing responses that are similar to the desired response.
Intermittent reinforcement
A type of reinforcement schedule by which some, but not all, correct responses are reinforced; also called partial reinforcement.
Extinction (in operant conditioning)
A process by which a response that has been learned is weakened by the absence or removal of reinforcement. (Compare with extinction in classical conditioning.)
