learning Flashcards
is the process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviors
learning
- is a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events.
- type of learning that involves respondent behavior - actions that are automatic responses to a stimulus.
- type of learning that explains how former drug users often feel a craving when they are again in the drug-using context - with people or in places they associate with previous highs.
- type of learning that explains how a particular taste, which normally accompanies a drug that influences immune responses, can by itself come to produce an immune response.
- type of learning that John B. Watson demonstrated when Little Albert came to have a startled fear reaction in response to the sight of anything with fur because fur had previously been paired with a frightening noise.
classical conditioning
- in classical conditioning, this is an unlearned, naturally occurring response to an unconditioned stimulus.
- this would be the salivation be that the dogs showed when Pavlov put food in their mouths.
unconditional response
- in classical conditioning, this is a stimulus that unconditionally - naturally and automatically - triggers a response.
- this would be the food be that Pavlov put in the mouths of his dogs and that made them salivate.
unconditioned stimulus
- in classical conditioning, this is a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus.
- this would be the salivation be that the dogs showed when Pavlov sounded a tone.
condition response
- in classical conditioning, this is an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response.
- this would be the tone be that Pavlov sounded and that made his dogs salivate.
conditioned stimulis
- is a procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus.
- type of classical conditioning this would be occurring if an animal that has learned that a tone predicts food then learns that a light predicts the tone and begins responding to the light alone.
high-order conditioning
- is the diminishing of a conditioned response.
- in classical conditioning, this occurs when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus.
- in operant conditioning, what occurs when a response is no longer reinforced.
- was occurring when the dogs stopped salivating to the tone because Pavlov no longer gave them food.
extinction
- is the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response.
- was occurring when, several hours after Pavlov’s dogs stopped salivating to a tone, they begin salivating to the tone again.
spontaneous recovery
- is the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses.
- was occurring when a dog conditioned to the sound of one tone also responded somewhat to the sound of a new and different tone.
- this would be occurring if a dog conditioned to salivate when rubbed would also drool a bit when scratched.
generalization
- in classical conditioning, this is the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus.
- was occurring when Pavlov’s dogs learned to respond to the sound of a particular tone and not to other tones.
discrimination
is a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher.
with this type of learning organisms associate their own actions with consequences.
type of learning that involves operant behavior - behavior that operates on the environment to produce rewarding or punishing stimuli.
type of learning that explains how a pigeon can come to press a lever more or less in response to food or shocks it receives directly as a consequence.
operant conditioning
in operant conditioning, this is any event that increases the behavior it follows
reinforcement
is an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior
shaping
- is an increasing of behaviors by presenting stimuli.
- this occurs any time a stimulus, when presented after a response, strengthens the response.
positive reinforcement
- is an increasing of behaviors by stopping or reducing stimuli.
- this occurs any time a stimulus, when removed after a response, strengthens the response.
negative reinforcement
- is the reinforcing of a desired response every time it occurs.
- type of reinforcement schedule that results in faster acquisition of a response but much less resistance to extinction.
continues reinforcement
- is the reinforcing of a desired response only part of the time.
- type of reinforcement schedule that results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction.
partial reinforcement
in operant conditioning, this is a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses
fixed-ration schedule
in operant conditioning, this is a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses
variable-ratio schedule
in operant conditioning, this is a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed
fixed-interval schedule
in operant conditioning, this is a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals
variable-interval schedule
in operant conditioning, this is any event that decreases the behavior it follows
punishment
- is a decreasing of behaviors by presenting stimuli.
- this occurs any time a stimulus, when presented after a response, weakens the response.
positive punishment
- is a decreasing of behaviors by stopping or reducing stimuli.
- this occurs any time a stimulus, when removed after a response, weakens the response.
negative punishment
is the avoiding of particular flavors if they are followed, even several hours after, by sickness.
provides an example of a biological constraint on conditioning since it shows that species are predisposed to learn associations that enhance their survival and that environment is not the whole story.
taste aversion
- is a mental representation of the layout of one’s environment.
- provides an example of a cognitive constraint on conditioning since it shows that mental representations must be taken into account in order to fully explain spatial behavior, such as of rats in mazes.
cognitive map
- is learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it.
- provides an example of a cognitive constraint on conditioning since it shows that learning can occur with experience, such rats being placed in mazes, even without any consequences, such as reinforcers and punishers.
latent learning
- is learning by observing others.
- provides an example of a cognitive constraint on conditioning since it shows that learning can occur without directly experiencing consequences but instead by watching and imitating others.
observational learning
