Learning Flashcards
HIGH YIELD
Learning
the way in which we acquire new behaviors
Dishabituation
- the recovery of a response to a stimulus after habituation has occurred
- often occurs when a second stimulus is presented late in the habituation of the original stimulus
- temporary process that always refers to changes in response to the original stimulus, not the new one
Associative Learning
- creation of a pairing/association either between two stimuli or between a behavior and a response
- two types: classical and operant conditioning
Classical Conditioning
- type of associative learning that takes advantage of biological, instinctual response to create associations between two unrelated stimuli
- Pavlov’s dogs is most well known example of this
- works because some stimuli cause an innate or reflexive physiological response
Unconditioned Stimulus
any stimulus that brings out a reflexive response
Unconditioned Response
innate/reflexive response to an unconditioned stimulus
Neutral Stimuli
stimuli that do not produce a reflexive response
Signaling Stimuli
neutral stimuli that have the potential to be used as a conditioning stimulus
Pavlov’s Experiment
- unconditioned stimulus: meat
- unconditioned response: dogs salivate in response to meat
- neutral stimulus: ringing bell
- procedure: Pavlov rang bell repeatedly before placing meat in the dogs’ mouth; initially the dogs did not react much when they only hear the bell without receiving meat but after procedure was continuously repeated the dogs began to salivate when they heard the bell ring
- conditioned stimulus: ringing bell
- conditioned response: salivation
Conditioned Response
a normally neutral stimulus that, through association, causes a reflexive response (conditioned response)
Acquisition
process of taking advantage of an unconditioned stimulus to turn a neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus
Extinction
occurs if the conditioned stimulus is presented without the unconditioned stimulus enough times so that the organism can become habituated to the conditioned stimulus
Spontaneous Recovery
occurs after some time when an extinct conditioned stimulus is presented again and a weak conditioned response is exhibited
Generalization
broadening effect in which a stimulus similar enough to the conditioned stimulus can also provide the conditioned response
Discrimination
- organism learns to distinguish between two similar stimuli
- opposite of generalization
Operant Conditioning
- links voluntary behaviors with consequences in an effort to alter the frequency of those behaviors
- associated with B.F. Skinner (behaviorist – theory that all behaviors are conditioned)
- involves a stimulus (added or removed) and a behavior (stopped or continued)
Reinforcement
Operant Conditioning
- process of increasing the likelihood that an individual will perform a behavior
- can either be positive or negative
Positive Reinforcement
- increase a behavior by adding a positive consequence or incentive following the desired behavior
- Ex. money
Negative Reinforcement
- increase the frequency of a behavior by removing something unpleasant
- can be divided into escape learning and avoidance learning
- Ex. taking Advil to get rid of a headache
Escape Learning
-role of the behavior is to reduce the unpleasantness of something that already exists (ex. headache)
Avoidance Learning
- meant to prevent the unpleasantness of something that has yet to happen
- Ex. studying for MCAT
Primary Reinforcer
- something that an organism responds to naturally
- Ex. dolphin trainer will feed a dolphin a fish after a trick therefore the fish is a primary reinforcer
Secondary (Conditioned) Reinforcer
- neutral objects that can be trader for primary reinforcers that are naturally pleasurable
- Ex. dolphin trainer uses a clicker that they pair with fish (via classical conditioning) to elicit the same response
Discriminative Stimulus
- indicates that reward is potentially available in an operant conditioning paradigm
- Ex. dolphin may associate presence of the trainer with the possibility of reward, making the trainer this type of stimulus
Punishment
Operant Conditioning
- uses conditioning to reduce the occurrence of a behavior
- two types: positive or negative
Positive Punishment
- adds an unpleasant consequence in response to a behavior to reduce that behavior
- Ex. thief is flogged for stealing
Negative Punishment
- reduction of a behavior when a stimulus is removed
- Ex. parent forbids child from watching TV as a consequence for bad behavior
Reinforcement Schedules
Operant Conditioning
- have two different factors: whether the schedule is fixed or variable, and whether the schedule is based on a ratio or an interval
- types: fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, variable-interval
Fixed-Ratio (FR) Schedules
- reinforce a behavior after a specific number of performances of that behavior
- Ex. researchers reward a rat with a food pellet every third time it presses a bar
Continuous Reinforcement
fixed-ration schedule in which the behavior is rewarded every time it is performed
Variable-Ratio (VR) Schedule
- reinforce a behavior after a varying number of performances of the behavior but such that the average number of performances to receive a reward is relatively constant
- leads to high response rates with no predictable pauses
- Ex. researchers reward a rat first after two button presses then eight then four then six
Fixed-Interval (FI) Schedules
- reinforce the first instance of a behavior after a specified time period has elapses
- Ex. once rat gets a pellet it has to wait 60 seconds before it can get another – the first lever press after 60 seconds gets a pellet but subsequent presses before next 60 seconds get nothing
Variable-Interval (VI) Schedules
- reinforce a behavior the first time that behavior is performed after a varying interval of time
- Ex. rat might have to wait 90 seconds then 30 seconds then 3 minutes for a pellet – once the interval elapses the rat gets a pellet
Which schedule works the fastest for learning a behavior?
variable-ratio
Which schedule is the most resistant to extinction?
variable-ratio
Which schedules often has a brief moment of no response after the behavior is reinforced?
fixed-ratio and fixed-interval
Shaping
- associated with operant conditioning
- the process of rewarding increasingly specific behaviors
- Ex. if you want to train a bird to spin around in one place and then peck a keyboard you might give the bird a treat for turning slightly then for turning 90 degrees then 180 and so on then reward behavior if done near the keyboard until eventually the bird is only rewarded once the full set of behaviors is performed
Latent Learning
- cognitive/biological factor in associative learning
- learning that occurs without a reward but is spontaneously demonstrated once a reward is introduced
- classic experiment for this involves a rat running through a maze – rats carried through maze then incentivized with food reward for completing maze on their own performed just as well than rats that had been trained to run the maze using more standard operant conditioning techniques
Problem-Solving
- another method of learning outside of the standard behaviorist approach
- use of a trial-and-error approach to a problem until a reward is given
Preparedness
- concept developed to explain why certain associations are learned more readily than others
- Ex. phobias related to survival, such as snakes, spiders, and heights, are much more common and much easier to induce in the laboratory than other kinds of fears
Instinct Drift
- tendency of an animal to revert to instinctive behaviors that interfere with a conditioned response
- Ex. a dog with the nature to bark at visitors thinking they are intruders might have been taught to sit quietly when a guest enters through reward and punishment. Under stress, however, it may have instinctual drift, disregarding the learned behavior and barking at the guest.
Observational Learning
- the process of learning a new behavior or gaining information by watching others
- not simply imitation, can be used to teach individuals to avoid behaviors as well
- Ex. Albert Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment where children watch an adult beat up a bobo doll in a room full of toys so then when children were placed in same room they also inflicted similar violence on the bobo doll
Mirror Neurons
- neurological factor associated with observational learning
- neurons located in the frontal and parietal lobes of the cerebral cortex
- fire when an individual performs an action and when the individual observes someone else performing that action
- largely involved in motor processes but also related to empathy and vicarious emotions
Modeling
- associated with observational learning
- learning what behaviors are acceptable by watching others perform them
Social Cognitive Theory of Learning
- Albert Bandura’s theory
- states that learning occurs in a social context with a dynamic and reciprocal interaction among the person, environment, and behavior
