Learning Flashcards
What is learning in terms of animal learning research?
It is a long term change in behaviour brought about by experience
What are the four types of innate behavioural patterns?
Reflexes, tropisms, fixed action patterns and reaction chains
What are tropisms?
Tropisms are movement or change in orientation of an animal or a plant
What are fixed action patterns?
They are a sequence of behaviours that occur in rigid order
What are reaction chains?
Reaction chains are sequences of behaviours that occur in rigid order
What is non-associative learning?
Non-associative learning is learning where animals do not learn to associate one thing with another
What is habituation?
Habituation is the decrease in response strength over presentations of low to moderate intensity stimulus
What is dishabituation?
Dishabituation is when you habituate an animal to one stimulus. After it stops responding, present new stimulus. Then present old stimulus again. The response to the original stimulus will recover but not return to full strength
What is sensitization?
Sensitization is if a stimuli are moderate to high in intensity animals become sensitized
When does acquisition occur?
Acquisition occurs during initial CS-US pairing
What happens in acquisition?
There’s a nonmonotonic increase in CR strength that reaches an asymptote
What is an asymptote?
AN asymptote is the height at which a line levels off
What does a stronger US lead to in terms of the asymptote?
A stronger US leads to a higher asymptote in CR strength and the asymptote is reached quicker
What does a stronger CS relate to in terms if the asymptote?
A stronger CS is related to reaching the asymptote more quickly but not to the level of the asymptote
How does extinction occur?
Extinction is reducing the strength of the CR by repeatedly presenting the CS without the US
When does disinhibition occur?
Disinhibition occurs after a response to the CS is extinguished
How does conditioned inhibition work?
Conditioned inhibition works when trying to develop a CS that reduces or stops the CR from happening
What is generalization?
Generalization is where stimuli that resemble the CS elicit the CR
What is discrimination?
Discrimination is where the animal learns the difference between similar stimuli
What happens in discrimination?
One CS is paired with a US and another CS is not paired with the US
What is temporality?
Temporality is the strength of the CR that you’ll get depends on the timing of the CS and US
What happens to the CR in simultaneous condition?
Much weaker CR
What happens to the CR in trace conditioning?
CR strength is inversely associated with the CS-US interval in which the shorter the time between CS and US the stronger the strength of CR
What happens to the CR in short delay conditioning?
Strongest CR and fastest conditioning takes place
What happens to the CR in long-delay conditioning?
CR strength inversley associated with duration of CS presentation
What happens to the CR in backward conditioning?
CR strength much lower than for short delay
What happens in long-delay conditioning?
In long-delay conditioning when you first present the CS for a long period of time, then you present the US along with it
What is the contiguity principle?
The contiguity principle is when CS and US occur together and a CR is formed
What is contingency?
Contingency is when the efficacy of a CS depends on the degree to which it predicts the occurrence of the US
When does learning occur?
Learning happens when CS is associated with the US
What does overshadowing occur?
Overshadowing is when you pair a compound stimulus with a US
