learning and conditioning lect 1

Question 1

what is learning

Answer 1

relatively permanent change in behaviour as a result of experience

Question 2

what are the two main types of learning

Answer 2

1. behaviour changes bc of stimulus presentations e.g classical cond, stimulus and response etc
   2.behaviour changes bc of stimulus response contingencies e.g operant cond = S + R + consequence

Question 3

what is habitation

Answer 3

-as stimuli recur, responding occurs with smaller magnitude
-it is non associative learning
-e.g snail tapping, tapping a snail shell causes them to withdraw but if you do it repeatedly they learn it isnt a threat so no need to withdraw anymore

Question 4

why is habituation important

Answer 4

-allows us to be free from distraction, can zone out of unimportant noise in the environment

Question 5

weakness of habituation

Answer 5

-may become too accustomed to the stimuli and miss something important

Question 6

habituation as a non associative learning process

Answer 6

-basic biological process
-reduction in innate automatic processes
-NOT same as extinction
-no CR
-e.g babies stare at novel stimulus more than a stimulus they are familiar with until this novel stimulus is habituated

Question 7

Epstein research into habituation

Answer 7

-administered lemon and lime juice
-salivation and liking (hedonic rating) was measured
-in trials 1-2, salivation increased
-at trial 10, salivation and hedonic response reduced

Question 8

what can habituation be involved in

Answer 8

-stress (increased tolerance to stressors)
-pain (increased tolerance to pain)
-eating (getting used to strong/sweet flavours)
-drug use (drug tolerance)
-fear (desensitisation)

Question 9

what are the principles of classical cond

Answer 9

-pavlov studied psychic salivery responses
-noticed if bell occurs same time as feeding, salivation begins before food after repeated associations
-food = UCS
-salivation = UCR
-bell = NS
repeated pairing
-salivation = CR
-bell = CS

Question 10

what is discrimination

Answer 10

-ability to discriminate between CS + other stimuli
-eg discriminating between bell tone (CS) and other unconditioned sounds such as a whistle
-discriminate stimulus is a CS associated with either the appearance of UCS (CS) or with its absence

Question 11

what is contingency awareness

Answer 11

awareness there is a pairing between 2 stimuli
-pp showing cond can verbalise this link (when pairing is masked by distractor task, cond is not seen)
-pairing creates an expectancy

Question 12

what is extinction in CC

Answer 12

-CR ceases when CS is repeatedly present without concurrent pairing with the UR
-cond is not always permanent
-extinction is gradual and also not permanent
-after rest period, organism will elicit the CR when CS is presented (spontaneous recovery)

Question 13

fear vs anxiety

Answer 13

-can be measure by blinking startle response (blinking at camera when flash appears
-DSM 5: fear is an emotional response to real or perceived imminent threat
-anxiety: anticipation of future threat

Question 14

strength of fear and anxiety

Answer 14

adaptive and increases chance of survival

Question 15

weakness of fear and anxiety

Answer 15

maladaptive: it is excessive and persistent

Question 16

acquisition of fear

Answer 16

-fear can be conditioned
-e.g car accident
may associate car with threat of accident

Question 17

what is fear generalisation

Answer 17

fear response to a particular stimulus transfers to another stimulus eg little albert scared of whit fluffy things

Question 18

is there an adaptive function to fear generalisation

Answer 18

yes, allows organisms to rapidly respond to novel stimuli related in some way to a previously learned stimulus
-it is maladaptive if non threatening stimulus perceived as a threat

Question 19

weaknesses of little albert study

Answer 19

watson and rayner
-unethical procedure and outcomes
-lacks experimental control
-poor population validity

Question 20

who was little albert

Answer 20

Beck
-Douglas Merritte
-child of someone who worked with Watson
-died at age 6
-not healthy or normal, had cognitive deficits

Powell
-albert barger
-lived long and healthy life
-fear of furry animals
(more consistent with facts about little albert)

Question 21

study of overgeneralisation

Answer 21

Dunsmoor
-6 cross cultural facial expressions e.g joy, saddness, disgust etc
-we are responsive to fear in peoples faces
-paired ambiguously fearful face with an electric shock repeatedly
-neutral face was low fear intensity also presented
-measured response by skin conductance
-greatest generalisation to most fear intense faces, not to most perceptually similar
-we might be predisposed to generalise faces showing fear

Question 22

lissek study

Answer 22

-2 groups of pp
-10 rings graded in size
-cond pp have to startle blink reflex when presented with either small or large ring
-panic patients: stronger generalisation than control pp
-cond fear in panic patients generalised to rings with 3 units of dissimilarity to CS, only 1 unit in controls

Question 23

evaluation of fear and anxiety conditioning

Answer 23

+evidence to support pavlovian fear and anxiety cond in humans and animals
-contingency learning in humans is varied and needs to be taken into account
-why do some people not develop fear where other people do
-uneven distribution of fears/anxieties
-spontaneous remission (fear symptoms rapidly disappear with no treatment)

Question 24

applications of CC

Answer 24

-taste aversions e.g having a bad experience with a food
-generally you need repeated pairings for CC, but food aversions generally only have 1 pairing
-bad consequence of food e.g sickness occurs much later, UCS does not occur at same time as UCR

Question 25

what is the garcia effect

Answer 25

duration between CS + UCS may be long (hours) but result in cond
(a survival response)

Question 26

why is garcia effect important biologically

Answer 26

helps us to deeply learn to avoid toxic food

Question 27

further applications of CC

Answer 27

-can occur in anxiety, panic disorder, eating disorder etc
-can be used as a treatment for these things
-helps understanding of relationship between disorders
-aids understanding of substance abuse
-helps develop theories based on CC

Question 28

substance misuses

Answer 28

-cues are involved e.g stimuli associated with addiction, can be important in relapse
-absence of cues can assist recovery