learning and conditioning lect 1 Flashcards
what is learning
relatively permanent change in behaviour as a result of experience
what are the two main types of learning
- 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
what is habitation
-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
why is habituation important
-allows us to be free from distraction, can zone out of unimportant noise in the environment
weakness of habituation
-may become too accustomed to the stimuli and miss something important
habituation as a non associative learning process
-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
Epstein research into habituation
-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
what can habituation be involved in
-stress (increased tolerance to stressors)
-pain (increased tolerance to pain)
-eating (getting used to strong/sweet flavours)
-drug use (drug tolerance)
-fear (desensitisation)
what are the principles of classical cond
-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
what is discrimination
-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
what is contingency awareness
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
what is extinction in CC
-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)
fear vs anxiety
-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
strength of fear and anxiety
adaptive and increases chance of survival
weakness of fear and anxiety
maladaptive: it is excessive and persistent
acquisition of fear
-fear can be conditioned
-e.g car accident
may associate car with threat of accident
what is fear generalisation
fear response to a particular stimulus transfers to another stimulus eg little albert scared of whit fluffy things
is there an adaptive function to fear generalisation
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
weaknesses of little albert study
watson and rayner
-unethical procedure and outcomes
-lacks experimental control
-poor population validity
who was little albert
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)
study of overgeneralisation
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
lissek study
-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
evaluation of fear and anxiety conditioning
+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)
applications of CC
-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
what is the garcia effect
duration between CS + UCS may be long (hours) but result in cond
(a survival response)
why is garcia effect important biologically
helps us to deeply learn to avoid toxic food
further applications of CC
-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
substance misuses
-cues are involved e.g stimuli associated with addiction, can be important in relapse
-absence of cues can assist recovery
