Learning & Conditioning Flashcards
What is classical conditioning?
Learning by association
Pavlov's dogs experiment UCS (food) = UCR (salivation) NS (tuning fork/bell) = No response UCS + NS = UCR (salivation) CS (tuning fork/bell) = CR (salivation)
Dog associated the tuning fork/bell (NS -> CS) to the salivation response (CR)
What are the stages of learning in classical conditioning?
Acquisition - initially the NS means nothing
Reinforcement - repeatedly presenting the NS with food, creates predictability for dog
Extinction - removal of food so NS only but over time dog unlearns association of food and NS
Spontaneous recovery - after not being presented NS for long time, presenting it again makes dog expect food with NS (made the association)
Generalisation - generalises this association
Describe taste aversion learning conducted in rats
Garcia - rats were exposed to ionising radiation with food, became sick due to radioactivity and so came to avoid food
Rationale - rats associated effects of radiation with food
Describe taste aversion learning in humans
Bernstein - cancer patients often develop aversion to foods encountered during chemotherapy
Describe conditioned fatigue
Bovbjerg, Montgomery and Raptis (2005)
Conducted study on patients receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer
Pts developed conditioned fatigue responses to clinical cues due to the repeated pairing of treatment and the clinical environment
Describe how classical conditioning can be used to treat phobias
Systematic desensitisation
Works by gradually exposing fearful or phobic participants to the object they fear
Starts with analogues of the real object and builds upto the exposure to the real mainn fear e.g. start with pictures, then plastic models and then the real thing
What is operant conditioning?
Learning by consequences
Involves reinforcement and punishment
Positive reinforcement = giving something in response to behaviour = creates sense of reward (behaviour more likely to be repeated)
Negative reinforcement = removing something unpleasant/bad to make something better (behaviour of removing the unpleasant thing is more likely to be repeated)
Punishment = giving something which is followed by an unpleasant feeling/response (so behaviour won’t be repeated to ensure no unpleasant feeling)
What are reinforcement schedules?
*FR, VR, FI, VI
Fixed ratios (FR) - giving reinforcement after a fixed period of time e.g. every 3rrd day Variable ratios (VR) - mixing the time periods e.g. can be every 2 days or 3 days
Fixed intervals (FI) - every 10mins Variable intervals (VI) - changing the intervals e.g. 30 mins sometimes 10mins
Primary reinforcers
Linked to survival and biological needs e.g. food and water
Functions as a reward irrespective of prior learning
Secondary reinforcers
Items that are reinforcing due to their association with other reinforcers e.g. money = can buy you food or a house
These are learned
How is reinforcement relevant clinically?
Illness can be a consequence of reward (attention) e.g. small children will often become ‘ill’ as they know they will get more attention that way
Cognitive therapy for depression and behaviour modification programs use these ideas
Describe the experimental evidence of the operant model of chronic pain (Fordyce 1976)
Positive and negative reinforcement of behaviours elicited by pts in pain e.g. crying, moaning may lead to exacerbation or cause chronic pain
Describe the experimental evidence of operant conditioning in chronic back pain patients (Flor et al 2002)
Found that chronic back pain pts were more easily influenced by operant conditioning than healthy controls