Lecture 13 - Inhibition Flashcards
What is inhibitory learning?
Inhibitory learning are thought to require an expectancy of the US. It is this error that produces learning.
Therefore nothing should be learned when CS is presented without US before conditioning (there is nothing to learn about)
Latent inhibition
Learning in the absence of any consequences, which regards later learning about the same stimulus.
The pre-exposures stimulus had made it familiar which means it takes longer to learn about (slows down subsequent learning).
CS loses salience (is ignored) as subject learns it signals nothing.
Why can’t the R-W model explain latent inhibition?
Because there will be no error, as during pre exposure:
Lambda = 0 (no US)
Sigma V = 0 (no expectation)
Therefore the error term = (0 - 0), so no learning
How are latent inhibition and extinction similar?
In both cases you see less response to the CS.
Both are failures to retrieve CS-US memory due to interferences from CS-alone memory
Context-specificity of latent inhibition
Changing the context in which you receive the CS can result in latent inhibition
Because you were pre-exposed to the CS in one context, and tested in another, the context is serving in some way to regulate how well they remember the CS outcome association.
Loss of latent inhibition over time
Those who were pre-exposed to conditioning and then waited 3 weeks to be tested are showing more fear than the group who were tested the day after being pre-exposed; we are seeing some loss of latent inhibition
Implying that there is learning about CS shock, that isn’t being retrieved immediately, but is more likely to be retrieved if you wait a long time before testing
How is latent inhibition demonstrated in humans?
Latent inhibition absent or weaker in people with schizophrenia than in healthy individuals. Those with schizophrenia have less control over their attention, so latent inhibition has been applied to try to understand what is occurring.
