Lecture 20 Flashcards
What is stimulus generalisation and discrimination?
Stimulus generalisation is a conditioned response formed to one conditioned stimulus will occur to other, similar stimuli. Stimulus discrimination occurs when an organism does not respond to simuli that are similar to the stimulus used in training, this occurs when experience is had with the similar stimulus.
What are generalisation gradients and how can discrimination training be done? How does this apply to behaviour therapy for phobias?
Generalisation gradients can be produced by continuous stimulus dimensions (e.g tone of sound), stimuli closer to the CS will produce a greater CR. Discrimination training can be done by using two similar stimuli but only one is associated with the unconditioned response. This can be applied to behaviour therapy, by combining ideas from extinction, stimulus generalisation and counter conditioning treatment for phobias and anxiety problems can occur (known as systematic desensitization).
What is blocking and second order conditioning?
Blocking refers to conditioning does not occur if a good predictor of the unconditioned stimulus already exists (Two or more can be learnt at once, but if one is already known no response will generate to the new stimulus).
Once a stimulus has become an effective conditioned stimulus for a certain conditioned response, then that stimulus can be used to condition other stimuli, this is known as second-order conditioning, as you go further along the effect gets weaker.
What is sensory preconditioning?
Sensory preconditioning is when learning occurs in the absence of unconditional responses, it occurs when two stimuli occur together, then we take one and combine it with an unconditioned stimulus. The second stimulus by itself will be able to trigger the conditioned response.
What do conditioned taste aversions show?
Associations between US and CS are more readily formed if they seem to belong together. This suggests the connections depend on biological constraints or predispositions, therefore a simple temporal contiguity is not sufficient to produce conditioning. Conditioned taste aversions can occur after quite long delays between the CS and the UR, hence a close temporal contiguity is not always necessary for conditioning.
