Lecture Nine Reading Flashcards
What is learning?
A process based on experience that results in a relatively permanent change in behaviour
What is the learning-performance distinction?
The difference between what has been learned and what has been learned and what is expressed in overt behaviour
What is habitation?
A decrease in a behavioural response when a response is presented repeatedly
What is sensitisation?
An increase in behavioural response when a stimulus is presented repeatedly
What is classical conditioning?
Learning in which a behaviour is elicited by a conditioned stimulus whose power is acquired through an association with a biologically significant unconditioned stimulus
What is a reflex?
An unlearned response response elicited by stimuli which have biological relevance for the organism
What is the relationship between unconditioned stimulus and an unconditioned response?
An unconditioned stimulus causes an unconditioned response with no prior training or learning
What is a conditioned stimulus?
A previously neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a conditioned response
What is acquisition in terms of classical conditioning?
The point when the conditioned response is first elicited by the conditioned stimulus
What are the four types of classical conditioning?
Delay conditioning-CS precedes UCS
Trace conditioning-CS precedes UCS but with a larger gap
Simultaneous conditioning-CS and UCS at the same time
Backward conditioning-UCS precedes CS
What is extinction in terms of classical conditioning?
The weakening of a conditioned association in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus
What is spontaneous recovery in terms of classical conditioning?
The reappearance of an extinct response after a rest period
What is stimulus generalisation?
The extension of conditioning to similar stimuli that have never been paired with the unconditioned stimulus
Which two factors are important for classical conditioning to occur?
Temporally contiguous
CS must reliably predict the occurrence of the UCS
What is the law of effect?
A law of learning where the power of a stimulus to evoke a response is strengthened when the response is followed by a reward and weakened when it is not followed by a reward
What is operant conditioning?
Learning by which the probability of a response is changed by a change in its consequences
What is a reinforcement contingency?
A consistent relationship between a response and the change in environment it produces
What is operant extinction?
When a behaviour no longer produces predictable consequences and returns to level of occurrence it was at before operant conditioning
What is three-term contingency?
The means by which organisms learn that in the presence of some stimuli and not others, their behaviour is likely to have a particular effect on the environment
What is a primary reinforcer?
A biologically determined reinforcer such as food or water
What is partial reinforcement effect?
Responses acquired under intermittent reinforcement are more resistant to extinction than those acquired with continuous reinforcement
What is a fixed ratio schedule?
Reinforcer is delivered for the first response made after a fixed number of responses
What is a variable ratio schedule?
Reinforcer is delivered after a variable number of responses which has a predetermined average
What is a fixed interval schedule?
Reinforcer is delivered for the first response made after a fixed period of time
What is a variable interval schedule?
Reinforcer is delivered after a variable period of time whose average in predetermined
What is shaping by desired approximations?
A behavioural method that reinforces responses that successively approximate and ultimately match the desired response
What is a secondary reinforcer?
Token economies that lead to primary reinforcers such as money or praise
What is shaping?
A procedure by which a complex behaviour is trained by reinforcing closer and closer approximations of the desired response
