LPI T4 Flashcards
Conditioned Inhibitor
A conditioned inhibitor is a stimulus that predicts the absence of an outcome.
How do you learn that a stimulus predicts the absence of an outcome?
This cannot be established simply by pairing a stimulus with no outcome, as that would just result in nolearning.
Extinction Treatment
in a conditioned inhibition paradigm, remove the reward when the stimulus is presented after it’s trained
Critique of learning theory:
Fails to address the complexity of human behaviour, and too heavily based on animal studies.
What is Behavioural Psychology?
Behaviour is learned• Individual difference in behaviour is the result of differentlearning experiences that people have had and thesituations in which they find themselves
Research definition of learning:
“A long lasting change in behaviour that results fromexperience”
Habituation is the simplest form of learning:
it is –learning NOT to respond to an unimportant event
Explain Pavlovian Conditioning
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What does classical conditioning provide us with
a way to learn about cause-effect relations between environmental events
What are two important factors in classical conditioning
Sequence and Timing
Extinction
Present bell with no food following* ➜ reversal of conditioning process* ➜ extinction (association isundone)
Acquisition of new knowledge depends on
Intensity of US -> rapidness of learning Timing -> Optimal: Presentation of the CS occurs shortly before the US
Associative strength
The strength of the connection between internal representationsof the conditioned and unconditioned stimulus which determines the strength ofthe conditioned response (the Rescorla-Wagner model outlines this).
Associability /conditionability
Theease with which the strength of a conditioned response to a stimulus can beincreased by subsequent conditioning.
Error term
Difference betweenwhat you expected to happen and what actually happens
Contiguity
The temporal and spatial(time & space) relationship between events can influence the strength ofassociation. (arriving at the same time)
CS-UScontingency
Thedegree to which the US occurs during the presentation of the CS.
What are positive, negative and zero contingency?
- Positive: US is more likely present than the absent
- Negative: US is more likely absent than the present
- zero: US is equally likely during the presence and the absence of the CS.
Blocking
Kamin’s (1969) blocking effect study demonstrates that conditioning to a stimulus could be blocked if the stimulus were reinforced in compound with a previously conditioned stimulus. A+, AB+, B+ = blocked conditioning of B
The summation principle
When the associative strength of individual stimuli are presentedtogether, the individual strengths are added together.
Cue competition
If two cues are trained in compound, they will compete for associative strength with the paired outcome, so that if we train AB+, the strength of association that develops between A and the outcome, will be weaker than the association between stimulus and outcome if we trained C+.
Overshadowing
The disruption of conditioning with one stimulus because of the presence of another stimulus. -> stronger conditioned stimulus will overshadow a weaker one
Conditioned compensatory response:
The body usually tries to maintain a state of homeostasis. When people use drugs, the body and brain learn to counteract the effects of the drug upon presentation of conditioned stimuli (cues, e.g. needle) and respond to produce physiological reactions that are opposite to that of the drug (see Siegal paper)
Acquisition
is demonstrated. At first, the word can by itself causes no special response. After repeated pairings of the word can and the water, the word by itself gradually becomes more likely to cause a CR.
Stimulus generalisation
occurs when words that sound like can (e.g., cam, ban, ran, cap) lead to a CR.
Stimulus discrimination
occurs when different stimulus words produce differences in the CRs. In the demonstration, CRs are strongest and most likely to occur after the word can. They are weakest and least likely to occur after stimulus words that do not sound at all like can (e.g., dish, board, smoke).
Spontaneous recovery
has occurred after extinction when a long string of words in which can is not included is followed by the word can, and the word can again causes a CR. Such a string occurs near the end of the demonstration.
Reconditioning savings
is demonstrated at the end of the list, where the word can and a squirt are again paired. At this point, fewer trials are needed to achieve strong, reliable CRs compared with the original acquisition at the beginning of the list.
What are the Clinical applications of Classical Conditioning? (Assumption)
Psychopathology = learned maladaptiveresponse to a situationthat may have generalised to other situations orsimilar stimuli ➜ it could beunlearned (systematic desensitisation, aversion therapy)
Skinner’s approach: Instrumental/operant conditioning
Instrumental/operant conditioning tells us about the relations between environmental stimuli and our own behaviour: 1. There is an outcome that reinforces behaviour 2. There is a relationship between response and outcome. <img></img>
What does operant refer to?
The term ‘operant’ refers to the fact that anorganism learns through responding: throughoperating on the environment.
How do Habituation, Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning relate?
What does Edward Thorndike’s Law of Effect say?
If an action/response is encountered with aversive or positive measures the response might be weakened
What is the main critique and relevancy of The Law of Effect
Critique : ‘Satisfaction’ is too mentalistic, and implieswe can observe and measure subjective feelings Impact : Law of Effect stimulated experimental studiesaimed at understanding behaviour - environmentinteraction
Baby Albert (Watson & Rayner, 1920)
Watson was influenced by Pavlov’s work.He argued that, given the correct stimuli, the organismcould learn to behave (give responses) in a specificway, just how Pavlov’s dogs had ‘learned’ to associatethe bell with the appearance of food.
What is the difference between positive and negative reinforcement?
- Something is added to increase behaviour (reward) = positve
- A behaviour that removes a negative outcome is introduced (applying sunscreen not to get sunburned) = negative
Examples for positive or negative punishment
- positve punishment: decreasing behaviour by introducing unfavourable outcome (screaming)
- negative punishment: decreasing behaviour by removing privilege (taking attention away)
Intermittent or partialreinforcement schedules
Not everyrecurrent of a response isreinforced
What are the different types of reinforcement schedules
*knowing that after filling each cart they’ll be rewarded
How do goal-directed behaviours, conditioning and habits relate?
How do goal-directed behaviours differ from habitual behaviours?
- they are consciously controlled
- the response leads to an outcome
- with repetition they become habitual
How could you test whether a behaviourwas/was not habitual?
- Determining whether the behaviourcontinues in the absence of theoutcome 2. Determining whether the behaviourcontinues when the outcome isdevalued…
According to the dopamine hypothesis when should a spike in dopamine occur in the blocking paradigm
Immediately after the light and not after the reward to proof that there’s not learning
Feature-positive discrimination
A discrimination in which an outcome is delivered during a compound of two stimuli, but not during one of the stimuli by itself.
Negative patterning
A discrimination in which an outcome is delivered during a compound of two stimuli ny itself , but not during stimulus presented together .
Configural cue
A hypothetical stimulus that is assumed to be created by presenting two stimuli together. Different pairs of stimuli are assumed to create different configural cues.
Difference between configural and elemental models of discrimination learning?
Configural models claim that that learning occurs only for a compound AB while elemental models assume that for a compound AB learning occurs for both elements A & B so the association is summed up.
Instrumental conditioning is when an organism learns the association between two stimuli.
The term ‘operant’ refers to the fact that an organism learns through responding …
under the consideration of their own behaviour through operating on the environment
When conditioning a dog to salvate, what is the UCS, UCR, CS and CR before, during and after conditioning?
How does three-term contingency work?
Who’s responsible for the developement of operant conditioning
Edward Thorndike 1898
Thorndike’s study 1898
Hungry cat in a puzzle box Escape to eat if it operated a latch that opened the door First random behaviour Then accidental operation of door until it became a deliberate action <strong>learning by trial and accidental success</strong>
Watson & Rainer 1920 (Aim, Method, Result, Importance)
Aim study the concept of classical conditioning, more specifically conditioned emotional responses on people (fear)
Method Albert initially did not display a fear of laboratory rats (9 months), producing a startled and fearful response to a loud noise made by banging a hammer on a metal bar (UCS that causes the UCR fear). Albert began to reach for a rat, the noise was made behind his head. Repeated → generalised fear of other white, furry objects paired the rat with the noise seven times in two sessions, one week apart.When the rat was presented on its own, Albert became distressed and avoided the rat. Five days later, Alben was exposed to a number of other objects such as familiar wooden blocks, a rabbit, a dog, a sealskin coat, white cotton, the heads of Watson and two assistants, a Santa Claus mask and a packet of cocoon wool
Result conditioned to fear rats in the absence to the noise
Important First experiment and successful attempt at conditioning fear in human first experiment in which fear was experimentally conditioned in a human being
Watson on Consciousness
too subjective to lend itself to scientific investigation. Inner thoughts and psychodynamic processes don’t cause behaviour
Watson’s definition of psychology? Psychology can be defined as…
the objective study of behaviour and the stimuli which produce such behaviour
What should Psychology focus on according to Watson? On the
Exclusively limited to measurable explicit (seen by eye) and measurable implicit behaviours (using measurement technology, e.g. skin conductance, saliva)
What would Skinner say about anxiety?
It stems from developmentally learned maladaptive responses. Physiological responses correlating to anxiety are due to a change in preparatory behaviour when presented with a stressful stimulus and not personality
Darwian explanation for individual differences
Caused by feedback loops of genetic inheritance and situational determinats which were reinforced in the course of evolution. This means individual differences are due to genes.
What is the claim of Maslow’s theory of human motivation
Humans aim to produce pleasant and to avoid painful events. Even private internal behaviour is not caused by emotions but said desire. Intentions are responses to internal stimuli.
What are the limitations of classical conditioning (3)?
- too simplistic for more learning conditions because it’s only a stimulus followed by response
- doesn’t answer what happens after response
- Reinforcement?
Explain the result of Skinner’s Operant Chamber
Result: learning occurs despite varied reinforcement schedules there is a lever of some sort that the animal in the course of exploring the box will press at some point. animal is rewarded with food. an electronic device attached to the lever to record the animal’s rate of pressing. after the bar pressing had resulted in the animal being reinforced with food, the rate at which the animal pressed the bar increased.
Shaping means
reinforcing any behaviour that successively approximates the desired response ⇒ rewards only if it gradually aligns with the wished response i.e. the gradual association process.
How and why does IR work against extinction
because not every situation constitutes to the reinforcement of a response so the varying ratio or interval doesn’t initially signal extinction
How does contingency relate to excitatory or inhibitory learning?
- Positive CS-UScontingency –> excitatory conditioning
- Negative CS-UScontingency –> inhibitory learning.
