Midterm 1 Flashcards
Cartesian dualism
two classes of human behavior - involuntary and voluntary
mind and body are separate entities
involuntary behavior
automatic reactions to external stimuli and is mediated by a reflex
voluntary behavior
occurs because of the person’s conscious intent to act in the particular manner
mentalism
concerned with the contents and workings of the mind
nativism
the philosophical approach that assumes we are born with innate ideas about certain things
hedonism
people do things in the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain
primary rules of associations
contiguity, similarity, and contrast
secondary laws of associations
intensity, frequency, and number of other associations
nonsense syllables
three-letter combos devoid of any meaning that might influence how someone might react to them
nervism
all key physiological functions are governed by the nervous system
principle devised by Pavlov
performance
all of the actions of an organism at a particular time
fatigue
gradual reduction in the vigor of a response because the individual becomes tired
produced by experience
maturation
the change in behavior occurs with the mere passage of time
developmental changes
learning that occurs as a function of age
reflex
a close relation between an eliciting stimulus and a resulting response that is mediated by a neural circuit that links afferent neurons activated by the stimulus with effect neurons that trigger response output
sensory/afferent neuron
a neuron that transmits messages from sense organs to the central nervous system
motor/efferent neuron
a neuron that transmits impulses to muscles
interneuron
a neuron in the spinal cord that transmits impulses from afferent to efferent neurons
model action patterns
a response pattern exhibited by most, if not all, members of a species in much the same way
used as a basic unit of behavior in ethological investigations of behavior
sign/releasing stimulus
a specific feature of an object or animal that elicits a modal action pattern
supernormal stimulus
a sign stimulus whose features have been artificially enhanced or exaggerated to produce abnormally large modal action patterns
appetitive behavior
behavior that occurs early in a natural behavior sequence and serves to bring the organism in contact with the releasing stimulus
consummatory behavior
behavior that serves to bring a natural sequence of behavior to consummation or completion
general search mode
the earliest component of the feeding behavior sequence, in which the organism handles and consumes the food
focal search mode
the second component of the feeding behavior sequence following general search in which the organism engages in behavior focused on a particular location or stimulus that is indicative of the presence of food
food handling and ingestion mode
the last component of the feeding behavior sequence, in which the organism handles and consumes the food
habituation effect
a progressive decrease in the vigor of elicited behavior that may occur with repeated presentations of the eliciting stimulus
stimulus specific
spontaneous recovery
return of responding to baseline levels produced by a period of rest after habituation or sensitization
sensitization effect
an increase in the vigor of elicited behavior that may result from repeated presentations of the eliciting stimulus or from exposure to a strong extraneous stimulus
sensory adaptation
a temporary reduction in the sensitivity of sense organs caused by repeated or excessive stimulation
fatigue
a temporary decrease in behavior caused by repeated or excessive use of the muscles involved in the behavior
habituation process
a neural mechanism activated by repetitions of a stimulus that reduced the magnitude of responses elicited by that stimulus
sensitization
when your mind specifically targets stimuli that it deems more important and makes you pay more attention to
S-R system
the shortest neural pathway that connects the sense organs stimulated by an eliciting stimulus and the muscles involved in making the elicited response
state system
neural structures that determine the general level of responsiveness, or arousal, of the organism
drug tolerance
reduction in the effectiveness of a drug as a result of repeated use of the drug
primary (a) process
the first process in the opponent process theory of motivation that is elicited by a biologically significant stimulus
opponent (b) process
a compensatory mechanism that occurs in response to the primary process elicited by biologically significant events
orosensory stimuli
substances that produce distinctive texture and taste sensations in the mouth
object learning
learning associations between different stimulus features on an object, such as what it looks like and how it tastes
conditional stimulus
a stimulus that does not elicit a particular response initially, but comes to do so as a result of becoming associated with an US
unconditioned stimulus
a stimulus that elicits a particular response without the necessity of prior training
conditional response
the response that comes to be made to the CS as a result of classical conditioning
unconditional response
a response that occurs to a stimulus without the necessity of prior training
conditioned suppression
suppression of ongoing behavior produced by the presentation of a CS that has been conditioned to elicit fear through association with an aversive US
lick-suppression procedure
a procedure for testing fear conditioning in which presentation of a fear-conditioned CS slows down the rate of drinking
sign tracking/autoshaping
movement toward and possibly contact with a stimulus that signals the availability of a positive reinforce, such as food
goal tracking
conditioned behavior that tracks the goal object (ex. food)
evaluative condiitoning
changing the hedonic value or liking of an initially neutral stimulus by having that stimulus associated with something that is already liked or disliked
conditioning trial
a training episode involving presentation of a CS with (or without) a US
intertrial interval
the amount of time that elapses between two successive trials
interstimulus/CS-US interval
the amount of time that elapses between the start of the CS and the start of the US during a classical conditioning trial
short-delayed conditioning
a classical conditioning procedure in which the CS is initiated shortly before the US on each conditioning trial
trace-conditioning
a classical conditioning procedure in which the US is presented after the CS has been terminated for a short period
trace interval
the interval between the end of the CS and the start of the US in trace-conditioning trials
long-delayed conditioning
a conditioning procedure in which the US occurs more than several minutes after the start of the CS, as in taste-aversion learning
simultaneous conditioning
a classical conditioning procedure in which the CS and the US are presented at the same time on each conditioning trial
backward conditioning
a procedure in which the CS is presented shortly after the US on each trial
test trial
a trial in which the CS is presented without the US
latency
the time elapsed between a stimulus (or the start of a trial) and the response that is made to the stimulus
pseudo-conditioning
if exposure to only the US produces increased responding to a previously ineffective stimulus
random control procedure
a procedure in which the CS and US are presented at random times with respect to each other
explicitly unpaired control
present the CS and US on separate trials
temporal coding hypothesis
the idea that Pavlovian conditioning procedures lead not only to learning that the US happens, but exactly when it occurs in relation to the CS
inhibitory conditioning
a type of classical conditioning in which the CS becomes a signal for the absence of the US
empiricism
the mind gradually fills with ideas and information when a person senses the would around them
tabula rasa
mind started out as a clean slate
associative learning
any learning process in which a new response becomes associated with a particular stimulus
ex. classical and operant conditioning
non-associative learning
a type of learning in which an association between stimuli doesn’t take place
ex. habituation, sensitization
modal action patterns (MAPs)
response sequences typical of a particular species
orienting response/reflex
a response to a novel stimulus
the startle response
defensive reaction to potential or actual attack
classical conditioning paradigm
process by which a neutral stimulus (CS) comes to be associated with another stimulus (US) that elicits a response (UR) and results in elicitation of a response by the CS
bidirectional response system
response systems that can change in opposite directions from baseline or normal performance
sensitization effect
if you’re already aroused, the same eliciting stimulus will trigger a much stronger reaction
habituation
when your mind tunes out certain stimuli so you can focus on other, presumably more important stimuli
excitatory association
CS-US presented at the same time
inhibitory conditioning
predict CR in the absence of the US
