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PSYC 361 > Module 2 > Flashcards

Module 2 Flashcards

1
Q

What is instrumental behaviour?

A

Action performed to reach a goal

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2
Q

What is learning?

A

The enduring changes in behaviour as a result of previous experience

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3
Q

What are the 3 key elements of instrumental learning, and what are 4 factors that can influence instrumental learning?

A

3 Key Elements:
- Environment
- The instrumental behaviour
- The consequence

4 Influencing Factors:
- Timing of the reward delivery
- Rules of reward delivery
- Type of rewards
- Other stimuli associated with rewards

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4
Q

What was Thorndike’s experiment for discovering the law of effect?

A
  • Created a puzzle box, where the door will open if the lever is pressed
  • Placed cat within box to escape over many trials
  • Concluded a connection is formed between lever (S) and the response (R)
  • Learning is incremental, not insightful (for stimuli based learning)
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5
Q

What is the Law of Effect?

A

Responses that produce a satisfying effect are more likely to occur again.

Responses that produce a discomforting effect are less likely to occur again.

Argues for connectionism in learning
S-R learning does not hold for all forms of instrumental conditioning.

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6
Q

What is the perspective of rewards as incentives?

A

The anticipation or expectancy of reward arouses incentive motivation

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7
Q

What is Premack’s Principle?

A

If two responses are arranged in an operant conditioning procedure, the more probable response will reinforce the less probable response; the less probable response will NOT reinforce the more probable response

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8
Q

What is momentary probability?

A

The probability of the behaviour at a given time in a given situation
- May reflect the “value” of the behaviour
- Can be manipulated by deprivation or size of the reward

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9
Q

What is the drive reduction theory (Hull, 1943)?

A

Any behavioural outcomes that reduce the drive is reinforcing.

Based on the homeostatic model: drive arises from need and energizes behaviour to reach goal.
Need -> Drive -> Activity -> Goal -> Reduced Drive -> Reduced Activity

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10
Q

What are 3 pieces of evidence for drive reduction theory and what are 3 pieces of evidence against it?

A

For drive reduction:
- Milk vs. Saline
- Pain reduction: press bar to avoid shock
- Fear reduction: escape in fear-eliciting environment

Against drive reduction:
- events that do not reduce drive are still reinforcing
- self-stimulation of the brain
- monkeys work for “sensory experience”

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11
Q

What are the 2 assumptions for the idea that rewards act as reinforcers?

A
  1. Learning is an associative process (S-R association)
  2. The role of rewards is to form and/or strengthen associations

(if learning is not assoicative or reinforcement is not necessary for learning to occur, then these theories are challenged)

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12
Q

What is latent learning?

A

Learning has occurred, but was not manifested until reward was introduced

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13
Q

Describe Tolman and Henzik’s (1930) experiment for latent learning

A

1 group rewarded continously
1 group not rewarded at all
1 group rewarded after 10 days -> showed the least amount of errors out of all the groups right away!

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14
Q

Explain the Yerkes-Dodson Law

A

There exists an optimal level of arousal for the performance of tasks. The optimal level of arousal depends on the complexity of the task (easy, medium, hard)

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15
Q

What is the Easterbrook Hypothesis?

A

Increase of arousal leads to a decrease in attention of peripheral environmental cues. This may or may not impede performance, depending on whether relevant cues are in the periphery or not

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16
Q

How can previous learning affect goal-directed action, as described by Balleine and Dickinson’s experiment (1991)?

A

Rats learn to devalue sugar by associating sugar with illness
The experience of discomfort with sugar reduced incentive value and hence performance

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17
Q

What is latent extinction?

A

Extinction of a previously rewarded response can occur without performance of the response in the absence of reward

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18
Q

How do rewards function as reinforcers?

A

Rewards can strengthen the association between certain environmental conditions and the response, therefore acting as reinforcers

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19
Q

How do rewards function as incentives?

A

The anticipation/expectancy of reward arouses incentive motivation, a drive state which prompts us to engage in activities that lead to rewards

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20
Q

Explain the different stages of decision making and the processes involved

A
  1. Sensory stimulus + Sensory noise -> Perceptual decision making (analyze the sensory info to recognize objects)
  2. Percept + Metabolic needs+/ Cognitive limitations -> Cognitive decision making (compare the alternatives and make a plane of action)
  3. Action goal + Biomechanical constraints -> Motor decision making (carry out the action w/ a proper motor program)
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21
Q

Which system in the brain is responsible for reward encoding?

A

The DA system: substantia nigra, VTA and basal ganglia (striatum)

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22
Q

What are the brain structures associated with impulsivity?

A

2 NAcc projections: DA and 5-HT in NAcc + PFC-NAcc projections -> Produce waiting and risky choice impulsivities (NE reuptake blocker can reduce impulsivities here)
Dorsal striatum + orbitofrontal cortex + dorsal prelimbic cortex -> Stopping impulsivity

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23
Q

What are the three levels of the perception-action cycle?

A
  1. hypothalamus/ANS (physiological)
  2. limbic (emotional and value)
  3. PFC (executive)
24
Q

What are 4 examples of factors that can influence social decision making?

A
  1. theory of mind: knowing others’ intentions and/or ideas
  2. cultural/societal norms: knowledge regarding acceptable and unacceptable behaviours
  3. social relationship: artificially increasing oxytocin level biases trust behaviour
  4. social status: dominant vs. subordinate
25
Q

What are 3 elements of gambling?

A
  1. Consideration: the wagered amount
  2. Risk: the probability of winning/losing
  3. Prize: the expected outcomes
26
Q

What is the somatic marker hypothesis?

A

Describes how we use emotion-based signals to guide decision-making:
-ve or +ve outcome -> emotional state (somatic markers) -> mark option with an emotional signal -> guiding decisions

27
Q

What are the limitations of the somatic marker hypothesis?

A

Healthy volunteers show similar skin conductance responses (SCRs) regardless of IGT performance: Anticipatory skin conductance responses are not sufficient and not necessary for optimal decision making

Hard to determine causal relationship: SCRs may correspond to greater differences between outcome, or may peak after the decision rather than drive the decision

Spinal cord injury patients show similar IGT performance to healthy patients

28
Q

What is reversal learning?

A

Modulation of behaviour to obtain reward when reward contingencies change

29
Q

What is reinforcement learning theory in computational neuroscience?

A

Approach to studying how the nervous system relates to the behaviour of decision making

30
Q

What are the neural substrates for model-free (habit) reinforcement learning (5)

A

DA system, amygdala, striatum, motor area, and PFC

31
Q

What are the neural substrates of model-based (goal-directed) reinforcement learning (5)

A

dorsomedial striatum, prelimbic cortex, hippocampus, PFC (orbitofrontal and medial prefrontal), and posterior parietal cortex

32
Q

What happens to reversal learning when there is a lesion in the VMPFC?

A

Patients with VMPFC lesions are unable to do reversal learning (more reversal errors)

33
Q

What are 2 different learning-based strategies from computationally simulated IGT data (Worthy et al. 2012)?

A
  1. Win-stay/lose-shift -> sensitive only to the outcome of the previous choice
  2. Prospect valence learning model -> utilizes a decay reinforcement learning rule (cumulative rewards)
34
Q

What did Wyckmans et al. (2019) find after analyzing the performance of a gambling task in problem gamblers?

A

Model-based decision making is reduced in problem gamblers compared to healthy volunteers, i.e. they relied more on habit and had a compromised learning strategy

35
Q

Which brain lesions disrupt IGT performance, and how?

A

Amygdala and VMPFC lesions show impaired IGT performance, with a suggestion that these lesions result in the inability to generate somatic markers, and thus cannot guide decisions (from less SCRs compared to controls)

VMPFC lesion also impairs learning effect on IGT

36
Q

What are the neural substrates of the somatic marker hypothesis, and where do somatic markers arise?

A

periphery + central representation of the periphery -> somatic markers

neural substrates: sensory + somatosensory + bioregulatory projections (hypothalamus, DA, 5-HT, NE, Ach) + amygdala -> PFC -> amygdala + premotor cortex + basal ganglia + ANS (via thalamus + hypothalamus)

37
Q

Describe the processes involved in goal-directed action (5)

A
  1. Form direct S-R associations
  2. Evaluate the value of the outcome as an instrumental goal
  3. Evaluate the hedonic value of the outcome
  4. Decipher and encode the action-outcome contingency
  5. Process physiological and environmental cues
38
Q

What is the purpose of goal-directed behaviour

A

To achieve the desired outcome through performing the chosen behaviour

39
Q

What is the hedonic value system?

A

How much the animal is willing to consume the reward (how much animal likes the reward)
- Can be changed by satiation/devaluation
- Changes in hedonic value directly affect consumption of reward

40
Q

What is the instrumental incentive value system?

A

How much the animal is willing to work for the reward (i.e. to what extent the outcome of an action is a desirable goal, how much the animal wants the reward).
- animals must learn through experience that a change in the hedonic value of the food changes its incentive value

41
Q

Which neural substrates in humans are associated with incentive learning (goal-directed) and S-R learning (habit)?

A

incentive learning -> PFC + dorsomedial striatum
S-R learning -> dorsolateral striatum

42
Q

What does Holland’s experiment (2004) show regarding habitual responding and devaluation (learning)?

A

Habitual responding is not affected by devaluation, animal keeps pressing lever for food reward even after learning its decreased incentive value.
- Habit and goal-directed actions operate differently

43
Q

Which neural substrate is suggested to be invovled in encoding incentive value?

A

Orbitofrontal cortex

44
Q

How does dopamine transmission mediate goal-directed behaviour?

A

Fast dopamine transmission -> shows prediction-error responses to rewards (in VTA + substantia nigra)

Slow and tonic dopamine transmission -> modulates brain functions unrelated to reward processing…

Fast DA transmission hypothesized to underlie brain’s ability to decipher + encode the action-outcome contigency in order to understand that actions result in outcome (goal)

45
Q

Which human neural substrate is akin to the prelimbic cortex in rats?

A

prelimbic cortex -> recieves DA input from VTA
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex -> knowledge of action-outcome contingencies, planning, response selection

46
Q

What happens to rats when there is damage to the prelimbic cortex?

A

Damage to the prelimbic cortex results in reduced ability of animals to detect contingency changes (Balleine & Dickinson, 1998)
- fail to discriminate between actions and outcomes: if one reward was presented non-contingently, they reduced responding for BOTH rewards
- generalized disruption in task performance means the responses are NOT truly goal-directed

47
Q

How can previous learning (environmental cues) affect goal-directed action, as described in Pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT)? How do motivational states modulate PIT?

A

In PIT, the rat learns separately light predicts food, and pressing a lever also predicts food.

Results when presenting both lever and light show that the rat will press the lever more in the presence of light, even though the 2 have not been paired together

A hungry rat will press lever more than a sated rat, who still presses the lever but not that much…

48
Q

How does Tolman (1925) introduce cognition?

A

Learning involves the acquistion of an expectation that a given behaviour will bring the organism closer to the goal object

Cognition gives behaviour the appearance of purpose and goal-direction

49
Q

What are 3 examples of higher learning?

A
  1. Concept learning
  2. Social learning
  3. Play
50
Q

What does Harlow (1949) experiment show?

A

Evidence for higher learning and insightful behaviour
- The formation of learning sets (rules that can be applied to different objects, transfer knowledge to new environment to guide behaviour)

51
Q

What is an engram?

A

The (hypothetical) substrates of memory; the enduring physical/cellular/biochemical changes that are induced by learning and changes the expression of behaviour

52
Q

What is the role of the VUMmx1 in the honeybee brain?

A

VUMmx1 is a neuron that branches and connects to multiple areas in the brain.

The prediction error is encoded in VUMmx1 and resembles properties of DA neurons in the mammalian VTA
- VUMmx1 is octopaminergic

53
Q

What is the mushroom body in honeybees?

A

Seen as an encoding device, converting sensory info to value-based info

Shares properties w/ the mammalian hiippocampus + prefrontal cortex

54
Q

What are 4 limitations with honeybees?

A
  1. Seasonal effects; seasonal changes in performance
  2. Cannot control previous experience
  3. Cannot raise them outside the colony
  4. Genetic manipulation is possible, but very inefficient; can also risk contaminating gene pools of wild bees
55
Q

What are contrast effects?

A

The enhancement/diminishment, relative to normal, of perception, congition and related performance as a result of immediately previous/simulatneous exposure to a stimulus of lesser/greater value in the same dimension

Crespi (1944): animals develop different amt of anticipatory excitement depending on prior experience w/ rewards

56
Q

Describe 2 types of constrast effects?

A

Negative constrast effect: shift from large to small reward, rat will respond less for smaller reward than if it had NEVER been exposed to large reward

Positive constrast effect: shift from small to large reward, rat will respond more for larger reward than if it had NEVER been exposed to small reward

57
Q

What is the incentive motivational view on deprivation?

A

Deprivation does NOT directly energize behaviour, but it increases incentive motivation by making anticipated incentives more attractive/valuable

PSYC 361 (4 decks)

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