PSYC*2330 Chapter 8: Stimulus Control of Behaviour (MIDTERM 3) Flashcards
Which phenomenon is based on the principle that how strongly organisms learn about one stimulus depends on how easily other cues in situations can become conditioned?
Overshadowing
Which phenomenon illustrates competition among stimuli for access to the process of learning?
Overshadowing
What are the two approaches to control by compound stimulus?
- The stimulus-element approach
- The configural-cues approach
Which approach to control by compound stimuli assumes that organisms respond to a compound stimulus in terms of its individual elements?
The stimulus-element approach
What approach to control by compound stimuli did Pavlov assume?
The stimulus-elements approach
Which approach to control by compound stimuli assumes that organisms respond to a compound stimulus as if it were an integral whole?
The configural-cue approach
The inability to generalize a compound stimulus to the single stimuli that compose it reflects what?
A generalization decrement
According to the configural-cue approach, what does overshadowing reflect?
Different degrees of generalization decrement from training to testing
How did Pavlov propose stimulus generalization occurs?
Learning about a CS gets transferred to the other stimuli on the basis of their physical similarity
Rather than the transfer of learning, Lashley and Wade argued that stimulus generalization reflects what?
An absence of learning
Who proposed that stimulus generalization occurs if organisms have not learned to distinguish differences among the stimuli
Lashley and Wade
T or F: Stimulus control cannot be altered by learning experiences.
False
Stimulus discrimination results in what?
Bringing behaviour under stimulus control
T or F: Stimulus discrimination training can be conducted with either classical or instrumental conditioning procedures.
True
What is the classical conditioning procedure for stimulus discrimination training?
On some trials, a stimulus is presented with the US and on others a different stimulus is presented without the US
What type of procedure establishes behavioural control by using stimuli that signal when reinforcement will or will not available?
Stimulus discrimination procedures
What is a discriminative stimulus?
A stimulus that controls the performance of instrumental behaviour by signalling the availability or nonavailability of reinforcement
Is S+ a discriminative stimulus for performing or not performing an instrumental response?
Performing an instrumental response
Is S- a discriminative stimulus for performing or not performing an instrumental response?
Not performing an instrumental response
A multiple schedule of reinforcement is the instrumental conditioning procedure for what type of training?
Stimulus discrimination training
What procedure uses different reinforcement schedules in the presence of different stimuli, delivered in succession?
A multiple schedule of reinforcement
Does discrimination training increase or decrease the stimulus control of instrumental behaviour?
Increase
Is a particular stimulus dimension more or less likely to gain control over responding if the S+ and S- differ along the same dimension?
Most likely to gain control if the S+ and S- differ along the same dimension
Is stimulus control more precise when discrimination training is done with very similar or very different stimuli of the same dimension (ex. 1000 cps and 950 cps tones vs 1000 cps tone and no tone)?
More precise when trained with similar stimuli of the same dimension
What are interoceptive cues?
Internal sensations
T or F: Mechanisms of stimulus control by drug stimuli (interoceptive cues) produce very similar results to the mechanisms of stimulus control by stimulus features (exteroceptive cues).
True
What occurs during a positive patterning discrimination procedure?
Reinforcement is provided when two stimuli are presented simultaneously (AB+), but not when presented separately (A- and B-)
What occurs during a negative patterning discrimination procedure?
Reinforcement is provided when two stimuli are presented separately (A+ and B+), but not when presented simultaneously (AB-)
When positive and negative patterning procedures are presented simultaneously, what are the six types of intermixed trials?
- Positive patterning: A-, B-, and AB+
- Negative patterning: C+, D+, and CD-
When trained with positive and negative patterning procedures simultaneously, were rats able to solve both discrimination patterns?
Yes
When trained with positive and negative patterning procedures simultaneously, how did rats respond to trials with positive patterning?
They learned to respond to simultaneous presentations of A and B (AB+), and to not respond to individual presentations (A- and B-)
When trained with positive and negative patterning procedures simultaneously, how did rats respond to trials with negative patterning?
They learned to respond to individual presentations of C and D (C+ and D+), and to not respond to simultaneous presentations (CD-)
Are positive or negative patterning procedures faster for acquiring stimulus discrimination?
Positive patterning results in faster learning
T or F: When trained with positive and negative patterning procedures simultaneously, rats learned to respond to the combination of cues in a manner that can be attributed to the sum of their responses to the individual cues.
False. Rats learned to respond to the combination of cues that can NOT be attributed to the sum of their responses to the individual cues.
What does Spence’s Theory of Discrimination Learning propose?
That reinforcement in the presence of S+ conditions excitatory response tendencies and non-reinforcement in the presence of S- conditions inhibitory response tendencies
According to Spence’s Theory of Discrimination Learning, what does differential responding reflect?
Reflects both conditioned excitation to S+ and conditioned inhibition to S-
If Spence’s Theory is correct, and the S- does acquire inhibitory properties, what would the results of a summation test show?
S- will suppress responding that is otherwise elicited by S+
Do the results from summation tests support or contradict Spence’s Theory of Discrimination Learning?
Support
Can the inhibitory influence of an S- counteract excitatory effects of S+ for drug self-administration behaviour, even if the excitatory influence of S+ remains intact?
Yes
A discrimination between stimuli that differ only in terms of the value of one stimulus feature is known as what?
Intradimensional discrimination
Intradimensional discrimination is related to what type of performance?
Expert performance (involves making subtle distinctions between stimuli)
The peak-shift effect causes the highest rate of responding in a stimulus generalization gradient to move in which direction?
Away from the S+, in the direction opposite the S-
A peak-shift is the result of what type of discrimination training?
Intradimensional discrimination training
T or F: The peak-shift effect is a function of the similarity between the S+ and S- used in discrimination training.
True
Was the biggest peak shift seen after training with S+ and S- that were very similar or very different?
Very similar
How does Spence’s Theory of Discrimination explain the peak-shift effect?
The excitation and inhibition gradients overlap, causing the inhibition towards S- to generalize to S+ and suppresses responding to it
According to Spence, the degree of overlap in excitation and inhibition generalization gradients depends on what?
The degree of similarity between S+ and S- with more similarity resulting in greater overlap
Responding to physically distinct stimuli as if they are the same due to common prior experiences with those stimuli is known as what?
Stimulus equivalence
What are equivalence classes?
Groups of distinct stimuli that are all associated with the same outcome or produce the same response
What does common outcome training involve?
Involves linking several different stimuli to a common outcome
What does common response training involve?
Involves training the same response to several physically different stimuli
What occurs during each of the three stages of stimulus equivalence training?
- Stage 1: Two different stimuli are individually paired with an appetitive US
- Stage 2: One of the stimuli from stage 1 is paired with an aversive US to condition a fear response
- Stage 3: The other stimulus from stage 1 is tested with the aversive US from stage 2 to see if the fear response generalized
What term refers to new stimulus-response relations that emerge as a result of the acquisition of equivalence without being directly trained?
Emergent relations
What are the three characteristics that describe a discrete stimulus?
- Presented for a brief period
- Has a clear beginning and end
- Can be easily characterized
T or F: Discrete discriminative stimuli occur in the presence of background contextual cues.
True
T or F: Contextual cues can provide an important additional source of control of learned behaviour.
True
T or F: Contextual cues must signal a US or reinforcer to gain control over behaviour?
False. Contextual cues CAN come to control behaviour if they serve as a signal for a US or reinforcer, but they don’t HAVE to.
What is a binary relation?
A relation between two events
What is a modulator?
A stimulus that signals the nature of a binary relation
A binary relation signalled by a modulator is known as what?
A conditional relation
When might contextual cues control behaviour, but not be correlated with the availability of reinforcement?
When a conditional relation is established
In the context of conditional relations, how do contextual cues influence behaviour?
The contextual cues act as modulators
