PSYC Midterm 3 Flashcards
Stages of Sleep + Length + Types of Waves + Features
Awake: alpha at rest (8-12/s), Beta alert (13+/s)
REM (Rapid Eye Movement) 5-6 times:
- Found as biologically critical from REM deprivation studies –> many intense REM bounce-backs
Non-REM (NREM) Sleep: short thought-like repetitive dreams about everyday tasks,
- Stage 1 (5-10min): theta waves (4-7/s), 50% brain activity down, hypnagogic imagery; scrambled dream-like images that flit in & out of consciousness, myoclonic jerks from limbs as if being startled or falling, confused
- Stage 2 (65% of sleep): waves slow, sleep spindles; sudden bursts of electric activity & k-complexes; sharply rising & falling waves, heart rate, body temp, muscles, eye movement slow, decr. or cease
- Stage 3: delta waves (2/s), deeper slower, necessity to feel fully rested
Circadian Rhythm + Free Running Rhythm + Effects of Disruption
Circadian Rhythms/Brain’s Biological Clock: scheduled by environmental cues alertness, changes in biological processes including body temperature, brain waves, drowsiness & hormones releases. Melatonin is key to regulating circadian rhythms
Free Running Rhythm: rhythm even when not exposed to environmental cues, shows that circadian rhythm+sleep is hardwired into biological system
Disruption disturbs sleep and increases the risk of injuries, fatal accidents, and health problems, including obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
Recuperation vs Adaptation Theories
Recuperation Theories of Sleep: sleep restores homeostasis, a constant state of being (energy levels, repair, fighting infection), being awake disrupts this, long-term memory, problem solving, insight, neural development & connectivity
Adaptation Theories of Sleep: no physiological reason, result of 24hr timing mechanism protection from accidents & predators conserving energy
Comparative Studies of Animals on Sleep
Serves a Physiological Function: not just to protect from predators
- Gazelles have shorter sleep to be more aware of flat open environment, Dolphin sleep with half brain awake
Not only for Higher Order Human Function: not just to release emotions or mental health
Needed for Survival, not in great amounts: less during mating, migration, short supply
No Strong Relationship between Sleep Length & body size, energy expenditure, body temp
- Relation with Food Chain: apex can sleep as long as it wants, herbivores sleep less
How Much Do We Need to Sleep?
Newborn 19hr, Student 9hr, Adult+Elders 7hr
Types of Sleep Loss + Feature Effects
Total Sleep Deprivation: skipping entire night’s sleep → efficiency to get to stage 3 sleep
- Next sleep regains most of stage 3, more slow wave sleep 6-8hr especially during naps, less stage 1&2, waking during stage 3 causes sleepiness except for REM
(Chronic) Sleep Restriction: less sleep normal or optimal → less self awareness
- Moderate 3-4hr sleep led to 3 effects: (1)increase in sleepiness, falling asleep quickly if given the chance, (2) disturbances on written tests of mood, (3) poor vigilance
(Chronic) Sleep Disruption: repeated disruptions, length fine
Sleep Loss on Health
Physical Health: impaired immune system, increased heart rate (SNS activation), hormone dysregulation, inability to handle stress, weight gain, diabetes
Mental Health: cognitive impairment, memory lapses, hallucinations
Emotional Health: irritability, general anxiety, inability to handle stress , depression
Confound of Stress: lab studies are not under normal sleeping conditions
Ex. Experimental & control rat on a disk, results show sleep deprivation attributed to stress
Mortality: greater risk if sleep is less than 7hr or more than 8hr
Characteristics of REM Sleep
- Spinal cord receives signals from
- Pons for paralysis of limbs, loss of muscle tone
- Low high amplitude frequency
- EEG similar to waking
- Increases waking levels in many brain structures
- General increase in autonomic nervous system activity, heart rate, blood pressure, rapid irregular breathing
- Some muscle activity & clitoral or penile erection
- Vivid dreaming emotional, illogical prone to shifts in plot
3 Common Beliefs about Dreaming
- External Stimuli can be incorporated into dreams → most aren’t & don’t cause behavioral responses except for pressure & water
- Sleep Walking & Talking occurs during dreams → Misconceptions
- Dreaming only Occurs During REM → Misconception, occurs 1,2, 3 less vividly, shorter thought-like, forebrain lesion abolishes dreaming but REM still occurs, brainstem lesion abolishes REM but dreaming still occurs
3 Theories on Function of REM + Criticisms
- Improve + Maintain Mental Health
- Processing Memories
- Default Theory: breaks between NREM, maintains alertness to external environment, prepares for wakefulness as it is prominent at end of sleep
Criticism: lots of support but does not explain how antidepressants blocking REM don’t cause major issues
Effect of Depriving REM & NREM
Depriving REM Labs: constantly woken during REM → increased amount of REM sleep during study & subsequent nights
Depriving NREM Labs: constantly woken during deep sleep –> a sharp rebound of slow wave sleep during subsequent nights
4 Theories on Why We Dream
- Freud’s Dream Protection Theory: reveals hidden wishes & desires by disabling ego (mental sensor repressing sexual aggressive instincts) & transforming impulses into symbols representing wish fulfillment
- A dream about getting a flat tire (manifest content=detail) might signify anxiety about a loss of status at one’s job (latent content=hidden meaning)
- Criticisms: dreams should be more positive, sexual ones are occasional
- Activation Synthesis Hypothesis: brain trying to make sense of it’s own sleep-related random activity originating from forebrain, brain activation, random neural signals, high levels of activity in brain stem are necessary. Blindness, cultural factors impact subject matter of dreams.
- Criticisms: driven by motivational & emotional control centers of forebrain as logical executive parts snooze supported by how the damage to forebrain eliminates dreams entirely even when brainstem works, refuting activation-synthesis belief that brainstem plays exclusive role in dreaming
- Neurocognitive Theory: dreams are simulations in which we imaginatively place ourselves in different mental scenarios and explore possible outcomes, rehearse, prepare & avoid threats
- Attempting to Organize Unconsciously Reactivated Memories: organizing reactivations into narratives
- Virtual Trainer: major role in early development (stimulation & simulation) & throughout life (simulation for prediction)
- Attempting to Organize Unconsciously Reactivated Memories: organizing reactivations into narratives
- Dream Continuity Hypothesis: dream mirrors our life circumstances, thoughts, concerns
Lucid Dreams
Lucid Dreams: aware that one is dreaming & can affect the course of the dream (ex. Prearranged signals to communicate), cerebral cortex associated with self-perceptions and evaluating thoughts and feelings rev up with activity
3 Mysteries of REM
- How do organisms benefit taxing energy spent for REM
- Drugs suppressing REM have no large effects
- Babies have a lot of REM
Sleep Disorders
Hypersomnia: disorders of excessive sleep or sleepiness
Kleine-Levin Syndrome: 15-21 hr/day
- Narcolepsy (few brain cells that produce orexin): severe daytime sleepiness at inappropriate times seconds-minutes immediately into REM, cataplexy-loss of muscle tone during wakefulness, sleep paralysis-can’t move as falling asleep or waking up, hypnagogic hallucinations-dreaming while awake
Insomnia: all disorders of initiating or maintaining sleep most are iatrogenic-physician created & stress, correlation with depression, chronic pain & conditions
- Sleep Apnea: blockage of airways during sleep, snoring gasping stop breathing higher risk of weight gain, fatigue, hearing loss, death, lack of oxygen, irregular heartbeat,
- Periodic Limb Movement Syndrome: limbs (usually legs) twitch or move during sleep
- Restless Leg Syndrome: tension or uneasiness in legs that prevents sleep
- Night Terrors: few mins of screaming, crying, perspiring, confused, wide-eyed
- Sleep Walking (somnambulist): walking while asleep, sleep deprived individuals more commonly (sexsomnia, sexual acts while asleep)
Psychoactive Drugs
Influence the subjective experience & behavior by acting on the central nervous system, contains chemicals similar to those found naturally in our brains that alter consciousness by changing chemical processes in neurons. Assumed to affect physiological functions & exogenous: outside of body rather than endogenous (insulin)/
Methods of administration and absorption
Ingestion: easy + safe, unpredictable effects (ex. Beer, edibles)
Injection: speedy + predictable effects, speedy effects+infection potential (intramuscularly, intravenously, subcutaneously)
Inhalation: speedy effects, unpredictable effects+damage to lungs
Absorption/Mucous Membranes: damages membranes
How Drugs Affect CNS
Neuron membranes diffuse throughout CNS to excite or inhibit
Binding + affecting a particular synaptic receptor, influences synthesis, transport, release, or deactivation of particular NT
Influencing chain of chemical reactions elicited in postsynaptic neurons by activation of receptors
Drug Metabolism & Elimination
Drug Metabolism: conversion of active drugs into non-active forms, usually by liver enzymes, so it can no longer pass through the blood brain barrier
Drug Excretion: elimination from the body
Tolerance vs Sensitization
Drug Tolerance: repeated exposures produce a diminished effect or requires an increased dose to maintain a constant effect through neural adaptation that counteracts the effect of drug
Drug Sensitization: repeated exposures produce a heightened drug effect or requires a smaller dose to maintain a constant effect
Note:
Cross-Tolerance: drug produces tolerance/sensitization to other drugs that acts by same mechanism
Tolerance/Sensitization develops to some effects of a drug but not others
Conditioned Compensatory Response: physiological changes that occur as a result of conditioned cues associated with a particular drug, increasing the tolerance for the drug. Less tolerant if unexpectedly stimulus occurs
Withdrawal
Withdrawal Syndrome: adverse physiological reaction due to sudden removal of a drug that has been used for a significant period of time
Opposite effects of drugs occurs when individuals are physically dependent on drug where neural adaptation is still strong & occurring
Severity depends on: type of drug, duration + degree of exposure, speed of drug’s removal
Classical Conditioning on Tolerance & Withdrawal (Hint Draw Design)
Association with environment with drug use, conditioning more tolerance when using drug in conditioned environment. Big injection kills more rats in new environment.
Withdrawal effects can be present without the drug itself, just by the environment cues. (See drawings)
Substance Use Disorder + Addiction
Substance use disorder: recurrent significant impairment or distress associated with one or more drugs
Addicts: habitual drug users who continue to use a drug despite its adverse effects & despite their repeated efforts to stop using
Mental set—beliefs and expectancies about the effects of drugs—the settings in which people take these drugs, and their cultural heritage and genetic endowment all play a part in accounting for the highs and lows of drug use
5 Models of Addiction + General Criticism
- Moral Model: addiction is a choice made by individuals with low moral standards. Treatment = Punishment
- Criticisms: those with high morals have addictions too - Disease (Biomedical) Model: addiction is a disease, incurable, progressive & possibly fatal if left untreated.
- Criticisms: exposures doesn’t always lead to addiction, abstinence might not be necessary, spontaneous “recovery”, removes personal responsibility - Environmental Contributions: addicts are missing the affects/feelings they are seeking from drugs in their environment shown through “Rat Park”, when all needs are addressed rats choose not to drink sugar laced water
- Criticisms: oversimplification of cur, some drugs can be addictive, humans aren’t rates, bio+physio influences unaddressed - Behavioral Learning Models:
- Classical Conditioning: association of environmental cues with pleasant feeling from drug use
- Operant Conditioning: positive (+good feelings) & negative (-bad feelings) reinforcement of alcohol
- Observation/Modelling: learning from observing others + Cultural Socio Economic Factors - Cognitive Behavioral Models: expectancy effects depending on substance, setting → expected behavior is enacted
- Balanced Placebo Design:
Expectancies are often more important than the physiological effects of alcohol in influencing social behaviors.
Balanced Placebo Design Findings
- Expectancies that drinking will produce positive outcomes predict who will drink and how much they will drink, and expectancies that drinking will produce negative outcomes predict who will abstain.
- Nonsocial behaviours, such as reaction time and motor coordination, are more influenced by alcohol itself than by expectancies
- Tension Reduction Hypothesis: people consume drugs to relieve anxiety “self-medicate”
- Genetic Factors: one’s responses to a drug positive/negative due to genetics will impact the probability of addiction
ex.Asian Flush: stops those individuals from enjoying alcohol
Sub-theories of Disease Model of Addiction
Physical-Dependence Theories: physical dependence traps addicts in a cycle of using & withdrawing, must use it to avoid withdrawal symptoms
- Criticisms: stop & restarting after time occurs, mild withdrawal, binge-detox patterns
Psychological Dependence/Positive-Incentive Theories: primary factor in most addictions is the craving for rewarding properties of the drug
- Criticisms: actual pleasure vs anticipated pleasure
Incentive-Sensitization Theory: positive-incentive value of addictive drugs increases with repeated use
Legal Status of Drug Debate
Issues to Consider: purity & dosage of drug, crime, taxes, drug harm, morality, stigma vs support. Decriminalized→controlled+support→promotes its use+values of a society+available to the public vs Criminal→societal values+harder to get+socially uncondoned→no support+stigma+blackmarket/crime
Types of Drugs
Stimulants: Increased activity of the central nervous system (sense of alertness, well-being, energy)
- Caffeine, cocaine, Nicotine, amphetamines, methamphetamine, tobacco
Depressants: Decreased activity of the central nervous system (initial high followed by sleepiness, slower thinking, and impaired concentration)
- Alcohol, sedative-hypnotics
Psychedelics (Hallucinogens): Dramatically altered perception, mood, and thoughts, used at treatments for depression, brain & mind diff lenses for same phenomenon
- Marijuana, LSD, Ecstasy, Magic mushrooms
Narcotics (Opiates): Sense of euphoria, decreased pain, induce sleep, addictive painkillers, major ingredient of morphine, x3 & identical is heroin
- Heroin, oxycontin/done, fentanyl, carfentanyl
Alcohol ST + LT effects + WE + WES
ST: small & soluble alcohol molecules invades all parts of the body, based on rate of absorption by bloodstream which varies by person’s weight, gender, and stomach
- Low Doses: stimulates neural firing & facilitate social interaction, feelings of relaxation, elevated mood, impaired judgment,
- Moderate Doses: various degrees of cognitive, perceptual, verbal & motor impairment, loss of control that can lead to a variety of socially unacceptable outcomes
- High Doses: unconsciousness, blood levels 0.5% is a risk of death from respiratory depression
- Red Flush: produced by dilation of blood vessels in the skin decreases body temperature (hypothermia)
- Diuretic: increases production of urine
LT:
- Brain Damage - Korsakoff’s syndrome
- Cirrhosis (extensive scarring) of the liver
- Irritation of lining of digestive tract → risk of oral & liver cancer, stomach ulcers, inflammation of pancreas & gastritis
- Devastating Outcomes: car roads
- Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS): pregnant mother consuming alcohol, children suffer from brain damage, mental retardation, poor coordination, physical deformity
WE: produces a hangover, mild syndrome of headache, nausea, vomiting, tremulousness
WES:
- 5hr after - Severe tremors, agitation, headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, profuse sweating
- 15-30 hr - convulsive activity, potentially fatal
- 1-2 days lasts 3-4 days - delirium tremens (DTs), disturbing hallucinations, bizarre delusions, agitation, confusion, fever, high blood pressure, rapid heart rate, potentially fatal
Sedative-hypnotics
Depressant used for treating sleeping & anxiety issues, dangerous at high doses
Marijuana ST + LT + AS + WE + MU
ST
- low doses: incr. sense of well-being, alterations in perception of space & time, heightened sensation, hunger, increased heart rate, reddening of eyes, dryness of mouth, later quite, introspective & sleepy
- high doses: transient memory & psychosis, loss of touch to reality, impairment to speech & step goal-directed tasks, depersonalization
LT: deficits in respiratory function, risk for dependence 10% of users, suspected risk of early onset psychotic disorders
Amotivational syndrome: passivity, decreased productivity, loss of motivation
WE: anxiety, irritability, anger or aggression, disturbed sleep/dreaming, depressed mood and loss of appetite
Medicinal Uses: pain, weight loss, & nausea, seizures
LSD + Ecstasy Effects
LSD: dramatic shifts in perception, consciousness, increased blood flow & communication between neural networks, especially visual cortex
ECSTASY: stimulant & hallucinogenic properties, self confidence, well being, empathy
Heroin ST + LT + Overdose + WE
ST: wave of intense abdominal, orgasmic pleasure that evolves into a state of serene, drowsy euphoria, low heart rate, pupils constrict (3-4hrs)
Overdose: muscle spasm, shallow breathing, low blood pressure, coma or death
LT (pure heroin): highly addictive, minor effects of constipation, menstrual irregularity, reduced sex drive
WE: in this order,
Increase in restlessness
Watery eyes, runny nose, yawning, sweating
Fitful sleep
Chills, shivering, profuse sweating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cramps, pains, tremor, muscle spasms, gooseflesh
What is Oxycontin + Fentanyl + Carfentanyl
Oxycontin (Oxycodone): semisynthetic prescription painkillers (1.5x stronger than morphine)
Fentanyl: synthetic prescription painkillers (50-100x stronger than morphine)
Carfentanyl: synthetic anesthetic for large animals (10,000x stronger than morphine)
Impure drugs, extra added substances causes overdoses, increasing
Habituation + Example
Learning not to respond to unimportant & repeated stimuli that we deem safe (ex. Snail being constantly tapped stops retracting into shell)
Classical Conditioning + Terminology UCS UCR CR CS
Form of learning in which one comes to respond to a previously neutral stimulus that had been paired with another stimulus that elicits an automatic response
UCS - Unconditioned Stimulus: stimulus that elicits an automatic response without prior conditioning
UCR - Unconditioned Response: automatic response to a nonneutral stimulus that does not need to be learned
CR - Conditioned Response: response previously associated nonneutral stimulus that is elicited by a neutral stimulus through conditioning
CS - Conditioned Stimulus: initially neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a response due to association with an unconditioned stimulus
Process of Classical Conditioning
- Prior To Conditioning:
- Unconditioned Stimulus Food –response→ Unconditioned Response) Salivation
- Neutral Stimulus Bell –response→ No Conditioned Response No Salivation - Acquisition/Conditioning Phase: initial stage of learning in which unconditional stimulus & neutral stimulus are paired together, closer pairings in time & novel stimuli makes stronger associations, unconditioned stimulus cannot come before neutral stimulus
- Neutral Stimulus Bell + Unconditioned Stimulus Food –response→ Unconditioned Response Salivation
- Conditioned Stimulus Bell –response→ Conditioned Response Salivation - Extinction: gradual weakening & disappearance of a conditioned response tendency overwritten by new behaviour as CS is repeatedly presented alone
- Conditioned Stimulus Bell + No Unconditioned Stimulus Food - Spontaneous Recovery: reappearance of an extinct response after a period of non exposure to Conditioned Stimulus Bell
Classical Stimulus Generalization vs Discrimination + Generalization Gradient Illustration
Stimulus Generalization: responding same way when stimulus similar to original conditioned stimulus
Stimulus Discrimination: overtime, learns not to generalize and be more discriminating with stimuli
Generalization Gradient shows both phenomena, how overtime more similar CS is to OG CS, stronger CR. (Pavlov most similar pitch/sound of metronome elicited the strongest CR)
Renewal Effect
If response goes extinct in a different environment than it was acquired, conditioned stimulus in original environment where acquisition took place may make conditioned response reappear. Explains why the setting is related to addictions resurfacing & phobias, adaptive associating a place to a stimuli.
-Outside: Conditioned Stimulus Bell + No Unconditioned Stimulus Food → Extinction of Conditioned Response No Salivation
-Inside: Conditioned Stimulus –response→ Conditioned Response Reappears Salivation
Higher Order Conditioning vs Cognitive Conditioning
Cognitive Conditioning S-O-R: interpretation/expectation of situation or stimulus affects conditioning and response
Bell –food is coming–> salivation
Bell –doorbell probably–> no salivation
Higher Order Conditioning: conditioning of a second neutral stimulus by pairing it with the original conditioned stimulus with original unconditioned stimulus. Each higher level results in weaker conditioning (ex. Thirsty after someone says lemonade)
Bell → Food
Clap + Bell → Food
Clap → Food = Higher Order Conditioning
Phobias & Classical Conditioning + Example
Acquisition:
Neutral/Conditioned Stimulus = Discriminative Stimulus (Feather) + Unconditioned Stimulus (Traumatic Memory)→ Un/Conditioned Response (Pain/Fear)
Exposure Therapy Treatment : extinction of association by confronting conditioned stimulus with no paired unconditioned stimulus, Aversive Stimulus Removed (Conditioned Fear Reduced)
Ex. Little Albert
Un/conditioned Stimulus (White Rat) + Unconditioned (Fear of Loud Noise) → Un/Conditioned Response (Crying)
Phobia: Little Albert displays CR whenever left around white rat
Generalization: all white furred animals scare him
Discrimination: furry objects were fine
Phobias & Operant Conditioning + Example
Escape/Avoidance Learning - Operant Conditioning: Response (Run Away) → Close Eyes/Fleeing Negatively Reinforces Fear
- Escape learning: when an organism learns to terminate an unpleasant stimulus by distancing itself/escaping during the encounter negatively reinforcing fear
- Avoidance learning: learns to prevent the aversive stimulus by engaging in a specific behavior in advance negatively reinforcing fear
Fear of dimming will be reinforced as fleeing reduces the chances of extinction.
Backwards Bike Relation to Learning
Neural Plasticity: learning occurs within neural pathways the more we use a pathway the stronger clearer it becomes making unlearning difficult & knowledge not equal understanding (ex. Learning to ride a bike backwards, biases)
Classical Vs Operant Conditioning
Target behavior is elicited automatically vs voluntarily
Behavior is a function of what stimuli precedes behavior vs what consequences follow behavior
Behavior depends primarily on autonomic nervous system vs skeletal muscles
Acquisition occurs by pairing NS+UCS vs Behavior+Consequence
Extinction occurs by stopping pairing/reinforcing or pairing/reinforcing a different stimulus/consequence
Generalization/Discrimination of stimuli (tone of a bell) vs cues that indicate consequence of a response (snapping fingers)
Biological Predispositions on Conditioned Associations
Conditioned Taste Aversion: evolutionary - only with food, neutral stimulus of a specific food is paired with an unconditioned stimulus, food poisoning, results in a unconditioned response getting ill only needs 1 pairing, 1 trial, occurs only with food & nausea
Illness Induced Taste Aversion: rats stopped drinking sugar water when their immune system was suppressed & got ill after drinking it
Operant Conditioning + Skinner Lab
B.F. Skinner - A form of learning in which responses (actions or behaviors) controlled by their consequences involving learning new actions that are voluntary, learning controlled by the consequences of the organism’s behavior
The Skinner Box: train rat to press lever more & more (incr. Pressing response) with cumulative record of activity, clearly differentiated rates of s-r on different schedules
Bar that delivers food when pressed, food dispenser, light that signals when reward is forthcoming
Extinction: gradual weakening & disappearance of a response tendency because the response is no longer followed by reinforcement
Law of Effect + Thorndike Study
Law of Effect: if a behavior (response) in a specific situation leads to satisfying effects, then that response is more likely to occur again in that situation, bond between stimulus and response will be strengthened
Thorndike Lab: cat trapped in box experiment, cat’s time to escape decreased gradually over many trials through trial & error with S-R associations
Operant Conditioning Schedules
Reinforcement: an event following a response (behavior) increases the organism’s tendency to repeat that response in the future
- Positive: stimulus following behavior added that strengthened the response (behavior), usually something pleasant added
- Negative: stimulus following behavior removed that strengthened the response, usually something unpleasant removed
Punishment: an event following a response decreases the organism’s tendency to repeat that response in the future
- Positive: stimulus following a behavior was added that weakened the response, usually something unpleasant added
- Negative: stimulus following a behavior was removed that weakened the response, usually something pleasant removed
Operant Stimuli Generalization/Discrimination
Cues that influence operant behavior by indicating the probable consequences (reinforcement) of a response (ex. Light switch, snap fingers) which can be generalized or distinguished
2 Reinforcement Schedules + Rate of Responding + Resistance to Extinction
- Continual Reinforcement: faster learning & extinction
- Response Rate: 1:1 fixed ratio (pop machine)
- Resistance Extinction: low - Intermittent/Partial Reinforcement: not 1:1 ratio, occasional reinforcement of behavior, slower extinction depending on consistency of administering reinforcement (fixed or variable) and basis of administering reinforcement (ratio/#of responses or time elapsed)
Resistance to Extinction: extent to which organism continues to make a response after the reinforcer has been terminated, may be dependent on schedule of reinforcement
Extinction Burst: shortly after withdrawing reinforcement the undesired behavior initially increases in intensity, eventually to decrease
4 Intermittent/Partial Reinforcement Schedules + Rate of Responding + Resistance to Extinction + Draw Culmative Record
FR - Fixed Ratio Schedule: reinforcement provided after a regular, set number of responses have been made
- Response Rate: higher ratios (ie 1:100) higher response rates
- Resistance Extinction: high, response doesn’t easily fade
VR - Variable Ratio Schedule: reinforcement provided after a variable number of responses with the number randomly varying around some average (slot machine)
- Response Rate: highest, higher ratios (ie 1:100)
- Resistance Extinction: highest, response doesn’t easily fade
FI - Fixed Interval Schedule: reinforcement provided after the first response following a regular, set amount of time (school lunch time)
- Response Rate: lowest, closer to reinforcement time higher response rates (scalloped)
- Resistance Extinction: lowest, easily fades if not reinforced
FV - Variable Interval Schedule: reinforcement provided after the first response following a random time interval, varying randomly around some average (avengers movie releases)
- Response Rate: closer to reinforcement time higher response rates
- Resistance Extinction: low, easily fades if not reinforced
3 Operant Practical Applications
- Shaping: a process which consists of the reinforcement of closer & closer approximations of a desired response (ex. Training a dog to jump on stool)
Training animals by stitching basic steps together to reach final desired complex behavior by reinforcement - Stop procrastination by reinforcing/rewarding low rewarding studying with high rewarding activites students like doing
- Token Economy in psychiatric hospitals for reinforcing & extinguishing behaviors
- Primary Reinforcer: item or outcome that naturally increases targeted behavior (ice cream)
- Secondary Reinforcer: neutral objects that become associated with primary reinforcers (token)
Latent Learning + Tolman & Honzik
Latent Learning: something is learned but not manifested as a behavioral change until sometime in the future which can occur without reinforcement
- Group of rats not being reinforced in a maze, then later being reinforced completes maze much faster, than other group that is continuously being reinforced
Cognitive Map: a mental representation of the physical features of the environment
- Rats remembering path & orientation of start point to end point, rats that do the maze & just see from outside the maze are equally good at navigating maze
Implicit Learning
Trial & error without reinforcement within mind, unconsciously learned acquired, learning that takes place independent of IQ, age, amnesia & awareness of both the process & products of info acquisition, (ex. Finding grammar patterns in memorizing series of words)
- ex. Habituation, learning to walk, language acquisition a
Insight Learning + Kohler’s Lab
Insight Learning: sudden realization of a solution to a problem
Kohler’s Work: Gorilla jammed bamboo together to reach bananas without trial and error, with insight)
Observational Learning + Bandura’s Lab
Observational Learning: organism’s responding is influenced by the observations of models behavior(s) that are reinforced or punished spares us from firsthand learning
- Basic Processes: attention to models, retention of observations, reproduction of behavior, motivation to repeat
- Diffusion Chain: transmission of modeled behavior in which learners become models
Bandura’s doll: kids are more violent towards doll after watching someone being violent, observationally learned aggression
Mirror Neurons
Cells in the prefrontal cortex that become activated by specific motions when one both performs & observes that action, “imagining” what it would be like to perform the behavior key to empathy & observational learning
Caffeine ST + LT + WE
ST: incr. Alertness, blood pressure, breathing rate, urination, endurance, reacting time, focus,, reduced perception of fatigue, can be deadly if taken in extreme doses
LT: nervousness, insomnia, stomach irritation, fatigue, correlation studies show no links to cancer or coronary disease, protection from Parkinson’s, liver disease, diabetes 2 & caution for children & pregnant women
WE: headaches, fatigue, drowsiness, irritability, difficulty concentrating, depressed mood
Cocaine STL + STH + LT + WE
Most powerful, quickly fading effects, reinforcer, larger the dose the more addictive, physical dependence
ST (low doses): euphoria, enhanced mental & physical capacity, extreme happiness, energy, alertness, hypersensitivity to sight, sound & touch, sociability, confidence, irritability, paranoia, less hunger, indifference to pain
ST (high doses): heart problems, sweating nausea, confusion, seizures, uncontrollable muscle movements, death
LT: Snorting: loss of sense of smell, nosebleeds, frequent runny nose, problems with swallowing, Consuming by Mouth: severe bowel decay from reduced blood flow, Needle Injection: higher risk for contracting HIV, hepatitis C, other blood-borne diseases
Loss of gray matter → aging,
WE: inability to concentrate, think, experience sexual arousal or feel pleasure, fatigue or exhaustion, incr. appetite
Nicotine ST + Adjustive Value
Potent, fast & addictive, activates acetylcholine sensitive receptors
ST: relaxation, alertness
Adjustive Value: enhances positive emotional reactions & minimizes negatives ones causing a physical dependence
Amphetamines + Methamphetamine
Amphetamines: illustrate how different patterns of use can produce different subjective effects
- Occasional use of small doses of oral amphetamines to postpone fatigue, elevate mood while performing an unpleasant task
- Ingested on a regular basis for euphoria-producing effects rather than for their prescribed purpose → physical dependence & depression when stopped
- Inject large doses of amphetamines intravenously to achieve the “rush” of pleasure immediately
Restless, talkative, excited, insomnia, loss of appetite, paranoia
Methamphetamine (Meth/Crack): highly addictive pure, crystalline, intense exhilaration followed by euphoria that lasts 12-16 hours, high risk of overdose.dependence, weight loss, acne, destroys tissues, tremors, dental problems
Latent Inhibition
Latent Inhibition: CS alone many times/familiar, it’s difficult to classically condition
