Quizzy questions Flashcards
What are the essential features of learning?
It’s based on experience, it produces change in the learner, it produces changes that are relatively permanent
What is respondent behaviour?
“Involuntary” behaviour - we dont seem to have much control over it, e.g., salivating at the smell of food
What is operant behaviour?
Seem voluntary rather than automatic, e.g., putting clothes
behaviour which may be modified by its effects on the environment
i.e., the consequences/effects of the behaviour
Define ‘shaping’
The gradual modification of a part of the behaviour repertoire by systematically reinforcing successive approximations to a new response.
Shaping is a procedure for introducing new behaviours into the repertoire which was developed by B.F. Skinner to overcome some of the problems of trial and error
learning.
Define ‘motor skills’
A sub-set of our operant behaviour repertoire involving the physical movement of all or any part of our body through space
Define motor skill learning
Any relatively permanent change in motor performance or capacity resulting from practice or experience.
Define primary reinforcement
A consequence of behaviour which can function as a
reinforcer without requiring specific prior experience e.g., food when hungry; warmth when cold. Primary reinforcement is potentiated by motivational factors – e.g., being deprived of food and water makes access to food and water as consequences of behaviour more
reinforcing.
Define Conditioned (Secondary) reinforcer
A consequence of behaviour which initially has no
reinforcing power, but which can function as a reinforcer only when it has been paired with
a primary reinforcer, e.g., hearing the words “good work” (praise); warnings of aversive
experience.
Define generalized conditioned reinforcer
A conditioned reinforcer which has been paired with
many primary reinforcers (and other conditioned reinforcers) and which has reinforcing
power independent of motivational state, e.g., money.
Define negative reinforcement
Negative reinforcement is the process which
strengthens escape and avoidance behaviour. Escape involves acting to terminate a stimulus, such as a painful noise, or an attack. Avoidance is ‘escape in advance’ – acting to prevent the stimulus being experienced. The consequence of the behaviour is the removal of the stimulus or reduction in its intensity.
Define ‘extinction’ in the extinction procedure
The permanent withholding of
reinforcement for a previously reinforced response.
Define punishment
Punishment is a consequence of a response which reduces the likelihood of that response in the
future- thereby weakening or suppressing that response in the behaviour repertoire
define positive punishment
The suppression or elimination of a behaviour when a stimulus is added (+) as a consequence of that behaviour
define negative punishment
The suppression or elimination of a behaviour when a stimulus is removed (-) as a consequence of that behaviour.
conditioned/secondary punishers
Neutral stimuli which develop the power to punish
behaviour because they are paved with primary punishers, e.g. spoken “No” when paired with aversive experience.
Unconditioned stimulus [US or UCS]
biologically potent, e.g., the taste of food
Unconditioned response [UR or UCR]
The response automatically elicited by the US - an unlearned reflex response. e.g., salivation
Conditioned stimulus [CS]:
a neutral stimulus which, e.g., the sound of a tuning fork
Conditioned response [CR]
The response elicited by the CS.
Amygdala
The amygdala is a section of the brain that is responsible for detecting fear and preparing for emergency events. This lesson discusses the amygdala, its functions, and its role in our perception of fear and other emotions
Superstitious Behaviour
when the delivery of a reinforcer or punisher occurs close together in time, reinforcing that behaviour
inadvertent behaviour
autopiolet type behaviour
Change Blindness
visual stimulus is introduced and the observer does not notice it e.g gorilla
prospect theory
describes the way people choose between probabilistic alternatives that involve risk, where the probablities of outcomes are known
Expected utility theory
an account of how to choose rationally when you are not sure which outcome will result from your acts
habituation
adjusting to a stimulus (e.g if you hear gunshots often they won’t startle you anymore)
classical conditioning
occurs when a stimulus evokes a response because of being paired with a stimulus that naturally evokes a response. (in his classic experiments, Pavlov showed that dogs learnt to salivate to neutral stimuli such as a bell or a tone after that stimulus had been associated with another stimulus that naturally evokes salivation, such as food.
