Theories of Associative Learning and Applications of Classical Conditioning Flashcards
According to Kamin, how does learning occur?
According to Kamin, for conditioning to occur the US must be unexpected or surprising
How did Rescorla and Wanger modify Kamin’s theory?
Where Kamin had assumed that surprise determines whether conditioning occurs, Rescorla and Wagner extended this and said that surprise also determines how much conditioning occurs (the more unexpected the US the stronger conditioning)
What symbol represents the strength of the association formed by a CS and Us
The symbol V is used to represent the strength of this association.
What happens to the strength of the association with repeated pairings of the US and CS?
With repeated pairings the strength of this association increases but this increase is not constant over trials but becomes progressively smaller until V reaches a stable value (asymptote or Vmax).
What symbol was used to identify the change in associative strength in each trial?
ΔV
How do we summarise the model by Rescorla and Wagner?
At this point we can summarise the model by saying that associative strength increases over trials until it reaches a stable maximum value.
In mathematical terms, V increases by ΔV on each trial until it approaches Vmax
What assumption were Rescorla and Wagner guided by when predicting the strength of the association?
In choosing their formula they were guided by the assumption that the amount of conditioning depends on the amount of surprise.
How did R and W quantify surprise?
They focused on the relationship between V and Vmax, such that at the beginning of conditioning (when V is much less than Vmax) the subject will not expect the US and thus will be surprised when it occurs (here substantial conditioning will occur).
As V increases over trials and approaches Vmax, occurrence of the US is progressively less surprising
According to R and W, what does the notion of conditioning depend on?
The amount of conditioning depends on the amount of surprise can potentially be translated into mathematical form by saying that the amount of conditioning on any trial n (ΔVn) will depend on the difference between V and Vmax:
Vn = strength of association at the beginning of trial n
ΔVn = change in the strength of association produced by
trial n.
What is the C in the equation stand for?
To allow the model to account for variations in speed of
conditioning, Rescorla and Wagner added a constant c
to their equation.
What was the complete statement of the equation?
ΔVn = c(Vmax - Vn)
What are the two parameters in the equation?
C and Vmax
What does Vmax determine in regards to parameters?
Vmax determines the asymptotic level of conditioning – the higher the value assigned to Vmax the higher will be the asymptotic level of conditioning.
What does c determine in regards to parameters?
c determines the speed of conditioning – the greater the value, the larger will be the change in associative strength on each trial, and thus the faster conditioning will reach its asymptote.
What are the arbitrary values used by W and R?
Rescorla and Wagner have used arbitrary values for Vmax and c which precludes quantitative predictions but allows qualitative predictions (thus, although we cannot predict the exact number of drops of saliva, we can still make qualitative predictions about whether salivation will increase or decrease).
