U06 - Learning Flashcards
1
Q
Learning
A
- process through which experience (any effect of the environment that we can sense) can affect behaviour at a future time
- An enduring change in behavior resulting from prior experience.
- Allows us to adjust to our environments
2
Q
associative learning
A
- form of learning that involves making connections among stimuli and behaviours
- A form of learning that involves making connections between stimuli and behavioral responses.
3
Q
Nonassociative learning
A
- a type of learning where the strength of a response to a stimulus changes with repeated exposure to the same stimulus
- A form of learning that involves a change in the magnitude of an elicited response with repetition of the eliciting stimulus.
4
Q
habituation
A
- A form of nonassociative learning by which an organism becomes less responsive to a repeated stimulus.
- reduction in response to a repeated stimulus that is unchanging and harmless
- not sensory adaptation, habituation occurs at a higher-level brain process
5
Q
dishabituation
A
- reappearance of a response that had diminished due to habituation, usually triggered by the introduction of a new stimulus
- the recovery of a response that has undergone habituation, typically as a result of the presentation of a novel stimulus
6
Q
sensitization
A
- form of nonassociative learning by which a stimulus leads to an increased response over time
- during this, an organism’s reflexive response to a repeated stimulus becomes stronger
- May have evolved to help us notice and focus on potentially harmful stimuli in our surroundings
7
Q
dual-process theory of nonassociative learning
A
- explains how organisms adapt to repeated stimuli through two distinct but simultaneous processes: habituation and sensitization
- Habituation and sensitization are both always at work
- Which one will “win out” will depend on factors like our state of arousal
- When aroused, sensitization is more potent than habituation
- When relaxed, habituation is more potent than sensitization
8
Q
classical conditioning
A
- associative learning
- A passive form of learning by which an association is made between a reflex-eliciting stimulus (e.g., a shock) and other stimuli (e.g., a sound)
- form associations between pairs of stimuli
- where an involuntary response—such as a reflex—becomes associated with a new stimulus. Here, the brain learns to change behavior as a response to something in the environment.
operant conditioning:
- forms associations between behaviors and their consequences
9
Q
classical conditioning: key terms
A
- unconditioned stimulus: stimulus that produces a reflexive response without prior learning
something that naturally triggers a reaction - unconditioned response: response automatically generated by unconditioned stimulus
The natural reaction to the unconditioned stimulus - conditioned stimulus: stimulus that comes to elicit a reflexive response only because of its previous pairing with the unconditioned stimulus
Something that starts off neutral but becomes associated with the unconditioned stimulus - conditioned response: reflexive response elicited by the conditioned stimulus due to the prior pairing of the conditioned stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus
The learned reaction to the conditioned stimulus
10
Q
acquisition
A
- initial learning of an association between the unconditioned and conditioned stimuli during classical conditioning
11
Q
extinction
A
- An active learning process in which there is a weakening of the conditioned response to the conditioned stimulus in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus.
- Extinction is not forgetting—it is the brain learning to not respond because the CS is no longer associated with the US.
If a dog is trained to salivate when it hears a bell because the bell was always followed by food, but then the bell rings repeatedly without food, the dog will stop salivating to the bell over time.
12
Q
spontaneous recovery
A
- reappearance of CR (conditioned response) after periods of rest during extinction training
- reappearance of an extinct behavior after a delay
13
Q
generalization
A
- tendency to respond to stimuli similar to the original CS
- More likely to occur when the similarity between the two stimuli is greater (e.g., tones of similar frequency)
- so that learning is not tied too narrowly to specific stimuli
- all car horns sound different, but this allows you to respond to all of them bc you know they are similar and mean the same thing
14
Q
discrimination
A
- learned ability to distinguish between stimuli
- learning to respond to a particular stimuli, but not similar ones, preventing overgeneralizations
- learn to stop and look when you hear a car horn, but not a trombone
15
Q
contiguity and contingency
A
- closeness in time of CS and US
- CS has to consistently precede the US
Contiguity: This refers to the idea that for learning to happen, the stimulus and the response need to occur close together in time.
Example: A dog hears a bell and immediately gets food. The close timing of the bell (stimulus) and food (response) helps the dog learn to associate them.
Contingency: This means the stimulus must reliably predict the response. The response only happens if the stimulus is present.
Example: A dog only gets food when it hears the bell, so it learns to expect food after hearing the bell. The bell is contingent upon food being given.
16
Q
blocking
A
- previously learned association to one stimulus prevents the learning of a new association to a second stimulus because the second stimulus adds no predictive value
- Adaptive because helps us learn true causal association of events and filter out irrelevant stimuli
- A classical conditioning phenomenon whereby a prior association with a conditioned stimulus prevents learning of an association with another stimulus because the second one adds no further predictive value.
- blocking is often absent or compromised in ppl who experience hallucinations, such as schizophrenia, bc the disorder disrupts a person’s ability to attend to environmental stimuli in a predictive manner, they are bombarded by excess info, which results in a hyperassociative tendency to learn connections between events that are not connected in reality, potentially serving as the basis for delusional beliefs
If a dog has already learned to associate a bell (CS1) with food (US), and then a light (CS2) is introduced along with the bell, the dog may not learn to associate the light with food because the bell already signals the food. The bell blocks the dog from learning the new connection with the light.
- how does blocking occur
17
Q
Little Albert study
A
- john watson
- his idea: Behaviour should be understood in relation to observable events in environment, rather than in terms of unobservable mental processes
- Demonstrated how an 11-month-old infant (“Little Albert”) could be conditioned to fear a white rat
- every time albert touch the rat, they would make a loud noise (US), took only seven pairings to successfully condition him to fear the rat, showed generalization of his fear to other white furry objects
- fear can be conditioned
18
Q
counterconditioning
A
- technique used to replace undesirable response to a stimulus with more desirable one
19
Q
fear conditioning, neural substrates
A
- fear conditioning involves the amygdala
- recall amygdala is responsible for processing emotional significance of stimuli
- well-positioned for creating CS-US links
- Connections to memory-related brain structures as well as structures involved in mediating reflexes and autonomic responses
20
Q
adaptive value of classical conditioning
A
- Classical conditioning allows organisms to learn to prepare for biologically significant events
- E.g., conditioned stimulus (CS) preceding a painful or startling event can trigger fear or bodily reactions that help avoid or brace for the event
21
Q
drug tolerance
A
- decline in physiological and behavioural effects of a drug taken repeatedly
- conditioning plays a role in drug overdoses due to the influence of learned associations between environmental cues and drug use
- If a drug is taken in an unfamiliar environment or without the usual conditioned cues, the body does not produce the anticipatory compensatory response.
- Explains why overdoses more common in unfamiliar environments
22
Q
preparedness
A
- organisms are biologically predisposed to learn some associations more quickly than others
- Predisposition to learn certain associations is species-specific—shaped by natural capacities of the species
23
Q
Operant conditioning
A
- type of associative learning process wherein the consequence of a behavioral response affects the likelihood of that response being repeated
- A mechanism by which our behavior acts as an instrument or tool to change the environment and, as a result, voluntary behaviors are modified.
24
Q
Law of effect
A
- behaviors followed by satisfying outcomes are more likely to be repeated, whereas behaviors followed by unsatisfying outcomes are less likely to be repeated
- that behavior is a function of its consequences. Actions that are followed by good outcomes are strengthened, and vice versa
