Unit 01: The Study of Learning and Behaviour

Question 1

What three primary sources provided the initiation for research of learning?

Answer 1

1) cognitive revolution of the mind
2) fxn of NS
3) using animal models to study human behavior

Question 2

How does the definition of learning dictate what type of science the study of learning must be?

Answer 2

learning looks at the mech behind a change of behavior therefore experimental science is the only way to analyze it

Question 3

how does Rene Descartes contribution to the study of learning?

Answer 3

introduces the idea of involuntary and voluntary behavior as well as mentalism

Question 4

what is involuntary behavior?

Answer 4

the automatic reaction to an external stimuli

Question 5

what is voluntary behavior?

Answer 5

conscious intent to act according to ones will

Question 6

what is mentalism?

Answer 6

that idea that humans are made up of more than their physical parts including a mind and a soul

Question 7

what is reflexology?

Answer 7

the mechanisms of reflexive behavior

Question 8

what is nativism?

Answer 8

ideas that exist in the mind-independent of personal experience

Question 9

What did Descarte believe was native to all humans? (3)

Answer 9

1) god
2) concept of self
3) fundamental understanding of abstract concepts

Question 10

How did John Locke contribute to the study of learning?

Answer 10

he introduced the idea of empiricism and the concept that all humans learn through their personal experiences

Question 11

what is Empiricism?

Answer 11

that all contents of the mind are acquired through personal experiences after birth

Question 12

who were the British Empiricists?

Answer 12

A group that believed in the ideas of empiricism in relation to associations

Question 13

what are the 2 rules of association? explain each

Answer 13

1) primary rule: the ideas of contiguity, similarity, and contrast
2) secondary rule: the idea that associations are dependent on the intensity and frequency of paired stimuli. And the formation of those associations are dependent on the number of already made associations as well as how similar those past associations are to the current one.

Question 14

what is contiguity?

Answer 14

the idea that if 2 events repeatedly occur together they will inevitably become associated

Question 15

what is similairty wrt the primary rule of association?

Answer 15

the ideas that 2 things will become associated if they are similar

Question 16

what is contrast wrt the primary rule of association?

Answer 16

the idea that 2 things will become associated if they have some contrasting characteristics

Question 17

who initiated the ideas to the primary rules of association?

Answer 17

Aristotle

Question 18

how did Thomas Brown contribute to the study of learning?

Answer 18

he introduced the secondary rule of association which dictates that associations can influence each other and that influence can then dictate its strength

Question 19

how did Thomas Hobbes contribute to the study of learning?

Answer 19

introduced the idea of Hedonism with regards to how voluntary behavior can be just a predictable as involuntary behavior

Question 20

What did Thomas Hobbes agree (2) w/ Descartes? What did he disagree (1) wrt to the study of learning?

Answer 20

agree
1) the existence of both voluntary and involuntary behavior
2) that voluntary behavior is controlled by the mind
disagree
1) that voluntary behavior is unpredictable he believed that voluntary behavior was just a predictable as involuntary behavior

Question 21

What is hedonism?

Answer 21

the idea that all behavior is motivated to seek pleasure and avoid pain

Question 22

how did Hermann Ebinghaus contribute to the study of learning?

Answer 22

he used empirical research to study how associations are formed using the act of memorizing a list of nonsense syllables

Question 23

what questions did Ebinghaus’ nonsense syllable experiment answer wrt the formation of associations

Answer 23

1) How does increased training strengthen the association of these syllables
2) Are nonsense syllables more strongly associated when in closer proximity of one another in the list?
3) Is there an association formed wrt the order of the list, is it easier to memorize the list going forwards compared to backwards?

Question 24

what was the nonsense syllable experiment?

Answer 24

an experiment that measures ones ability to memorize a list of nonsense syllables under various experimental conditions

Question 25

what is a reflex?

Answer 25

behavior that reflects a triggering stimulus

Question 26

describe what Descartes believes these features were wrt reflexology?

a) nerves
b) neural transmission
c) muscle contraction
d) stimulus NRG compared to response NRG

Answer 26

a) same hallow tube that connects the sensory organs to the muscle
b) a movement of gas called animal spirits released by the pineal gland
c) the pressure caused by the release of animal spirit into the muscle
d) the NRG of a stimulus is transferred to the response resulting in the response having the same intensity as the stimulus

Question 27

Who and how was Descartes belief that one nerve connects the sensory organs to the brain to the muscle disproved

Answer 27

1) Charles Bell + Francoi Magendie

2) the act of cutting the sensory nerve had no influence on the function of the motor nerve

Question 28

who and how was Descartes’s belief of animal spirits disproved?

Answer 28

1) John Swammerdam
2) a muscle contraction can occur even w/out the release of gas via the pineal gland, such as by a slight nerve irritation

Question 29

who and how was Descartes’s belief of muscle contraction via gas pressure disproved?

Answer 29

1) Francis Glisson

2) the volume of a contracted muscle = the volume of a relaxed muscle indication that gas pressure was not involved

Question 30

how did I. M. Sechnov contribute to the study of learning? (2)

Answer 30

1) demonstrated the idea that the corresponding response is not always dependent on the intensity of its stimulus
2) introduced the idea of the reflex model of voluntary behavior

Question 31

what is a reflex model of voluntary behavior? What did this model miss?

Answer 31

1) the idea that when a stimulus releases a behavior from an inhibited state the response will not reflect the intensity of the stimulus
2) wy involuntary behavior varies throughout one’s lifetime

Question 32

how did Ivon Pavlov contribute to the study of learning?

Answer 32

1) explained why reflexes are not innate throughout one’s lifetime
2) established stimulus-response units wrt the laws of association