Unit 3 Learning Part 1

Question 1

WHAT IS LEARNING AND HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM MATURATION?

Answer 1

Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience

Question 2

RESPONDENT CONDITIONING

Answer 2

In this model a stimulus (S) causes a response (R)

S -> R

In a math anxious person the mere presence of numbers can cause significant anxiety;
the power is in the environment;
Pavlovian Conditioning

Question 3

OPERANT CONDITIONING

Answer 3

Sometimes environmental events are the result of a behavior and this result changes the likelihood that the behavior will occur again

In this model a response (R) is followed by stimulus (S) and the behavior becomes more or less likely.
R -> S

You smile at an attractive person and that person looks straight into your eyes and smiles back. What is likely in the future? Why?
Your dog whines, paws on your leg and paces around the room and you let the dog out. What is likely in the future? Why?

Question 4

If an elicited behaviors is inherited where does it come from?
To change these behaviors what would we have to change?

Answer 4

genes

Question 5

However, not all elicited behaviors are inherited or genetic. Some are clearly due to ______.

Answer 5

experience

Question 6

WHAT ARE THE UCS, UCR, CS AND CR?

Answer 6

Unconditional Stimulus = UCS (US) Unconditional Responses = UCR (UR)
Conditional Stimulus = CS Conditional Response = CR

Question 7

PSYCHIC REFLEXES

Answer 7

Pavlov’s dogs would begin the digestive process BEFORE the food arrived

Question 8

Russian: Ivan Pavlov

Answer 8

physiologist recognized for his work in digestive physiology in which he would look at dog digestion.
These dogs would begin the digestive process BEFORE the food arrived. Pavlov began to focus on these unusual responses and eventually came to call them “PSYCHIC REFLEXES.“
Pavlov described “psychic reflexes” while accepting his Nobel Prize and was chased away from the meeting.
In 1927 his work was summarized in English for the first time in Conditioned Reflexes: An investigation of the physiological activity of the cortex; Respondent conditioning is the full model of what is sometimes called Pavlovian Conditioning to recognize the Russian Ivan Pavlov

Question 9

WHAT ARE THE PROCEDURAL STEPS FOR STUDYING RESPONDENT CONDITIONING?

Answer 9

present the CS and measure the response;
present the CS followed immediately by the UCS (CS -> UCS -> UCR);
after some number of trials present the CS alone and measure the CR

Question 10

THE _____ _____ IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL EVENT THAT WILL ELICIT A RESPONSE, CALLED THE ____ ____, ON ITS FIRST PRESENTATION AND ON EVERY PRESENTATION THEREAFTER, REDUCED ONLY BY ______.

Answer 10

unconditional stimulus; unconditional response; habituation

Question 11

Where is the UCS?

Answer 11

It is in the external environment, we can see it appear.

Question 12

What effect does the UCS have on behavior?

Answer 12

It elicits a behavior. This means the behavior occurs because the UCS appeared.

Question 13

When does the UCS work?

Answer 13

The first time it is experienced

Question 14

The relation between these stimuli and responses seems to be given, it is rigid and fixed, essentially _____.

Answer 14

reflexive

Question 15

How might the CR be measured?

Answer 15

magnitude of the CR
duration of the CR
latency of the CR
% of the tests with a CR
persistence of the CR

Question 16

IS THERE EVIDENCE FOR STIMULUS SUBSTITUTION?

Answer 16

DOES NOT FIT THE DATA

Question 17

IS THERE EVIDENCE AGAINST STIMULUS SUBSTITUTION?

Answer 17

The saliva produced by Pavlov’s dogs hearing the tone was of different quality than the saliva produced by the dogs recieving food;
Upton did this:
tone -> painful shock -> heart rate increased
tone -> heart rate DECREASED;
The CS regularly precedes the UCS

Question 18

DESCRIBE HARLOW’S EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF STIMULUS SUBSTITUTION USING HABITUATION?

Answer 18

buzzer (CS) -> paper “blowout” (UCS)
-> fear response (UCR)
buzzer (CS) -> fear response (CR)

Question 19

DESCRIBE THE EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF STIMULUS SUBSTITUTION USING HIGHER ORDER CONDITIONING?

Answer 19

The CS regularly precedes the UCS

Question 20

WHAT IS CONTINGENT ASSOCIATION?

Answer 20

The presentation of the UCS depends upon or is contingent on the presentation of the CS.

Question 21

WHAT IS LEARNED IN RESPONDENT CONDITIONING?

Answer 21

the learning is the acquisition of a contingent association between the stimuli

Question 22

What does the CS provide?

Answer 22

A predictor of the UCS

Question 23

How does this phenomenon (CS predicts UCS) connect with human experience?

Answer 23

The acquisition of anxiety and fear; These proposed learning responses occur very quickly, even in one association

Question 24

WHAT IS CONDITIONED FLAVOR AVERSION?

Answer 24

Flavor aversion is an acquired aversion to a specific flavor after that flavor has been paired with illness. Flavor aversion learning is automatic and is typically a “one trial” acquisition.

Question 25

WHAT WERE THE PROCEDURE, RESULTS AND CONCLUSION OF GUSTAFSON, GARCIA, HANKINS & RUSINIAK (1974)?

Answer 25

They fed 6 coyotes rabbit and lamb carcasses and recorded how long it took for them to jump at the food. Then, they gave three poison rabbit and three poison lamb. After, the Ss avoided the carcasses that had been poisoned before. They taught the next generation not to prey on those animals either.

Question 26

flooding

Answer 26

extreme exposure to UCS until response goes away; not effective

Question 27

IDENTIFY CONDITIONED FLAVOR AVERSION IN A TYPICAL SETTING?

Answer 27

getting food poisoning from Chinese food and never eating Chinese food again

Question 28

WHAT WERE THE PROCEDURE, RESULTS AND CONCLUSION OF BERNSTEIN (1978)?

Answer 28

Bernstein (1978) knew that children get sick in response to the chemo. The children then develop a flavor aversion to whatever food they are eating around the time of the chemo. Subsequently they won’t eat and this is clearly unhealthy. When children are given a novel/weird/new flavor of ice cream as they experience the chemo induced illness they develop an aversion to only the ice cream!

Question 29

Learning for which we are “prepared” or predisposed can occur very _____.

Answer 29

rapidly