w6 notes Flashcards
reflexes
Reflexes are inevitable, involuntary responses to stimuli
In humans, most reflexes are controlled by the nervous system circuits located in the spinal cord and brainstem
instincts
Instincts aka fixed action patterns, are inborn patterns of behaviour elicited by environmental stimuli
Once they begin, instinctive behaviours run until completion
Instincts share reflexes’ reliability and lack of dependence on experience, but the resulting behaviours are more complex, requiring many more neurons
learning
Psychologists define learning as a permanent change in behaviour (or in the capacity for behaviour) due to experience
Behaviour can be changed by brain damage or by having a psychological disorder
associative learning
Associative learning occurs when we form associations, or connections, among stimuli, behaviours, or both
Helps us to predict the future based on past experience
The ability to anticipate the future provides enormous survival advantages because through it, animals gain time to prepare
2 important types of associative learning;
classical conditioning and operant conditioning
classical conditioning
Classical conditioning: we form associations between pairs of stimuli that occur sequentially in time
If a child sees a bee for the first time and gets stung, they will form a connection between seeing bees and getting stung → child will feel scared next time they see a bee
operant conditioning
Operant conditioning: form associations between behaviours and their consequences
If you park illegally and get a big ticket, you’re likely to pay more attention the next time you park
nonassociative learning
Nonassociative learning involves changes in the magnitude of responses to a single stimulus rather than the formation of connections between stimuli
2 types are: habituation and sensitization
habituation
Habituation: reduces our reactions to repeated experiences that have already been evaluated and found to be unchanging and harmless
E.g. someone without kids will find it alarming to see 2 kids screaming and rolling around, whereas their mom won’t be phased
sensitization
Sensitization: increases our reactions to a range of stimuli following exposure to one strong stimulus
Following an earthquake, people experience exaggerated responses to movement, light or noise
Every little sound now seems magnified
difference between habituation and sensory adaptation:
When we talk about sensory adaptation, we are generally taking about the diminished response (such as the decreased firing rate) of a particular sensory receptor (e.g., pressure receptor in the skin) as a result of continuous stimulation (e.g., sitting on a chair)
When we talk about habituation, we are usually referring to a process that occurs beyond the level of the sensory receptor.
Habituation can last much longer than sensory adaptation
Why would we show habituation to some stimuli and sensitization to others?
In general, habituation occurs in response to milder stimuli, whereas sensitization occurs in response to stronger stimuli
Habituation ensures that we do not waste precious resources monitoring low-priority stimuli
On the other hand, sensitization is useful in dangerous situations
After detecting one harmful stimulus, raising our overall level of responsiveness should improve reaction time should other dangers arise
However, as we’ve seen in the examples above, sensitization and habituation are not always beneficial
observational learning
Observational learning aka social learning/modeling, occurs when one organism learns by watching the actions of another organism
Provides the advantage of transmitting info across generations within families and cultures
implicit learning
Implicit learning is generally defined as the learning of complex info that occurs in the absence of conscious awareness
explicit learning
Explicit learning is what comes to mind when we think of learning
conditioned vs unconditioned
Conditioned refers to something that must be learned, while unconditioned refers to factors that are reflexive or that occur without learning
conditioned vs unconditioned stimulus
Conditioned stimulus refers to an environmental event whose significance is learned
Unconditioned stimulus refers to a stimulus that elicits a response without prior experience
conditioned vs unconditioned responses
Conditioned responses are learned reactions, while unconditioned responses don’t need to be learned
acquisition
Acquisition refers to the development of a CR
Requires contiguity or proximity in time between the CS and the UCS
If the CS occurs long before the UCS, the organism may not view the 2 stimuli as related
A CS that occurs simultaneously with a UCS or following a UCS is not a useful signal
extinction
CRs disappear, or undergo extinction, if the association between the CS and the UCS is broken
When Pavlov continued to expose his dogs to the ticking of the metronome without providing food, the dogs eventually stopped salivating in response to the sound of the metronome
spontaneous recovery
Spontaneous recovery is during extinction training, the reappearance of conditioned responses (CRs) after periods of rest
Even if a dog has stopped salivating to the sound of the metronome by the end of an extinction session, conditioned salivation reappears at the beginning of the next session
In other words, the CR decreases during a session of extinction training not because the dog is forgetting the relationship between ticking and food, but because the dog is now learning that ticking no longer predicts food, and it may take several sessions for this new learning to replace the old
inhibition
Inhibition is a feature of classical conditioning in which a conditioned stimulus (CS) predicts the non occurrence of an unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
generalization
Generalization is the tendency to respond to stimuli that are similar to an original conditioned stimulus (CS)
E.g. the child afraid of bees might fear wasps and yellow jackets
Generalization has survival value
discrimination
Discrimination is a learned ability to distinguish between stimuli
E.g. as learning progresses, dog eventually learns to discriminate or differentiate between the abilities of the 2 stimuli to predict food
higher-order conditioning
Higher-order conditioning is learning in which stimuli associated with a conditioned stimulus (CS) also elicit conditioned responses (CRs)
Allows us to make even more distant predictions about the occurrence of significant events
latent inhibition
Latent inhibition is the slower learning that occurs when a conditioned stimulus (CS) is already familiar compared to when the CS is unfamiliar
Effects are not seen right away (when the stimuli are first presented), but emerge later when the rate of learning is examined
recorla-wagner model
When the rate of learning about a conditioned stimulus (CS) depends on how new or surprising the association between the CS and the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) appear to be
taste aversion
Results when the sight, smell or flavour of the food (CS) has been poured in the past with illness (UCS)
Taste aversion, or dislike of the food, is the resulting CR
exposure therapy or flooding
Treating phobias by exposing people to fear-producing stimuli in a manner that is safe until they no longer respond (i.e. extinction) is known as exposure therapy or flooding
aversion therapy
One form of counterconditioning is aversion therapy which can be used to replace inappropriate positive reactions to a stimulus with negative reactions
systematic desensitization
A variation of counterconditioning used to treat fear is known as systematic desensitization
Associations between a phobic stimulus and fear are replaced by associations between the phobic stimulus and relaxation
The person undergoing treatment is first trained to achieve a state of physical and mental relaxation, usually by tensing and relaxing muscle groups from head to toe
operant conditioning
The association between a behaviour and its consequences is called operant or instrumental conditioning
In this type of learning, organisms operate on their environment, and their behaviour is often instrumental in producing an outcome
How does operant conditioning differ from classical conditioning along several dimensions?
By definition, classical conditioning is based on an association between two stimuli, whereas operant conditioning occurs when a behaviour is associated with its consequences
Classical conditioning generally works best with relatively involuntary behaviours, such as fear or salivation, whereas operant conditioning involves voluntary behaviours, like walking to class or waving to a friend
positive reinforcement
Positive reinforcement increases the frequency of its associated behaviour by providing a desired outcome
The opportunity to engage in a higher-priority activity is always capable of rewarding a lower-priority activity
Some reinforces known as primary reinforcers, are effective because of their natural roles in survival, such as food
These are examples of conditioned reinforcers, also called secondary reinforcers, that gain their value and ability to influence behaviour from being associated with other things we value
premack principle
states that a more likely behavior can be used to reinforce a less likely behavior
negative reinforcement
Negative reinforcement, which sounds contradictory, involves the removal of unpleasant consequences from a situation to increase the frequency of an associated behaviour
Increases the frequency of behaviours that allow an organism to avoid, turn off, or postpone an unpleasant consequence; sometimes called avoidance behaviours
Negative reinforcement vs punishment
By definition, a punishment decreases the frequency of the behaviours that it follows, whereas both positive and negative reinforcers increase the frequency of the behaviours that they follow
Returning to our Skinner box example, the rat’s bar pressing increases following both positive reinforcement (food) and negative reinforcement (turning off a shock)
If we shocked the rat every time it pressed the bar (punishment), it would stop pressing the bar quickly
punishment
Punishment is any consequence that reduces the frequency of an associated behaviour
positive punishment
Positive punishment refers to applying an aversive consequence that reduces the frequency of or eliminates a behaviour
negative punishment
Negative punishment involves the removal of something desirable
continuous reinforcement
Reinforcing a behaviour everytime it occurs is known as continuous reinforcement
Although it is highly desirable to use continuous reinforcement when a new behaviour is being learned, it is inconvenient to do so forever
partial reinforcement
To obtain the results we want, it is helpful to understand what happens when we use partial reinforcement, or the reinforcement of the desired behaviour on some occasions, but not others
fixed ratio schedule
Requires that a behaviour occur a set number of times for each reinforcer
Continuous reinforcement is equivalent to an FR of 1
FR schedules produce a characteristic pattern of responding
As the amount of work for each reward is increased, responding becomes slower
variable ratio schedule
Involves counting the number of times that a behaviour occurs
This time the required number of behaviours is allowed to fluctuate around some average amount
fixed interval schedule
The time that must pass before reinforcement becomes available following a single response is set to a certain amount
E.g. in a class where there is a test once every 3 weeks, students are likely to increase their studying right before the test, rather than studying consistently throughout the term
variable interval schedule
Characterized by an interval that’s allowed to fluctuate around some average amount over the course of a session
partial reinforcement effect in extinction
Partial reinforcement effect in extinction is the more rapid extinction observed following continuous reinforcement compared to that following partial reinforcement
why does the partial reinforcement effect in extinction occur
Occurs because of 2 factors:
1) First, the transition from continuous reinforcement to extinction is more obvious than the transition from a partial schedule to extinction
If you are accustomed to being paid for a babysitting job every time you work, you will definitely notice any of your employer’s failures to pay
In contrast, if your neighbour typically pays you about once a month for raking his yard each weekend, you might not notice right away that he hasn’t paid you for a while
2) Second, partial schedules teach organisms to persist in the face of nonreinforcement
In a sense, partial schedules teach us to work through periods in which reinforcement does not occur
method of successive approximations
Using the method of successive approximations, or shaping, we begin by reinforcing spontaneous behaviours that are similar to the target behaviour that we want to train
As training continues, we use gradually more stringent requirements for reinforcement until the exact behaviour that we want occurs
One of the most positive features about the shaping process is that behaviour doesn’t have to be perfect to produce reinforcement
latent learning
Latent learning is learning that occurs in the absence of reinforcement
instinctive drift
Instinctive drift is when animals are trapped by strong instinctive behaviours, and have a demonstration of the prepotency of such behaviour patterns over those which have been conditioned
token economy
Tokens that can be exchanged for other reinforcers are used to increase the frequency of desirable behaviours
Can be effective in managing behaviour
observational learning
The ability to learn by watching others, known as observational learning, provides considerable advantages, especially in a social species like our own
Learning occurs without personally experiencing negative consequences
This ability to learn from observing others greatly expands our learning capacity, especially when we then generalize from these concrete examples to produce effective rules
imitation
Imitation is the copying of behaviour that’s unlikely to occur naturally and spontaneously
culture
Culture, consists of all the socially transmitted information used by the group of people, including ideas, concepts and skills
