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PSYC2050 > Week 3 > Flashcards

Week 3 Flashcards

1
Q

Blocking

A

Blocking = slower learning
(of association between the neutral stimulus and the US)
When a neutral stimulus and an excitatory stimulus
(CS+) together are paired with the US

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2
Q

Blocking- demonstrated by Kamin

A

Rats divided into 2 groups
control group:
Phase 1: rats saw both a light and heard a noise and then got shocked. Repeat
until rats developed a CR
Phase 2: Kamin then tested whether the rat reacted to just the light by trying to avoid being shocked. YES!
Blocking group: phase 1a:
rats heard a noise and then got shocked until they developed a CR phase 1b:
rats then heard the noise and saw the light and then got shocked
Phase 2: Kamin then tested whether the rat reacted to just the light by trying to avoid being shocked. NO!
Rats in both the blocking and control groups had seen the light and then been shocked exactly as
many times
• However, the rats
reacted differently

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3
Q

The Blocking Effect &

Hidden Assumptions

A 
§ Any stimulus can	be	
paired with any response (equipotentiality)	
§ The more two stimuli	
are	paired, the stronger the	individual will	associate them	
(contiguity)	
§ Pairing	the light	with	
the	shock didn’t lead	
to conditioning	
§ The control	group and	
blocking	group	had	the	
noise+light/shock	pair	
the	exact	same	
amount	of	times
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4
Q

Superconditioning

A

Superconditioning= faster learning
(of association between the neutral stimulus and the US)
When a neutral stimulus and an inhibitory stimulus (CS-)
together are paired with the US

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5
Q

Superconditioning- Rescorla

A

Phase 1: a tone was played in the
absence of a shock – tone became cue of
safety (Inhibitor)
Phase 2: a tone & a light presented together, followed by a shock
Phase 3 (test): Finally rats were
presented the light alone – rats in this
group showed stronger conditioning to
the light than rats in a control group that
did not go through phase 1

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6
Q

Blocking and Superconditioning

- Is paring of CS and US sufficient for learning?

A

No, surprise is necessry for learning

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7
Q

Free Energy Principle

A

• Global theory about how the brain works
• Tries to provide a unified account of action, perception and learning for adaptive systems
• The free-energy principle
– “any self organizing system that is at equilibrium with its environment must minimize its free energy”.
– “A formulation of how adaptive systems (that is,
biological agents, like brains) resist a natural tendency
to disorder.”
• Biological systems must maintain their states
despite a constantly changing environment (both
external and internal)
• The physiological and sensory states in which an organism can be is limited - low entropy
• Entropy = surprise. a “fish out of water” has high entropy
• Biological agents must minimize the long-term
average of surprise to keep sensory entropy low.

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8
Q

Classical conditioning phenomena..cont’d:
CS pre-exposure (latent inhibition)
• Does CS pre-exposure affect conditioning?

A

Yes, eg. pre-exposed to CS1-yellow light, then CS2- blue light and compering acquisition to CS1- yellow light
CS pre-exposure
slows subsequent conditioning for that CS compared to a new stimulus

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9
Q

What causes CS pre-exposure effects?

A

Possible Explanations
§Habituation
§Conditioned inhibition

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10
Q

Is CS pre-exposure due to habituation?

A 
No
§Context	specificity	
§CS	pre-exposure	is	context	specific
§Habituation	is	not	context	specific	(it	occurs	
regardless	of	the	context)
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11
Q

Is CS pre-exposure due to conditioned inhibition –

Retardation test

A 
• Must	pass	retardation	& summation	tests	
• Retardation	test	
– Test:	
• Group	1:Pre-exposed to CS1	
• Group	2: Pre-exposed to	different	CS2	
• Compare acquisition to CS1	
• CS	pre-exposure	retards		
(slows) learning
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12
Q

Is CS pre-exposure due to conditioned inhibition? –

Summation Test

A

No
When paired with an excitatory stimulus (E), a pre-exposed stimulus (I;
right red bar) reduces responding less than a true inhibitor (I; left red
bar). CS pre-exposure fails the summation test!

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13
Q

Conditioning phenomena- Condition inhibition

A

Passes both summation and retardation test

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14
Q

Conditioning phenomena- CS pre-exposure/Latent inhibition

A

Does not pass summation test, only retardation test

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15
Q

More classical conditioning phenomena:

Generalisation-Discrimination

A

§Does classical conditioning generalise?
§ Test:
§Train with CS1-US
§Test different groups with: CS1, CS2, CS3 …
§Most generalisation to similar stimuli

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16
Q

Example generalisation

A

Little Albert

17
Q

Moore (1972) experiment

A 
Rabbit’s	eyeblink	response	
• 16	rabbits		
• US: Mild electric	shock	
• UR: Eye blink	
• CS+: 1200 Hz tone	
• Test stimuli during	 extinction:	
–  400Hz, 800Hz, 1200Hz,	
1600Hz,	2000Hz.
18
Q

Discrimination

A

Does generalisation last?
Not after extensive training trials
-Each exposure of CS1-US refines association
-Provided CS2 or CS3 not ever presented with US
-Reduced responding to CS2, CS3 … over time
Evolutionary benefits?

19
Q

The basic principles

A

Generalisation

Discrimination

20
Q

Generalisation

A

Other (similar) stimuli may also produce the CR

The more similar to the original CS, the more likely it is to elicit the CR

21
Q

Discrimination

A

Early on during acquisition, generalisation maycause the learner to respond to a variety of stimuli
As learning continues, the organism learns which
CS seems to be best associated with US (they
discriminate)

22
Q

The two parts to science

A

Research finds that trace conditioning is less
effective than short-delay conditioning
– Theory explains why trace conditioning is less
effective than short-delay conditioning

23
Q

Models in psychology

A

A model
– is a formal attempt to explain a wide body of research
– Makes predictions
– Predictions can be tested
• Some models are mathematical: e.g. ∆V =αβ (λ−V)

24
Q

Developing a Formal model of classical conditioning

A

Such a model should be independent of
conditioning procedure
§ It should generate testable predictions
§ Today: The Rescorla Wagner Model
§ Explains how organism learns the prediction of the US

25
Q

What is the Rescorla-Wagner model?

A

The level of conditioning is a result of an internal comparison between:
§ Expected strength of the US
§ Actual strength of the US
§ Expectation is based on prior experience with the US (i.e., previous trials)
§ Strength of the US is fixed (e.g., mild shock)

26
Q

what are the different parts to

The Rescorla-Wagner Model (1972)

A

∆V = αβ (λ −V)
λ – Magnitude of associative value that can be conditioned for CS; actual CS value
V - Current associative value of CS (expectations about the CS-US association/CSvalue)
Surprisingness of the US
∆V - Change in associative value of CS
α - salience of the CS
β - strength of the US to promote conditioning

27
Q

Assumptions and the rescorla-wagner model

A

Previous models assumed that a CR gets
stronger the more a CS is paired with a US.
• Rescorla Wagner model basically assumes
that a CR gets stronger if the CS-US pair is

28
Q

Rescorla-Wagner & the Blocking Effect

A 
Kamin (1968) found that	 rats	ignored	a light if	the	 light happened at	the	 same time as a	noise that  they had previously learned	predicted a shock.
• This is	the	blocking	effect.	
• violates	the	frequency	
principle	
• Rescorla-Wagner	explain	
this	by saying that the	
light	doesn’t change how	
surprised the	rat	is	at	
being shocked.	
• The rat	ignores the light	
because	it already	
expects	the	shock to	
happen because of the	
noise.
29
Q

Rescorla-Wagner, & Superconditioning

A

• The Rescorla-Wagner model also predicted that there would be superconditioning (the opposite of blocking).
• Superconditioning occurs
when a previously learnt stimulus is combined with a new stimulus
• In superconditioning, the old stimulus is inhibitory and the combination is
excitatory -> surprise that US is presented!
• The organism develops an association between
the new stimulus & the
excitatory CS.

30
Q

Attentional models of classical conditioning

A
  • Rescorla-Wagner model is not Perfect…
  • Has difficulty explaining/predicting CS Preexposure (Latent inhibition)
  • Other models have been proposed to try and explain such phenomena
  • Mackintosh (1975)
  • Pearce and Hall (1980)
31
Q

Taste Aversion

A

• In typical classical
conditioning, acquiring a CR requires dozens of trials
associating the CS and the US
• In typical classical
conditioning, long-delay
conditioning (more than a few seconds) is less effective
• Yet…
– You can acquire a taste aversion after one single association.
– The time between you eating the food and getting sick can be as long as 24 hours
• Of course, while it goes against the rules, it does so for good reason:
– It takes a while to feel sick after eating food
– And it’s really important to know which foods are bad to eat as quickly as possible

32
Q 
Some	classical	conditioning	phenomena:	
Garcia	effect	(preparedness)
A

§Are all associations learned equally?
§ Equipotentiality: Every CS has the same potential to be associated with a US (Pavlov)
§Garcia & Koelling (1966) showed this assumption does not hold!
Some associations are learned faster than others!

33
Q

Classical fear conditioning: contemporary research

A

Differential conditioning paradigm
fear-relevant: snake (CS+ excitory): snake (CS- inhibitory)
fear-irrelevant: mushroom (CS+ excitory): mushroom (CS- inhibitory)
Acquisition: a CS+ was paired
with a US shock; the other
type of stimulus was not paired with shock (CS-);
• Extinction: SCR (skin conductance response) was the CR.

34
Q

Classical conditioning in everyday life: addiction

A

Many users die after taking a fairly usual dose in an unfamiliar environment
• Siegel et al. (1982) argued that this is because
the body’s tolerance to heroin is influenced by
classical conditioning
There are usually similar environmental cues
when is taken
• The endocrine system associates these cues with taking, and ramps up the tolerance response
• If those cues are not present, the body isn’t as prepared to tolerate heroin
• Overdose is more likely

35
Q

Classical conditioning and addiction: ‘overdose’ experiment (Siegel et al., 1982)

A 
§ Training:	
§ Experimental: H in room A,	Placebo in room B	
§ Control: Placebo	in both rooms	
§ Test: Higher	dose of heroin	
§ Same: H in	A	
§Different: H in B	
§ Control: H
§DV: Mortality	
§Same: 32.4%	
§Different: 64.3%	
§Control: 96.4%	
§Context	conditioning affects	tolerance
36
Q

Classical conditioning in clinical settings

A

• If phobias are caused by classical conditioning…
• …you can use classical conditioning techniques to
eliminate or reduce them.
• How do you extinguish a CR?
• By presenting the CS without the US
• In clinical psychology, a program of presenting
the CS without the US is called systematic desensitisation
• Phobias persist because:
– people avoid situations where they see the phobic object (avoid opportunities to extinguish fear)
– They can be self-sustaining – e.g., trying to overcome
a fear of crowds can leave you feeling very embarrassed
• Systematic desensitisation gradually exposes the client to the phobic object in a gradual way
1. A fear hierarchy is constructed
2. Participant is given relaxation training
3. Psychologist gradually exposes the client to things higher on the fear hierarchy as they relax
E.g., after 3.5 years, 60% who were systematically
desensitised continued to fly (see Choy et al., 2007 for review)

PSYC2050 (12 decks)

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