Week 4 - Respondant Conditioning & Shaping

Question 1

What did Pavlov called the drooling of his dogs in classical conditioning?

Answer 1

‘Physic’ secretions

Question 2

What is the unconditioned reflex?

Answer 2

Unconditioned stimulus (US) —————> Unconditioned response (UR)

Question 3

What is the conditioned reflex?

Answer 3

Conditional stimulus (CS) ————-> Conditional response (CR)

Question 4

How do you create a conditional reflex?

Answer 4

STEP ONE: US CONTIGENT ON NOVEL STIMULUS

Neutral stimulus ———> US ———> UR

—————-> Time ————->

STEP TWO: PRESENT THE CS (FORMERLY NOVEL STIM) ON ITS OWN

Conditional stimulus ————>CR

Question 5

What is respondent conditioning?

Answer 5

Process of establishing a conditional probability between a CS and a US

Question 6

What is the main difference between respondent and operant conditioning?

Answer 6

Respondent:
1) behaviour elicited by a stimulus
2) stimuli PRECEDING THE RESPONSE

Operant:
1) behaviour emitted to PRODUCE/REMOVE a stimulus
2) stimuli FOLLOWING THE RESPONSE

Question 7

What is phylogenetic behaviour?

Answer 7

Behaviour based on GENETIC ENDOWMENT

EX) reflexes, reaction chains, habituation/sensitization, UNCONDITIONAL REFLEX

Question 8

What are the 3 primary laws of the reflex?

Answer 8

1) laws of threshold (point above threshold where no response is elicited)

2) law of intensity-magnitude (increase in stimulus intensity, increase in response intensity)

3) law of latency (more intense the stimulus, the FASTER the response)

Question 9

Why was Pavlov “wrong”?

Answer 9

Conditional reflexes do NOT follow the laws of reflex

Unconditional reflexes FOLLOW the laws of the reflex

Question 10

What is respondent generalization?

Answer 10

When an organism shows a conditioned response to values of the CS that were NOT trained during acquisition

Question 11

What is first order conditioning?

What is higher order conditioning? (Second order conditioning)

Answer 11

1ST ORDER:

CS1 ————-> CR

———> time ———->

2ND ORDER:

Neutral stimulus ———> CS1 ———-> CR

OR

CS2 ———-> CR

Question 12

What are 3 ways to measure the respondent?

Answer 12

1) Latency of the CR (interval of time b/w CS and CR)

2) Intensity of the CR (tend to get stronger as conditioning proceeds)

3) Probe/test trials (present CS alone, with so US)

Question 13

What is respondent extinction?

Answer 13

Presentation of the CS without the US

Creates a gradual decline in responding

Question 14

True or false. Re-acquisition of an extinguished CR occurs quicker than during initial training

(Respondent extinction)

Answer 14

True

Question 15

What are some variables affecting respondent conditioning?

(Temporal relationships)

Answer 15

Temporal relationships:

1) delayed (CS and US overlap partially, COMMON IN REAL WORLD)

2) trace (CS begins and ends before US, COMMON IN REAL WORLD)

3) simultaneous (CS and US begin and end at same time, LESS COMMON IN REAL WORLD)

4) backwards conditioning (CS follows the US, VERY INEFFECTIVE BUT CAN OCCUR IN A LABORATORY)

Question 16

What are some variables affecting respondent conditioning?

(CS-US contingency)

Answer 16

.

Question 17

What are some variables affecting respondent conditioning?

(Amount of exposure to the contingencies)

Answer 17

In general, more exposure = greater conditional responding

EARLY exposure produces more learning than LATE exposure

Conditional responding is ASYMPTOTIC

Conditioning can occur at DIFFERENT rates

Question 18

What are some variables affecting respondent conditioning?

(C/t ratio)

Answer 18

Ratio of “cycle time” to “trial time”

Cycle time: time b/w US presentations

Trial time: time b/w CS onset and US offset

Question 19

What are some variables affecting respondent conditioning?

(Stimulus features)

Answer 19

Physical characteristics effect the PACE OF CONDITIONING

Question 20

What is the continuum of preparedness?

Answer 20

Idea that organisms are genetically disposed to LEARN some things and not others

Question 21

What are some variables affecting respondent conditioning?

(Prior experience with CS and US)

Answer 21

Latent inhibition: Pre-exposure of a stimulus in absence of US interferes with that stimulus ability to become a CS

Blocking: failure of a stimulus to become a CS, cause stimulus already includes an effective CS

Sensory pre-conditioning:
1) Two neutral stimuli, A & B, occur together.
2) One of those stimuli, B, is conditioned to become a CS.
3) When A is presented alone, it too will elicit the same CR as B.

Question 22

What are some variables affecting respondent conditioning?

(Age & context)

Answer 22

Age: degenerative/health effects of aging

Context: a single CS can elicit diff CR’s in different contexts

Question 23

What are some conditioned emotional responses?

Answer 23

1) prejudice

2) advertising

3) paraphilia

Question 24

How does conditioned responses relate to drug use?

Answer 24

Conditioned response counteracts/compensates the effect of the drug

As this is required, increased drug amounts are needed to achieve desired drug effect (tolerance)

Question 25

What are some tips for shaping behaviour?

Answer 25

1) reinforce in SMALL steps
2) use CONTINUOUS reinforcement
3) provide IMMEDIATE REINFORCEMENT
4) provide SMALL REINFORCERS
5) skip ahead when possible
6) back up when necessary
7) following successful shaping.. move to intermittent schedules of reinforcement

Question 26

What is superstitious behaviour?

Answer 26

Behaviour that OCCURS even though it does not produce the (a) consequence

By-product of accidental reinforcement

Question 27

Creativity (behavioural variability)

Answer 27

Variability is a dimension of behaviour that can be REINFORCED

Reinforce creative behaviour and not just performance of a task