1. Learning Flashcards
(41 cards)
What is learning?
A process by which experience produces a relatively enduring change in an organism’s behaviour or capabilities
Learning can be ‘overt’ or ‘covert’, what do these words mean?
- Overt - behavioural
* Covert - cognitive
What is non-associative learning?
Response to repeated stimuli (all animals do this)
What is classical conditioning?
Learning the association between the events and what they signal
What is operant conditioning?
Leaning that doing one thing leads to another (consequences of behaviours)
What is observational learning?
Learning from others (or by noting consequences of a person’s actions)
What is habituation?
Decrease in the strength of a response to repeated stimulus
What is sensitisation?
Increase in the strength of response to a repeated stimulus
What is an unconditioned stimulus (UCS)?
A stimulus that elicits a reflexive or innate response (UCR) without prior learning
What is a conditioned stimulus (CS)?
A stimulus that, through association with a UCS, comes to elicit a conditioned response similar to the original UCR
Outline what Pavlov’s dogs showed?
Example of conditioning a stimulus
- The CS (bell) didn’t lead to any response
- The UCS (food) resulted in a innate response
- Over time, if the bell is paired with the food enough times, the dog will salivate just from hearing the bell
When is classical conditioning strongest?
- Repeated CS-UCS pairings
- The UCS is more intense
- Sequence involves forward paring (CS => UCS or bell => food)
- Short time interval between CS and UCS
What happens if a response is conditioned for a CS with a UCS, but the UCS is then removed?
- The CR starts to become reduced i.e. if the bell is presented without the food, the strength of the response (CR - implied salivation) is lower
- Response is not fully extinguished - will reactivate more readily than originally
What is stimulus generalisation?
- Tendency to respond to stimuli that are similar, but not identical, to a conditioned stimulus
- Similar stimuli also elicit the CR, but in a weaker form
- Exploited in advertising and branding
What is stimulus discrimination?
- Ability to respond differently to various stimuli
- e.g. child will respond differently to various bells, or a fear of a certain breed of dogs
- Using models and celebrities in advertising exploits this concept
What type of conditioning may explain anticipatory nausea and vomiting to chemotherapy?
- Classical conditioning
- Expectation (norm): Chemotherapy (UCS) => Nausea (UCR)
- Result: sight of chemotherapy unit (CS) => anticipatory nausea (CR)
What physiological effect does anticipation to chemotherapy have and how was this tested?
- Samples of patients taken at home and hospital prior to chemotherapy
- Patients had their NK cell activity measured
- Chemotherapy normally suppresses the immune system
- Classical conditioning caused an anticipatory immune decline at the hospital before chemotherapy
How was ‘overshadowing’ demonstrated in changing the effect of anticipatory nausea to chemotherapy?
- Cancer patients experiencing anticipatory nausea were divided into 2 groups
- G1 was given an unpleasant, novel drink
- G2 was given water, not novel
- Patients with the ‘novel drink’ showed reduced anticipatory nausea when coming to the clinic setting
- This altered CS is an example of overshadowing
Show how a rat (neutral stimulus) and a loud noise (UCS) can be conditioned for the rat to evoke crying
Before conditioning
• Rat (neutral) => no response
• Loud noise (US) => crying (UR)
During conditioning
• Rat (neutral) + loud noise (US) => crying (UR)
After conditioning
• Rat (CS) => crying (CR)
Show how a traumatic injection can lead to a fear of the clinical setting?
- Trauma (UCS) => Fear (UCR)
- Trauma (UCS) + Needle (neutral) => Fear (UCR)
- Needle (CS) => Fear (CR)
- Clinical setting (CS) => Fear (CR)
Use the fear of needles to show what the ‘two-factor theory of maintenance of classically conditioned associations’ is?
- By avoiding injections, you remove the aversive stimulus and the response of fear
- Negative reinforcement/operant conditioning - response strengthened by avoiding an aversive stimulus
- Stimulus of needle has been removed => tendency to avoid it increases
What is Thorndike’s Law of Effect?
- A response followed by a satisfying consequence will be more likely to occur
- A response followed by an aversive consequence will become less likely to occur
What is positive reinforcement?
Response is strengthened by the subsequent presentation of a reinforcer e.g. teaching dogs tricks using food
What are primary and secondary reinforcers?
- Primary - those needed for survival e.g. food, water, sleep
- Secondary - stimuli that acquire reinforcing properties through their association with primary reinforcers e.g. money, praise
