lesson 6 learning (paper prep 2) Flashcards
Learning
the acquisition, from experience, of new knowledge, skills, or
responses that results in a relatively permanent change in the state of the learner
key ideas about learning
Learning is based on experience.
Learning produces changes in the organism.
These changes are relatively permanent
habituation
a general process in which repeated or prolonged exposure to a stimulus results in a gradual reduction in responding
sensitization
presentation of
a stimulus leads to an increased response to a later stimulus.
how aplysia shows habituation and sensitization
Habituation occurs even in the simplest organisms. For example, in the Memory chapter you learned about the sea slug Aplysia, studied in detail by Nobel Prize winner Eric Kandel (2006). Kandel and his
colleagues showed clearly that Aplysia exhibits habituation: When lightly touched, the sea slug initially
withdraws its gill, but the response gradually weakens after repeated light touches. In addition, Aplysia
also exhibits another simple form of learning known as sensitization, which occurs when presentation of
a stimulus leads to an increased response to a later stimulus. For example, Kandel found that after
receiving a strong shock, Aplysia showed an increased gill-withdrawal response to a light touch. In a similar manner, people whose houses have been broken into may later become hypersensitive to late-night sounds that wouldn’t have bothered them previously.
behaviorism
insistence on measuring only observable, quantifiable behavior and its dismissal of mental activity as irrelevant and unknowable
Classical conditioning
occurs when a neutral stimulus produces a response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally produces a
response. In his classic experiments, Pavlov showed that dogs learned to salivate to neutral stimuli such as a
buzzer or a metronome after the dogs had associated that stimulus with another stimulus that naturally evokes
salivation, such as food.
conditioned stimulus (CS)
a previously neutral stimulus that produces a reliable response in an
organism after being paired with a US (Nothing in nature would make a dog salivate to the sound of a metronome or a buzzer. However, when the CS (the sound of the metronome) is paired over time with the US (the food), the animal will learn to associate food with the sound, and eventually the CS is sufficient to produce a response, or salivation. Pavlov found that the dogs ultimately salivated to these sounds and flashes, each of which had become a conditioned stimulus (CS)
conditioned responses (CRs)
a reaction that resembles an unconditioned response but is produced by a conditioned stimulus ( the dogs’ salivation (CR) was eventually prompted by the sound of the metronome (CS) alone because the sound of the metronome and the food (US) had been associated so often in the past)
unconditioned stimulus (US)
something that reliably produces a naturally occurring reaction in
an organism (presentation of food)
unconditioned response (UR)
a reflexive reaction that is reliably produced by an unconditioned stimulus (salivating at presentation of food)
acquisition
the phase of classical conditioning when the CS and the US are presented together (Pavlov paired the presentation of food with the sound of the ticking of a metronome, a buzzer, the
humming of a tuning fork, or the flash of a light)
second-order conditioning
a type of
learning whereby a CS is paired with a stimulus that became associated with the US in an earlier procedure, can
be demonstrated. For instance, in an early study, Pavlov repeatedly paired a new CS, a black square, with the now reliable tone. After a number of training trials, his dogs produced a salivary response to the black square, even though the square itself had never been directly associated with the food)
*
Second-order conditioning is a form of associative learning in which after a stimulus becomes conditioned through an initial step of association (first-order) becomes the basis for a subsequent stimulus to become conditioned (second-order). It is higher-order conditioning
extinction (unlearn slowly)
the gradual elimination of a learned response that occurs when the CS is repeatedly presented without the US.
(associated overridden with new association of no reward)
spontaneous recovery
the tendency of a learned behavior to recover from extinction after a rest period (The ability of the CS to elicit the CR was weakened, but it was not eliminated)
generalization (learn broadly)
The CR is observed even though the CS is slightly different from the CS used during acquisition. In other words, the conditioning generalizes to stimuli that are similar to the CS used during the original training. The more the new stimulus changes, the less conditioned responding is observed—which means that if you replaced a manual can opener with an electric can opener, your dog would probably show a much weaker
conditioned response
*flexibility in what triggers the conditioned response
discrimination
the capacity to distinguish between similar but distinct stimuli. Generalization and
discrimination are two sides of the same coin. The more organisms show one, the less they show the other, and training can modify the balance between the two
*When an organism generalizes to a new stimulus, two things are happening. First, by responding to the new
stimulus used during generalization testing, the organism demonstrates that it recognizes the similarity between
the original CS and the new stimulus. Second, by displaying a diminished response to that new stimulus, it also
tells us that it notices a difference between the two stimuli
Little Albert (learn broadly)
Watson wanted to see if such a child could be classically conditioned to experience a strong emotional reaction—namely, fear
Watson presented Little Albert with a variety of stimuli: a white rat, a dog, a rabbit, various masks, and a
burning newspaper. Albert reacted in most cases with curiosity or indifference, and he showed no fear of
any of the items.
Watson also established that something could make Albert afraid. While Albert was watching Rayner,
Watson unexpectedly struck a large steel bar with a hammer, producing a loud noise. Predictably, this
caused Albert to cry, tremble, and be generally displeased.
Watson and Rayner then led Little Albert through the acquisition phase of classical conditioning. Albert
was presented with a white rat. As soon as he reached out to touch it, the steel bar was struck. This pairing
occurred again and again over several trials. Eventually, the sight of the rat alone caused Albert to recoil in
terror, crying and clamoring to get away from it. In this situation, a US (the loud sound) was paired with a
CS (the presence of the rat) such that the CS all by itself was sufficient to produce the CR (a fearful
reaction).
Little Albert also showed stimulus generalization. The sight of a white rabbit, a seal-fur coat, and a Santa
Claus mask produced the same kinds of fear reactions in the infant
classical conditioning occurs when
an animal has learned to set up an expectation
variable ratio schedule
A variable interval schedule (VI) is a type of operant conditioning reinforcement schedule in which reinforcement is given to a response after specific amount of time has passed (an unpredictable amount of time), but this amount of time is on a changing/variable schedule (like gambling- you know you’ll get rewarded but you dont know how long it’ll take to get rewarded, so slower but sure reinforcement)
