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PSYCH104 Terminology > Chapter 7 > Flashcards

Chapter 7 Flashcards

1
Q

What is learning?

A

An enduring or durable change in behaviour or mental processes due to experience.
This can be relatively permanent and can occur with interactions of our surrounding environments, or long-term environments.

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2
Q

What are four types of learning?

A
  1. Event-alone learning which is habituation and sensitization.
  2. Event-event learning which is classical or “Pavlovian” conditioning.
  3. Behaviour-event learning which is instrumental or “operant” conditioning.
  4. Social learning which is observational learning (see and do).
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3
Q

What are qualities of unlearned behaviours?

A

Something “INNATE” which is inborn or naturally occurring.

Something “REFLEX” which is a stimulus response relationship which can be either learned or innate, which indicates that behaviour happens automatically.

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4
Q

What is habituation and learning vs. Sensory habituation?

A

A process by which we respond less strongly over time to repeated stimuli. To say, we “get used to it”.
Learning habituation does not equal sensory habituation, meaning that learning habituation is a more simple form of learning while sensory habituation is information still available if it becomes relevant.

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5
Q

Habituation, in summary:

A

Is a decrease in response intensity with repeated stimulus presentations.

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6
Q

What is sensitization?

A

An increase in the strength of a response to a repeated stimulus which can result from repeated presentations of a stimulus or by arousal from extraneous stimuli.

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7
Q

What are the differences of specificity in stimulus?

A

Habituation: Is highly specific
Sensitization: Is often not specific

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8
Q

What is classical (Pavlovian) conditioning?

A

A form of learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to signal the occurrence of a second stimulus.

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9
Q

What is classified as stimulus?

A
  1. Anything in the environment that we can detect.
  2. Anything that is measurable.
  3. Anything that can evoke a certain response or behaviour.

Related terminologies include association which is the relationship between two stimuli, and acquisition which is the time while an association is being learned.

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10
Q

What are unconditioned stimulus (US) and unconditioned response (UR)?

A

A US is biologically significant stimulus that already has a response associated with it, such as food or pain.

A UR is a response naturally associated with the unconditioned stimulus, such as salivation or being startled relative to the examples.

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11
Q

What is a neutral stimulus (NS)?

A

A stimulus that does not naturally elicit a response such as a chime or a bell, something we cannot naturally assign a value or response to.

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12
Q

What is a conditioned stimulus (CS) and a conditioned response (CR)?

A

A CS is a previously neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a conditioned response, such as a chime or a bell.

A CR is a learned response to an environmental stimulus (CS), such as salivation or startling relative to the previous examples.

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13
Q

What are classifications of the unconditioned stimulus?

A

It can be classified as:
1. Appetitive: A stimulus the animal finds pleasant such as food or play

  1. Aversive: A stimulus the animal finds unpleasant such as loud sounds, darkness, or pain
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14
Q

What makes a good US (unconditioned stimulus)?

A

To be effective, it should be able to evoke a strong bodily response such as brain stimulation, drugs, or a loud noise. The more intense the US is, the easier it is to produce a CR (conditioned response) but of course to a limit.

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15
Q

What are two types of CS (US pairings)?

A

Short delayed conditioning which the US starts just after the CS started.
Long delayed conditioning which the US starts after the CS has been on for a while.

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16
Q

What are some types of CS (US pairings)?

A
  1. Trace conditioning: The CS begins and ends before the US is presented.
  2. Simultaneous conditioning: The CS and US begin and end together.
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17
Q

What is backward conditioning?

A

The US occurs before the CS.

The unconditioned stimulus happens before the conditioned stimulus.

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18
Q

How do we enhance acquisition?

A
  1. Multiple CS-US pairings
    Which are intense, and aversive US can produce one-trial learning.
  2. Short-delayed pairing
    The time interval between onset of CS and onset of US is short.
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19
Q

What is preparedness?

A

Species-specific predisposition to be conditioned some specific way, usually due to evolutionary adaptations.

Examples: Bright, noisy, tasty water

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20
Q

What is extinction?

A

A process in which the CS is presented in the absence of the US.

The conditioned stimulus is presented without the unconditioned response.

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21
Q

What is spontaneous recovery?

A

When a seemingly extinct CR reappears if the CS is presented again following a delay after extinction, but the CR is usually somewhat weaker.

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22
Q

What is a conditioned excitor?

A

A conditioned stimulus that produces a conditioned response.

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23
Q

What is a safety signal/conditioned inhibitor?

A

A conditioned stimulus that lets us know an unconditioned stimulus is not coming, or tells us that we are safe.

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24
Q

What is stimulus generalization?

A

A process where once a CS has been established, similar stimuli may also produce a CR.

25
What is stimulus discrimination?
A process where we exhibit less pronounced CR to CSs that differ from the original CS. Meaning CR occurs to one stimulus but not another.
26
How can we differ generalization from discrimination?
Do you think of two things as being the same? If yes, generalization If no, discrimination
27
What is higher order conditioning?
Conditioning procedure where an already-conditioned signal is paired with a neutral stimulus.
28
What is a phobia?
An extreme and irrational fear directed toward people, objects, or situations.
29
What is exposure therapy/systematic desensitization?
A therapeutic technique based on Pavlovian conditioning to reduce a fear response where subject is exposed to the fear and given coping strategies to assist with exposure until they are no longer afraid of the thing.
30
What is operant conditioning?
Learning that is controlled by the consequences of the organism’s behaviour. Stimulus > Response > Outcome
31
What is Thorndike’s Law of Effect?
If a response in the presence of a stimulus is followed by a satisfying state of affairs, the bond between stimulus and response will be strengthened.
32
What is an antecedent?
Something detectable in the environment that sets the occasion to respond.
33
What is behaviour?
Activity that can be repeated, measured, and has an impact on the environment.
34
What are consequences?
Stimuli that can increase or decrease the probability of future behaviour.
35
What is contingency?
If-then rule. If you do this behaviour, then that will happen as a consequence.
36
What is reinforcement?
Any outcome that strengthens the probability of a response.
37
What is punishment?
Any outcome that weakens the probability of a response.
38
What is a positive or negative contingency?
Positive: Addition of a consequence Negative: Removal of a consequence
39
What is escape behaviour?
Performance of a behaviour terminates an aversive stimulus. Based on negative enforcement.
40
What is avoidance behaviour?
Performance of the behaviour prevents the aversive stimulus from occurring. Based on negative reinforcement.
41
What is learned helplessness?
Experiencing an aversive situation you can’t control prevents you from learning to control other aversive situations.
42
Why don’t we use positive punishment?
1. Punishment alone doesn’t teach a subject what to do to get reinforcers. 2. Punishment involves aversive stimuli, including some that cause pain 3. A person who uses punishment successfully once is more likely to use it again 4. The person whose behaviour is punished also learns to use punishment to control others’ behaviour 5. Punishment only decreases behaviour if the response is punished immediately, every time, or with a large aversive stimulus
43
What is shaping?
Reinforce successive approximations toward a final response while no longer reinforcing previous approximations.
44
What is chaining?
Reinforce each response with the opportunity to perform the next response.
46
What is discriminative stimulus?
Any stimulus that signals the availability of reinforcement.
47
What is a reinforcer?
Stimulus event following a behaviour that increases the likelihood of that behaviour occurring in the future. Primary/unconditional: Not learned Secondary/conditional: Learned
48
What is a punisher?
Stimulus/event following a behaviour that decreases the likelihood of that behaviour occurring in the future.
49
What are two schedules of reinforcement?
Continuous where every “correct” response is reinforced Partial (intermittent) where only some “correct” responses are reinforced.
50
What are some schedules of partial (intermittent) reinforcement?
Fixed: Reinforcement occurs after a fixed number of instances or time interval. Variable: Reinforcement occurs after an average number of instances or time interval, for example plus or minus 1.
51
What are some pros and cons of both methods of reinforcement?
Continuous reinforcement results in more rapid learning and consequences are more easily discernible. However, extinction occurs sooner. Partial/intermittent reinforcement results in slower learning, however the conditioned responses are more resistant to extinction.
52
What is biological preparedness?
Some events serve as better signals or conditional stimuli than others due to evolution.
53
What is E.C. Tolman’s stance on cognitive psychology?
Explanations for behaviour should include more than environmental stimuli and publicly observable stimuli.
54
What is latent learning?
Behaviour is learned but not demonstrated until it is reinforced.
55
What are cognitive maps?
Mental representations created by the mind and recalled to improve our ability to navigate our environment.
56
What is vicarious conditioning?
Occurs by an organism watching another organism (a model) be conditioned.
57
What are the phases of observational learning?
1. Attention Learner watches trainer 2. Retention Trainer models response and learner thinks about response. 3. Production Learner demonstrates response without trainer modeling it 4. Motivation Learner’s imitated behaviour produces reinforcer
58
What are mirror neurons?
Neurons activated by performing an action or seeing another perform the action.
59
What is operant extinction?
Weakening and eventually disappearance of a response because it is no longer followed by the previous consequence. Three effects: 1. Extinction burst (temporary increase in response) 2. Emotional and aggressive responding 3. Responding eventually stops

PSYCH104 Terminology (3 decks)

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