Chapter 8

Question 1

Thorndike and skinner agree that _______ occur in the presence of particular stimuli

Answer 1

reinforcers

Question 2

who was more rigid in instrumental conditioning: Thorndike or Skinner?

Answer 2

thorndike!

Question 3

behavior is shaped by …

Answer 3

stimulus control

Question 4

examples of stimulus control

Answer 4

alcohol consumption is different in your grandma’s house vs. a frat

it is normal to undress in your room but not in the middle of LH14

Question 5

Reynolds (1961) did a study on compound stimulus, presenting a triangle in a circle to see the most preferred/influential stimuli. What were the results?

Answer 5

one pigeon responds to red circle while the other pigeon responds to the triangle, this showed stimulus discrimination

Question 6

stimulus discrimination

Answer 6

differential responding to 2 or more stimuli

Question 7

stimuli can be _____ (ex. color and sound) and ______ (ex. cheesy and meaty)

Answer 7

distinct; shared

Question 8

stimulus generalization

Answer 8

responding in a similar fashion to 2 or more stimuli

ex. generalizing across burritos

Question 9

training stimulus discrimination in the Guttman and Kalish study showing pigeons to peck at 580 nm/yellowish orange color resulted in what?

Answer 9

a steep gradient was seen in pigeons who could see color, peaked at 580 nm while a flat gradient was seen in a color blind pigeon

Question 10

what 4 things determine which features of a stimulus gain control over behavior?

Answer 10

sensory capacity

presence of other cues

type of reinforcement

type of response

Question 11

what 4 things determine which features of a stimulus gain control over behavior: sensory capacity

Answer 11

must be in sensory range

• ex. not everyone tastes brussel sprouts the same way

stimuli must come in contact with the subject

• ex. mobiles are often designed for adults not the infants

Question 12

what 4 things determine which features of a stimulus gain control over behavior: presence of other cues

Answer 12

overshadowing: the strength of one stimulus interferes with the conditioning of the target stimulus

ex. big pictures > words in kids books

Question 13

what 4 things determine which features of a stimulus gain control over behavior: type of reinforcement (forsee and lorlordo study with avoiding shock vs. receiving food)

Answer 13

subject: pigeons

training:
- group 1: step on treadle in presence of (light and tone) to receive food
- group 2: step on treadle in presence of (light and tone) to avoid shock

tests:
- light and tone
- light alone
- tone alone

results:
- pigeons trained with food responded to light, not. sound (vision = food system)
- pigeons trained with shock responded to tone, not light (audition = defense system)

reflects belongingness

Question 14

what 4 things determine which features of a stimulus gain control over behavior: type of response (dog and metronome study)

Answer 14

dobrzecka study:

subjects: dogs

training:
- group 1: left-right discrimination / spatial response
- buzzer in back = lift left front leg
- metronome in from = lift right front leg
- group 2: go/no go task
- buzzer in back = lift right front leg (go)
- metronome in front = do NOT life leg (no go)

testing:
- switch placement of buzzer and metronome

results:
- dogs trained in L-R discrimination responded based on LOCATION (ex. right leg with buzzer in front)
- dogs trained in go/no go task responded based on QUALITY/SOUND (ex. raised leg only to buzzer sound)

spatial response to spatial feature
quality response to quality feature

Question 15

elemental vs. complex stimuli

Answer 15

ele - simple (ex. traffic light (green/yellow/red))

com - orchestra/symphony, burritos, etc.

Question 16

stimulus elemental approach

Answer 16

stimulus elements are treated as separate features of the environment

Question 17

configural cue approach

Answer 17

stimulus features are integral to a whole that cannot be divided into parts

support assumptions of Gestalt theory!

Question 18

stimulus generalization may effect (2 things)

Answer 18

1. similarity of stimuli (pavlov)
   - some stimuli are too similar to be differentiated (ex. difference between 2 celebs that look alike)
2. lack of experience or training (lashley and wade)
   - training is necessary before stimuli can be differentiated

Question 19

stimulus discrimination training

Answer 19

a procedure used to bring behavior under control of a stimulus (using stimuli that are more alike)

Question 20

stiimulus discrimination procedure

Answer 20

subjects trained w/ 2 stimuli:
- stim 1: red light
- stim 2: green light
- reinforcement only with red light

red light = S+
green light = S-

once trained, S+ and S- become discriminative stimuli

Question 21

discrimination training: training determines the _____ of stimulus control

Answer 21

extent

Question 22

pigeon experiment that were exposed to tones (jenkins and harrison)

Answer 22

subject: pigeons

training: 3 groups
- group 1: reinforced in presence of 1000 cps tone (S+). No tone, no reinforcement
- group 2: reinforced in presence of 1000 cps tone AND not reinforced on a 950 cps tone (S-)
- group 3: 1000 cps tone on all the time (active control)

test: responses to various tones (300-3500 cps)

results:
- G1: pecking around 1000 cps
- G2: tight pecking at 1000 cps
- G3: pecking indiscriminately

Question 23

discrimination training _____ stimulus control

Answer 23

increases

Question 24

specificity of stimulus control _____ with focused training

Answer 24

increased

Question 25

when the goal was expert discrimination: the more _____ offered the better discriminator you will be

Answer 25

examples

Question 26

discriminative procedures can tell us if _______ states are detectable

Answer 26

internal ex. can tell if a BORG has high quality or low quality vodka in it! ex. can tell if a stimulant is cocaine or meth

Question 27

hungry pigeons discrimination experiment

Answer 27

training 1: general - injected with 3.0 mg/kg cocaine - pecking for food on VI schedule on cocaine (S+) - generalization test 1 (across doses) training 2: discrimination procedure - cocaine sessions (S+): - cocaine @ 3.0 mg/kg, pecking reinforced - saline sessions (S-): - saline pecking not reinforced - generalization test 2 (across doses) pigeons recognize cocaine intoxication dosage better after training 2

Question 28

kenneth space coined 2 terms about what we learn in discrimination training:

Answer 28

excitatory stimulus gradient: once a S+ is conditioned, stimuli differing from it evoke a **reduced** response inhibitory stimulus gradient: once a S- is conditioned, stimuli differing from it evoke a **greater** response

Question 29

t/f: excitatory and inhibitory stimulus gradients do not co-occur

Answer 29

FALSE; they do co-occur

Question 30

what leads to S+ and S- learning?

Answer 30

discrimination training

Question 31

intradimensional discrimination

Answer 31

training procedure designed to highlight discrete differences within a similar stimuli

Question 32

peak shift phenomenon in training experiment

Answer 32

subjects: pigeons - S+ training: - all reinforced @ 550 nm - S- training: - G1: S- @ 590 nm - G2: S- @ 555 nm - G3: no S- results: - as S- nears S+, the gradient moves AWAY from the original S+

Question 33

in discrimination procedures, what are emphasized?

Answer 33

differences!

Question 34

stimulus equivalence training

Answer 34

encourages generalized responding to stimuli that may differ on one or more feature advertising is notorious for encouraging equivalence (ex. buffalo u = bing)

Question 35

what provides an important source of stimulus control?

Answer 35

context!

Question 36

results of male quail study

Answer 36

change in context preference context becomes a stimulus control

Question 37

results of experiment where hungry pigeons were in bright and quiet skinner boxes vs. dim and loud skinner boxes

Answer 37

didn't have to pay attention to context BUT did anyway! context controlled behavior associated with training without explicit pairing with reinforcement showed context can activate **memory of the contingency, not reinforcement** evidence of Modulators!

Question 38

modulator

Answer 38

a stimulus determining a response-reinforcer contingency activated memory of contingency that, in turn, predicts response reinforcer

Question 39

modulators DO NOT: (3 things)

Answer 39

facilitate responding by themselves serve as a CS+ serve as a secondary reinforcer

Question 40

Top Hat: a steep stimulus-response gradient would suggest that: the subject is displaying stimulus generalization the subject is demonstrating stimulus equivalency the subject is showing stimulus discrimination the subject is not learning anything

Answer 40

the subject is showing stimulus discrimination response gradient = discrimination learning

Question 41

Top Hat: Animals are reinforced to respond to the presence of a black square and trained to not respond in the presence of a white square. How would responding to a dark grey square compare to responding on a light grey square if both were presented during a session? animals would not respond to either square animals would respond to both but would respond to the lighter square more than the darker square animals would not respond to the lighter square and only respond to the darker square animals would respond to both but would respond to the darker square more than the lighter square

Answer 41

animals would respond to both but would respond to the darker square more than the lighter square respond closer to S+ than S-

Question 42

Top Hat: a pigeon is trained to peck in the presence of a 440 cps tone and is never reinforced for pecking in the presence of a 450 cps tone. After training pigeons will peck most to a 435 cps tone 440 cps tone 445 cps tone the pigeon will peck to any tone

Answer 42

435 cps tone peak shift!