Chapter Six - Learning

Question 1

Acquisition

Answer 1

Learning phase during which a conditioned response is established.

Question 2

Classical Conditioning

Answer 2

(PAVLOV) Form of learning in which animals come to respond to a previously neutral stimulus that had been paired with another stimulus that elicits an automatic response.

Question 3

Cognitive Map

Answer 3

Mental representation of how a physical space is organized.

Question 4

Conditioned Compensatory Response

Answer 4

A CR that is the opposite of the UCR and serves to compensate for the UCR.

Question 5

Conditioned Response

Answer 5

CR response previously associated with a non-neutral stimulus that is elicited by a neutral stimulus through conditioning.

Question 6

Continuous Reinforcement

Answer 6

Reinforcing a behaviour every time it occurs, resulting in faster learning but faster extinction than only occasional reinforcement.

Question 7

Discriminative Stimulus

Answer 7

(S^d) Stimulus associated with the presence of reinforcement.

Question 8

Extinction

Answer 8

Gradual reduction and eventual elimination of the conditioned response after the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus.

Question 9

Fetishism

Answer 9

Sexual attraction to nonliving things.

Question 10

Fixed Interval Schedule

Answer 10

Pattern in which we provide reinforcement for a response at least once following a specified time interval.

Question 11

Fixed Ratio Schedule

Answer 11

Pattern in which we provide reinforcement following a regular number of responses.

Question 12

Habituation

Answer 12

Process of responding less strongly over time to repeated stimuli.

Question 13

High Order Conditioning

Answer 13

Developing a conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus by virtue of its association with another conditioned stimulus.

Question 14

Insight

Answer 14

Grasping the underlying nature of a problem.

Question 15

Instinctive Drift

Answer 15

Tendency for animals to return to innate behaviours following repeated reinforcement.

Question 16

Latent Inhibition

Answer 16

Difficulty in establishing classical conditioning to a conditioned stimulus we’ve repeatedly experienced alone, that is, without the unconditioned stimulus.

Question 17

Latent Learning

Answer 17

Learning that’s not directly observable.

Question 18

Law of Effect

Answer 18

Principle asserting that if a stimulus followed by a behaviour results in a reward, the stimulus is more likely to give rise to the behaviour in the future.

Question 19

Learning

Answer 19

Change in an organisms behaviour or thought as a result of experience.

Question 20

Learning Style

Answer 20

An individuals preference or optimal method of acquiring new information.

Question 21

Mirror Neuron

Answer 21

Cell in the prefrontal cortex that becomes activated by specific motions when an animal both performs and observes that action.

Question 22

Negative Reinforcement

Answer 22

The removal of a stimulus following a behaviour that strengthens the probability of the behaviour.

Question 23

Observational Learning

Answer 23

Learning by watching others.

Question 24

Operant Conditioning

Answer 24

Learning by the consequences of the organisms behaviour.

Question 25

Partial Reinforcement

Answer 25

Only occasional reinforcement of a behaviour, resulting in slower extinction than if the behaviour had been reinforced continually.

Question 26

Positive Reinforcement

Answer 26

The presentation of a stimulus following a behaviour that strengthens the probability of the behaviour.

Question 27

Preparedness

Answer 27

Evolutionary predisposition to learn some pairings of feared stimuli over others owing. to their survival value.

Question 28

Primary Reinforcer

Answer 28

Item or outcome that naturally increases the target behaviour.

Question 29

Punishment

Answer 29

Outcome or consequence of a behaviour that weakens the probability of the behaviour.

Question 30

Reinforcement

Answer 30

Outcome or consequence of a behaviour that strengthens the probability of the behaviour.

Question 31

Renewal Effect

Answer 31

Sudden re-emergence of a conditioned response following extinction when an animal is returned to the environment in which the conditioned response was acquired.

Question 32

Schedule of Reinforcement

Answer 32

Pattern of reinforcing behaviour.

Question 33

Secondary Reinforcer

Answer 33

Neutral object that becomes associated with a primary reinforcer.

Question 34

Shaping by Successive Approximations

Answer 34

Conditioning a target behaviour by progressively reinforcing behaviours that come closer and closer to the target.

Question 35

Skinner Box

Answer 35

Small animal chamber constructed by skinner to allow sustained periods of conditioning to be administered and behaviours to be recorded unsupervised.

Question 36

Spontaneous Recovery

Answer 36

Sudden re-emergence of an extinct conditioned response after a delay following an extinction procedure.

Question 37

Stimulus Discrimination

Answer 37

Process by which organisms display a less pronounced conditioned response to conditioned stimuli that differ from the original conditioned stimulus.

Question 38

Stimulus Generalization

Answer 38

Process by which conditioned stimuli that are similar but not identical to the original conditioned stimulus elicit a conditioned response.

Question 39

Unconditioned Response

Answer 39

Automatic response to a non neutral stimulus that does not need to be learned.

Question 40

Unconditioned Stimulus

Answer 40

Stimulus that elicits an automatic response without prior conditioning.

Question 41

Variable Interval Schedule

Answer 41

Pattern in which we provide reinforcement for a response at least once during an average time interval, with the interval varying randomly.

Question 42

Variable Ratio Schedule

Answer 42

Pattern in which we provide reinforcement after a specific number of responses on average, with the number varying randomly.