Conditioning And Learning Flashcards
What is classical conditioning?
An initially neutral stimulus is PAIRED with an unconditioned stimulus. Result is that the conditioned stimulus elicits a conditioned response.
Key words: Pairing and response, think Dwight with the mint
Considered important as both a behavioral phenomenon and to study associative learning
What is behaviorism?
The measurement of observable behavior that happens under the radar (we are not aware of it)
What is the unconditioned stimulus?
Stimulus that elicits a particular response without prior training
Ex: the dog food
What is the unconditioned response?
Response that occurs to a stimulus without prior training
Ex: Salivation
What is a conditioned stimulus?
Does not elicit a particular response initially, but comes to do so as a result of the unconditioned stimulus
Ex: The bell
What is the neutral stimulus?
Elicits no particular response
Ex: the metronome
What is the conditioned response?
Elicited buy the conditioned stimulus after repeated pairings with the unconditioned stimulus: conditional on being paired with the conditioned stimulus
Ex: Drooling in response to the bell
What is operant conditioning?
Occurs when a behavior is associated with the occurrence of a significant event
Behavior not a stimulus is associated with the occurrence of a specific event
What is an operant behavior?
“Operates” with the environment, behavior controlled by its consequences
Ex: rat pulling a lever and the food pellet drops in
What is a reinforcer?
Any consequence of behavior that strengthens the behavior or increases the likelihood that it will be performed again
What is Thorndike’s Law of Effect?
When a behavior has a positive (satisfying) effect or consequence, it is more likely to be repeated in the future
Responses followed by something pleasant will be strengthened, responses that are followed by discomfort will be weakened
What are punishers?
Effects that decrease the likelihood of behaviors
What is a big difference between classical and operant conditioning?
Classical conditioning is involuntary (dog doesn’t choose to salivate it just does) and operant conditioning is voluntary (rat chooses to press the lever)
What is taste aversion conditioning?
A taste is paired with an unpleasant event (such as getting sick) which causes the organism to reject and dislike that taste in the future
What is fear conditioning?
The conditioned stimulus is associated with an aversive unconditioned stimulus
This comes to provoke fear, rather than a physical response it is emotional
What is a conditioned compensatory response?
A conditioned response that opposes the unconditioned response. Functions to reduce the strength of the unconditioned response
What is blocking?
No conditioning occurs to a stimulus if it is combined with a previously conditioned stimulus during trials.
Information, surprise value, or prediction error is important in conditioning
What is a prediction error?
Chance that a conditioned stimulus won’t lead to the expected outcome
What is preparedness?
An organisms evolutionary history can make it easy to learn a particular association
What is extinction?
Decrease in the strength of a learned behavior that occurs when the conditioned stimulus is presented without the unconditioned stimulus
What is spontaneous recovery?
Recovery of an extinguished response that occurs with the passage of time after extinction
What is the renewal effect?
Recovery of an extinguished response that occurs when the context is changed after extinction
What is stimulus control?
When an operant behavior is controlled by a stimulus that precedes it
What is a discriminative stimulus?
A stimulus that signals whether the response will be reinforced, “sets the occasion” for the operant response
