Learning

Question 1

Learning

Answer 1

the way in which we acquire new behaviors

Question 2

Dishabituation

Answer 2

• the recovery of a response to a stimulus after habituation has occurred
• often occurs when a second stimulus is presented late in the habituation of the original stimulus
• temporary process that always refers to changes in response to the original stimulus, not the new one

Question 3

Associative Learning

Answer 3

• creation of a pairing/association either between two stimuli or between a behavior and a response
• two types: classical and operant conditioning

Question 4

Classical Conditioning

Answer 4

• type of associative learning that takes advantage of biological, instinctual response to create associations between two unrelated stimuli
• Pavlov’s dogs is most well known example of this
• works because some stimuli cause an innate or reflexive physiological response

Question 5

Unconditioned Stimulus

Answer 5

any stimulus that brings out a reflexive response

Question 6

Unconditioned Response

Answer 6

innate/reflexive response to an unconditioned stimulus

Question 7

Neutral Stimuli

Answer 7

stimuli that do not produce a reflexive response

Question 8

Signaling Stimuli

Answer 8

neutral stimuli that have the potential to be used as a conditioning stimulus

Question 9

Pavlov’s Experiment

Answer 9

• unconditioned stimulus: meat
• unconditioned response: dogs salivate in response to meat
• neutral stimulus: ringing bell
• procedure: Pavlov rang bell repeatedly before placing meat in the dogs’ mouth; initially the dogs did not react much when they only hear the bell without receiving meat but after procedure was continuously repeated the dogs began to salivate when they heard the bell ring
• conditioned stimulus: ringing bell
• conditioned response: salivation

Question 10

Conditioned Response

Answer 10

a normally neutral stimulus that, through association, causes a reflexive response (conditioned response)

Question 11

Acquisition

Answer 11

process of taking advantage of an unconditioned stimulus to turn a neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus

Question 12

Extinction

Answer 12

occurs if the conditioned stimulus is presented without the unconditioned stimulus enough times so that the organism can become habituated to the conditioned stimulus

Question 13

Spontaneous Recovery

Answer 13

occurs after some time when an extinct conditioned stimulus is presented again and a weak conditioned response is exhibited

Question 14

Generalization

Answer 14

broadening effect in which a stimulus similar enough to the conditioned stimulus can also provide the conditioned response

Question 15

Discrimination

Answer 15

• organism learns to distinguish between two similar stimuli
• opposite of generalization

Question 16

Operant Conditioning

Answer 16

• links voluntary behaviors with consequences in an effort to alter the frequency of those behaviors
• associated with B.F. Skinner (behaviorist – theory that all behaviors are conditioned)
• involves a stimulus (added or removed) and a behavior (stopped or continued)

Question 17

Reinforcement

Operant Conditioning

Answer 17

• process of increasing the likelihood that an individual will perform a behavior
• can either be positive or negative

Question 18

Positive Reinforcement

Answer 18

• increase a behavior by adding a positive consequence or incentive following the desired behavior
• Ex. money

Question 19

Negative Reinforcement

Answer 19

• increase the frequency of a behavior by removing something unpleasant
• can be divided into escape learning and avoidance learning
• Ex. taking Advil to get rid of a headache

Question 20

Escape Learning

Answer 20

-role of the behavior is to reduce the unpleasantness of something that already exists (ex. headache)

Question 21

Avoidance Learning

Answer 21

• meant to prevent the unpleasantness of something that has yet to happen
• Ex. studying for MCAT

Question 22

Primary Reinforcer

Answer 22

• something that an organism responds to naturally

- Ex. dolphin trainer will feed a dolphin a fish after a trick therefore the fish is a primary reinforcer

Question 23

Secondary (Conditioned) Reinforcer

Answer 23

• neutral objects that can be trader for primary reinforcers that are naturally pleasurable
• Ex. dolphin trainer uses a clicker that they pair with fish (via classical conditioning) to elicit the same response

Question 24

Discriminative Stimulus

Answer 24

• indicates that reward is potentially available in an operant conditioning paradigm
• Ex. dolphin may associate presence of the trainer with the possibility of reward, making the trainer this type of stimulus

Question 25

Punishment | Operant Conditioning

Answer 25

- uses conditioning to reduce the occurrence of a behavior | - two types: positive or negative

Question 26

Positive Punishment

Answer 26

- adds an unpleasant consequence in response to a behavior to reduce that behavior - Ex. thief is flogged for stealing

Question 27

Negative Punishment

Answer 27

- reduction of a behavior when a stimulus is removed | - Ex. parent forbids child from watching TV as a consequence for bad behavior

Question 28

Reinforcement Schedules | Operant Conditioning

Answer 28

- have two different factors: whether the schedule is fixed or variable, and whether the schedule is based on a ratio or an interval - types: fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, variable-interval

Question 29

Fixed-Ratio (FR) Schedules

Answer 29

- reinforce a behavior after a specific number of performances of that behavior - Ex. researchers reward a rat with a food pellet every third time it presses a bar

Question 30

Continuous Reinforcement

Answer 30

fixed-ration schedule in which the behavior is rewarded every time it is performed

Question 31

Variable-Ratio (VR) Schedule

Answer 31

- reinforce a behavior after a varying number of performances of the behavior but such that the average number of performances to receive a reward is relatively constant - leads to high response rates with no predictable pauses - Ex. researchers reward a rat first after two button presses then eight then four then six

Question 32

Fixed-Interval (FI) Schedules

Answer 32

- reinforce the first instance of a behavior after a specified time period has elapses - Ex. once rat gets a pellet it has to wait 60 seconds before it can get another -- the first lever press after 60 seconds gets a pellet but subsequent presses before next 60 seconds get nothing

Question 33

Variable-Interval (VI) Schedules

Answer 33

- reinforce a behavior the first time that behavior is performed after a varying interval of time - Ex. rat might have to wait 90 seconds then 30 seconds then 3 minutes for a pellet -- once the interval elapses the rat gets a pellet

Question 34

Which schedule works the fastest for learning a behavior?

Answer 34

variable-ratio

Question 35

Which schedule is the most resistant to extinction?

Answer 35

variable-ratio

Question 36

Which schedules often has a brief moment of no response after the behavior is reinforced?

Answer 36

fixed-ratio and fixed-interval

Question 37

Shaping

Answer 37

- associated with operant conditioning - the process of rewarding increasingly specific behaviors - Ex. if you want to train a bird to spin around in one place and then peck a keyboard you might give the bird a treat for turning slightly then for turning 90 degrees then 180 and so on then reward behavior if done near the keyboard until eventually the bird is only rewarded once the full set of behaviors is performed

Question 38

Latent Learning

Answer 38

- cognitive/biological factor in associative learning - learning that occurs without a reward but is spontaneously demonstrated once a reward is introduced - classic experiment for this involves a rat running through a maze -- rats carried through maze then incentivized with food reward for completing maze on their own performed just as well than rats that had been trained to run the maze using more standard operant conditioning techniques

Question 39

Problem-Solving

Answer 39

- another method of learning outside of the standard behaviorist approach - use of a trial-and-error approach to a problem until a reward is given

Question 40

Preparedness

Answer 40

- concept developed to explain why certain associations are learned more readily than others - Ex. phobias related to survival, such as snakes, spiders, and heights, are much more common and much easier to induce in the laboratory than other kinds of fears

Question 41

Instinct Drift

Answer 41

- tendency of an animal to revert to instinctive behaviors that interfere with a conditioned response - Ex. a dog with the nature to bark at visitors thinking they are intruders might have been taught to sit quietly when a guest enters through reward and punishment. Under stress, however, it may have instinctual drift, disregarding the learned behavior and barking at the guest.

Question 42

Observational Learning

Answer 42

- the process of learning a new behavior or gaining information by watching others - not simply imitation, can be used to teach individuals to avoid behaviors as well - Ex. Albert Bandura's Bobo doll experiment where children watch an adult beat up a bobo doll in a room full of toys so then when children were placed in same room they also inflicted similar violence on the bobo doll

Question 43

Mirror Neurons

Answer 43

- neurological factor associated with observational learning - neurons located in the frontal and parietal lobes of the cerebral cortex - fire when an individual performs an action and when the individual observes someone else performing that action - largely involved in motor processes but also related to empathy and vicarious emotions

Question 44

Modeling

Answer 44

- associated with observational learning | - learning what behaviors are acceptable by watching others perform them

Question 45

Social Cognitive Theory of Learning

Answer 45

- Albert Bandura's theory - states that learning occurs in a social context with a dynamic and reciprocal interaction among the person, environment, and behavior