Learning part 2 Flashcards

Question

What does it mean that habituation is stimulus-specific?

Answer 1

If a person gets used to one stimulus, their response doesn’t generalize to a new one. Example: Someone gets bored of lemon juice but reacts again to lime juice.

Answer 2

It helps them filter out repetitive information and focus on new important details.

Answer 3

Children were given a taste stimulus while doing a problem-solving task. Findings: Distracted children showed less habituation (they kept responding to the taste). Focused children showed more habituation (they lost interest in the taste faster). Example: Eating While Watching TV If you focus on food, you get full faster (habituate to taste). If you watch TV, you don’t pay attention and keep eating longer.

Answer 4

Study: Repeatedly gave lemon yogurt to overweight and normal-weight women. Findings: Normal-weight women showed habituation → They lost interest in the yogurt. Overweight women did not habituate → They kept enjoying and salivating.

Answer 5

Babies get used to (habituate to) simple stimuli faster than complex ones. ✅ Complex stimuli first increase interest (sensitization) before they start to habituate. ✅ Infants can tell the difference between simple and complex images—even though they can't talk, their eyes tell us what they are thinking!

Answer 6

What Did Babies Do? If they recognized the person, they looked at them for less time (because they were already familiar). If the person was new, they looked at them longer (because it was something different).

Answer 7

A defensive reflex triggered by a sudden or unexpected stimulus (like a loud noise). It causes a jump, muscle tension, raised shoulders, and eye blink. 🛠 Example: If someone claps loudly behind you when you aren’t expecting it, you will flinch, blink, and possibly jump.

Answer 8

It helps protect the body by allowing a rapid reaction to potential danger. 🛠 Example: If you hear a loud bang while walking in the dark, your body reacts instantly, preparing you to either run or defend yourself.

Answer 9

By placing a rat on a pressure sensor in a stabilimeter chamber. The rat jumps when startled, and the sensor detects increased pressure when it lands. 🛠 Example: Just like when you jump in surprise and your feet hit the ground harder than usual.

Answer 10

Greater Startle → Greater Jump → Greater Pressure 🛠 Example: Imagine stepping on a scale and jumping suddenly—when you land, your weight (pressure) briefly increases on the scale.

Answer 11

To investigate how the startle response changes over time with repeated exposure to a loud sound.

Answer 12

A rat was exposed to one loud tone per day for 11 days. The startle response was highest on the first day but gradually decreased over time. 🛠 Example: The first time you hear thunder, you might jump. But if it keeps thundering all day, your reactions become weaker.

Answer 13

The rat heard the tone every 3 seconds for 300 trials (25 minutes). The startle response decreased rapidly due to short-term habituation. 🛠 Example: If your neighbor keeps honking their car horn repeatedly, you stop noticing it after a while.

Answer 14

After a break, the rat was exposed to the single tone again for 3 days. The startle response returned to the level of the last days of Phase 1. 🛠 Example: After a vacation, hearing your alarm clock again feels startling, but soon your response weakens again.

Answer 15

Habituation—with repeated exposure, the startle response gradually decreases over time. 🛠 Example: A city dweller might stop reacting to loud traffic sounds, while a visitor finds them shocking.

Answer 16

Long-Term Habituation: Happens when stimuli are widely spaced in time and persists after 24 hours. Short-Term Habituation: Happens when stimuli are closely repeated and fades quickly when the stimulus is removed. 🛠 Example: Long-Term: If you live near a train track, after a while, you stop noticing the train passing every night. Short-Term: If someone repeatedly taps on your shoulder, you stop reacting, but if they wait a while and tap again, you notice it again.

Answer 17

After a break from the stimulus, the startle response partially returns when the stimulus is reintroduced. 🛠 Example: If you move back to the countryside, city noises like sirens might startle you again.

Answer 18

In Phase 3, after a break from the stimulus, the startle response returned to the level of day 11 in Phase 1, showing spontaneous recovery. 🛠 Example: If you stop drinking coffee for a week, your first sip afterwards might hit you harder than usual. (same goes for nicotine lovers)

Answer 19

Understanding habituation helps explain how fear responses weaken over time and can be useful in treating phobias, PTSD, and anxiety disorders. 🛠 Example: Exposure therapy for phobias involves gradually exposing someone to their fear until they stop reacting as strongly.

Answer 20

Strong, emotional, or painful stimuli. ntensity of stimulus → Stronger stimuli are more likely to cause sensitization. Emotional arousal → If a stimulus is emotionally charged (like a scream), it is more likely to cause sensitization. 🛠 Example: A person who keeps getting bullied becomes more sensitive to insults over time.

Answer 21

What Happened? Rats with soft background noise → Habituation 💤 (They got used to the tone, and their startle response decreased over time). Rats with loud background noise → Sensitization 🚀 (The more they heard the tone, the more they reacted to it!). 📊 Conclusion: If the environment is already noisy/stressful, your reaction to a sudden sound becomes stronger (sensitization). If the environment is calm, you get used to the sound (habituation).

Answer 22

ver wonder why: Rock concerts are so loud? 🎸 Movie theaters blast sound effects? 🎬 💡 Loudness increases arousal → which intensifies emotions (whether excitement or fear!). This is why movies, concerts, and even car races use high volume to heighten experience. 📢 More noise = More excitement or more stress 👂 The same stimulus feels stronger depending on how aroused you are.

Answer 23

Example: A gentle touch on the hand from a friend feels different from a gentle touch on the hand from a romantic partner. A study showed that heterosexual males who watched an erotic movie became more sensitive to touch on their index finger.

Answer 24

If a person is exposed to multiple startling sounds, they become even more reactive (sensitive) instead of adapting (habituation) 🛠 Example: If you keep hearing loud bangs at night, instead of calming down, you get even more anxious.

Answer 25

“Among life’s cruelest truths is this one: wonderful things are especially wonderful the first time they happen, but their wonderfulness wanes with repetition, when we have an experience such as hearing a particular sonata, making love with a particular person, watching the sunset with a particular person on successive occasions, we quickly begin to adapt to it, and the experience yields less pleasure each time”.

Answer 26

PTSD makes people more sensitive to trauma-related stimuli. 🛠 Example: A war veteran hears fireworks and reacts as if they are in danger.

Answer 27

The nervous system becomes more sensitive to pain, making even mild stimuli painful. 🛠 Example: Fibromyalgia patients feel pain from light touches.

Answer 28

Repeated drug use sensitize the brain’s reward system, making people more reactive to drug-related cues, making cravings stronger over time. 🛠 Example: A smoker craves cigarettes more intensely after repeated exposure to smoking cues.

Answer 29

The immune system becomes more sensitive to an allergen over time. 🛠 Example: The first time you eat peanuts, you have mild swelling. After more exposure, you develop a life-threatening allergy

Answer 30

If you are driving for hours, you become habituated to irrelevant stimuli (e.g., road signs, background noise). However, if you suddenly see an accident, you become highly alert and pay more attention to the road (sensitization). 📌 Example: If a car suddenly swerves in front of you, you become hyper-aware of nearby traffic.

Answer 31

To help prioritize and focus behavior by responding more to important stimuli. 📌 Example: A predator’s growl gets more alarming each time you hear it, preparing you to flee. A baby’s crying becomes more urgent to a parent over time.

Answer 32

Seeing pleasant or unpleasant images in a state of high arousal (threat of shock) leads to a greater startle response. 📌 Example: Viewing a disturbing image makes you blink harder when startled. If you're told you might receive a shock, your startle response increases.

Answer 33

Sensory adaptation: A physical decrease in sensitivity (e.g., your eyes adjust to the dark). Habituation: A mental decrease in response to a stimulus over time. Exaample: If you walk from a dark room into bright sunlight, you may initially be blinded. Your decreased response is not habituation but rather sensory adaptation, as your eyes adjust.

Answer 34

Sensory adaptation is a physiological response at the level of your sensory organs (like your eyes adjusting to brightness), whereas habituation is a psychological process where your brain stops responding to a repeated stimulus.

Answer 35

When someone is more emotionally or physically aroused, their sensitivity to touch and other sensations increases. 📌 Example: A hug from a partner feels more intimate than a hug from a friend. Watching a romantic movie can make someone more responsive to touch, while a regular movie does not.

Answer 36

When arousal is high, experiences feel more intense, making both pleasant and unpleasant sensations stronger. 📌 Example: Loud music at a party makes the atmosphere more exciting and energetic. Jump scares in horror movies feel scarier when suspense and tension build up.

Answer 37

Habituation: The brain suppresses the sensory (afferent) neuron, meaning that repeated exposure to a stimulus makes you respond less over time. Example: If you hear the ticking of a clock repeatedly, your brain starts ignoring it, and you stop noticing it. Sensitization: The brain enhances motor (efferent) neuron activity, making you respond more to the same stimulus over time. Example: If you hear a dripping faucet while trying to sleep, it starts bothering you more and more.

Answer 38

Habituation only applies to a specific stimulus and does not generalize. 📌 Example: If you habituate to the taste of lime, tasting lemon still feels new.

Answer 39

Presenting a new stimulus can bring back a previously habituated response. 📌 Example: If you stop noticing a background noise, a new sound makes you aware of it again.

Answer 40

✅ Yes! Both processes compete to determine the final response. 📌 Example: If you're repeatedly exposed to a loud sound, your initial response might be sensitization (you get more startled), but over time, habituation kicks in (you stop reacting to it).

Answer 41

Habituation occurs in the S-R (Stimulus-Response) system, which is directly activated by the stimulus. Sensitization occurs in the state system, which controls your general level of alertness. 💡 Think of the S-R system as a direct reaction to a stimulus (like flinching at a loud noise). The state system, on the other hand, changes based on overall arousal (e.g., being nervous or excited makes you react more strongly to stimuli).

Answer 42

✅ Effects = What we observe (behavior changes). ✅ Processes = The hidden neural activity shaping the behavior. 📌 Example: Someone stops reacting to a buzzing sound, so it looks like habituation. But their brain might still process it, meaning habituation and sensitization can coexist.

Answer 43

✅ Habituation → S-R (Stimulus-Response) system ✅ Sensitization → State system. The state system controls general arousal and readiness to respond. It is only activated by arousing events. 📌 Example: A fan's background noise triggers the S-R system, leading to habituation. A sudden bang activates the state system, leading to sensitization.

Answer 44

✅ The stronger process determines the final response. 📌 Example: If you’re calm, you habituate to distractions. If you’re anxious, sensitization makes you react more strongly.

Answer 45

Yes! Both habituation and sensitization can fade if the stimulus is removed. 📌 Example: After a vacation, a city’s noise feels loud again → Spontaneous recovery of response.

Answer 46

✅ Habituation is stimulus-specific, but sensitization is not. 📌 Example: Habituation: You tune out the sound of one bell but still hear another. Sensitization: A loud noise makes you react to all sudden sounds.

Answer 47

✅ External cues (e.g., shocks) and internal cues (e.g., nausea) activate different state systems. 📌 Example: A loud noise makes you more jumpy to all stimuli. Nausea makes you more sensitive to food smells but not sounds.

Answer 48

✅ S-R system = Direct link between stimulus and response. ✅ State system = Adjusts overall sensitivity to stimuli. Example: Think of a car: The S-R system is the steering wheel—it controls specific movements based on input (turn left or right). The state system is the engine's power—if it’s revved up, even small inputs (stimuli) can cause big reactions.

Answer 49

✅ It explains how habituation (decreased response) and sensitization (increased response) interact to shape behavior. ✅ These processes depend on the S-R system (specific reactions) and state system (overall arousal). 📌 Example: If you're in a quiet café, you might ignore background chatter (habituation). But if you're already stressed, a small noise might feel overwhelming (sensitization).

Answer 50

Primary effects pleasant/sedation. Secondary effects irritability, headaches, nausea (i. hangover).

Answer 51

💡 Answer: They explain changes in behaviors like eating, aggression, exploration, addiction, and relationships. 📌 Example: A new relationship is exciting at first, but the excitement fades and transforms into deeper affection.

Answer 52

Answer: Primary responses (e.g., pleasure) decrease, while secondary responses (e.g., withdrawal) increase. 📌 Example: The more someone drinks alcohol, the less they enjoy it, but withdrawal symptoms get worse.

Answer 53

💡 Answer: It explains why emotions shift over time – an initial high is followed by an opposing reaction Love 💕 – Exciting in the beginning, but becomes a stable connection over time. 🔹 Drugs 💊 – First-time users feel a strong high, but over time, they need more for the same effect, and withdrawal gets worse.

Answer 54

💡 Answer: They use drugs to avoid withdrawal, not for pleasure. 📌 Example: Long-term users take drugs to feel "normal" rather than to get high.

Answer 55

With repeated exposure, the primary process weakens, and the opponent process strengthens. This explains why: Drug users need higher doses over time (tolerance). Exciting experiences become less thrilling (habituation). Fear responses diminish with repeated exposure (desensitization).

Learning part 2 Flashcards

(79 cards)