Lecture 11: Biology and learning

Question 1

*What did Garcia & Koelling’s 1966 study tell us about equipotentiality?

Answer 1

Some stimuli can be paired easier than others innately. (Evidence against equipotentiality)

Question 2

*What did Breland &; Breland mean by ‘misbehaviour’, and how might classical conditioning produce this?

Answer 2

Interpreting the reinforcer as a natural object (meerkat treating a coin as food and tries to eat it)

species specific defense response

Question 3

*How might identifying appropriate instinctive

preferences be useful in training?

Answer 3

Species have prefferred actions, hard to learn the unprefered ones (cannot train a rat to freeze)

Question 4

*What is preparedness, and how does it relate

to human emotions?

Answer 4

Predisposition to fear certain types of things

Question 5

This conditioning would be equally

effective regardless of the stimuli used.

Answer 5

Equipotentiality

Question 6

what does SSDR stand for?

Answer 6

Conditioned species specific defense responses

Question 7

Conditioned species specific defense responses (SSDRs) can interfere with

Answer 7

avoidance behaviour

Question 8

empiricism means

Answer 8

nurture

Question 9

rationalism means

Answer 9

nature

Question 10

what is an empiricists view?

Answer 10

acquire knowledge through experience

Question 11

what is a rationalists view?

Answer 11

people are born with innate knowledge

Question 12

What can interfere with avoidance behaviour?

Answer 12

SSDR (CONDITIONED SPECIES SPECIFIC DEFENSE RESPONSE)