psych466 study questions Flashcards
(131 cards)
0
Q
Why should psychologists care about philosophical issues?
A
To better understand the mind-body complications and to eventually distinguish between free will
1
Q
What is our textbook definition of learning?
A
Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior that results from some type of experience.
3
Q
What is the mind body problem?
A
what is the mind? Dualism defies the laws of physics; the mind and body are not the same nor do they exist on the same realm, but materialist believe in determinism and it’s just inexplicable at the moment.
4
Q
What are the 2 major positions people have adopted on the dualism issue and what claims are made by each position?
A
Dualism – a dualist is someone who claims that there actually are two distinct realities; the physical and the mental. Those who belief in life after death or reincarnation or even just that the mind is not explicable in physical terms are dualists.
Materialism – a materialist is someone who claims that there is only one reality; the physical. Yes, the materialist says, it certainly seems like the mind is not physical, but that’s just an illusion. When we talk about the mind, we are really talking about physical events taking place in a brain. That’s it.
5
Q
What is the nature nurture issue?
A
The issue is where does knowledge come from? Is it environmental or inherent?
5
Q
What is the primary problems with free will and determinism positions?
A
Free will; we hold each other morally accountable for their behaviors (social construct incompatible with theory)
Determinism; we all have choices and decide how to respond to stimuli.
Free will VS determinism is our behavior caused or purposeful; free will believes some choices are independent of antecedent decisions. Determinism believes that every event is caused and even though we may not know what causes the decision that force is present.
6
Q
What is epistemology?
A
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that deals with knowledge: What can we know and what can we not know? How do we know what we know?
7
Q
What are the 3 positions of epistemology / nature or nurture?
A
Rationalism / nativism / empiricism
9
Q
Describe rationalism
A
a rationalist believes that important kinds of knowledge are acquired through the operation of reason, at least partly independent of empirical experience. Mathematical knowledge is a good example; mathematics is done not in a laboratory but in the mind.
10
Q
Which of the positions are favored by behaviorists?
A
Materialism / determinism / empiricism
10
Q
Describe nativism
A
nativist believes that at least some human knowledge or behavior is innate or “hard-wired.” This is the nature side of the nature/nurture issue. Nativism and rationalism are generally highly compatible with each other, but both stand in opposition to the next position, empiricism.
11
Q
Describe empiricism
A
an empiricist emphasizes the role of experience, particularly sensory experience as we interact with our environment, in determining our knowledge and behavior. The radical form of this position is sometimes called “blank slate” empiricism due to its claim that at birth humans are like blank slates, and everything we become is inscribed by our experiences with the world.
12
Q
How were plato’s and Aristotle views on the acquisition of knowledge different?
A
Plato was more abstract; he believed that sensory experience is an illusion / knowledge via reasoning / the truth is already known to our souls.
Aristotle was more nature in that he believed senses can be trusted and he was more interested in direct observation of our surrounding.
14
Q
Platos claim on the acquisition of knowledge can be described as
A
• Plato is a rationalist, a nativist, and a dualist:
o he doesn’t trust sensory knowledge at all; says sensory knowledge is merely illusion and opinion
o one must employ reason to gain knowledge (rationalism)
o and the way that works is that reason allows one to gain access to truths already known (but temporarily forgotten) by our immortal souls (nativism and dualism)
14
Q
What are Aristotelian 4 laws of association?
A
Similarity / contrast / contiguity / frequency
15
Q
Aristotles claim on the acquisition of knowledge can be described as
A
• Aristotle is more of an empiricist (although he likes rationality, too):
o he is more trusting of sensory information
o he is more interested in studying nature directly, through observation, rather than retreating into Plato’s abstract realm of the soul.
16
Q
Describe Aristotle’s Similarity law
A
Our minds associate similar things (naturally categorizer / stereotyper)
18
Q
Describe Aristotle’s contrast law
A
thinking of a term like, “cold” brings to mind “hot”. neural pathway illuminating similar terms
19
Q
Describe Aristotle’s contiguity law
A
events that occur in close proximity to each other in time or space are readily associated with each other (closeness)
20
Q
Describe Aristotle’s frequency law
A
a supplement to contiguity, which holds that the more frequently 2 items occur together, the more strongly they are associated.
20
Q
What were the goals of structuralism?
A
(Wundt the rationalist, 1879) to discover “elements” and laws of consciousness
21
Q
What were the methods of structuralism?
A
Systematic introspection (no names, all adjectives)
22
Q
What were the goals of structuralism?
A
(Wundt the rationalist, 1879) to discover “elements” and laws of consciousness / to discover the “elements” of consciousness and the laws whereby those elements form the contents of our minds.
24
Q
What are the limitations to structuralism?
A
Limitations include a lack of objectivity / lack of reliability / inaccurate; does not reveal how mind works / incomplete
25
basic notion of functionalism is?
stemmed as a response to structuralism, which includes darwinism that sees the mind as a set of adaptations; open to various methods of measurement.
26
describe functionalism
assumes that the mind evolved to help us adapt to the world around us and that the focus of psychology / learning should be the study of those adaptive processes
27
compare and contrast functionalism with structuralism
rather than studying the structure of the mind functionalists believed that psychologists should study the adaptive significance of the mind.
28
3 components of darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection
o Variation—within a population or a species, traits vary from one individual to another.
o Competition—resources are limited; not all survive, not all reproduce.
o Heredity—traits tend to be passed on to offspring
29
john b watson and psychology
•Watson didn’t approve of the subjectivity of the introspective approach and he felt that as the science of consciousness, psychology had made no progress and was not providing any useful applications.
•So in his manifesto, “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It,” he proposed that:
the subject matter of psychology should be behavior, not consciousness.
psychology should employ objective methods (not introspection) and focus entirely on objectively observable events.
the goal for psychology should be the prediction and control of behavior, not discerning the structure of the mind.
30
what is the logic underlying methodological behaviorism?
Psychologist should only study behaviors that can be directly observed (no intervening variables)
31
why should psychologists care about philosophical issues?
The philosophical backdrop for much of the material in this course is behaviorism, and the behaviorists favored certain positions on the philosophical issues that we’ll examine. Like everyone else, their adoption of a certain philosophical stance powerfully affected their approach to psychology. So understanding the philosophy will be helpful in understanding why behaviorism took the form that it did.
32
what is the primary issue with dualism theory?
• Dualism has the serious problem that it seems to require violations of fundamental and well-established laws of physics. If the mind is not physical, then it shouldn’t be able to interact with the physical brain. That’s why the mind/body problem is such a problem—if the mind lacks physicality, then it shouldn’t be able to do the things it seems to be able to do, like control our behavior.
33
what is the primary issue with materialism theory?
• Materialism’s problem is that is doesn’t comport with powerful intuitions about the nature of the mind. How can we translate the experience of watching a sunset into action potentials propagating along axons and neurotransmitters leaping across synapses? The exquisite colors, the beauty of it, the subtle emotions—it seems to us that these things can’t be reducible to physical happenings in our brains, even if those physical happenings are necessary conditions for having the subjective experiences.
34
from an evolutionary point of view, how should we think about the mechanisms of learning
•The mechanisms of learning are themselves biological adaptations. Those organisms that were better able to learn about changing and unpredictable environments, and were able to adjust their behavior accordingly, were better able to survive and pass on those traits. So the mechanisms of learning are themselves products of natural selection. This is one way of arguing that we shouldn’t think of it as nature versus nurture; rather our conception should be more like nature via nurture and nurture via nature.
35
what effects did darwinian evolutionary theory have on the development of psychology?
•Evolutionary thinking led to the prominence of functionalism which led to behaviorism. Even though behaviorism generally rejects the nativism of the Darwinian approach, it accepts the importance of animal research and the focus on behavior as a legitimate subject matter.
36
describe structuralism
Structuralism was somewhat dualist (distinguished mental phenomena from physical phenomena) but also tended to be deterministic. Assumed that there were lawful relationships governing mental events, just like there are physical laws.
37
what is the problem with materialism
Materialism’s problem is that is doesn’t comport with powerful intuitions about the nature of the mind. How can we translate the experience of watching a sunset into action potentials propagating along axons and neurotransmitters leaping across synapses? The exquisite colors, the beauty of it, the subtle emotions—it seems to us that these things can’t be reducible to physical happenings in our brains, even if those physical happenings are necessary conditions for having the subjective experiences.
38
what is the logic behind methodological behaviorism? and does this approach limit psychology in terms of what can be studied?
Methodological behaviorism rejects introspection as a method and subjective mental events as subject matter.
and It does so not because such things as perceptions, thoughts, and feelings don’t exist, but because we can’t apply the methods of science to such things; however, it does limit psychology to objectively observable stuff, on the grounds that only objectively observable stuff (such as behavior) is amenable to the methods of science..
39
how do methodologists deal with subjectivity regarding thoughts and feelings?
Subjectivity and mental events such as perceptions, thoughts, and feelings are not denied, but they are generally ignored, except insofar as they can be operationalized as overt behavior (e.g., “thought” as subtle vibrations of the vocal cords).
40
what theory of behavior did watson develop? and how did he propose measurement of complex behaviors?
S-R theory / watson thought that all behavior is under the control of eliciting stimuli, in the same way that reflexive behavior is and that Complex behavior can be reduced to chains of S-R events.
41
watsons stance on nature/nurture issue?
very much an empiricist watson believed that learning experiences determine virtually everything about a person
42
describe clark hull's intervening variables and how is their existence established?
Intervening variables are hypothetical processes that mediate the causal relationships between environment and behavior.
Intervening variables are not observed directly; rather their existence is inferred based upon observations of behavior.
43
hull's theory of learning behavior can be described as
S-R theorist / Hull didn’t ignore internal events; he sought to include them in equations that described the causal relationships between stimulus and response.
44
how did hull describe intervening variables?
For Hull, the intervening variables were mindless, mechanical, hypothetical physiological processes, such as:
o drive—a biological need (Hull’s theory is also a “drive reduction” theory)
o reinforcement—anything that reduces (satisfies) a drive
o habit strength—a function of the frequency of reinforced S-R pairings
o reaction potential—likelihood of a response given some stimulus; equals drive multiplied by habit strength.
45
compare and contrast tolman's approach with hull's
• Tolman also made inferences about internal mediating events (intervening variables)
• But Tolman rejected the S-R approach. He disparagingly referred to Watson’s S-R approach as “S-R muscle-twitchism.”
• The kind of intervening variables that Tolman found evidence for were cognitive:
o expectancies
o purpose
o cognitive maps
• Tolman’s approach is sometimes called “purposive behaviorism” and it is really very similar to cognitive psychology.
46
how did tolman and honzik in 1930 interpret their results on latent learning?
Tolman used such experiments to argue that, contrary to Hull’s claims, reinforcement is not necessary for learning to occur.
47
describe tolman and honzik latent learning experiment
We Actively learn and soak up our environment, but until we find reason to act (reward) we won't perform as well
48
what type of learning did bandura emphasize most?
Bandura emphasized social learning processes, such as observational (or vicarious) learning.
Bandura also emphasized reciprocal interactions between environment, cognitive events, and behavior.
49
contrast bandura with the other behaviorists
for bandura cognitive events such as thoughts and feelings are not merely intervening variables. They can be both causes and effects of behavior.
50
How did Skinner characterize internal events such as perceptions, thoughts, and feelings?
Skinner considers perceiving, thinking, and feeling not to be causes of behavior, but to be behaviors themselves. He calls them “private” behaviors and argues that the same principles apply to them as apply to overt, observable (“public”) behaviors.
51
What were Skinner’s arguments against considering such internal events as the causes of observable behavior?
Skinner gave several reasons against considering internal events to be the causes of behavior. See the textbook for more details. He used the term “mentalism” as a disparaging label for those who speculate about internal events as the causes of behavior.
52
compare and contrast skinner and watson
* Both Watson and Skinner accept determinism (all behavior is caused; no free will)
* Both Watson and Skinner focus on environmental determinants of behavior (empiricism) and minimize biological determinants.
* The big philosophical difference is on the mind/body issue: Watson is ambivalent about that issue; he chooses to ignore it, claiming that it doesn’t make a difference anyway to psychology as the science of behavior. But Skinner argues that once one accepts materialism (which he does), then it must be acknowledged that perceptions, thoughts, and feelings, if they exist (which they do), are themselves physical. So Skinner doesn’t think they should be excluded from scientific psychology.
53
did skinner believe in free will?
Although Skinner rejects the idea of free will and accepts determinism (as do behaviorists in general), that doesn’t mean that we are helpless pawns at the mercy of the environment.
54
what did skinner mean by the term countercontrol
We are capable of learning—changing our behavior as a result of experience.
Among the things that we can learn are behaviors that will change the environment so that more desirable behavior is produced.
So, yes, environmental factors determine behavior, but behavior affects the environment in turn, and it can do so in ways that produce better behavior. AKA countercontrol is the adjusting of environment to elicit positive response (removing junk food from house to eat better)
55
compare and contrast skinner with watson / hull
Skinner rejected the S-R approaches of Watson and Hull. He recognized that some behavior is elicited by stimuli, such as reflexes and conditioned responses; he called such behavior “respondent” behavior. But Skinner argued that most behavior is emitted rather than elicited; in other words, the organism generates a lot of variable responses. These behaviors are “operant,” because they are controlled primarily by the consequences that result from them.
56
compare and contrast tolman and skinner
Skinner also rejects the mentalism of Tolman’s approach. For Skinner, concepts like “expectancy” and “purpose” are indicative of careless thinking. The cause of a rat’s lever pressing is not the expectation that lever pressing will result in food, though Skinner doesn’t deny that the rat might have such an expectation. Rather, the rat presses the lever (and possibly has beliefs and expectations about lever pressing) because lever pressing has been reinforced in the past. The beliefs and expectations, if they exist, are not the causes of behavior; they are effects of the reinforcement history, just like the overt behavior.
57
what influence did darwinian thinking have on skinner's approach? and where did skinner stand on the nature / nurture issue?
• Although Skinner clearly stands on the nurture side of the nature/nurture issue, he was heavily influenced by Darwinian thinking.
• Skinner intentionally modeled his approach to learning on Darwin’s analysis of natural selection. Skinner points out that behavior varies from moment to moment, some behavior is more effective (i.e., it gets reinforced), and reinforced behavior is more likely to be repeated.
• So behavior propagates in a manner similar to the propagation of hereditary traits. The difference is that learning results from changes in a single organism within its lifetime, whereas evolution takes place across generations and much longer spans of time.
• Although Skinner emphasizes environmental determinants, he allows that genetic factors make a difference.
• Skinner also tries to reconcile nature and nurture by arguing that in both cases any change that occurs is ultimately attributable to the environment:
o learning (nurture) is the environment affecting behavior within the lifetime of an individual
o evolution (nature) is the environment selecting genes that affect behavior over longer spans of time.
58
what did skinner mean by referring to his scientific method as experimental analysis of behavior?
* Skinner advocated an experimental approach in which environmental variables are manipulated (independent variables) and the effect on behavior is measured (dependent variables).
* Like Watson, Skinner believed that the proper goal for psychology is the prediction and control of behavior.
* Skinner’s approach was atheoretical, which means that he didn’t believe that theorizing was important or even useful. For Skinner, determining the functional relationships between environmental variables and behavior was sufficient, and a researcher should be free to explore such relationships without necessity of being guided by theory.
59
what does contiguity mean and give 2 examples
Contiguity means something like “closeness.” It can refer to:
o spatial contiguity—closeness in spatial location; like two houses side by side, or stink on a monkey, etc.
o temporal contiguity—closeness in time; like lightning and thunder. This is the sense of contiguity that will be most important in this class.
60
what does contingency mean?
Contingency refers to a predictive or dependent relationship between two events, such that if one occurs, the other is more likely to occur.
61
give 2 examples of a contingent relationship between 2 events that arent contiguous
* Lighting and thunder are contiguous; there is also a contingent relationship. Thunder is contingent upon lightning.
* But not all contingent relationships are also contiguous. Poor diet and bad habits such as smoking can lead to serious health consequences in the distant future. So future health is contingent upon current behavior. (One of the reasons bad habits are hard to break is that we don’t adapt well to relationships that are not contiguous, even when we understand the contingencies very well!)
62
Let’s say you wanted to examine whether a pigeon learns to respond differently to a 5-s keylight presentation that is followed immediately by food compared to a 5-s keylight presentation that is not followed by food.
explain results
Randomly assign pigeons to two groups:
o Pigeons in the experimental group receive trials in which a 5-s keylight presentation is followed immediately by food.
o Pigeons in the control group receive trials in which a 5-s keylight presentation is followed by nothing.
Results would be analyzed by calculating average amount of pecking for each group, and performing the appropriate inferential statistical test (such as a t-test) to determine whether the difference is statistically significant.
63
using a single comparison (AB) design explain the procedure and results of a 5s keylight presentation?
• Use a small number of pigeons, and treat each pigeon as an experiment. So if you use 6 pigeons, that is 6 replications of the same single-subject experiment.
• Each pigeon receives two phases of training:
o The first phase is the baseline (A) phase, in which a keylight is presented for 5-s on each trial, followed by nothing.
o The second phase is the treatment (B) phase, in which a keylight is presented for 5-s and followed immediately by food on each trial.
• Results would be analyzed by plotting on a graph the amount of pecking that occurred during each session. Visual inspection of the graph reveals if there was a large change in behavior in Phase B compared to Phase A.
64
does the single comparison design eliminate the possibility that change in behavior were due to some other extraneous factor other than the independent variable?
• The single comparison design does not eliminate the possibility that changes in behavior were due to some extraneous factor other than the independent variable. Perhaps the pigeon began pecking because it was more active and comfortable in the experimental chamber near the end of the experiment than it was at the beginning.
65
using a reveral (ABAB) design explain the procedure and results of a 5s keylight presentation?
• The experiment would be set up in the same way as described in the previous AB design, except that after the second phase, the baseline (A) phase (keylight, no food) would be repeated, then the treatment (B) phase (keylight paired with food) would be repeated.
66
describe the benefits of the ABAB reversal design
• This design eliminates the concerns over confounding by things such as the passage of time. If the behavior changes in concert with the changes in phase, then it is unlikely that something other than the independent variable is causing the changes in behavior.
67
describe the drawbacks of the reversal ABAB design
• However, it should be noted that the reversal design is not always possible:
o In some cases, the treatment produces irreversible changes, so that returning to baseline conditions does not restore baseline levels of behavior.
o In other cases, it can be unethical to return to baseline. For example, if the treatment was reversing a disease and saving a life, but returning to baseline might undo that progress, it would be unethical to stop the treatment merely in order to finish the experiment.
68
using a discrete trials design explain the procedure and results of a 5s keylight presentation?
• The discrete trials approach is also an example of a single-subject experimental design. So as with baseline designs, you would use a small number of pigeons, each of which will get both the experimental and control conditions.
69
how would a discrete trials design experiment be set up and its results analyzed?
* The difference is that the experimental and control conditions are not presented in different phases; rather they are intermixed within each session.
* So in each session there would be some trials in which one keylight (say a blue keylight) was followed immediately by food, and other trials in which a different keylight (say a yellow keylight) was followed by nothing.
* Like with baseline designs, the results are analyzed by preparing graphs, separately for each subject, and visually inspecting the graphs to see if there are big differences in behavior between the conditions.
70
Why are animals sometimes used as subjects in psychological research?
Animals may sometimes make it easier to get at basic processes, because they are simpler. Consider the advantages of using Aplysia to study the neural mechanisms of habituation and sensitization—much easier to figure out its nervous system than a human’s.
71
what are the advantages of ussing animals?
• Greater experimental control:
o ability to control genetics
o ability to control learning history and gain precise control over environmental conditions
o fewer concerns regarding demand characteristics (subject reactivity, etc.)
• Fewer restrictions over the kinds of manipulations that can be performed (e.g., drug research, ablation research, etc.)
72
what are the limitations of using animals
• There is always the question of applicability to humans:
o In many cases, what is learned in animals has been applicable to humans.
o But this isn’t always the case, and it can’t be assumed that it will be the case.
73
further limitations of using animals as test subjects include
* Humans have some characteristics, such as language, that can’t be investigated in animals.
* Even in animal research, there are limits to what is legally allowed, and researchers have an obligation to consider the ethics of their research. Some argue that despite the potential for advances in knowledge, we should not subject animals to treatments that we would consider unethical if applied to humans. There is nothing invalid about this argument; it reflects an ethical stance that doesn’t deny any facts but considers animals deserving of the same moral consideration as humans.
74
CER=?
emotional fear response
75
although contiguity is necessary it is not___?
sufficient alone
76
what does it mean to say that a behavior is elicited?
From the textbook: “an elicited behavior is one that is automatically drawn out by a certain stimulus” (p. 92).
• So when we talk about elicited behaviors, we’re talking about S-R (stimulus-response) relationships. (Although the underlying process, in some cases, might be more complex that simple S-R reflexes).
77
what is a reflex?
• From the textbook: “a reflex is a relatively simple, automatic response to a stimulus” (p. 92).
78
what is the general characteristics of reflexes?
• Characteristics:
o innate (doesn’t have to be learned)
o elicited by a particular stimulus or class of stimuli.
o fairly rigid, stereotyped response.
o often involves very direct neural pathways (the reflex arc).
o usually has considerable adaptive value; survival value.
79
what are some examples of reflexes?
baby finger to cheek turn motion for easy teet pop
80
what is a fixed action pattern?
From the textbook: “A fixed action pattern is a fixed sequence of responses elicited by a specific stimulus” (p. 94).
81
What are the general characteristics of fixed action patterns?
• Characteristics:
o innate (doesn’t have to be learned)
o elicited by a particular stimulus or class of stimuli (called a “releaser” or “sign stimulus”).
o fairly rigid, stereotyped response.
o usually has considerable adaptive value; survival value.
82
how is a fixed action pattern different from a reflex?
o a fixed action pattern is more complex; it often involves a sequence of responses.
o fixed action patterns are often unique to a particular species.
83
what are some examples of fixed action patterns?
V shaped formation flying by ducks
84
what is habituation?
• Habituation is a decrease in the magnitude of an elicited response as a function of repeated exposures to the eliciting stimulus.
85
what are some habituation examples?
to all kinds of minor stimuli like the click of the clocks in our classrooms
86
when is habituation likely to occur?
* Habituation is most likely when the eliciting stimulus is not too intense, and particularly when it is harmless and irrelevant.
* This is adaptive; we wouldn’t function very well if we couldn’t learn to disregard irrelevant stimuli.
87
to what extent does habituation tend to generalize to other stimuli?
• Habituation tends not to generalize to other stimuli. It is stimulus specific; confined to the particular S-R pathway that has been habituated. For example, if one is habituated to a grandfather clock and someone replaces it with a cuckoo clock, the person will have to become habituated to the new sound all over again.
88
what is sensitization?
• Sensitization is an increase in the magnitude of an elicited response as a function of repeated exposures to the eliciting stimulus.
89
what is an example of sensitization?
combat soldiers who may become sensitized to the sound of artillery shells. or a dog becoming sensitized to thunder
90
when is sensitization likely to occur?
* Sensitization is most likely when the eliciting stimulus is quite intense, and it is particularly likely where the eliciting stimulus is actually painful or potentially harmful.
* This is also adaptive; it is important to learn to respond vigorously to environmental threats.
91
to what extent does sensitization tend to generalize to other stimuli
* Sensitization generalizes very broadly. When a person is sensitized to a particular stimulus, the person will tend to be highly responsive to virtually any change in the stimulus environment. Even stimuli to which a person would normally habituate might elicit startle responses.
* Long-term sensitization is part of the spectrum of difficulties characterizing post-traumatic stress syndrome.
92
describe short term habituation
develops only a short term stimulus presentation, but reoccurs in similar results with next day
- lasts only several minutes
- results from decreased calcium current in the presynaptic neuron and reduced neurotransmitter release
93
describe long term habituation
develops with repeated short term habituation sessions.
- responses lasts more than a few days, but slowly response is steadily ignored with each session
- results from pruning of synaptic connections between sensory and motor neurons.
94
describe short term sensitization
develops over a few stimulus presentations / lasts only several minutes / results from increased serotonin release throughout neurons system which causes action potentials to last longer (spike broadening) which results in more neurotransmitter release into synaptic cleft
95
describe longterm sensitization
think PTSD / develops with repeated short term sensitization / can last several weeks
96
what is overshadowing?
when 2 neutral stimuli are presented simultaneously (a compound CS), followed by a US.
So it is said that the more intense stimulus overshadows the less intense one.
97
what is blocking?
Blocking occurs when one CS has already been paired with a US, then another stimulus is compounded with the original CS and the compound is followed by food.
• The result is that while the original CS continues to be able to elicit a CR when tested alone, no conditioning develops to the new CS. When the new CS is tested alone, no CR results.
• So we say that the original CS blocks learning about the new CS when the two are presented as a compound.
98
how is blocking different from overshadowing?
```
In overshadowing, the more intense CS wins all the conditioning; in blocking, the CS that was already paired with the US wins all the conditioning.
A two-group experiment can demonstrate that blocking is at work rather than overshadowing. For example:
o Group 1 - Phase 1 – light : shock
Phase 2 – [light+tone] : shock
Result – fear of light but not tone
o Group 2 - Phase 1 – tone : shock
Phase 2 – [light+tone] : shock
Result – fear of tone but not light
```
99
what is latent inhibition?
* Latent inhibition occurs when a neutral stimulus is presented repeatedly by itself prior to pairing it with a US.
* This makes it more difficult (but not impossible) to get conditioning to the neutral stimulus.
100
what other mechanism of learning might account for latent inhibition?
• Habituation could account for this; when a neutral stimulus is presented repeatedly, habituation will tend to occur. So when the neutral stimulus is paired with the US, the subject continues to ignore the neutral stimulus and conditioning is thereby inhibited.
101
What do all of the phenomena in this section indicate about the role of contiguity in classical conditioning?
• With the possible exception of taste aversion learning, temporal contiguity between CS and US is necessary.
102
Is temporal contiguity between the NS and the US necessary to obtain conditioning? Is temporal contiguity between the NS and the US sufficient; in other words, if an NS and a US are temporally contiguous, does that guarantee that the NS will become a CS and elicit a CR?
• it is necessary but not sufficient – overshadowing, blocking, and latent inhibition all involve situations in which a stimulus is closely followed by a US but conditioning does not occur.
103
what is temporal conditioning?
• When a US is presented at regular intervals, a CR will develop as the time approaches. (the CS is time)
104
what is US revaluation?
* After conditioning, various manipulations can make the US either more intense (US inflation) or less intense (US deflation).
* Tests on the CS show that its value is also instantaneously altered in the corresponding direction.
105
what is pseudoconditioning?
• When aversive or emotionally arousing USs are used, they can result in sensitization, so what appears to be a CR might just be sensitization (recall that sensitization generalizes broadly). This is known as pseudoconditioning.
106
what mechanism of learning might account for pseudoconditioning?
• This means that there needs to be a control group in which both stimuli (CS and US) are presented, but not together.
107
what does acquisition mean?
• As with many of the terms in this section, acquisition can refer either to a procedure or to the behavior change that results from that procedure:
o Procedure- CS : US pairings
o Result- development over time of a CR
108
what is the typical pattern of acquisition?
• Typical pattern is negatively accelerated curve (the learning curve):
o Learning occurs most rapidly in the initial trials.
o The maximum strength of CR is the asymptote, which is a function primarily of US magnitude (and to a lesser degree a function of CS magnitude).
(bellcurve rise)
109
what does the term extinction refer to?
• Once conditioning (acquisition) has taken place, the CR can be weakened using extinction:
o Procedure- repeatedly present the CS without the US.
o Result- the CR gradually weakens and disappears
110
what is spontaneous recovery?
• After extinction is complete (the response has been extinguished), if the subject is removed from the testing environment for a period of time (usually a day), then returned and the CS is presented again (still without the US), the previously extinguished CR will return (although not necessarily full force).
111
how does spontaneous recovery change over repeated sessions of extinction?
• With repeated sessions of extinction training, the extent of spontaneous recovery diminishes each time, until eventually even spontaneous recovery extinguishes.
112
Once a response has been completely extinguished, what happens if the CS is once again paired with the US?
* Re-acquisition generally occurs more rapidly than the initial acquisition.
* This demonstrates that even complete extinction of a CR does not entirely eradicate the previous learning.
113
What theory of extinction accounts not only for extinction but for spontaneous recovery and rapid re-acquisition?
• First, a theory that fails to explain these phenomena—the so-called “erasure” theory:
o Begins with the hypothesis that conditioning involves learning a connection between CS and US (an internal association).
o Then hypothesizes that this internal association is gradually erased during extinction.
o But it is hard to see how this theory could account for spontaneous recovery or the rapidity of re-acquisition.
• So Pavlov developed the “inhibition” theory:
o Also begins with the hypothesis that conditioning involves learning a connection between CS and US; specifically, an excitatory connection.
o During extinction, another type of connection forms between the CS and the US—an inhibitory connection. So eventually the inhibitory connection cancels out the excitatory connection.
o But the inhibitory connection decays more rapidly than the excitatory connection, so after a rest period, the excitatory connection will be relatively stronger and spontaneous recovery occurs.
114
what is stimulus generalization?
o “In classical conditioning, stimulus generalization is the tendency for a CR to occur in the presence of a stimulus that is similar to the CS” (p. 134).
o Stimulus discrimination is the tendency for the CR to be weak or absent to stimuli different from the CS.
• When stimuli can be arranged along a continuum (such as tone frequency) and one value along that continuum is used as a CS, a plot of the amount of generalization to other stimulus values will form a bell shaped function known as the generalization gradient.
• But generalization can be enhanced simply by pairing more than one stimulus along the continuum with the US.
115
describe discrimination
• And discrimination can be enhanced by providing extinction training for a couple of stimuli along the continuum other than the CS. In discrimination training, the stimulus paired with the US is often called the CS+, and the stimulus or stimuli presented without the US are called CS-.
116
what is higher order conditioning?
• Two phases of training:
o 1) CS1 : US
o 2) CS2 : CS1
• The interesting thing is that the second order CS (CS2) becomes able to elicit a CR, even though it was never paired with the US.
• This demonstrates that once a CS is conditioned, it can serve as a sort of surrogate US, at least for a while.
• But the strength of the response is not the same for each eliciting stimulus: It will be strongest for the US, next strongest for the CS1, and weakest for CS2.
117
How could one use higher-order conditioning to make a rat afraid of a flashing light without ever directly pairing the flashing light with an aversive US such as electric shock?
• So if the CS2 is a flashing light, we could use a tone as the CS1 and shock as the US; after both phases of training, the rat would be afraid of the flashing light, even though it was never directly paired with shock.
118
what is sensory preconditioning?
• Two phases of training:
o 1) NS2 : NS1
o 2) NS1 : US
• In essence, this is the same training as in higher-order conditioning, except that the order of the phases is reversed.
• After both phases of training are completed, tests with the NS2 reveal that it elicits a CR.
119
what does sensory preconditioning demonstrate?
* it demonstrates that learning occurs when two stimuli are paired, even if both are neutral and no response is evident at that point of the training. So this is an example of latent learning.
* As in higher-order conditioning, the strength of the CR is graded.
120
What’s the main difference between higher-order conditioning and sensory preconditioning?
the order of the phases
121
describe pavlovs procedure for investigating salivary conditioning
• Pavlov used many different stimuli, but we’ll consider an example using a bell as the NS/CS and food as the US. The subject is a dog.
• Steps:
o Present bell; measure baseline salivation.
o Pair bell with food repeatedly.
o Measure salivation to bell. Has the bell become able to elicit salivation? Two ways to measure:
• Omit food on occasional test trials, measure salivation elicited by bell.
• Measure salivation while bell is ringing but before food is presented.
122
what are the terms that describe the elements of classical conditioning procedure?
* Conditioned stimulus (CS) – the bell (can also be called a neutral stimulus—NS—prior to conditioning)
* Unconditioned stimulus (US) – the food
* Unconditioned response (UR) – salivation elicited by the food (not learned, reflexive)
* Conditioned response (CR) – salivation elicited by the bell, by virtue of the bell having been repeatedly paired with the food (learned).
123
what are the 2 categories of US that can be used in classical conditioning?
* Appetitive conditioning: the US is something pleasant such as food, water, addictive drugs, sexual stimuli.
* Aversive conditioning: the US is something unpleasant such as electric shock, other stimuli causing pain or discomfort, bad odors, annoying sounds, etc.
124
How is the CER procedure used to measure fear conditioning with an aversive US?
* CER stands for conditioned emotional response.
* When you hear “CER procedure,” immediately think: rat study with electric shock as the US. Often, but not always, the CS will be an auditory stimulus like a tone.
* The rat is first trained on an operant task: pressing a lever to obtain food pellets.
* Then the classical conditioning takes place while the rat is working at the lever—the tone is repeatedly paired with an electric shock.
* As the rat learns to fear the tone, this is evident in its rate of lever pressing. The more afraid the rat is, the less it presses the lever. What is commonly seen is that after several pairings of the tone and shock, the rat immediately stops pressing the lever as soon as the tone begins.
* This can be quantified as the suppression ratio (see textbook for calculations).
125
what are the 2 types of contingent relationships that can be produced between an NS and US?
* Excitatory conditioning—when the CS is presented, the US will be presented.
* Inhibitory conditioning—when the CS is presented, the US will be removed or will not be presented.
126
when we combine aversive and appetitive US with excitatory and inhibitory, how many classical conditioning procedures result?
• Four classical conditioning procedures:
o Excitatory appetitive conditioning, such as the standard Pavlovian example of pairing a bell with food. In this case the CR is similar to the UR (salivation).
o Excitatory aversive conditioning, such as the CER procedure, in which a tone is paired with electric shock. In this case the CR is similar to the UR (fear).
o Inhibitory appetitive conditioning, such as the pairing between your alarm clock (CS) and your cozy bed (US). Since you love your cozy bed, you learn to hate the alarm clock that signals the removal of the bed. Notice that the CR (hate alarm) is opposite the UR (love bed).
o Inhibitory aversive conditioning, such as when a light (CS) signals that a rat is now safe from electric shock (US). The CR that develops to the light will be the opposite of fear (relief or elation or something like that) as indicated by an increase in lever pressing for food pellets during presentation of the light.
127
what are the 4 temporal arrangements of stimuli?
delayed / trace / simultaneous / backward
128
describe delayed conditioning
• Delayed conditioning—CS onset precedes US onset, but US onset precedes CS offset, so that the stimuli overlap at least a bit in time. Generally produces strong conditioning.
129
describe trace conditioning
• Trace conditioning—CS onset and offset precede US onset, so that there is no overlap between the stimuli and usually there is a gap in time between them. The gap between CS and US is called the trace interval. Generally produces strong conditioning IF the trace interval is quite short and the intertrial interval is fairly long.
130
describe backwards conditioning
• Backward conditioning—US onset precedes CS onset (the stimulus can either overlap or the US can end before the CS begins). Generally produces weak conditioning or no conditioning at all.
131
describe simultaneous conditioning
• Simultaneous conditioning—CS onset and US onset occur at the same time (often CS offset and US offset are simultaneous too, but that isn’t required). Generally produces weak conditioning or no conditioning at all.
