Stimulus control of behaviour Flashcards
Lecture 3 (17 cards)
What is Thorndike’s Law of Effect?
Responses followed by satisfying outcomes become more likely in the same context; responses followed by discomfort become less likely.
What is S-R learning?
Stimulus-Response learning is habitual; behaviour is triggered by specific stimuli due to past reinforcement.
What is a discriminative stimulus (Sd)?
A stimulus that signals whether a particular response will be reinforced or punished.
What is generalisation in S-R learning?
Conditioned responses occur in the presence of stimuli similar to the original Sd, with strength decreasing as similarity decreases.
What is discrimination training?
Training the subject to respond differently to stimuli based on their reinforcement history.
What is successive discrimination training?
Training where stimuli are presented one at a time to teach discrimination between them.
What is the peak shift effect?
After discrimination training, subjects may respond more strongly to a stimulus farther from the non-reinforced stimulus than the original Sd.
Can discriminative stimuli be abstract concepts?
Yes, they can include categories or concepts, not just physical stimuli.
How does learning by exemplar improve category learning?
Exposure to more examples within a category improves the ability to generalise and accurately classify novel stimuli.
What is stimulus control of behaviour?
Behaviour is influenced by environmental stimuli; controlling these stimuli can help shape or change behaviour.
How can reinforcement be used to form new habits?
By consistently pairing desired behaviours with frequent triggers and reinforcement, new habits can be formed.
What is the Partial Reinforcement Extinction Effect (PREE)?
Behaviours reinforced intermittently are more resistant to extinction than those reinforced continuously.
How does a non-reinforced trial act as a discriminative stimulus in PREE?
It signals that reinforcement is not guaranteed, which paradoxically strengthens persistence during extinction.
What is a generalisation gradient?
A curve showing how response strength decreases as stimuli differ more from the original Sd.
What are complex discriminations?
Discriminations based on combinations of features like size, shape, number, or similarity/difference.
What other factors can act as behavioural triggers besides an Sd?
• Date/Time: Hour, day, season.
• Context/Setting Events: Activities, moods, or events occurring during behaviour.
How can stimulus control be used to manage behaviour?
• Link desired behaviours to specific times/places.
• Rearrange environments to support or inhibit behaviours.
• Reduce exposure to triggers of unwanted behaviours.
