terminology

Question 1

learning

Answer 1

driven by experience enduring change in behaviours/knowledge

Question 2

conditioning

Answer 2

learning connections between events occurring in an organism’s environment.

• a type of learning that requires recognizing difference relationships between stimuli and environments.

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT an example of learning?

1. accommodation reflex
2. braking behind another car
3. newborn baby crying after birth

Answer 3

Newborn baby crying after birth is NOT an example of learning because it is something that babies do automatically. (they are not aware that there is a reward if they stop crying)

Question 4

acquisition

Answer 4

refers to the initial stage of learning something.

Question 5

antecedent

Answer 5

are events that typically precede the target response.

Question 6

avoidance learning

Answer 6

an organism acquires a response that prevents some aversive stimulation from occurring.

Question 7

behavioural modification

Answer 7

is a systematic approach to changing behaviour through the application of the principles of conditioning.

Question 8

classical conditioning

Answer 8

a type of learning in which a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus.

Question 9

conditioned reinforcer

Answer 9

are events that acquire reinforcing qualities by being associated with primary reinforcers.

Question 10

conditioned response

Answer 10

is a learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus that occurs because of previous conditioning.

Question 11

conditioned stimulus

Answer 11

a previously neutral stimulus that has, through conditioning, acquired the capacity to evoke a conditioned response.

Question 12

conditioning

Answer 12

involves learning connections between events that occur in an organism’s environment.

Question 13

continuous reinforcement

Answer 13

occurs when every instance of a designated response is reinforced.

Question 14

cumulative recorder

Answer 14

creates a graphic record of responding and reinforcement in a Skinner box as a function of time.

Question 15

elicit

Answer 15

(drawn forth)

Question 16

emit

Answer 16

means to send forth

Question 17

escape learning

Answer 17

an organism acquires a response that decreases or ends some aversive stimulation.

Question 18

evaluative conditioning

Answer 18

refers to changes in the liking of a stimulus that result from pairing that stimulus with other positive or negative stimuli.

Question 19

extinction

Answer 19

the gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response tendency.

Question 20

fixed ratio schedule

Answer 20

the reinforcer is given after a fixed number of nonreinforced responses.

Question 21

higher-order conditioning

Answer 21

in which a conditioned stimulus functions as if it were an unconditioned stimulus.

Question 22

instinctive drift

Answer 22

occurs when an animal’s innate response tendencies interfere with conditioning processes.

Question 23

intermittent reinforcement

Answer 23

occurs when a designated response is reinforced only some of the time.

Question 24

latent learning

Answer 24

learning that is not apparent from behaviour when it first occurs.

Question 25

law of effect

Answer 25

According to the law of effect if a response in the presence of a stimulus leads to satisfying effects, the association between the stimulus and the response is strengthened.

Question 26

mirror neurons

Answer 26

are neurons that are activated by performing an action or by seeing another monkey or person perform the same action.

Question 27

negative punishment

Answer 27

involves the removal of a rewarding stimulus.

Question 28

negative reinforcement

Answer 28

occurs when a response is strengthened because it is followed by the removal of an aversive (unpleasant) stimulus.

Question 29

observant learning

Answer 29

occurs when an organism’s responding is influenced by the observation of others, who are called models.

Question 30

observant chamber

Answer 30

is a small enclosure in which an animal can make a specific response that is recorded while the consequences of the response are systematically controlled.

Question 31

operant conditioning

Answer 31

is a form of learning in which responses come to be controlled by their consequences.

Question 32

partial reinforcement

Answer 32

occurs when a designated response is reinforced only some of the time.

Question 33

phobia

Answer 33

are irrational fears of specific objects or situations.

Question 34

positive punishment

Answer 34

involved the presentation of an aversive stimulus

Question 35

positive reinforcement

Answer 35

occurs when a response is strengthened because it is followed by the presentation of a rewarding stimulus.

Question 36

preparedness

Answer 36

involves a species-specific predisposition to be conditioned in certain ways and not others.

Question 37

primary reinforcers

Answer 37

are events that are inherently reinforcing because they satisfy biological needs.

Question 38

punishment

Answer 38

occurs when an event following a response weakens the tendency to make that response.

Question 39

renewal effect

Answer 39

if a response is extinguished in a different environment than it was acquired, the extinguished response will reappear if the animal is returned to the original environment where acquisition took place.

Question 39

reinforcement

Answer 39

occurs when an event following a response increases an organism’s tendency to make that response.

Question 40

resistance to extinction

Answer 40

occurs when an organism continues to make a response after delivery of the reinforcer has been terminated.

Question 41

schedule of reinforcement

Answer 41

determines which occurrences of a specific response result in the presentation of a reinforcer.

Question 42

secondary reinforcers

Answer 42

are events that acquire reinforcing qualities by being associated with primary reinforcers.

Question 43

shaping

Answer 43

which consists of the reinforcement of closer and closer approximations of a desired response.

Question 44

Skinner box

Answer 44

is a small enclosure in which an animal can make a specific response that is recorded while the consequences of the response are systematically controlled.

Question 45

spontaneous recovery

Answer 45

is the reappearance of an extinguished response after a period of nonexposure to the conditioned stimulus.

Question 46

stimulus discrimination

Answer 46

occurs when an organism that has learned a response to a specific stimulus does not respond in the same way to new stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus.

Question 47

stimulus generalization

Answer 47

generalization occurs when an organism that has learned a response to a specific stimulus responds in the same way to new stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus.

Question 48

trial

Answer 48

in classical conditioning consists of any presentation of a stimulus or pair of stimuli.

Question 49

unconditioned response

Answer 49

is an unlearned reaction to an unconditioned stimulus that occurs without previous conditioning.

Question 50

unconditioned stimulus

Answer 50

is a stimulus that evokes an unconditioned response without previous conditioning.

Question 51

variable ratio schedule

Answer 51

the reinforcer is given after a variable number of nonreinforced responses.