Ch 5 - Operant Learning

The process by which an organism learns to produce a specific response in order to avoid or obtain an outcome is:

operant conditioning

A conditioning chamber called a _____ delivers reinforcement or punishment automatically whenever an animal makes a particular response.

skinner box

Discriminative stimuli are:

signal whether a particular response will lead to a particular outcome.

Which item is an example of a primary reinforcer?

water

If an organism expects its favorite reinforcer but receives a less-preferred reinforcer, the phenomenon of negative _____ predicts that the organism may respond less than if it had received that less-preferred reinforcer at the start.

contrast

The process of providing consequences for a behavior that decreases the probability of that behavior is called:

punishment

Positive reinforcement involves _____ an outcome to _____ a behavior.

adding; increase

The dorsal striatum seems to be particularly important for learning which association(s) in operant conditioning?

S^D–R

The orbitofrontal cortex is particularly important for learning:

to predict the outcomes of behaviors.

Which area of the brain was informally known as the "pleasure center" after Olds's experiment where the rats "liked" the electrical stimulation?

ventral tegmental area

In the case of Thorndike's cats learning to escape from a puzzle box, the discriminative stimulus (S^D) was _____, and the response (R) was _____.

the box; their movements that opened the door

operant conditioning

the process where organisms learn to make or avoid making certain responses in order to obtain or avoid an outcome (rats sniffing out bombs for banana)

discriminative stimulus S^D

in operant conditioning, a stimulus indicating that a particular response (R) may lead to a particular outcome (O)

If the outcome is desirable or pleasant, the response will __

increase in frequency

strengthens S^D → R

In classical conditioning, organisms experience an outcome __

whether or not they perform the conditioned response (CR)

In operant conditioning, organisms experience an outcome __

depending on whether the organism performs the response (R)

discrete trials paradigm

operant conditioning paradigm where the experimenter defines beginning and end points of each trial

free-operant paradigm

animal can operate apparatus freely, prevents experimenter from repeatedly returning animal to start, to obtain reinforcement or avoid punishment

Discriminative stimulus

help learner discriminate the conditions in which a response will be followed by a certain outcome

ex. starter whistle for swimmers is the DS signaling the dive response will now result in a good outcome

shaping

reinforcing successive approximations to the desired response

ex. rat will act normal in cage bit when it walks near food tray, experimenter drops in food leading to association

chaining

organisms are gradually trained one step at a time to execute complicated sequences of discrete responses

ex. boppit

reinforcer

consequence of behavior that leads to increased likely of that behavior in the future

ex. food reinforcer to hungry animal, repeating that behavior will lead to more food

punisher

consequence of behavior that leads to decreased liklihood of that behavior in the future

ex. rat will stop pulling lever if it gets shocked each time it does

primary reinforcer

food, water, sleep, sex - of biological value to an organism

drive reduction theory

proposes that all learning reflects our natural biological need to obtain primary reinforcers

negative contrast

the reinforcing value of one reward is reduced because a better reward is expected

ex. rats response plummets bc it received pellets over sugar water

secondary reinforcer

initially have no biological value, but paired with something that does

ex. money! can be spent in exchange for any primary reinforcer

token economy

an environment in which tokens play a part as real world money

ex. chuck e cheeses, prison, school

differential reinforcement of alternative behaviors (DRA)

rewarding preferred behaviors as opposed to punishing unwanted behaviors

positive reinforcement

S^D (dinnertime) → R (Becky sets the table) → O (praise from her parents)

positive punishment

S^D (soap on thumb) → R (annie sucks her thumb) → (bitter taste)

negative reinforcement

causes undesirable thing to be removed from environment

S^D (headache) → R (take advil) → (headache gone)

negative punishment

response can cause desired element to be removed or taken away, over time response becomes less frequent

S^D (recess) → R (aggressive behavior) → O (loss of playtime)

reinforcement schedule

schedule that determines how often reinforcement is delivered in operant conditioning

continuous reinforcement schedules

every instance of the response is followed by the reinforcer

partial reinforcement schedule

only some instances of the response are followed by reinforcer

fixed-ratio (FR) schedule

a fixed number of responses must be made before a reinforcer is delivered, reinforcement arrives after every 5th response

post reinforcement pause

short break in responding after a reinforcement

fixed-interval (FI) schedule

reinforces the first response after a fixed amount of time

ex. health bar going up in rd2 after resting

variable-ratio (VR) schedule

provides reinforcement after a certain average number of responses

ex. slot machine

variable-interval (VI) schedule

reinforces the first response after an interval that averages a particular length of time

ex. waiting on a text, reward comes at unpredictable interval time

matching law of choice behavior

an organism will respond between two things at the rate of whichever thing is more quickly reinforced

closely mimic the relative rates of reinforcement

ex. pigeon choosing feeder that releases every 1 min instead of one with 2 min wait

basal ganglia

brain region that lies at the base of forebrain and includes the dorsal striatum

dorsal striatum

receives highly processed stimulus information from the sensory cortex and projects it to the motor cortex, producing a response

orbitofrontal cortex

contributes to goal-directed behavior by representing predicted outcomes

hedonic value

how much we “like” something, “goodness” of a reinforcer

motivational value

how much we “want” it

insular cortex

brain region involved in conscious awareness of bodily and emotional states, may play a role in signaling the aversive value of stimuli

dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC)

the worse the consequences of an error, the greater the motivation to change behavior

may play a value in the motivational region of pain

endogenous opioid

naturally occurring neurotransmitter-like substances that have many of the same effects as opiate drugs

substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc)

part of the basal ganglia that contains dopamine-producing neurons projecting to the striatum