PSYCH EXAM 2

classical conditioning

a type of learning where an organism learns to associate with two stimuli

unconditioned stimulus (us)

something that naturally triggers a response

unconditioned response (ur)

the natural, automatic response

conditioned stimulus (cs)

something initially neutral that becomes associated with the unconditioned stimulus

conditioned response

the learned response to the conditioned stimulus

acquisition

learning the association

extinction

the learned response weakens

spontaneous recovery

the response comes back

reacquisition

relearning the association

habituation

when an organism gradually stops responding to a repeated stimulus that has not meaningful consequence

amplitude

strength of response

probability

how often the response occurs

latency

time until the response occurs

spontaneous recovery happens because

during a rest period, some of the inhibitory association weakens, allowing the original excitatory association to produce a response again

excitatory association

develops during acquisition —> the dog learns that the bell predicts food —> this association remains even after extinction

inhibitory association

develops during extinction —> the dog learns that the bell is no longer followed by food —> this inhibits the original conditioned response

strength of conditioned response

excitation - inhibition

contiguity

how close together in in time the conditioned response and unconditioned stimulus are presented

optimal time interval

the amount of time between the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus that produces the strongest conditioned response

second order conditoning

an organism first learns an association between a conditioned and an unconditioned stimulus, then a new stimulus is paired with the established conditioned stimulus

sensory prediction

two neutral stimuli are paired before either is associated with the unconditioned stimulus

generalization

when stimuli that are similar to the original conditioned stimulus produce similar responses

discrimination

when an organism learns to respond differently to different stimuli

preparatory conditioned response

the conditioned response is the opposite of the unconditioned response

backward conditioning

occurs when the unconditioned stimulus is presented before the conditioned stimulus

pavlov’s view

classical conditoning produces a conditioned relfex

modern view

the conditioned stimulus provides info about the unconditioned stimulus, allowing the organism to predict what will happen

contingency

how much the presence of the conditioned stimulus changes the likelihood of the unconditioned stimulus occurring

robert escola experiment

three groups of rats heard a tone and received a shock 40% of the time

group 1: shock without tone was 40%

group 2: shock without the tone was 20%

group 3: shock without the tone was 10%

group three had the strongest fear response

split brain studies

examine what happens when the corpus callosum which connects the brain’s two hemispheres is severed

left hemisphere

language abilities

right hemisphere

spatial abilities

right visual field

information goes to the left hemisphere

left visual field

information goes to the right hemisphere

operant conditioning

involves learning through the consequences of behavior

thorndike’s puzzle box experiment (law of effect)

thorndike places a cat into a box

cat had to press a lever to escape

initially cat tried different behaviors randomly

eventually it learned that pressing the lever opens the box

with repeated trials, the cat learned to press the lever quicker

reinforcement

consequences that strengthen a behavior

punishment

consequences that weaken a behavior

positive reinforcement

add something to increase behavior

negative reinforcment

remove something to increase behavior

positive punishment

add something to decrease behavior

negative punishment

remove something to decrease behavior

positive

add something

negative

remove something

reinforcement

increase a behavior

punishment

decrease a behavior

fixed

predictable, stays the same

variable

unpredictable, changes

ratio

based on a number of responses

interval

based on time

fixed ratio

reward after a set of responses

variable ratio

reward after an unpredictable number of responses

fixed interval

reward becomes available after a set amount of tiem

variable interval

reward becomes available after unpredictable amounts of time

fixed ratio on graph

post reinforcment pause, then responding resumes

variable ratio on graph

steady, high rate of responding

fixed interval on graph

scalloped pattern because responding increases as the reward time approaches

variable interval

steady rate of responding

shaping

teaching one behavior gradually

reinforce small steps that get closer to the desired behavior

chaining

teaching a sequences of behaviors

connect multiple behaviors to create a longer sequence

discriminative stimulus

a signal that tells an organism when a behavior will be reinforced

secondary reinforcer

a stimulus that becomes reinforcing because it has been associated with an existing reinforcer

delay of reinforcement

the longer the delay between a behavior and it’s reinforcement, the weaker the learning tends to be

partial reinforcement effect

when a behavior is reinforced only sometimes it generally becomes more resistant to extinction than a behavior reinforcement every time

equipotentiality

the idea that any stimulus can be associated with any response equally well, regardless of biological preparedness

belongingness (biological prepardness)

some associations are easier to learn because they are biologically relevant to an organisms survival

garica and koellings experiment

demonstrated that biology influences which associations animals learn most easily

researchers gave rats flavored water accompanied by lights and sounds then exposed them to different unpleasant consequences

illness: rats associated getting sick with the taste of water

electric shock: rats more readily associated the shock with the lights and sounds

conditioned taste aversion

when an organism learns to avoid a particular food or flavor after becoming sick

one trial learning

a single experience of illness can create a strong taste aversion

long delays

the illness can occur hours after eating and the associations can still develop

resistance to extinction

taste aversion can persist for a long time

garcia effect (taste aversion)

quails and rats were given water that was blue, clear, blue and sour, blue and not sour

rats and quails had blue water with sour taste and got sick

quails avoided the blue water without a sour taste because they associated the illness with the blue water

rats avoided the clear sour water because they associated the illness with the taste of the water

encoding

getting information into memory

storage

keeping information in memory over time

retrieval

accessing information that has already been stored

short term memory

temporarily holds information

about 7 ± 2 chunks/items you can remember

lasts seconds to minutes

long term memory

longer than one minute

stores information for later use

very large capacity, infinite, everything you know

rehersal

helps information from short term memory into long term memory

the flow of memory

stimulus —> short term memory —> rehearsal —> long term memory

maintenance rehearsal

repeating information over and over

focuses on repetition rather than meaning

elaborative rehearsal

connecting information to something you already know

focuses on understanding and meaning

serial position effect

describes how your ability to remember an item depends on its position in a list

primacy effect

remembering items at the beginning of a list better because they have more opportunity for rehearsal and transfer into long term memory

presenting a list more quickly reduces the primacy effect

recency effect

remember items at the end of a list because they are still in short term memory

adding a delay or distracting activity before recall reduces the recency effect

short term memory encoding

primarily uses phonological coding (how words sound)

long term encoding

primarily uses semantic encoding (what words mean)

childhood amnesia

the difficulty adults have remembering events from their earliest years of life

hippocampus, language abilities, and memory strategies are still developing

skinner box

a chamber/box used to study operant conditoning

steep slope on a cumulative record

high rate of responding

independent variable of the reinforcement schedules experimetns

reinforcment schedule

dependent variable of the reinforcement schedules experiments

responses

garcia and koening experiment tested…

belongingness and whether certain conditoned stimulus and unconditioned stimuls associations are easier to learn

two groups of garcia and koening experiment that developed avoidance

light/tone + shock and sour taste + illness

two groups of garcia and koening experiment that did not develop avoidance

light/tone + illness and sour taste + shock