6.1-6.6 (TEXTBOOK)

Learning

Process through which experience produces a relatively enduring change in behavior or knowledge.

Associative learning

Learning connections between different events or between behaviors and their consequences.

Nonassociative learning

Change in response to a single stimulus following repeated exposure.

Habituation

Decreased response to a stimulus after repeated exposure.

Dishabituation

Return of a habituated response following a new or changed stimulus.

Sensitization

Increased responsiveness to a stimulus following exposure, especially when it is strong or unpleasant.

Dual-process theory of nonassociative learning

Theory that habituation and sensitization occur simultaneously, with their combined effects determining the observed response.

Conditioning

Learning process through which associations develop between events or between actions and consequences.

Classical conditioning

Learning in which a previously neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response after association with an unconditioned stimulus.

Ivan Pavlov

Physiologist whose research on dogs’ salivation established basic principles of classical conditioning.

Reflex

Automatic response to a stimulus that does not require prior learning.

Neutral stimulus (NS)

Stimulus that initially does not elicit the response being conditioned.

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

Stimulus that automatically elicits a response without prior learning.

Unconditioned response (UR)

Automatic, unlearned response elicited by an unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

Previously neutral stimulus that elicits a learned response after conditioning.

Conditioned response (CR)

Learned response elicited by a conditioned stimulus; may resemble the unconditioned response but need not be identical.

Acquisition

Initial learning phase in which pairing the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli establishes a conditioned response.

Generalization

Tendency for stimuli resembling the conditioned stimulus to elicit a conditioned response.

Overgeneralization

Responding to an excessively broad range of stimuli as though they predict the same outcome.

Discrimination

Learning to distinguish between stimuli and respond differently depending on what they predict.

Extinction

Gradual weakening of a conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus repeatedly occurs without the unconditioned stimulus.

Spontaneous recovery

Reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response after a delay.

Reconditioning / reacquisition

Reestablishment of a conditioned response when the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli are paired again after extinction.

Savings

Faster relearning of a previously learned association, indicating that some memory of the original learning remains.

Contiguity

Closeness in time between stimuli; conditioning is generally stronger when the conditioned stimulus shortly precedes the unconditioned stimulus.

Predictive association

Learned relationship in which one stimulus signals that another event is likely to occur.

Dopamine

Neurotransmitter involved in reward learning whose activity can shift from an unexpected reward to a cue predicting that reward.

Prediction error

Difference between an expected outcome and what actually occurs; helps guide learning.

Blocking

Failure to learn an association with a new stimulus because an existing conditioned stimulus already predicts the unconditioned stimulus.

Hyperconditioning

Excessive formation of associations, including connections between events that are not meaningfully related.

Conditioned emotional response

Learned emotional reaction elicited by a previously neutral stimulus.

Conditioned fear

Learned fear of a stimulus after it becomes associated with an unpleasant or threatening event.

Little Albert experiment

Watson and Rayner’s study in which a rat paired with a frightening noise came to elicit fear that generalized to similar stimuli.

John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner

Researchers who demonstrated conditioned fear and generalization in Little Albert.

Counterconditioning

Learning a new association that produces a response incompatible with an existing conditioned response.

Overgeneralization

Extension of a learned response to an excessively broad range of stimuli.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Disorder following trauma that can involve intrusive memories, avoidance, and heightened arousal; trauma-related cues may elicit conditioned fear.

Amygdala

Brain structure essential for many conditioned emotional responses, linking learned associations with behavioral and bodily reactions.

Conditioned positive emotion

Learned pleasant emotional response to a stimulus associated with rewarding experiences.

Preparedness

Inherited biological tendency to learn certain associations more readily than others.

Observational learning

Learning by watching others; can interact with biological preparedness, as when monkeys learn fear by observing another monkey’s reaction.

Conditioned taste aversion

Learned avoidance of a taste after it becomes associated with nausea or illness.

John Garcia

Researcher whose studies demonstrated biological preparedness in taste-aversion learning.

Garcia–Koelling experiment

Study showing that rats readily associate taste with illness and audiovisual cues with shock, rather than learning all combinations equally easily.

One-trial learning

Learning an association after a single pairing of stimuli.

Long-delay conditioning

Learning an association despite a substantial delay between stimuli, as can occur between eating food and becoming ill.