Learning Exam Vocab

Learning

lasting changes in behavior that result from experience

Independent Variable

what the scientist manipulates in an experiment

Dependent Variable

a characteristic of behavior that is being measured and it thought to be affected by the independent variable

Confounding Variable

a variable that varies systemically with the independent variable

Intervening Variable

something that cannont be observed directly, but is used to predict the relationship between the independent and dependent variables

Between Groups Design

subjects are randomly assigned to two or more experimental conditions

Within Subject Design

every subject experiences all of the experimental conditions

Single Subject Design

experimental may be conducted with only one subject, who is exposed to all of the experimental conditions at least twice

Reflex

a stereotyped pattern of movement

Tropism

movement or change in the orientation of an entire animal

Kinesis

a tropism in which the direction of movement is random with respect to a stimulus

Taxis

tropism in which the direction of the movement is related to the intensity of the stimulus

Sign Stimulus

the determining feature of a stimulus that produces a response

Fixed Action Pattern

behavior sequences that occur in all members of a given species are not due to experience, occur in the same way every time and is triggered by a sign stimulus

Reaction Chain

behavior sequences in which progressing from one behavior to the next depends on the presence of appropriate external behavior

Sensitization

an increase in magnitude or speed of a response, during the first few presentations of the stimulus that elicit it

Habituation

a decrease in magnitude or speed of a response with repeated presentations of the stimulus that elicits it

Spontaneous Recovery

when a habituated response returns to its initial value if its eliciting stimulus is not presented for a time

Dishabituation

presenting a strong, different, or extra stimulus dishabituates the response

Overlearning

habituation can continue to occur even after decrement in the response are no longer observable

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

a stimulus that elicits an innate (unlearned) response in all members of a species

Unconditioned Response (UR)

an innate (reflex) response elicited by a given stimulus in all members of a given species

Conditional Stimulus (CS)

a stimulus that, by being associated with a US, comes to elicit a response

Conditional Response (CR)

a response elicited by a CS

Stimulus Discrimination

elicitation of a CR by the CS but not by other stimulus

Disinhibition

if a new stimulus is presented a few seconds before a completely extinguished CS, the CS may once again elicit a CR

Stimulus Generalization

the spread of the eliciting effect os the CS to the stimulus that have not been paired with the US

Acquisition

part of a classical conditioning experiment in which the subject first experiences a series of CS-US pairings, and during which the CR appears and gradually increases in size and strength

Spontaneous Recovery (Pavlovian)

the reappearance during the early trials in a later extinction session, of a CR that was completely extinguished by the end of the previous extinction sessions

Extinction (Pavlovian)

gradual disappearance of the CR, with repeated presentations of the CS-alone

Sensory Preconditioning

CS1 and CS2 are paired in the first trials, and in the second trials the CS1 is paired with a US until it elicits a CR

Second Order Preconditioning

in phase one CS1 is paired with a US and then in the second phase CS1 and CS2 are paired together

Shaping

reinforcing behaviors similar to the target behavior

Arbitrary (Symbolic) MTS

none of the comparisons is identical to the sample

Percentile Schedules

reinforces a given response, if it is more extreme than some percentage of the most recent responses

Blocking

prior experience with CS1 blocks conditions of the CR to CS2

Latent Inhibition

also called CS preexposure effect; conditioning takes longer for subjects who received preexposure to the CS than for those who did not

Conditioned Inhibition

CS- inhibits the CR to another CS+

Positive Reinforcer

stimulus that when presented contingent on behavior, increases its frequency

Negative Reinforcer

stimulus that when terminated or postponed contingent on behavior, increases its frequency

Unconditioned (primary) Reinforcer

stimulus that has an innately reinforcing function

Conditioned (secondary) Reinforcer

stimulus that becomes a reinforcer by being pair with at least one other reinforcer

Aversive Stimuli

an unpleasant event that is intended to decrease the probability of behavior when it is presented as a consequence

Conditioned Aversive Stimuli

an initially neutral stimulus that becomes aversive after repeated pairing with an unconditioned aversive stimulus

Positive Punisher

stimulus that when presented contingent on behavior decreases its frequency

Negative Punisher

stimulus that when terminated contingent on behavior. decreases its frequency

More Effective Form Of Punishment

intermittent

Stimulus Control

when SD reliably occasioned behavior that has been reinforced in its presence (aka stimulus discrimination)

Discriminative Stimulus (SD or S+)

a stimulus that acquires control over behavior reinforced in its presence

S Delta (S-)

a stimulus in the presence of which behavior is not reinforced

3 Term Contingency

a reinforcing or punishing consequence is contingent on the occurrence of a response, in the presence of an SD

Resurgence

when extinguishing one response causes a previously extinguished one to recover

Extinction Induced Behavior

aggression and variability

Greater Resistance to Extinction

intermittent reinforcement

Stimulus Response Chain

a sequence of stimuli and responses that must occur in a specific order; stimuli in the middle of the chain serve as conditioned reinforcers

Fixed Ratio(FR) Schedule

pause then rapid responding; consists of the number of responses being constant from one reinforcement to the next

Variable Ratio (VR) Schedule

high responding with no long pauses; consists of the number of responses being varied from one reinforcement to the next

Fixed Interval (FI) Schedule

pauses followed by increasingly quick responding; scalloped pattern; consists of the time between reinforcement being consistent

Variable Interval (VI) Schedule

slow, steady responding; consists of the time between reinforcement being varied

Motivating Behavior

Those that (a) temporarily alter the efficacy of reinforcers and (b) increase the probability of any behavior that has produced them in the past

Delayed Matching to Sample

the sample is presented briefly, after its offset, a retention interval (RI) ensues, after which the comparisons appear

Species-Specific Defense Reactions (SSDRs)

innate behavior patterns that occur when an animal encounters a new or unusual stimulus

Examples of SSDRs

freezing in place, fleeing, fighting

SSDRs in Lab

operant avoidance is learned more quickly if it resembles an SSDR

Autoshaping

conditional key pecking at a key light that has been paired with a reinforcer

Instinctive Drift

when a response that has been operantly conditioned drifts toward an innate form

Superstitious Behavior

behavior that becomes more frequent when followed coincidentally by a reinforcer

Positive Contrast

in a two-component multiple schedule, decreasing reinforcement rates in one component increases response rates in the other component

Negative Contrast

in a two-component multiple scheduled, increasing reinforcement rates in one component decreases response rates in the other component

Anticipatory Contrast

in a three-component multiple schedules, changing the rate of reinforcement in the last component causes an opposite change in the rate of responding in the middle component

Matching Law

on concurrent reinforcement schedules, relative response proportions are equal to relative reinforcement proportions, and matching occurs whether behavior is measured in terms of response rate or time

Undermatching

response proportions are less extreme than reinforcement proportions

Overmatching

response proportions are more extreme than reinforcement proportions; occurs when switching between schedules ensures a penalty

Response Bias

one response occurs more than the others, regardless of its relative reinforcement rate

Delay Discounting (DD)

the efficacy of a reinforcer decreases, as its delay increases

Delay Discounting is Faster

younger people, people with drug addictions, consumable rewards

Better at Delay Discounting

animals

Rule 1 of Rescorla and Wagner

if the strength of the CS is greater than the CSs paired with it, those CSs with increase in strength (excitatory conditioning)

Rule 2 of Rescorla and Wagner

if the strength is less than the strength of the CSs paired with it, those CSs will decrease its strength (inhibitory conditioning)

Rule 5 of Rescorla and Wagner

more salient CSs will change in strength faster than less salient CSs

Overexpectation Effect

-phase 1: CS1-US pairings alternate randomly with CS2-US pairings
-phase 2: the CS1-CS2 compound is paired with the US
-phase 3: (extinction) presentations of the CS1 alone (without the CS1) alternate with presentations of the CS2 alone
-result: CS1 and CS2 elicit a weaker CR in phase 3, relative to subjects who did not experience phase 2

Comparator Theory

-tenet 1: the animal compares the across trials probability of the CS-US pairings to the across trials probability of US-alone pairings
-tenet 2: the CS-US correlations affects the correlation (not the learning) of the CR
-tenet 3: the CS with not elicit the CR, unless it has a greater excitatory strength than the contextual stimuli

Attention Based Theory

-tenet: the learner pays attention to the informative CSs, but not to uninformative CSs
-prediction: conditioning will only occur to the informative CSs

Errorless Discrimination Training

the duration, form, and/or intensity of the S- are faded in slowly, starting early in training

Conditioned Taste Aversion

animals tend to avoid things like taste like things that have previously made them sick

Tenet 2 of Behavior Disequilibrium Theory

reinforcement occurs when the IR/CR ratio is higher than the baseline ratio (response depreviation)

Tenet 3 of Behavior Disequilibrium Theory

punishment occurs when the IR/CR ration is lower than the baseline ratio (response satiation)

Instrumental Response

any response that achieves a goal or contributes to its achievement, such as a response that is effective in gaining a reward or avoiding pain

Intradimensional Training

the S+ and S- are on the same stimulus dimension

Peak Shift

intradimensional training makes the peak of the generalization gradient shift away from the S-

Excitatory Gradient

the spread of the effect of reinforcement to stimuli other than the S+

Inhibitory Gradient

the spread of the effect of extinction to stimuli other than S-

Multiple Schedule of Reinforcment

two or more schedules repeatedly alternate, each in the presence of a different stimulus

Conditional Discrimination

when the discriminative function of a stimulus depends on the presence or absence of a second stimulus

Molecular Theory

explains operant behavior in terms of moment-by-moment changes in the relation between responding and reinforcement

Molar Theories

explain operant behavior in terms of relations between

Behavior Momentum Theory (BMT)

on multiple schedules, RTC is directly related to the degree of the S-S correlation whereas asymptotic response rate is directly related to reinforcement rate

Beginning of Stimulus Response Chain

responses in the beginning