Introduction to Learning and Cognition

Terminology and key concepts from the introductory lecture on Learning and Cognition, covering cognitive definitions, classical conditioning processes, and the foundations of behaviorism.

Mental Representation

The various forms in which information can be encoded, stored, and reconstructed (re-presented) within the mind, ranging from mental imagery to abstract symbolic languages.

Cognitive psychology

The study of cognitive states (such as attending, perceiving, and remembering) and how they explain human behavior and mental experience.

Cognitive neuroscience

The study of the neural mechanisms that underlie cognitive capacities.

Cognition (Neisser's definition)

The activity of knowing: the acquisition, organisation, and use of knowledge.

Perceptual-cognitive cycle

A concept by Ulrich Neisser (1976) suggesting that current experience is a product of integrating the perceptual present and the cognitive past, where mental representations (schemas) are constantly updated.

Learning

The set of biological, cognitive and social processes through which organisms make meaning from their experiences, producing long-lasting changes in their behaviour, abilities, and knowledge.

Aplysia

A type of sea slug with a nervous system of approximately $20,000$ neurons used by Eric Kandel to study the neural basis of habituation, sensitisation, and classical conditioning.

Sensitisation

A temporary state of heightened attention and responsivity that accompanies sudden and surprising events, keeping the learner alert to potentially threatening stimuli.

Habituation

The gradual diminishing of attention and responsivity that occurs when a stimulus persists without being associated with threatening or rewarding consequences.

Associative learning

A form of learning, also known as conditioning, that involves learning how events in the environment are related to one another or how stimuli relate to behavioral responses.

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

A biologically significant stimulus that naturally and automatically produces an autonomic reflex response without prior learning.

Unconditioned response (UCR)

An innate, unlearned autonomic reflex response triggered by an unconditioned stimulus.

Neutral stimulus (NS)

An environmental event that is initially neutral and does not produce a specific reflex response before conditioning holds.

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

A previously neutral stimulus that, after repeated association with an unconditioned stimulus, acquires the ability to produce a reflex response on its own.

Conditioned response (CR)

A learned reflex response produced by a conditioned stimulus in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus.

Classical Conditioning

The process of learning an involuntary association between a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus triggering a conditioned response.

Stimulus generalisation

The phenomenon where a classically conditioned response transfers to other stimuli that are similar to the original conditioned stimulus.

Stimulus discrimination

Training a learner to produce a conditioned response only to one specific stimulus and not to others.

Extinction

The gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus.

Spontaneous recovery

The reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response after a period of rest following extinction trials.

Rapid re-acquisition

The observation that a learner will re-learn a conditioned response more quickly the second time around after it has been extinguished.

Behaviourism

The psychological approach championed by John B. Watson that focuses on objective science, observable stimuli, and behavioral responses while rejecting references to internal mental processes.

Little Albert Experiment

A 1920 study by Watson and Rayner that demonstrated the acquisition of a classically conditioned fear response in a human infant by associating a white rat with a loud sound.