Psychology of Learning Final Exam

How do animals reinforced 100% of trials extinguish faster than those reinforced less?

Partial Reinforcement Extinction Effect

Frustration theory

Defines how learning occurs on non-reinforced trials, applicable to the partial reinforcement extinction effect, and a 100% reinforced pigeon attacks a restrained pigeon after extinction

Consolidation

Encoding of a memory in a somewhat permanent form making it retrievable long after acquisition

What STOPS a long-term memory from being formed

• Protein synthesis inhibitor immediately before training

• Protein synthesis inhibitor administered right after training

• ECT immediately after the event to be remembered

The exp. with scrub jays catching nuts and worms but only retrieving nuts if recovery was long after the catching shows…

Scrub jays seem to have episodic memory

Who is the godfather of AI?

Geoffrey Hinton

In what ways was Alex the parrot able to communicate?

• Count to 6

• Recognize shapes

• Recognize colors

What is a lexigram?

A ‘key’ with symbols given various meanings to study language in chimps

Noam Chomsky

Adamant that rules of conditioning are not enough to train language

Artificial neuron

Gross idealization of a real neuron so that we can investigate how neurons can collaborate to do computations that are too difficult to program such as convert the pixel intensity values of an image into a string of words that describe the image

Artificial neural network

If we connect the neurons in layers with no cycles we get a feed-forward neural net

Back propagate

Imagine a change in weights, and actually make that change if the change is positive

Recurrent Neural Nets

RNNs receive a sequence of inputs and produce a sequence of outputs. They have recurrent connections between the hidden neurons. Accumulate information

Thought vector

Activity pattern in a big bunch of neurons

Forgetting

Loss of acquired information due to the passage of time

Unlike forgetting, ______ is produced by a particular procedure, not merely the passage of time

Extinction

The emotional reaction of frustration

Plays a prominent role in analyses of extinction following various forms of appetitive conditioning

Inhibitory S-R association

An S-R association in which presentation of the stimulus inhibits the associated response

Spontaneous recovery

Recovery of a response produced by a period of rest after habituation or extinction

ABA renewal

Recovery of an extinguished response when the participant is returned to the original context of acquisition (A) after undergoing extinction in a different context (B)

Negative occasion setter

A procedure in which a stimulus (L) is paired with a US when it occurs by itself (L-US) but not when it is preceded by another stimulus (T). With this procedure, T signals that L will not be reinforced or paired with the US (T-L-no-US), and therefore T comes to cause L to stop producing its conditioned response

Reinstatement

Recovery of excitatory responding to an extinguished stimulus produced by exposures to the unconditioned stimulus

Renewal effect

Memory of extinction is specific to the cues that were present during the extinction phase

Renewal effect experiment

Participants are returned to Context A to see if the effects of extinction conducted in Context B transfer back to Context A

Bouton (1993)

Suggested that the extinction context plays the role of a negative occasion setter, effectively suppressing the CS-US association when participants are tested in that context

Renewal

Recovery of excitatory responding to an extinguished stimulus produed by a shift away from the contextual cues that were present during extinction

The significance of extinction for behavior therapy

Find ways of enhancing the response inhibition that is created by extinction procedures

Although there is evidence that extinction produces some loss of associative strength,

Enough of the original learning remains to allow for the various types of recovery effects that we have considered

______ the intertrial interval in extinction _____ spontaneous recovery and thereby produces ____ enduring suppression of conditioned behavior

Increasing, reduces, more

Paradoxical reward effect

A phenomenon in which there is more responding in extinction following training with fewer more intermittent, or smaller reinforcers

Overtraining Extinction Effect

The impact of extensive reinforced training on subsequent extinction increases the expectation of reward, increasing frustrative effects of nonreinforcement when extinction is introduced, ultimately producing more rapid extinction.

A key factor that determines the vigor of both the behavioral and emotional effects of an extinction procedure

The schedule of reinforcement that is in effect before extinction is introduced

Partial-reinforcement extinction effect (PREE)

Extinction is much slower and involves fewer frustration reactions if partial reinforcement rather than continuous reinforcement was in effect before the introduction of extinction

Discrimination hypothesis

A hypothesis that attributes the partial reinforcement extinction effect (slower extinction after partial reinforcement than after continuous reinforcement) to lack of detection or discrimination of the extinction procedure following partial reinforcement

Frustration Theory

Based on what individuals learn about the emotional effects of non-reward during partial-reinforcement training. Persistence in extinction results from learning something unusual, namely, to continue responding when you expect to be frustrated.

Sequential Theory

A theory of the partial-reinforcement extinction effect according to which extinction is retarded after partial reinforcement because the instrumental response becomes conditioned to the memory of nonreward. Individuals can remember whether or not they were reinforced for performing the instrumental response in the recent past

Extinction immediately after continuous-reinforcement (between two groups)

Extinction should be equally noticeable or discriminable for both

Persistence of responding in extinction is considered a poor outcome in

Behavior therapy where the goal is to suppress maladaptive responses

Lashley and Wade emphasized the role of learning in relation to

Stimulus generalization

Questions about stimulus control arise in part because of the complexity of

Environmental events

Differential responding

A change in responding related to changes in a stimulus

Stimulus dimension

The feature (e.g., color) that distinguished a series of stimuli in a test of stimulus generalization

Stimulus generalization

The occurrence of behavior learned through habituation or conditioning in the presence of stimuli that are different from the particular stimulus that was used during training

Stimulus generalization gradient

A gradient of responding that may be observed if participants are tested with stimuli that increasingly differ along some stimulus dimension from the stimulus that was present during training

Sensory Orientation

The orientation of an organism's body in relation to the source of stimulation in the world. For example, a dog may not notice a human being standing behind it because it is not looking in that direction.

Stimulus intensity

The physical magnitude of the stimulus. For example, sound intensity is measured in decibels, light intensity is measured in lumens, and so on

The extent to which behavior comes under the control of a particular stimulus is determined by the

Motivational state of the organism

Sensory capacity

Sets a limit on the kinds of stimuli that can come to control an organism’s behavior

Overshadowing

The presence of an intense stimulus can interfere with the control of behavior by a weaker cue

Stimulus filter

A constraint on what types of sensory signals are well processed by an organism depending on its current motivational state. Pigeons, for example, are especially attentive to visual information when hungry but auditory information when in danger

The key feature of stimulus discrimination training

Provide different outcomes or experiences in the presence of different stimuli

Negative reinforcement

An instrumental conditioning procedure in which there is a negative contingency between the instrumental response and an aversive stimulus. If the instrumental response is performed, the aversive stimulus is terminated or prevented from occurring; if the instrumental response is not performed, the aversive stimulus is presented

In the absence of discrimination training,

A fairly flat generalization gradient was obtained across the frequency dimension

Discrimination training

Produces differential responding to S+ and S- and increased the steepness of generalization gradients

Intradimensional discrimination training

Brings behavior under the precise control of small variations in a stimulus, thereby serving to increase sensitivity to these small stimulus variations.

Discrete-trial instrumental conditioning

Involves an interdimensional discrimination between cues present during a trial and cues present during the intertrial interval

Interdimensional discrimination

A discrimination between two stimuli that differ along several dimensions

Does intradimensional or interdimensional discrimination training produce more precise stimulus control?

Intradimensional discrimination training is the basis for various forms of expert performance

In a discrimination procedure, how are stimuli treated differently?

Different stimuli have different consequences

Stimulus equivalence training enhances ___________ among stimuli that are physically highly distinct

Stimulus generalization

Acquired distinctiveness

The process through which organisms learn to distinguish more effectively between similar stimuli based on each being associated with distinct outcomes

Acquired equivalence

The process through which organisms learn to treat physically different stimuli as though they were equivalent due to some common associate

Retrieval stage

The third stage necessary for memory performance in which information that has been retained is recovered from storage for current use

Retention stage

The period of time between acquisition of information and a test of memory for that information

In studies of learning, circumstances of acquisition

Manipulated or varied in studies of learning

In studies of learning, conditions of retention and retrieval

Kept constant in studies of learning

In studies of memory, conditions of acquisition

Kept constant in studies of memory

In studies or memory, retention interval and conditions of retrieval

Varied in studies of memory

Stimulus equivalence training

Training in which organisms learn to respond to physically distinct stimuli in the same fashion because of common prior experiences with those stimuli

Perceptual concept learning

Responding the same way to a set of physically different stimuli (e.g., pictures of various types of dogs) that all belong to the same perceptual category (dog)

Memory

Involves the delayed effects of experience

Memory procedures often require

Special controls to make sure that the participant's behavior is determined by its past experience rather than by a clue that is inadvertently presented in the test situation.

Why is a simultaneous matching procedure NOT a good test of memory?

Because the sample stimulus remains present during the choice component of each trial

Retention interval

Requires the participant to use what they remember about the sample stimulus to respond accurately when the test choices are presented

Matching-to-sample procedure

A procedure in which participants are reinforced for selecting a stimulus that corresponds to the sample presented on that trial

Simultaneous matching to sample

A procedure in which participants are reinforced for responding to a test stimulus that is the same as a sample stimulus. The sample and the test stimuli are presented at the same time.

Episodic memory

Memory for a specific episode or event that includes information about what happened, when it happened, and where it happened

Semantic memory

Remembering basic declarative information about the world in which we live (e.g., who is the mayor of our town)

Procedural memory

Memory that is retrieved automatically and without awareness as a result of extensive practice, such as memory involving S-R associations

Working memory

Retention of information that is needed to accomplish the task at hand, but is not useful in responding on subsequent trials or tasks

Reference memory

Involves memory for features of a task that remain constant from one trial to the next

Trace decay

Automatic fading of a memory as a function of time

Directed forgetting

Stimulus control of memory, achieved by presenting a cue indicating when the participant will (or will not) be required to remember something

Retrospective memory

Memory of a previously experienced event

Prospective memory

Memory of a plan for future action. Also called prospection. Involves retention of information about the horizontal-grid test stimulus, which is the correct choice after a triangle sample

Prospective memory involves remembering during the

Retention interval to choose the test stimulus T when presented with the choice

One major line of research has shown that memory processes

Can be brought under stimulus control

Trace-decay hypothesis

Presentation of a sample stimulus activates a neural trace that automatically fades over time after the end of the stimulus

Symbolic matching task

The correct test stimulus appears equally often on the left and right, and there is a delay between the sample and the test stimuli

Proactive interference

Disruption of memory by exposure to stimuli before the event to be remembered

Retroactive interference

Disruption of memory by exposure to stimuli following the event to be remembered

Retrieval of information is facilitated by

Exposure to stimuli that were previously associated with the target information at the time when the target was initially encoded

The translation of a learning episode into a long-term memory required the process of

Memory consolidation

Consolidation window

The period during which a memory is susceptible to modification prior to the memory being consolidated

Reconsolidation

The consolidation of a reactivated memory (as contrasted with consolidation of a newly acquired memory)

Memory updating

A memory process whereby previously consolidated memories can undergo changes once those memories have been reactivated

To produce a lasting modification within a neural circuit

Requires a structural modification (synthesis of new proteins)

Required protein synthesis occurs within

The first hour or two of training

If protein synthesis is inhibited four to six hours after training

It has little effect on long-term memory

Administration of anisomysin soon after training

Disrupts the memory of conditioning