Chapter 6: Learning

Learning

a relatively enduring change in behavior, resulting from experience

Nonassociative Learning

Learning about a stimulus, such as light or sound, in the external world

Habituation

a decrease in behavioral response after repeated exposure to a stimulus

Dishabituation

restoration to full strength of a response that has become weakened by habituation

Sensitization

an increase in behavioral response after exposure to a stimulus

Classical conditioning

a neutral object comes to elicit a response when it is associated with a stimulus that already produces that response

Associative Learning

Learning the relationship between two pieces of information

Unconditioned response (UR)

a response that does not have to be learned, such as a reflex

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

a stimulus that elicits a response, such as a reflex, without any prior learning

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

a stimulus that elicits a response only after learning has taken place

Conditioned response (CR)

a response to a conditioned stimulus; a response that has been learned

Neutral stimulus

any stimulus that is not associated with the reflex being tested

Test trials

(Classical conditioning) the neutral stimulus alone is tested, and the effect on the reflex is measured

Conditioning trials

(Classical conditioning) a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus are paired to produce a reflex

Acquisition

the gradual formation of an association between the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli

Extinction

a process in which the conditioned response is weakened when the conditioned stimulus is repeated without the unconditioned stimulus

Spontaneous recovery

a process in which a previously extinguished conditioned response reemerges after the presentation of the conditioned stimulus

Extinguishing a response

conditioned stimulus returns to being neutral

Second-order conditioning

A CS becomes associated with other stimuli associated with the US. This phenomenon helps account for the complexity of learned associations

Stimulus generalization

learning that occurs when stimuli that are similar, but not identical, to the conditioned stimulus produce the conditioned response

Stimulus discrimination

a differentiation between two similar stimuli when only one of them is consistently associated with the unconditioned stimulus

Conditioned taste aversion

the association between eating a food and getting sick

Biological preparedness

Psychologist Martin Seligman argued that animals are genetically programmed to fear specific objects

Phobia

an acquired fear out of proportion to the real threat of an object or of a situation

Counterconditioning

exposing a patient to small doses of the feared stimulus while he or she engages in an enjoyable task

Operant conditioning

a learning process in which the consequences of an action determine the likelihood that it will be performed in the future

Law of Effect

any behavior that leads to a “satisfying state of affairs” is likely to occur again, and any behavior that leads to an “annoying state of affairs” is less likely to occur again

Reinforcer

a stimulus that follows a response and increases the likelihood that the response will be repeated

Shaping

an operant-conditioning technique that consists of reinforcing behaviors that are increasingly similar to the desired behavior

Successive approximations

start with any behavior that even slightly resembles the desired behavior

Primary reinforcers

satisfy biological needs such as food or water

Secondary reinforcers

events or objects established through classical conditioning that serve as reinforcers but do not satisfy biological needs (e.g., money or compliments or cellphone)

Positive reinforcement

the administration of a stimulus to increase the probability of a behavior repeated

Negative reinforcement

the removal of a stimulus to increase the probability of a behavior being repeated

Continuous reinforcement

a type of learning in which behavior is reinforced each time it occurs

Partial reinforcement

a type of learning in which behavior is reinforced intermittently

Ratio schedule

Reinforcement is based on the number of times the behavior occurs

Interval schedule

Reinforcement is provided after a specific unit of time

Fixed schedule

Reinforcement is provided after a specific number of occurrences or after a specific amount of time

Variable schedule

Reinforcement is provided at different rates or at different times

Partial-reinforcement extinction effect

there is greater persistence of behavior under partial reinforcement than under continuous reinforcement

Positive punishment

the administration of a stimulus to decrease the probability of a behavior recurring

Negative punishment

the removal of a stimulus to decrease the probability of a behavior recurring

Observational learning

the acquisition or modification of a behavior after exposure to another individual performing that behavior (also known as social learning)

Modeling

the imitation of observed behavior

Vicarious learning

learning the consequences of an action by watching others being rewarded or punished for performing the same action

Mirror neurons

neurons in the brain that are activated when one observes another individual engage in an action and performs a similar action