Learning Test 1

Learning

A process that can be either active or passive that is necessary for survival

Contiguity

Two things are close in time + space so an association is formed

Similarity

Generalization due to common look

Contrast

Discrimination due to perceived difference

Nativism

Assumption that we are born with all potential knowledge, its innate, and we unlock it throughout life (Decartes)

Babinski Reflex

Sliding up and down a baby’s foot will cause a flexion or extension of toes

Grasping

Touching a baby’s hand will make them instinctively hold whatever touches it

Environment’s effects on innate behaviors

Innate behaviors can be affected by context/environment. Rats had a worsened righting reflex when their gestation was in space. So are they truly “innate”

Empiricism

Mind gradually fills with ideas/information as a person senses the world around them

Tabula Rasa

Mind is born as a blank slate

Hedonism

Concept of pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain, thought to influence much of voluntary behavior

Sensory nerves

Send information about the world to the CNS, when cut animals are still capable of muscle movement

Motor nerves

Send information from the CNS to the muscles, if cut animals can still receive sensory input

Sechenov + the nuance of stimulus-response

1. Stimuli will not always directly elicit a reflex response

2. Stimulus could elicit a response from inhibition

   1. Response intensity isn’t always equal to stimulus intensity

Pavlov + and clarifying stimulus-response

Mechanisms of association can change stimulus response

Effects on behavior

• Conditioning

• Environment

• Personal condition (mood/emotions/etc.)

• Growth/Puberty

Thorndike + the ways we learn

Assumption that learning has universal laws but:

• There is diversity for stimuli/responses

• Different animals have different learning speed

• Humans are best at learning to avoid displeasure

Stimuli

Anything that is sensed in the environment (internal/external) that elicits a response

Response

Behavior following stimuli

Learning curve

Shows the rate of learning compared to a control group

Why animal research?

ethics, awareness, time constraints, differences in life history, difference in valuation of rewards

What is animal research for?

drug testing, cosmetics, surgery, learning about people

Refine

Try to cause animals the smallest amount of stress/harm possible

Reduce

Smallest number of animals possible, highest survival rate, OR ends must justify means

Replace

Try another study method before animal research

• Cell lines, non-mammals, smaller mammals

Theory of falsification

If a theory can be proven wrong its scientific

Elicited behavior

Automatic, involuntary reaction as a response to specific environmental stimulus

Unconditioned stimuli

Stimuli that elicits a response without being taught to react to it

Unconditioned responses

Behavioral response that isn’t taught

Vestibular system

Involved in turning, rotating the head, gravity perception, straight line movement, reflexive eye movement

• when triggered without stimulus = vertigo

Withdrawal Reflex

Experiencing something painful and withdrawing your limb from the sensation

• can be untaught

Habituation

Unconscious tuning out certain stimuli so that your brain can focus on other stimuli determined to be more important

Sensitization

Unconscious targeting/focusing of certain stimuli that is deemed more important and therefore needs more attention

Stimulus response curves

Measure the probability (x) and the magnitude (y) of a response

Behavioral states

The mood you’re in/composition of how you feel, your needs, and your environment

Sensory adaptation

When the sense organs become temporarily disabled due to sensory overload

Response fatigue

Sensory receptors stop receiving stimuli because they’re fatigued

Dual-Process Theory of Hab + Sen

Says that habituation and sensitization are not mutually exclusive, the sum of their processes leads to increases and decreases in responsiveness

Habituation Processes

Occur in the S-R system and are activated when eliciting stimuli are produced

Sensitization Processes

Assumed to occur in the state system which is activated by arousing stimuli

Opponent process theory of motivation

While experiencing a stimuli the body/mind will have an elicited response, followed by an opposite response. After repeated exposure the opposite response will become stronger and the original elicited response will become weaker

• Biphasic emotional reactions

• Weakened primary reactions to repeated stimulus

• Strengthening of after-reaction

Model Action Patterns

Response sequences typical of a particular species

Sign Stimulus

Specific stimulus that elicits certain responses under MAP

Supernormal Stimulus

Exaggerated stimulus used to cause extremely vigorous response

Appetitive behavior

Early components of behavior sequence

Consummatory behavior

End components of behavior sequence

Behavioral Repertoire

Collection of all behaviors an individual could display

• Limited by genetics and learning

Feedback loops

Learning → Behavior → Learning

Object learning

Associating one feature of object with another

Freeze

The most common fear response

Flight

Second most common fear response

Fight

Least common fear response, mostly only happens when backed into a corner

Auditory fear conditioning

Animal learns to associate a tone with an aversive stimulus

• amygdala

Fear learning

Process of quiring the US-CS association

Fear Expression

Behavior response in AFC

Contextual Fear Learning

Learned association between a place and an aversive stimulus

• ventral hippocampus

Inhibitory Conditioning

Learning to predict the absence of US

• CS+ is presented with CS- and US doesn’t occur → CS- is now a signal for the absence of US

Eye Blink Conditioning

Test ran to see if cannabis consumption would affect learning, it did it was slower

Sign tracking

Learned behavior where animal will direct attention to a predictive cue

Goal Tracking

Conditioned behavior that tracks the goal object

Short-delayed Conditioning

Small delay between CS onset and US onset. Can see behavior before and after stimuli, easy to learn

Long-delayed Conditioning

Large gap in time between CS onset and US onset. Can see behavior with just the CS, more stable = more accurate, messes up CS novelty T

Trace Conditioning

No overlap in CS and US, CS offset → US onset. Associated with the hippocampus and working memory, worse learning

Simultaneous Conditioning

Complete overlap of CS and US, very good learning, not time to measure behavior difference, heard to observe learning

Backward Conditioning

CS onset comes after US offset, doesn’t learn well b/c its too ambiguous, subjects will likely learn different things

Magnitude of CR

How much it occurs

Probability of CR

How likely it is to occur

Latency of CR

How soon it will occur after onset of CS

Novelty

Newer stimuli are more effective than familiar stimuli in learning

Salience

Significance/noticeability, more intense stimuli typically result in more responding, also increases learning speed

Increases salience

Physical contrast, motion, novelty, personal state

Stimulus Threshold

Minimum stimuli intensity necessary to elicit a behavioral response S

Subthreshold stimulus

Stimuli that isn’t sensed and therefore doesn’t elicit a response

Higher Order Conditioning

CS1 is paired with US often enough to get strong reaction to CS1 → CS2 is paired with CS1, experiment to see of subject will learn CS2 → CR

• works best with fear conditioning

Sensory Pre-Conditioning

CS1 and CS2 become associated. CS1 is then paired with an illness/aversive stimulus, experimenting to see of subject with also associate CS2 with the aversive stimulus

Hebbian Learning

Neurons that fire together, wire together