Learning

plasticity

The ability to form or change connections between neurons.

Habituation

The process of getting used to a stimulus.

Classical conditioning

An unconscious process where an automatic, conditioned response becomes associated with a specific stimulus.

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

Something that naturally triggers an automatic response.

Unconditioned response (UCR)

The automatic reaction to an unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

An object, person, place, or item that becomes associated with a certain response through repeated exposure.

Conditioned response (CR)

An automatic response established by training to an ordinarily neutral stimulus.

frequency effects (CC)

how often CS is paired with UCS

Extinction (CC)

elimination of CR, CS unpaired with UCS

Spontaneous recovery

The sudden emergence of the conditioned response after extinction has occurred.

Stimulus generalization

 stimuli similar to CS will elicit a CR, quick learning

Stimulus discrimination

 CR specific to one stimulus, but not others; effective learning

Law of effect

The principle that learning is controlled by the consequences of actions.

Operant conditioning

associating a voluntary behavior with a consequence.

Reinforcement

A stimulus that increases the likelihood of a behavior being repeated.

Punishment

A stimulus that decreases the likelihood of a behavior being repeated.

Latent learning

Learning that is not immediately observable and does not require reinforcement to occur.

Observational learning

Learning that occurs by watching others, known as 'models'.

Social learning theory

learn by watching people

Bobo doll experiment

An experiment demonstrating that children copy aggressive behaviors observed in adults toward Bobo dolls.

Four parts of observational learning

Attention, retention, initiation, and motivation, all crucial for learning through observation.

learning

change in thoughts or behaviours due to experience, study, or practice

positive form (OC)

add stimulus

negative form (OC)

remove stimulus

Differences in target behaviour:

classical conditioning target behaviour is elicited automatically while operant conditioning target behaviour is emitted voluntarily

Differences in what behaviour is a function of:

classical conditioning behaviour is a function of stimulus that precedes behaviour while operant conditioning is a function of stimulus that follows behaviour

Attention:

paying attention to the model is a condition for learning

Retention:

remembering what the model did is a condition for imitating the behaviour

Initiation (or reproduction):

people must have the capacity (e.g. skills) for imitating behaviour

Motivation:

people must be motivated to imitate behaviour (e.g. importance of model or reward)