psych midterm

Learning

A process by which behavior or knowledge changes as a result of experience

Classical Conditioning

When a neutral stimulus gains the ability to elicit a response from an organism because it was associated with some other stimulus that reliability and automatically elicited that response in the past

Conditioned stimulus

in classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response

Conditioned responses

Elicited by the conditioned stimulus

Unconditioned stimulus

A stimulus that results in unlearned reflexive response

Unconditioned response

Reflexive unlearned response to the unconditioned stimulus

Neutral stimulus

A stimulus that with conditioning will elicit a response, but w/o conditioning, won't.

Stimulus

External event or cue that elicits a perceptual response

Acquisition

The initial phase of learning where a response is established

Extinction

losing/weakening of the CR as the CS and US are no longer paired.

CR becomes unnecessary if the CS is a no longer reliable predictor.

Previous CR can still return even after the extinction.

Spontaneous recovery

A recurrence of previously extinguished CR

Stimulus generalization

A process in which a response that originally occurred for a specific stimulus also occurs for different, specific stimuli

Discrimination

Response to original stimuli but not other similar stimuli (not paired*)

Conditioned emotional response

Consist of emotional and physiological responses to a specific object or situation

Preparedness

The biological predisposition to rapidly learn a response to a particular class of stimuli

Conditioned taste aversion

The dislike of food or drink because it was paired with illness

Latent inhibition

Occurs when frequent experience with a stimulus before it is paired with a US makes it less likely that conditioning will occur after a single episode of illness

Evaluative conditioning

An attempt to pair a stimulus with either positive or negative stimuli (eg. political strategy)

Operant conditioning

a type of learning in which behavior is influenced by consequences

Contingency

A consequence depends on an action

Reinforcement

A process in which an event of reward that follows a response increases the likelihood of that response occurring again

Law of effect

The idea that responses followed by satisfaction will occur again in the same situation, whereas those that are not followed by satisfaction become less likely

Reinforcer

Stimulus contingent upon a response and that increases the probability of that response occurring again

Punishment

A process that decreases the future probability of a response

Punisher

A stimulus that is contingent upon a response, and that results in a decrease of behaviour

Positive

Stimulus is added to a situation; refers to reinforcement or punishment

Negative

Stimulus removed from a situation; refers to reinforcement or punishment

Negative reinforcement

Involves the strengthening of a behaviour because it removes or diminishes a stimulus

Avoidance learning

A specific type of negative reinforcement that removes the possibility that a stimulus will occur

Escape learning

Occurs if a response removes a stimulus that is already present

Positive punishment

A process in which a behaviour decreases in frequency because it was followed by a usually unpleasant stimulus

Negative punishment

Occurs when a behaviour decreases because it removes or diminishes a particular stimulus

Shaping

Reinforcing successive approximations of a specific operant response

Chaining

Linking together two or more shaped behaviours into a more complex action or sequence of actions

Applied behaviour analysis (ABA)

Involves using close observation, prompting, and reinforcement to teach behaviours, often to people who experience difficulties and challenges owing to a developmental condition such as autism

Primary reinforcers

Consist of reinforcing stimuli that satisfy basic motivational needs that affect an organism's ability to survive (or reproduce)

Secondary reinforcers

Consist of stimuli that acquire their reinforcing effects only after we learn that they have value

Nucleus accumbens

Brain circuit activated during rewarding activities (eg. smoking a cig, sex)

Discriminative stimulus

A cue or event that indicates that a response (if made) will be reinforced

Generalization

This takes place when an operant response occurs in response to a new stimulus that is similar to the stimulus present during the original learning

Delayed reinforcement

Delayed response of rewarding feeling after stimulus. Hard to establish conditioned behaviour

Extinction

The weakening of an operant response when reinforcement is no longer available

Reward Devaluation

Behaviour change when reinforcer loses appeal

Schedules of reinforcement

Rules that determine when reinforcement is available

Continuous reinforcement

Every response made results in reinforcement. Reward provided every time

Partial (intermittent) reinforcement

Only a certain number of responses are rewarded, or a certain amount of time must pass before reinforcement is available

Ratio schedule

The reinforcements are based on the amount of responding

Interval Schedule

The reinforcements are based on the amount of time between reinforcements, not the number of responses an organism makes.

Fixed schedule

The schedule of reinforcement remains the same over time

Variable schedule

The schedule of reinforcement varies from reinforcement to reinforcement

Fixed ratio schedule

Reinforcement is delivered after a specific number of responses have been completed. Results in high rates of consistent responses

Variable ratio schedule

The number of responses required to receive reinforcement varies according to an average. High rates of consistent responses - more resistant to the extinction of behaviour (eg. gambling in a casino)

Fixed interval schedule

Reinforces the first response occurring after a set amount of time passes. Will result in slow unsustained responses (increase around time for reinforcement)

Variable interval schedule

The first response is reinforced following a variable amount of time. Results in slow but consistent responses

Partial reinforcement effect

Refers to a phenomenon in which organisms that have been conditioned under partial reinforcement resist extinction longer than those conditioned under continuous reinforcement

Classical Conditioning Example: Checking to see if the washing machine load is finished

fixed interval

Classical Conditioning Example: Slot machines

variable ratio

Classical Conditioning - Repeatedly dialing a busy number

variable interval - person answering reinforcer

Classical Conditioning Example: A rat gets reinforced for every 10th lever press

fixed ratio

Operant Conditioning Example: Using drugs to avoid withdrawal symptoms

negative reinforcement

Operant Conditioning Example: Being fined for a speeding ticket

positive punishment

Operant Conditioning Example: Not allowed outside because you didnt come home before dark

negative punishment

Operant Conditioning Example: A compliment from a supervisor at work

positive reinforcement

Difference between classical and operant conditioning

Classical - associate involuntary response and stimulus. Operant - associate behaviour a

Operant - associate voluntary behaviour and consequence

Latent learning

learning that remains hidden until its application becomes useful

Observational learning

Involves changes in behaviour and knowledge that result from watching others

Attention

Must pay attention to behaviour of others and consequences

Retention

Storing mental representation in memory

Reproduction

Need to use what you saw as overt behaviour. To imitiate a behaviour we must string together the correct pattern of responses

Motivation

You need to be motivated to reproduce the behaviour

Imitation

Recreating someone else's motor behaviour or expression, often to accomplish a specific goal

Mirror neurons

Neurons are linked to functions ranging from understanding people's emotional states to observational learning

Stimulus organism response theory

Highlights the role played by an individual's interpretation of a situation

Higher order conditioning

Where we may start to pair a conditioned stimulus with a neutral stimulus through a learning process. This leads to a conditioned response

Vicarious learning

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

Social learning theory

Social conditions are important determinants of behaviour

Bandura proposed humans are neither compelled by inner forces not totally controlled via envioronment. (classical / instrumental conditioning) Rather, via interactions between behaviors and the conditions that control them

Eg. bandura's bobo doll experiment: modelling of aggression w/ kids

Mirror neurons

Activated when you are doing an action or watching someone else perform the same action

Internally represent action

Memory

the persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information

Stores

retain information in memory without using it for any specific purpose

Control processes

Shift information from one memory store to another

Attention

Selects which information will be passed on to STM

Encoding

The process of storing information in the LTM system

Attention needs to focus on things that are relevant for the processing of information

Encoding failure

Did not remember (perhaps due to lack of relevance)

Storage decay

Things become more difficult to retrieve since it's been long since the last retrieval

Retrieval failure

the inability to recall long-term memories because of inadequate or missing retrieval cues. May be able to access the memory at another time or with a cue

Sensory memory

A memory store that accurately holds perceptual information for a very brief amount of time (image or sound echo)

Echoic memory

The auditory form of sensory memory (2-5 secs long)

Iconic memory

The visual form of sensory memory

Episodic memory

A temporal sequence of visual surroundings

Short-term memory

A memory store with limited capacity and duration (30 sec approx). Most people can hold 7 items in short-term memory before they start dropping things from their memory to add new information

Chunking

Organizing smaller units into larger, more meaningful units (eg. using the cornell note taking technique for lectures)

Long-term memory

Long-term storage for long periods of time

No capacity limitation