Psyc-110 Midterm 1

Define Learning

Enduring change in the mechanisms of behaivor involving specific stimuli and or responses that results from prior experience with those or similar stimuli and responses

Performance

all actions of an organism at a time/behavior the animal actually does

Associative Learning

• Learning associations between stimuli, responses, and outcome in environment

• Learning 2+ events to predict 1 event based on occurrence of other

Habituation

Repeatedly exposed to smth stops you from reacting over time (non-associative, not predicting smth)

Types of Implicit Learning

Procedural, Conditioning, Non-associative

Which sense is the fastest to the amygdala?

Smell

Define Decisions

Using memory to predict the future

Unconditional Stimulus

A natural stimulus that evokes a response

Behaviorist View on Learning

An enduring change in behavior

Cognitive View on Learning

The formation of novel mental structures

What could factors could affect behaviorists study of learning?

physical, physiological, and developmental changes or fatigue

Why did animals develop a general learning mechanism?

Selection pressures that are sensitive to cause and effect relationships

Sign Stimulus

A specific feature within a complex situation that triggers a certain behavior

Why use experiments to study learning?

• understand how long-term change is shaped by experience

• understand which experience variables enact change

• control for changes not from learning

• reveal underlying learning processes

Reflex

Involuntary responses to stimulus

Types of Reflexes

patellar (knee), pupillary (light in eyes), sneezing, head turning reflex in infants, withdrawal reflex (finger on hot stove then withdraw)

What nerve system controls reflexes?

Spinal Cords

What type of learning is a reflex?

Non-associative learning!

What is the Reflex Arc?

Stimulus —> Sensory Neuron —> Interneuron —> Motor Neuron —> Corresponding Response

Modal Action Pattern (MAP)

A response pattern by all members of a species (goose egg)

Releasing Stimulus

The essential stimuli that elicit MAPs

Supernormal Stimulus

A releasing stimulus artificially enhances to produced large MAP (social media, cocaine)

Are reflexes fixed?

No, they can change in strength and magnitude or be eliminated (habituation)

Non-associative Learning

Elicited behavior can change as a result of repeated eliciting stimulus presentation

Sensitization

Increasing response/sensitivity over time to stimulus (horror jumpscares)

Short Term Habituation

Habituating in a session

Spontaneous Recovery

Response strength spikes after rest

Long-term Habituation

Response strength diminishes over time and many sessions of habituation

Habituation is faster for ____ intervals

short

Habituation is fast for ____ stimuli

weaker

Below-zero Habituation

More trials of habituation causes more leanring, so spontaneous recovery is less intense for group with more trials

Habituation as a Gradient

Response over time is less if the original habituating stimulus is close to the new stimulus

Dishabituation

A new stimulus makes habituation restart (attention recaught)

Turning Point

The point in habituation trials where the response strength bottoms out and stops decreasing

Which habituation (long or short) has a higher spontaneous recovery?

Short-term Habituation (more frequent stimulus that initiates habituation)

Types of Associative Learning

1. Pavlovian/classical Conditioning

2. Instrumental/operant Conditioning

Dual Process Theory

Habituation + Sensitization work together and Net Effect wins

Is 60db or 80db better for habituation?

60db

Non-associative Learning depends on 4 things:

1. Stimulus Intensity

2. Arousal

3. Repetition

4. Stimulus Consistency

Which systems do habituation and sensitization use?

• Habituation = S-R System/Reflex Arc

• Sensitization = State System

Pavlovian/Classical Leanring

Stimulus-Outcome (this helps predict that)

Instrumental/Operant Learning

Response-Outcome (actions have consequences)

Excitatory Pavlovian Learning

One stimulus predicts another such that the CS becomes excitatory (sight of cake, sound of sizzling steak)

Delay Conditioning

CS w/US right after

Trace Conditioning

CS w/US after trace interval

Simultaneous Conditioning

CS w/US at the same time

Backward Conditioning

US w/CS directly after (flipped!)

Damage to hippocampus prevents which conditioning type?

Trace Conditioning because it is a long time after US

Intertrial Interval (ITI)

Time between end of US and next CS

Which is better for memory, more or less time between trials?

More - spaced repetition!

What is the ITI Ratio and Meaning?

CS/ITI | CS-US seconds and ITI seconds | 1/3 is better than 1 for memory

Quantifying Variables of CR

Magnitude, probability, latency

What was Learning-Performance Distinction Study

• Shows rats were learning even though their performance didn’t reflect it (regarding the day 11 group)

• Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence

• Through learning, one develops the capability to perform, this capability may remain latent or may not be expressed in the measure you are assessing

Pseudo-conditioning

• Looks like conditioning but not

• Rabbit licking with tone because its thirsty, not learning CS

What does CS alone control for?

Habituation and sensitization for arousing stimuli

What does US alone control for?

pseudo-conditioning from sensitization to US

What does CS/US Unpaired (CS-) control for?

Controls for both CS and US Alone items

Random Control

Zero Contingency where CS is consistent and US is randomized

Explicitly-Unpaired Control

Negative Contingency where CS consistent and US random but never during CS

Appetitive Pavlovian Learning

Predicts good things like food or drugs (Ex: goal-approach, sign-tracking, taste preference)

Aversive Pavlovian Learning

Predicts bad things like pain (Ex: taste aversion, eye blink, fear)

What is Consummatory Conditioned Response?

Pavlovian dogs with food and tone

Stimulus Substitution

CS turns into US; occurs when CS elicits same response as US

Goal-approach

Appetitive conditioned response where an individual or animal approaches the location of the unconditioned stimulus (US) or goal—such as sitting at a food cup when a predictive cue appears—rather than interacting directly with the cue itself

Sign-tracking

When animals interact with CS that predicts food (pigeon pecking at light because it has been paired with food)
—> VISUAL cues are better

What happened with pigeons when light was paired with food vs water?

Beaks opened more with food

Individuals who sign track are more prone to what?

Drug seeking elicited by drug-paired cues, more affected by signs that predict things and thus susceptible to addiction