Untitled Flashcards Set

Classical Conditioning

• Type of learning where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a naturally occurring stimulus, leading to associations between the stimuli.

Association

• A mental connection or link formed between different concepts, events, or mental states.

  • Allowing one thing to trigger a thought of the other.

Neutral Stimulus

• Stimulus with no associations.

  • The ringing of the bell.

Unconditioned Stimulus

• Stimulus that  naturally and automatically triggers a response without any prior learning necessary.

  • Starting point in CC.

  • The food.

Unconditioned Response

• Natural, automatic response to a stimulus that occurs without any prior learning.

  • Reflexive response that happens instinctively.

  • Salivation at the presentation of food.

Conditioned Stimulus

• A previously neutral stimulus that, through repeated pairing with an unconditioned stimulus, has become associated with a specific response.

  • Causes a learned reaction(Conditioned Response).

  • The ringing of the bell after it is associated with food.

Conditioned Response

• A learned reaction that occurs in response to a previously neutral stimulus that has been repeatedly paired with a naturally occurring stimulus.

  • Salivating at the ringing of the bell.

Higher-Order Conditioning

• CC process where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a conditioned stimulus, creating a “second-level” conditioned response.

  • A cat is conditioned to salivate when the bag of food appears, then they learn that the bag appears when their owner opens a certain cabinet, so they begin to salivate when their owner approaches that cabinet.

Counterconditioning

• Behavioral therapy technique where a previously negative conditioned response to a stimulus is replaced with a positive one by pairing that stimulus with a pleasant experience. 

Aversive Conditioning

• Type of CC where an unwanted behavior is paired with a negative or unpleasant stimulus in order to create an aversion to that behavior.

  • Taste Aversion

    • A learned avoidance of a specific food or taste due to a previous negative experience.

One-Trial Conditioning

• Type of learning where an organism acquires a conditioned response after experiencing a single pairing of a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus.

  • Learning something from one exposure.

Acquisition

• The initial stage of learning when a conditioned response is first established.

Extinction

• The gradual weakening and eventual disappearance of a learned behavior when the reinforcement for that behavior is no longer provided

Spontaneous Recovery

• The reappearance of a previously extinct conditioned response after a period of time has passed without exposure to the conditioned stimulus.

  • This means that a learned behavior that has gone away can suddenly reappear without any sort of re-training process.

Biological Preparedness

• The concept that organisms are naturally inclined to quickly learn associations between certain stimuli and responses.

  • Particularly those that relate to survival because of evolutionary history.

  • We are pre-wired to avoid specific threats like snakes/spiders more easily than other stimuli

Habituation

• A decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated exposure to it.

  • We have seen this in all aspects of psychology, when repeatedly exposed to things, the response weakens.