chapter 7

forward short-delay pairing

Learning usually occurs most quickly;The CS (tone) appears first and is still present when the UCS (food) appears.

positive reinforce

The stimulus that follows and strengthens the response. Food, drink, comforting physical contact, attention, praise, and money are common example

negative reinforce

The stimulus that is removed or avoided

Capabilities

"knowing how," or learning, versus "doing," or performance.

Habituation

is a decrease in the strength of response to a repeated stimulus, serves a key adaptive function. You do not need to constantly respond to the pressure of clothing on your skin, to the sound of the ventilation system, or to the hum of distant traffic. If an organism responded to every stimulus in its environment, it would rapidly become overwhelmed and exhausted. By learning not to respond to uneventful familiar stimuli, organisms conserve energy and can attend to other stimuli that are important.

Learning

is a process by which experience produces a relatively enduring change in an organism's behaviour or capabilities.

Sensitization

is an increase in the strength of a response to a repeated stimulus. It Sensitization increases an organism's response to potentially dangerous stimuli.

Sensitization

is an increase in the strength of response to a repeated stimulus. It tends to occur to strong or noxious, it tends to occur to strong or noxious stimuli, and its purpose is to increase responses to a potentially dangerous stimulus.

Punishment

is the opposite of reinforcement; it occurs when a response is weakened by outcomes that follow it. Take our lever-pressing rat. Suppose we change things so that pressing the lever delivers a one-second electric shock, rather than food. If lever pressing decreases (which it will), then the electric shock represents a punisher: a consequence that weakens the behaviour.

Operant extinction

is the weakening and eventual disappearance of a response because it is no longer reinforced. When previously reinforced behaviours no longer pay off, we are likely to abandon and replace them with more successful ones. If pressing a lever no longer results in food pellets, the rat eventually will stop making this response.

best way to promote fast learning and high resistance to extinction

is to begin reinforcing the desired behaviour on a continuous schedule until the behaviour is well established. Then, shift to a partial (preferably variable) schedule that is gradually made more demanding. Once partial reinforcement is used, variable schedules generally produce steadier rates of responding than fixed schedules, and ratio schedules typically produce higher rates of responding than interval schedules

higher-order conditioning

A neutral stimulus becomes a CS after being paired with an already established CS. Typically, a higher-order CS produces a CR that is weaker and extinguishes more rapidly than the original CR. The dog will salivate less to the black square than to the tone, and its response to the square will extinguish sooner. This conditioning greatly expands the influence of conditioned stimuli and can affect what we come to value, like, fear, or dislike. (For example, a child may value a gold star because that gold star was previously paired by social recognition and praise from the teacher.)

Unconditioned Response

A reflexive, unlearned response to an Innately Important stimulus

Conditioned Response

A response elicited by a stimulus whose Importance depends on past learning

positive reinforcement

A response is strengthened by the subsequent presentation of a stimulus. Behaviour is reinforced by desirable outcomes. Being presented with a stimulus we find pleasing represents a desirable outcome.

Unconditioned Stimulus

A stimulus that Innately elicits a response

Conditioned Stimulus

A stimulus that gains value through learning

John B. Watson research

After several rat- noise pairings, the sight of the white rat alone made Albert cry. Two other sources of evidence suggest that at least some fears are conditioned. First, laboratory experiments show that humans and other mammals become afraid of neutral stimuli that are paired with electric shock treatments partly based on classical conditioning principles are among the most effective psychotherapies for phobias. The key assumption is that if phobias are learned, they can be "unlearned."

Beyond influencing fear, attraction, and aversion, classical conditioning also can affect our physical health examples are

Allergic responses occur when the immune system overreacts and releases too many antibodies to combat pollen, dust, or other foreign substances (called allergens). When a neutral stimulus (such as a distinct odour) is repeatedly paired with a natural allergen (the UCS), it may become a CS that triggers an allergic CR

aversion therapy

Classical conditioning also can decrease our arousal and attraction to stimuli. This principle is used in this therapy, which attempts to condition an aversion (a repulsion) to a stimulus that triggers unwanted behaviour by pairing it with a noxious UCS. (To reduce an alcoholic's attraction to alcohol, the patient is given a drug that induces severe nausea when alcohol is consumed. Therapies yield mixed results, often producing short-term changes that do not last or do not generalize outside of the environment where the learning occurred)

How to establish a conditioned response

During acquisition, a CS typically must be paired multiple times with a UCS

negative reinforcement

Getting rid of some¬ thing we find aversive—or avoiding something we anticipate will be aversive—also is a good outcome. We take Aspirin to relieve headaches, children clean up their rooms to stop their parents' nagging, and we use umbrellas to avoid getting wet. A response is strengthened by the subsequent removal or avoidance of a stimulus

Extinction

If the function of classical conditioning is to help organisms adapt to their environment, then there must be a way of eliminating the CR when it is no longer appropriate. Fortunately, there is. If the CS is presented repeatedly in the absence of the UCS, the CR weakens and eventually disappears.

amygdala

Imaging results, such as those reported by Cheng, and others functions of the _______, and indicate that it is indeed involved in learning about environmental cues that predict dangerous or aversive events. Studies of fear conditioning help us understand the acquisition of normal emotional responses. These studies are also important for our understanding of exaggerated or abnormal emotional responses. It is adaptive to learn to be anxious, even fearful, around stimuli that have accurately predicted danger in the past. In some situations, however, the mechanisms of fear conditioning may lead to inappropriate or maladaptive changes.

positive punishment

Like reinforcement, punishment comes in two forms. One involves actively applying aversive stimuli, such as painful slaps, electric shock, and verbal reprimands. Also called aversive punishment. A response is weakened by the subsequent presentation of a stimulus. Often produces rapid results, an important consideration when it is necessary to stop a particularly dangerous behaviour, can send a message to the recipient that such aggression is appropriate and effective.

natural, unlearned (unconditioned) reflex and learned (conditioned) response

Notice that we have two terms for salivation: UCR and CR. When the dog salivates to food, this UCR is a _______. But when it salivates to a tone, this CR represents a ________.

higher-order conditioning

Once a stimulus (e.g., a tone) becomes a CS, it can now be used in place of the original UCS (food) to condition other neutral stimuli.

How does a conditioned stimulus becomes more rapid

Pavlov also found that a tone became a CS more rapidly when it was followed by greater amounts of food. Indeed, when the UCS is intense and aversive conditioning may require only one CS- UCS pairing

behaviourist view of phobia

Pavlov's discoveries enabled early American behaviourists to challenge Freud's psychoanalytic view of the causes of anxiety disorders, such as phobias. To explain a snake phobia, no Freudian assumptions about hidden unconscious conflicts or repressed traumas are needed. Instead, the behaviourist view is that snakes have become a fear-triggering CS because of pairing with an aversive UCS (such as injury) and stimulus generalization.

ABCs of Operant Conditioning

Skinner's analysis of operant behaviour involves three kinds of events: antecedents (A), which are stimuli that are present before a behaviour occurs; behaviours (B) that the organism emits; and consequences (C) that follow the behaviours.

Vr

Recent advances in computer and video technology have presented an innovative approach to treating anxiety disorders: the use of virtual reality (VR). VR uses real-time computer graphics and high-resolution three-dimensional visual displays, body tracking, sound, and, in some cases, other types of sensory input (e.g., tactile stimulation) to immerse clients in a computer-generated world.

operant behaviour

Skinner coined the term, meaning that an organism operates on its environment in some way; it emits responses that produce certain consequences. Is a type of learning in which behaviour is influenced by its consequences. Responses that produce favourable consequences tend to be repeated, whereas responses that produce unfavourable consequences become less likely to occur. Through operant conditioning, organisms learn to increase behaviours that benefit them and reduce behaviours that harm them.

stimulus generalization

Stimuli similar to the initial CS elicit a CR

resistance to extinction

The degree to which non-reinforced responses persist. Non- reinforced responses may stop quickly (low resistance), or they may keep occurring hundreds or thousands of times (high resistance).

Learning computer software

The effectiveness of such computerized instruction rests on two key principles championed by Skinner: immediate performance feedback and self-paced learning.

spontaneous recovery

The extinguished CR, although weakened, has reappeared. This reappearance is called _________, which is defined as the reappearance of a previously extinguished CR after a rest period and without new learning trials. CR usually is weaker than the initial CR and extinguishes more rapidly in the absence of the UCS. The phenomenon of this recovery is why practical applications of extinction, such as treatment of phobias or other anxiety disorders, require multiple sessions.

Contingencies

The relations between A and B, and between B and C. (Jessie's behaviour of sitting is contingent on my saying "Sit." The conse¬ quence of receiving food is then contingent on her response of sitting.)

secondary, or conditioned, reinforcers

Through their association with primary reinforcers, other stimuli can become______ . Money is a conditioned reinforcer. In similar fashion, chimpanzees will learn to value and work for (and even to hoard) tokens they can place into a vending machine to obtain raisins. Secondary reinforcers, including money and tokens, performance feedback, and grades are crucial in everyday life. This illustrate how behaviour often depends on a combination of classical and operant conditioning.

discrimination

To prevent stimulus generalization from running amok, organisms must be able to discriminate (i.e., detect) differences between stimuli. (An animal that becomes alarmed at every sound would exhaust itself from stress. It must learn to distinguish irrelevant sounds from those that may signal danger. In classical conditioning, _________ is demonstrated when a CR (such as an alarm reaction) occurs to one stimulus (a sound) but not to others.) Organisms can be taught, through conditioning, to behaviourally discriminate two stimuli that were initially treated the same way. Pairing the CS with the UCS combined with pairing similar stimuli with no consequence leads to a narrowing of response to the specific CS and a loss of generalized responses to other similar stimuli.

The most commonly used and most effective therapies for anxiety disorders, such as specific phobias, are based on

a classical conditioning model. These therapeutic approaches have been classified as exposure treatments because they all involve exposure to the phobic stimulus without aversive consequences. From studies of classical conditioning, we know that if a CS is presented repeatedly without any biologically important following event, the learned response will gradually diminish in strength. As discussed earlier, this is the process of extinction; with extinction training, the CS loses its value and the learned response (CR) is progressively weakened.

stimulus control

When discriminative stimuli influence a behaviour, that behaviour is said to be under ______

The acquisition phase

involves pairing the CS with the UCS. Extinction, the disappearance of the CR, occurs when the CS is presented repeatedly in the absence of the UCS. Sometimes, spontaneous recovery occurs after a rest period and the CS temporarily will evoke a response even after extinction has taken place.

An early imaging study of PTSD using PET scans found

a number of changes in brain activity; especially interesting were increased activity within the right amygdala and decreased activity within areas of the frontal cortex (Rauch et al., 1996). The results of more recent studies using fMRI have also found evidence for amygdala and frontal involvement in PTSD. found that when presented with frightening faces, PTSD patients showed greater activation within the right amygdala and lower frontal activity than did trauma-exposed participants who had not developed PTSD. The extent of amygdala activation correlated positively with symptom severity among PTSD patients, a finding that has been replicated in several other studies

Reinforcement

a response is strengthened by an outcome that follows it. Typically, "strengthened" is operationally defined as an increase in the frequency of a response. The outcome (a stimulus or event) that increases the frequency of a response is a called a reinforcer. (Food pellets are reinforcers because they increase the rat's frequency of lever pressing. Once a response becomes established, reinforcers maintain it: The rat keeps pressing the lever because it continues to receive food.)

negative punishment

a response is weakened by the subsequent removal of a stimulus. Sometimes referred to as response cost. May seem similar to operant extinction because both processes weaken behaviour by depriving the individual of something. But there is a key difference. In operant extinction the stimulus or event that is reinforcing the behaviour is removed. Negative punishment involves removal of other desirable stimuli.

discriminative stimulus

a signal that a particular response will now produce certain consequences. Discriminative stimuli "set the occasion" for operant responses.

Learning involves

adapting to the environment. Historically, behaviourists focused on the processes by which organisms learn, and ethologists focused on the adaptive significance of learning. Today, these two perspectives have crossed paths, and more attention is paid also to how mental processes and cultural environments influence learning.

partial reinforcement

also called intermittent reinforcement, only some responses are reinforced.

operant generalization

an operant response occurs to a new antecedent stimulus or situation that is similar to the original one.

instrumental learning

animals did not attain "insight" into the solution. Rather, with trial-and- error, they gradually eliminated responses that failed to open the door, and became more likely to perform actions that worked. Thorndike called this process ______ because an organism's behaviour is instrumental in bringing about certain outcomes.

PTSD

are re-experiencing the traumatic event (e.g., flashbacks), avoiding situations or cues that remind the individual of the traumatic event, and chronically heightened physiological arousal. Can be considered an example of extreme or exaggerated fear learning, and a fear conditioning perspective is considered to be a useful and appropriate model for explaining the development of PTSD

Primary reinforcers

are stimuli, such as food and water, that an organism naturally finds reinforcing because they satisfy biological needs. Attention and praise are also an example

Behaviourists

assumed that there are laws of learning that apply to virtually all organisms. (For example, each species they studied— whether birds, reptiles, rats, monkeys, or humans— responded in predictable ways to patterns of reward or punishment.) They treated the organism as a tabula rasa, or blank tablet, upon which learning experiences were inscribed. They explained learning solely in terms of directly observable events and avoided speculating about an organism's unobservable "mental state." The concept of learning calls attention to the importance of adapting to the environment. Whereas evolution focuses on species' adaption across many generations, learning represents a process of personal adaptation.

neutral stimulus

because it does not elicit (i.e., trigger) the salivation response

exposure therapies

because their basic goal is to expose the phobic patient to the feared stimulus (CS) without any UCS, allowing extinction to occur. (Mental imagery, real-life situations, or both can be used to present the phobic stimulus. Exposure therapies are highly effective and represent one of behaviourisms important applied legacies)

Neutral stimuli can become attractive or unattractive by

being paired with stimuli that already elicit positive or negative attitudes. (Advertising executives are keenly aware of classical conditioning's power. They carefully link products and company logos to cute animals, attractive and famous people, humour, "fuzzy-warm" family images, and most of all, to pleasurable inter¬ actions with the opposite sex)

Learning is measured by

changes in performance.

two-factor theory of avoidance learning

classical and operant condi¬ tioning are involved in avoidance learning. Two-factor theory helps us understand how many avoidance behaviours develop. (For our rat, the warning light initially is a neutral stimulus paired with shock (UCS). Through classical conditioning, the light becomes a CS that elicits fear. Now oper¬ ant conditioning takes over. Fleeing from the light is negatively reinforced by the termination of fear. This strengthens and maintains the avoidance response. Now, if we permanently turn off the shock, the avoidance response prevents extinction from taking place. Seeing the light come on, the animal will not "hang around" long enough to learn that the shock no longer occurs.) Modern research shows that our biological predispositions, thinking patterns, and ability to learn through observation also regulate our avoidance responses

Difference between classical conditioning and operant conditioning

classical conditioning the organism learns an association between two stimuli—the CS and UCS (e.g., a tone and food)—that occurs before the behaviour (e.g., salivation). In operant conditioning, the organism learns an association between behaviour and its consequences. Behaviour changes because of events that occur after it. Classical conditioning focuses on elicited behaviours. The conditioned response is triggered involuntarily, almost like a reflex, by a stimulus that precedes it. Operant conditioning focuses on emitted behaviours: In a given situation, the organism generates responses (e.g., pressing a lever) that are under its physical control.

Much of what attracts and pleasurably arouses us is influenced by

classical conditioning. Consider sexual arousal. An outfit or the scent of a partner's cologne can become a conditioned stimulus for arousal. Experiments show that pairing a neutral odour with pleasing physical massage increases people's attraction to that smell and that people become sexually aroused to stimuli after those stimuli have been paired with sexually arousing UCSs

shaping

involves reinforcing successive approximations toward a final response. This technique also is called the method of successive approximations. (Sami is a shy 12-year-old boy diagnosed with developmental delays.)

Habituation

is a decrease in the strength of a response to a repeated stimulus. It may be the simplest form of learning. It allows organisms to attend to other stimuli that are more important.

learning trial

each pairing

extinction trial

each presentation of the CS without the UCS

continuous reinforcement schedule

every response of a particular type is reinforced. (Every press of the lever results in food pellets. Every toonie deposit in the pop machine results in a can of cool bubbly drink.)

Theories of phobias and related anxiety disorders that emerged from learning theory led to learning-based treatments that use

graded exposure to the anxiety-provoking stimulus or situation. These exposure therapies became the treatment of choice for a range of otherwise debilitating dis¬ orders. VR exposure to cyber-spiders, virtual airplanes, and computer-generated audiences are effective and provide a number of practical benefits, such as improved client compliance.

schedules of reinforcement

have strong and predictable effects on learning, extinction, and performance

classical conditioning

in which an organ¬ ism learns to associate two stimuli (e.g., a song and a pleasant event), such that one stimulus (the song) comes to produce a response (feeling happy) that originally was produced only by the other stimulus (the pleasurable event). It involves learning an association between stimuli.

Token economies

in which desirable behaviours are quickly reinforced with tokens (e.g., points, gold stars) that are later turned in for other reinforcers (e.g., prizes, recreational time), have been used to enhance academic and work performance

Classical conditioning

involves pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that elicits an unconditioned response (UCR). Through repeated pairing, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) that evokes a conditioned response (CR) similar to the original UCR.

chaining

is used to develop a sequence (chain) of responses by reinforcing each response with the opportunity to perform the next response. For example, suppose that a rat has learned to press a lever when a light is on to receive food. Next, we place a bell nearby. By accident, the rat eventually bumps into and rings the bell, which turns on the light. Seeing the light, the rat runs to and presses the lever. Over time, the rat will learn to ring the bell because this response is reinforced by turning on the light, which provides the opportunity to press the lever for food.

constraints on learning

it is easier to condition fear to some stimuli than others; we seem to be biologically prepared to easily learn to fear stimuli such as heights, snakes, spiders, and bats. Similarly, it is relatively easy to condition an aversion to a taste by pairing a taste and an illness, but it is very difficult to condition a similar aversion to a visual stimulus by pairing a visual cue and an illness.

Operant discrimination

means that an operant response will occur to one antecedent stimulus but not to another. antecedent stimuli—parents' presence or absence, bus markings—are called discriminative stimuli.

Stimulus generalization

occurs when a CR is evoked by a stimulus similar to the original CS. Discrimination occurs when a CR occurs to one stimulus but not another.

escape conditioning

organisms learn a response to terminate an aversive stimulus. Escape behaviours are acquired and maintained through negative reinforcement.

Conditioning also can create unfavourable attitudes toward a CS by

pairing the CS with a negative or unpleasant UCS. At times, this principle can have beneficial effects. (In a study of fourth- and ninth-grade schoolchildren, Laura Moore and her colleagues (1982) paired the concepts of smoking, drinking, and drug use with words having negative connotations. Experimental group children exposed to the pairings developed more negative attitudes toward these activities than did control group children who were not exposed.)

classical or Pavlovian conditioning

performs a key adaptive function; classical conditioning alerts organisms to stimuli that signal the impending arrival of an important event. As Pavlov noted, if salivation could be conditioned, so might other bodily processes, including those affecting susceptibility to disease and mental disorders. (Ivan Pavlov research: He noticed that with repeated testing, the dogs began to salivate before the food was presented, such as when they heard the footsteps of the approaching experimenter. Dogs have a natural reflex to salivate to food but not to tones. Yet when a tone or other stimulus that ordinarily did not cause salivation was presented just before food powder was squirted directly into a dog's mouth, the sound of the tone alone soon made the dog salivate.)

Sensory adaptation

refers to a decreased sensory response to a continuously present stimulus. Habituation, on the other hand, is a simple form of learning that occurs within the central nervous system. You may habituate to a stimulus, but that sensory information is still available if it becomes relevant.

Acquisition

refers to the period during which a response is being learned.

fixed schedule

reinforcement always occurs after a specific—that is, fixed—number of responses or time interval. With a variable schedule, the required number of responses or the time interval varies at random around an average.

fixed-ratio (FR) schedule

reinforcement is given after a fixed number of responses. For example, FR-3 means that reinforcement occurs after every third response, regardless of how long it takes for those responses to occur. (ex. receive $1 every three times you pressed a lever)

variable-ratio (VR) schedule

reinforcement is given after a variable number of correct responses, based on an average. A VR-3 schedule means that, on average, three responses are required for reinforcement. (For example, for the first 12 responses, reinforcement might occur after responses 2, 3,6, and 11.) (ex Gambling activities)

variable-interval (VI) schedule

reinforcement is given for the first response that occurs after a variable time interval. A VI-3 schedule means that, on average, there is a three-minute interval between opportunities to obtain reinforcement. (Pop quizzes represent a VI schedule. A course might average a quiz every one or two weeks, but their unpredictable timing likely will produce a steadier approach to studying than regularly scheduled quizzes.)

Thorndike's law of effect

states that responses followed by satisfying consequences will be strengthened, whereas those followed by unsat¬ isfying consequences will be weakened.

Mary Cover Jones

successfully treated a boy named Peter, who had a strong fear of rabbits with exposure therapies

theory for the acquisition of anxiety disorders

such as phobias, is that these disorders are acquired through classical conditioning. Exposure to an environmental stimulus (CS) is paired with an aversive event (UCS), and as a result, the originally neutral stimulus comes to elicit an emotional reaction of anxiety or fear (CR). If we acquire anxiety disorders through conditioning, then conditioning procedures should be effective at treating these disorders. The most commonly used and most effective therapies for anxiety disorders, such as specific phobias, are based on a classical conditioning model.

delay of gratification

the ability to forego an immediate smaller reward for a delayed but more satisfying outcome

In a variant of exposure therapy

the client imagines exposure to the feared stimulus rather than confronting the real thing. Clinical research has found that although imaginal exposure can be successful, real-world exposure (referred to as in vivo exposure) is superior

fixed-interval (FI) schedule

the first correct response that occurs after a fixed time interval is reinforced. (ex. FI schedules in university)

avoidance conditioning

the organism learns a response to completely avoid an aversive stimulus. That is, in avoidance conditioning we learn to respond before the aversive stimulus even begins. (For example, if you put on a sweater after you feel chilled and it warms you, that is escape learning. If you put on your sweater before going outside and this prevents you from feeling cold at all, that is avoidance learning.)

forward trace pairing

the tone would come on and off, and afterward the food would be presented. In forward pairing, it is often optimal for the CS to appear no more than two or three seconds before the UCS. It has adaptive value because the CS signals the impending arrival of the UCS. Typically, presenting the CS and UCS at the same time (simultaneous pairing) produces less rapid conditioning, and learning is slowest, or does not occur at all, when the CS is presented after the UCS (backwardpairing).

The traditional exposure

therapy approaches have involved presenting the client with either the real, phobic stimulus, or exposure to a series of stimuli that gradually get closer to, and more like, the phobic stimulus. Such procedures, especially when combined with relaxation training, are very effective at treating anxiety disorders such as snake and spider phobias, fear of flying, and public-speaking anxiety. Exposure therapy with gradual introduction of the phobic stimulus is the treatment of choice for specific phobias

classical conditioning usually is strongest when

there are repeated CS-UCS pairings, the UCS is more intense, the sequence involves for¬ ward pairing, and the time interval between the CS and UCS is short.

Skinner box

to study operant conditioning experimentally. A lever on one wall is positioned above a small cup, and a food pellet automatically drops into the cup whenever a rat presses the lever. A hungry rat is put into the chamber and, as it moves about, it accidentally presses the lever. A food pellet clinks into the cup and the rat eats it quickly. We record the rat's behaviour on a cumulative recorder, and find that it presses the bar more and more frequently over time. This is the antecedent condition.

interval schedule

under which a certain amount of time must elapse between reinforcements, regardless of how many correct responses have occurred.

operant discrimination training

we can teach an organism that making a response (e.g., pressing a lever) when a discriminative stimulus is present (e.g., a red light is on) produces food or some other positive consequence. Now all we have to do is change the colour of the light and not reinforce any response when that light is on. If the organism learns to respond to one colour and not the other, we infer that it can discriminate between them.

applied behaviour analysis (also known as behaviour modification)

which combines a behavioural approach with the scientific method to solve individual and societal problems. This has been used to reduce an array of behaviour problems. It has been used in situations that have ranged from chronic hair pulling, to drivers' failure to use seat belts, to safety improvements around stop signs. Applied behaviour analysis has been used to improve students' academic performance and social skills, enhanced elite athletic performance, and reduced unsportsmanlike behaviour

law of effect

which stated that in a given situation, a response followed by a "satisfying" consequence will become more likely to occur, and a response Based on Thorndike. followed by an unsatisfying outcome will become less likely to occur. The law of effect became the foundation for the school of behaviourism.