Chapter 7: Learning

What are the most and least effective studying techniques?

least effective - summarizing, highlighting/underlining keyword mnemonic , imagery for text, rereading most effective - practice testing, distributed practice

What are cognitive maps? Why are they a challenge to behaviorism?

(Tolman) cognitive map, a mental representation of the physical features of the environment - Support for this idea was obtained in a clever experiment, where Tolman trained rats in a maze, and then changed the maze—while keeping the start and goal locations in the same spot. Behaviorists would predict that the rats, finding the familiar route blocked, would be stymied. However, faced with the blocked path, the rats instead quickly navigated a new and efficient pathway to the food. This behavior suggested that the rats had formed a sophisticated cognitive map of their environment, and could use that map after the conditions had changed.

What is the law of effect?

)Thorndike) That responses accompanied by satisfaction will be repeated, while those which produce unpleasantness or discomfort will be stamped out.

How can operant conditioning produce complex behaviors?

- Most of our behaviors are the result of shaping, learning that results from the reinforcement of successive steps to a final desired behavior. - each behavior is a successive approximation to the final product or behavior that gets incrementally closer to the overall desired behavior. -in many instances of animal training in which relatively simple animals seem to perform astoundingly complex behaviors—you can think through how each smaller behavior is reinforced until the overall sequence of behavior is performed reliably

Why might a younger sibling appear to learn faster than a firstborn?

A younger sibling can watch their older sibling (burn themselves on a hot stove) and learn the same lesson without a textbook behaviorist manner.

The idea that you can learn how to dance by watching others: A. has received some research support B. has not been supported by research C. proves the independence of motor cortex activity D. has been found in nonhuman animals

A. has received some research support

Carlos has read and reread a chapter in preparation for a test, and the material feels quite familiar, which convinces Carlos that he's learned the material well enough that he does not need to study it further. He later finds that he did not do well on the test. Carlos realizes that his JOLs may have been: A. inaccurate B. understudied C. underprepared D. forgotten

A

Why did Albert fear the rat?

As soon as he reached out to touch the white rat, a steel bar was struck. This loud noise occurred whenever the rat was in his presence, and eventually the noise did not even had to be made for Albert to recoil in fear upon sight of the rat.

Essential to the process of learning is that it is based on: A. Memory B. Experience C. Consciousness D. Emotion

B. Experience

The school of psychology MOST associated with learning processes is: A. cognitive psychology B. behaviorism C. structuralism D. functionalism

B. behaviorism

According to the Rescorla-Wagner model, conditioning should be MOST powerful when stimuli are: A. familiar B. unfamiliar C. unexpected D. expected

B. unfamiliar

_____ reinforcement increase(s) the likelihood of a behavior happening, while _____ punishment decrease(s) the likelihood of the behavior. A. Positive and negative; only negative B. Only positive; only negative C. Positive and negative; positive and negative D. Only negative; only positive

C. Positive and negative; positive and negative

A possible explanation for distributed practice being an effective learning strategy versus massed practice is that, when we engage in massed practice, retrieving recently studied information is relatively _____, whereas during distributed practice, it is _____ to retrieve information that we studied. A. slow; a fast process B. fast; a slow process C. easy; more difficult D. difficult; easier

C. easy; more difficult

Conditioning alone cannot explain why some behaviors are easier to learn than others without taking _____ into account. A. neuropsychiatry B. personality C. evolutionary theory D. social influences

C. evolutionary theory

What did the Bobo Doll experiment show about children and aggressive behavior?

Children who watched adults behave aggressively towards the Bobo doll were more than twice as likely to interact with it in an aggressive manner. When they saw the adult models punished for behaving aggressively, the children showed considerably less aggression. When the children observed a model being rewarded and praised for aggressive behavior, they had an increase in aggression.

How does the role of expectation in conditioning challenge behaviorist ideas?

Classical conditioning might appear to be a primitive process, but it is actually quite sophisticated and incorporates a significant cognitive element.

Which statement is NOT an example of learning? A. A dog sits down every time its owner says, "sit!" B. A college student studies for a second exam after failing the first exam in a class. C. A fish comes to the top of its tank when its owner approaches. D. A baby reflexively pulls back her hand when it is exposed to a hot burner.

D. A baby reflexively pulls back her hand when it is exposed to a hot burner

--- has many practical applications, including the relief of food aversions in cancer patients. A. Latent learning B. Operant conditioning C. Observational learning D. Classical conditioning

D. Classical Conditioning

In studies done on trustworthiness, when participants were told that their partner was trustworthy, they: A. ignored the additional feedback they received, acting as if the partner were untrustworthy B. closely followed the additional feedback they received about their partner C. treated the trustworthy partner the same way as the neutral partner D. ignored the additional feedback they received, acting as if the partner were trustworthy

D. ignored the additional feedback they received, acting as if the partner were trustworthy

Cultural traditions and customs are generally passed down through: A. operant conditioning B. positive reinforcement C. classical conditioning D. observational learning

D. observational learning

How are learning and memory linked?

Learning produces memories/the existence of memories implies that knowledge was acquired; that experience was registered and recorded in the brain or that learning has taken place

Why are generalization and discrimination "two sides of the same coin" ?

Generalization - The CR is observed, even though the CS is slightly different from the CS used during acquisition Discrimination -the capacity to distinguish between similar but distinct stimuli more organisms show one, the less they show the other, and training can modify the balance between the two.

How do habituation and sensitization occur?

Habituation: a general process in which repeated or prolonged exposure to a stimulus results in a gradual reduction in responding - ex. move into an apartment near a busy road. At first, all you can notice is the traffic sounds, but after a while you become numb to it Sensitization: presentation of a stimulus leads to an increased response to a later stimulus - ex. people's whose houses have been broken into will become hypersensitive to late night noises

How does the concept of delayed reinforcement relate to difficulties with quitting smoking?

Harder to engage in long term behaviors (The smoker who desperately wants to quit smoking will be reinforced immediately by the feeling of relaxation that results from lighting up, but may have to wait years to be reinforced with better health that results from quitting)

What is the difference between implicit and explicit learning?

Implicit learning - learning that takes place largely independent of awareness of both the process and the products of information acquisition/ knowledge that sneaks "under the radar" Explicit learning becomes implicit over time (driving a car)

How is the concept of extinction different in operant conditioning than it is in classical conditioning?

In classical conditioning, the US occurs on every trial, no matter what the organism does. In operant conditioning, the reinforcements occur only when the proper response has been made, and they don't always occur even then. (Not every trip into the forest produces nuts for a squirrel, auto salespeople don't sell to everyone who takes a test drive, and researchers run many experiments that do not work out and never get published. Yet these behaviors don't weaken and gradually extinguish.)

What are the key ideas that support the definition of learning?

Learning: the acquisition, from experience, of new knowledge, skills, or responses that results in a relatively permanent change in the state of the learner. This definition emphasizes these key ideas: Learning is based on experience, learning produces changes in the organism, and these changes are relatively permanent.

what do "positive" and "negative" mean in operant conditioning?

Positive - a consequence that begins something new Negative - a consequence that ends something that is already happening Beginning a pleasant event is positive reinforcement, and beginning an unpleasant event is a positive punishment. Ending an unpleasant event is negative reinforcement, and ending a pleasant event is negative punishment.

What is second order conditioning?

a type of learning where a CS is paired with a stimulus that became associated with the US in an earlier procedure. Example _ pavlov added a black square alongside the reliable tone of the bell, eventually the black square alone caused salivation even though it was never directly presented with food

Why is reinforcement more constructive than punishment in learning desired behavior?

Punishment signals that an unacceptable behavior has occurred, but it doesn't specify what should be done instead

What explains a rat's behavior in a T maze?

Rats are foragers, and like all foraging species, they have evolved a highly adaptive strategy for survival. They move around in their environment, looking for food. If they find it somewhere, they eat it (or store it) and then go look somewhere else for more. So if the rat just found food in the right arm of a T maze, the obvious place to look next time is the left arm. The rat knows that there isn't any more food in the right arm because it just ate the food it found there!

What technology shows that implicit and explicit learning are associated with separate structures of the brain?

Research participants were scanned with fMRI while engaged in either implicit or explicit learning about the categorization of dot patterns. The occipital region (in blue) showed decreased brain activity after implicit learning. The areas in yellow, orange, and red showed increased brain activity during explicit learning, including the left temporal lobe (far left), right frontal lobe (second from left and second from right), and parietal lobe (second from right and far right)

What are the cognitive differences between chimpanzees raised among humans and those raised in the wild?

The chimpanzees (raised by their mothers in the wild) seemed only to be learning that the tool could be used to obtain food, whereas the children learned something specific about how to use the tool. Being raised in a human culture has a profound effect on the cognitive abilities of chimpanzees, especially their ability to understand the intentions of others when performing tasks such as using tools, which in turn increases their observational learning capacities.

Why are tasks learned implicitly difficult to explain to others?

The differences are pretty subtle and, if you have not been through the learning phase of the experiment, both sets look a lot alike. In fact, each nongrammatical string only has a single letter violation. You know its wrong but not sure why

How do specific brain structures contribute to the process of reinforcement?

The neurons in the medial forebrain bundle, a pathway that meanders its way from the midbrain through the hypothalamus into the nucleus accumbens, are the most susceptible to stimulation that produces pleasure. Dopamine producing!

How does taking practice tests help focus a wandering mind?

These results indicate that part of the value of testing comes from encouraging people to sustain attention to a lecture in a way that discourages task-irrelevant activities such as mind wandering and encourages task-relevant activities such as note taking

How has cancer patients' discomfort been eased by our understanding of food aversions?

They gave their patients unusual food at the end of the last meal before undergoing treatment. The conditioned food aversions that the patients developed were overwhelmingly for one of the unusual flavors (coconut or root beer) and not for any of the other foods in the meal. Classical Conditioning

How do ratio schedules work to keep you spending your money?

Under a fixed-ratio schedule (FR), reinforcement is delivered after a specific number of responses have been made. (some credit card companies return to their customers a percentage of the amount charged) Under a variable-ratio schedule (VR), the delivery of reinforcement is based on a particular average number of responses. (slot machines in a modern casino pay off on variable-ratio schedules. A casino might advertise that its machines pay off on "every 100 pulls on average," but one player might hit a jackpot after 3 pulls on a slot machine, whereas another player might not hit a jackpot until after 80 pulls) intermittent reinforcement is more immune to extinction

What is the role of the amygdala in fear conditioning?

amygdala plays an important role in the experience of emotion, including fear and anxiety. If connections linking the amygdala to the midbrain are disrupted, the rat does not exhibit the behavioral freezing response. If the connections between the amygdala and the hypothalamus are severed, the autonomic responses associated with fear cease

What do mirror neurons do?

fire when an animal performs an action (monkey reaches for food item) and also when animal watches someone else perform the same specific task (observe humans grasping for a piece of food)

Mariah is given practice tests with short-answer questions, which she finds not only improves her later performance on short-answer questions but also improves her performance on _____ questions. A. multiple choice B. matching C. matching, multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank D. fill-in-the-blank

A. multiple-choice

Why does a difficult practice test have the greatest benefit?

because actively retrieving an item from memory during a test improves subsequent retention of that item more efficiently than simply studying it again Not only does testing increase verbatim learning of the exact material that is tested but it also enhances the transfer of learning from one situation to another difficult practice tests require decent retrieval effort

When participants made decisions about a new dot pattern conforming to the previously viewed prototype, participants who were given the explicit instructions showed increased brain activity in the _____ and a variety of other areas known to be associated with the processing of explicit memories. Those given the implicit instructions showed decreased brain activation primarily in the _____, which is involved in visual processing. A. prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex, and hippocampus; occipital region. B.occipital region, parietal cortex, and hippocampus; prefrontal cortex C. prefrontal cortex, occipital region, and hippocampus; parietal cortex D. prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex, and occipital region; hippocampus.

A. prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex, and hippocampus; occipital region.

Sydney always hated having her diaper changed, but she loved cake. So, Sydney's mom decided to use classical conditioning to make diaper changes less miserable. Every time she changed Sydney's diaper, she would play the same song on a CD and give Sydney a small bite of cake while she changed her diaper. Now, as soon as Sydney hears the song, she is happy to have her diaper changed. What is the conditioned stimulus in this case? A. the song B. the diaper C. the cake D. the happy baby

A. the song

Since they generally result in high, consistent rates of responding without pausing, slot machines use _____ schedules of reinforcement. A. variable-ratio B. fixed-ratio C. variable-interval D. fixed-interval

A. variable-interval

The Rescorla-Wagner model showed that classical conditioning actually involved a cognitive aspect based on the organism's: A. discriminations B. generalizations C. expectations D. unconscious desires

C. expectations

Janet is trying to teach her 3-year-old son how to dress himself. First, she has him put on his pants by himself, and she gives him some M&Ms. The next day, she has him put on his pants and his shirt, and she gives him some M&Ms. By the end of the week, her son is dressing himself completely. Janet made use of: A. habituation B. implicit learning C. shaping D. latent learning

C. shaping

How can you learn something without being aware of it?

Implicit learning -people usually are attuned to linguistic, social, emotional, or sensorimotor events in the world around them so much so that they gradually build up internal representations of those patterns that were acquired without explicit awareness

What is observational learning?

learning a new behavior or gaining information by watching others

What are primary and secondary reinforcers?

primary: innate/biological reinforcing qualities (Food, comfort, shelter, and warmth are examples of primary reinforcers because they help satisfy biological needs) secondary: reinforcing due to their association with primary reinforcers (money starts out as a neutral CS that, through its association with primary USs such as acquiring food or shelter)

What are the benefits of distributed practice?

spreading out study activities so that more time intervenes between repetitions of the information to be learned. easier retrievals/long term retention in all population ages

In what ways can JOLs be misleading?

you study more of what you think you need more help on. the feeling of familiarity can be misleading: It may be the result of a low-level process such as perceptual priming and not the kind of learning that will be required to perform well on an exam

If both an unconditioned and conditioned stimulus can produce the same effect, then whats the difference?

the conditioned stimulus must be presented alongside an unconditioned stimulus to make it no longer a neutral stimulus

Why do some dogs seem to know when it's dinnertime?

the presentation of food (US) has been prepared with you getting up, moving to the kitchen, opening the cabinet, using a can opener(CS) letting her know its time to eat (CR - salivation) before the food is in sight

How does a conditioned behavior change when the unconditioned stimulus is removed?

the process of extinction (the gradual elimination of a learned response that occurs when the CS is repeatedly presented without the US) ; the response is extinguished

How does a radio station use scheduled reinforcements to keep you listening?

variable-interval schedule (VI), a behavior is reinforced on the basis of an average time that has expired since the last reinforcement. (Variable-interval schedules typically produce steady, consistent responding because the time until the next reinforcement is less predictable. One example of a VI schedule in real life might be radio promotional giveaways. The reinforcement—say, a ticket to a rock concert—might occur on average once an hour across the span of the broadcasting day, but it might come early in the 10 o'clock hour, later in the 11 o'clock hour, immediately into the 12 o'clock hour, and so on.)