7.1 What is Learning?

Key Ideas about Learning

Learning is based on experience Learning produces changes in the organism These changes are relatively permanent

classical conditioning examples

Pavlov showed that dogs learned to salivate to neutral stimuli such as a buzzer or a metronome after the dogs had associated that stimulus with another stimulus that naturally evokes salivation, such as food

habituation

a general process in which repeated or prolonged exposure to a stimulus results in a gradual reduction in responding

conditioned stimulus

a previously neutral stimulus that produces a reliable response in an organism after being pairs with a US

Conditioned response

a reaction that resembles an unconditioned response but is produced by a conditioned stimulus.

successive approximations

a step-by-step process moving gradually closer to the desired behavior

Maggie is a participant in a cognitive psychology experiment. On each trial, she views strings such as "XXNNYZZZKLLKZN." Maggie is MOST likely in an experiment using a(n) _____ to investigate _____ learning.

artificial grammar; implicit

Observational learning challenges the _____ explanation of learning because it involves no direct reinforcement.

behavioral

Superstitions can be explained by operant conditioning as mistakenly inferring a _____ between a specific behavior and a reinforcer.

causal relationship

Road construction prevents you from getting to campus using the route that you usually travel. You think about the situation for a moment and then come up with a different route to take. To figure out this alternative route, you are using _____ to devise a different route.

cognitive map

shaping

conditioning a behavior by reinforcing successive approximations to the desired behavior

stimulus control

develops a particular response occurs only when an appropriate discriminative stimulus

Like classical conditioning, operant conditioning:

does not need to refer to the mind to explain things

Discrimination

in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between similar but distinct stimuli

reinforcement

in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

observational loearning

learning by watching other rather than from direct experience

Implicit learning

learning that takes place largely independent of awareness of both the process and the products of information acquisition

Johnny is "hammering" a nail in with his toy hammer as his father is hammering nails into deck boards. Johnny's behavior is a clear example of:

modeling

classical conditioning

neutral stimulus produces a response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally produces a response

sensitization

occurs when presentation of a stimulus leads to an increased response to a later stimulus

biological preparedness

propensity for learning particular kinds of associations over others

unconditioned stimulus

something that is reliably produced by an unconditioned stimulus

Which behavior is LEAST likely to be studied by researchers using operant techniques?

startle response

Most people know when to be boisterous and when to be somber because learning:

takes place in contexts

Learning

the acquisition of new knowledge, skills, or responses from experience that results in a relatively permanent change in the state of the learner

extinction

the gradual elimination of a learned response that occurs when the cs is repeatedly presented without the US

Declan does things that make him feel good and avoids things that make him feel bad. His behaviors are consistent with:

the law of effect

acquisition

the phase of classical conditioning when the CS and the US are presented together

spontaneous recovery

the tendency of a learned behavior to recover from extinction after a rest period

Generalization

the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses CR is observed even though the CS is slightly different from the CS used during acquisition

operant conditioning

type of learning in which a behavior is influenced by the favorable or unfavorable consequences that follow it

second-order conditioning

type of learning whereby a CS is paired with a stimulus that became associated with the US in an earlier