Chapter 5 Learning

Ivan Pavlov

Russian physiologist who discovered classical conditioning through his work digestion in dogs

Learning

any relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience or practice

punishment

anything that will decrease the likelihood of a behavior occurring

Reinforcement

anything that will increase the likelihood of behavior occurring.

Thorndike's Law of Effect

law stating that if a response is followed by a pleasurable consequence, it will tend to be repeated, and if followed by an unpleasant consequence, it will tend not to be repeated.

Conditioned response (CR)

learned reflex response to a conditioned stimulus. Sometimes called a conditioned reflex.

observational learning

learning new behavior by watching a model perform that behavior

Latent learning

learning that remains hidden until its application becomes useful

classical conditioning

learning to make a reflex response to a stimulus other than the original, natural that normally produces the reflex. For example: a bell ring

variable ratio schedule of reinforcement

number of responses required for reinforcement is different for each trial or event

high-order conditioning

occurs when a strong conditioned stimulus is paired with a neutral stimulus, causing the neutral stimulus to become a second conditioned stimulus

successive approximations

small steps in behavior, one after the other, that lead to a particular goal behavior

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

stimulus that becomes able to produce a learned reflex response by being paired with the original unconditioned stimulus. -it means "learned" -a neutral stimulus can become a conditioned stimulus when paired with an unconditioned stimulus.

instinctive drift

tendency for an animal's behavior to revert to genetically controlled patterns

spontaneous recovery (classical conditioning)

the instance where a behavior reemerges following extinction

fixed interval schedule

the interval of time that must pass before reinforcement becomes possible is always the same.

variable interval schedule of reinforcement

the interval of time that must pass before reinforcement becomes possible is different for each trial or event.

operant conditioning

the learning of voluntary behavior through the effects of pleasant and unpleasant consequences to responses

fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement

the number of responses required for reinforcement is always the same

punishment by application(positive)

the punishment of a response by the addition or experience of an unpleasant stimulus. For example: When I catch the cat peeing on the carpet, I make loud noises. Hopefully these loud noises act as positive punishment.

secondary reinforcer

any reinforcer that becomes reinforcing after being paired with a primary reinforcer, such as praise, tokens, or gold stars

primary reinforcer

any reinforcer that is naturally reinforcing by meeting a basic biological need, such as hunger, thirst, or touch

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

a naturally occurring stimulus that leads to an involuntary response. Unconditioned response means "unlearned" or "naturally occurring"

stimulus discrimination (classical conditioning)

a process through which a conditioned response is triggered by some stimuli, but not others.

Unconditioned response (UCR)

an involuntary response to a naturally occurring or unconditioned stimulus

Edward Tolman

best-known experiments in learning teaching three groups of rats the same maze, one at a time. Group 1: rewarded each time at end of maze. Group 2: in maze every day; only rewarded on 10th day. Group 3: never rewarded

Taste aversion

development of a nausea or aversive response to a particular taste because that taste was followed by a nausea reaction, occurring after only one association

conditioned emotional response (CER)

emotional response that has become classically conditioned to occur to learned stimuli, such as a fear of dogs or the emotional reaction that occurs when seeing an attractive person. CER may lead to phobias.

time-out

form of mild punishment by removal in which a misbehaving animal, child, or adult is placed in a special area away from the attention of others

learning/performance distinction

referring to the observation that learning can take place without actual performance of the learned behavior

punishment by removal(negative)

the punishment of a response by the removal of a pleasurable stimulus. For example: Miguel is a 4.0 student by suddenly he got an A- on his most recent exam and his parents decided to take away his video games. This is an example of negative punishment.

positive reinforcement

the reinforcement of a response by the addition. For example: if you get an A on the exam you get reward for it .

negative reinforcement

the reinforcement of a response by the removal, escape from, or avoidance. For example: When Cindy works on her Math homework to avoid her English homework, the Math act as a negative reinforcer.

continuous reinforcement

the reinforcement of each and every correct response

shaping

the reinforcement of simple steps in behavior that lead to a desired, more complex behavior

stimulus generalization (classical conditioning)

the spread of conditioning to stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus

insight

the sudden perception of relationships among various parts of a problem, allowing the solution to the problem to come quickly

learned helplessness

the tendency to fail to act to escape from a situation because of a history of repeated failures in the past

Extinction(when a CS is presented by itself, extinction will occur)

the weakening of a learned following the absence of a USC paired with the CS

token economy

type of behavior modification in which desired behavior is rewarded with tokens