PSY419 TEST #2 (chapters 8, 5, 3, 4)

skill memories (intact in patient H.M)

- are difficult to convey except by direct demonstration - may be acquired without awareness - require several repetitions

memories for events and facts

- can be communicated flexibly, in different formats - have content that is consciously accessible - can be acquired in a single exposure

orbitofrontal cortex

A brain region that is important for learning to predict the outcomes of particular responses.

insular cortex (insula)

A brain region that is involved in conscious awareness of bodily and emotional states and that may play a role in signaling the aversive value of stimuli

motor prosthesis

An electromechanical device that can help a person recover lost abilities to learn and perform perceptual-motor skills.

token economy

An environment (such as a prison or schoolroom) in which tokens function the same way as money does in the outside world.

chaining

An operant conditioning technique in which organisms are gradually trained to execute complicated sequences of discrete responses.

shaping

An operant conditioning technique in which successive approximations to the desired response are reinforced

self-control

An organism's willingness to forgo a small immediate reward in favor of a larger future reward.

ventral tegmental area (VTA)

a brain region that contains dopamine-producing neurons projecting to the frontal cortex and other brain areas

basal ganglia

a brain region that lies at the base of the forebrain and includes the dorsal striatum

dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC)

a brain region that may play a role in the motivational value of pain

habituation

a decrease in the strength or occurrence of a behavior after repeated exposure to the stimulus that produces that behavior

acoustic startle reflex

a defensive response (such as jumping or freezing) to a startling stimulus (such as a loud noise)

cumulative reorder

a device used for recording responses in operant conditioning, designed in such a way that the height of the line it draws represents the total (cumulative) number of responses made up to a given time

Power law of practice

a law stating that the degree to which each new practice session improves performance diminishes after a certain point, such that greater numbers of sessions are needed to further improve the skill; learning occurs quickly at first and then slows down

expert

a person who performs a skill better than most

talent

a person's genetically endowed ability to perform a skill better than most

sensitization

a phenomenon in which a salient stimulus (such as an electric shock) temporarily increases the strength of responses to other stimuli

priming

a phenomenon in which prior exposure to a stimulus can improve the ability to recognize that stimulus later

synaptic depression

a reduction in synaptic transmission; a possible neural mechanism underlying habituation

dishabituation

a renewal of a response, previously habituated, that occurs when the organism is presented with a novel stimulus

motor program

a sequence of movements that an organism can perform automatically (with minimal attention)

open skills

a skill in which movements are made on the basis of predictions about changing demands of the environment

closed skills

a skill that involves performing predefined movements that, ideally, never vary

pathological addiction

a strong habit that is maintained despite harmful consequences

novel object recognition task

a task in which an organism's detection of and response to unfamiliar objects during exploratory behavior are used to measure its memories of past experiences with those objects

learning set formation

acquisition of the ability to learn novel tasks rapidly based on frequent experiences with similar tasks

skill

an ability that can improve over time through practice

rotary pursuit task

an experiment task that requires individuals to keep the end of a pointed stick (stylus) above a fixed point on a rotating disk; used to study perceptual-motor skill learning

serial reaction time task

an experimental task that requires individuals to press keys in specific sequences on the basis of cues provided by a computer; used to study implicit learning

mirror reading

an experimental task that requires individuals to read mirror-reversed text; used to test cognitive skill learning

mirror tracing

an experimental task that requires individuals to trace drawings by watching a mirror image of their hand and of the figure to be traced, with the actual hand and figure concealed; used to test perceptual motor skill learning.

discrete-trials paradigm

an operant conditioning paradigm in which the experimenter defines the beginning and end points of each trial

orienting response

an organism's innate reaction to a novel stimulus

massed practice

concentrated, continuous practice of a skill

knowledge of results

feedback about performance of a skill. critical to the effectiveness of practice

electrodermal activity (EDA)

fluctuations in the electrical properties of a person's skin that are a consequence of activity in the peripheral nervous system

bliss point

in behavioral economics, the allocation of resources that maximizes subjective value or satisfaction.

perceptual-motor skills

learned movement patterns guided by sensory inputs

statistical learning

learning driven by repeated exposures to perceptual events that increase the familiarity and distinctiveness of those events

perceptual learning

learning in which experience with a set of stimuli makes it easier to distinguish those stimuli

skill decay

loss of a skill due to non-use

homosynaptic

occurring in one synapse without affecting nearby synapses

free-operant paradigm

operant conditioning paradigm in which the animal can operate the apparatus as it chooses in order to obtain reinforcement (or avoid punishment)

behavioral addiction

pathological addiction to a behavior (rather than to a pharmacological substance).

constant practice

practice involving a constrained set of materials and skills

variable practice

practice involving the performance of skills in a wide variety of contexts

spaced practice

practice of a skill that is spread out over several sessions

spontaneous recovery

reappearance (or increase in strength) of a previously habituated response after a short period of no stimulus presentation

cognitive skills

requires problem solving or the application of strategies

spatial learning

the acquisition of information about one's surroundings

cognitive stage

the first stage in Fitts' model of skill learning, when an individual must actively think to encode and perform a skill

incentive salience hypothesis

the hypothesis that dopamine helps provide organisms with the motivation to work for reinforcement

familiarity

the perception of similarity that occurs when an event is repeated

associative stage

the second stage in Fitts' model of skill learning, when learners begin to use stereotyped actions in performing a skill and rely less actively recalled memories of rules

dual process theory

the theory that habituation and sensitization are independent of each other but operate in parallel

autonomous stage

the third stage in Fitts' model of skill learning, when a skill or subcomponents of the skill become motor programs

transfer of training

the transfer of skill memories to novel situations

skinner box

A chamber used for operant conditioning and designed so that reinforcement or punishment is delivered automatically whenever an animal makes a particular response (such as pressing or releasing a lever).

punisher

A consequence of behavior that leads to decreased likelihood of that behavior in the future.

reinforcer

A consequence of behavior that leads to increased likelihood of that behavior in the future.

parkinson's disease

A disorder resulting from disruptions in the normal functioning of the basal ganglia and involving progressive deterioration of motor control and perceptual-motor skill learning

Differential reinforcement of alternative behaviors (DRA)

A method used to decrease the frequency of unwanted behaviors by instead reinforcing preferred alternative behaviors.

substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc)

A part of the basal ganglia that contains dopamine-producing neurons projecting to the striatum.

deep brain stimulation

A procedure that involves delivering an electrical current into a patient's brain through one or more implanted electrodes; used to alleviate tremors and other motor symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease.

dorsal striatum

A region of the basal ganglia that is important for stimulus-response learning.

fixed-ratio (FR) schedule

A reinforcement schedule in which a specific number of responses must occur before a reinforcer is delivered; thus, FR 5 means that reinforcement arrives after every fifth response.

variable-ratio (VR) schedule

A reinforcement schedule in which a specific number of responses, on average, must occur before a reinforcer is delivered; thus, VR 5 means that, on average, every fifth response is reinforced.

continuous reinforcement schedule

A reinforcement schedule in which every instance of the response is followed by the reinforcer.

parietal reinforcement schedule

A reinforcement schedule in which only some instances of the response are followed by the reinforcer.

fixed-interval (FI) schedule

A reinforcement schedule in which the first response after a fixed amount of time is reinforced; thus, FI 1-min means that reinforcement follows the first response made after a 1-minute interval since the last reinforcement.

variable-interval (VI) schedule

A reinforcement schedule in which the first response after a fixed amount of time, on average, is reinforced; thus, VI 1-min means that reinforcement follows the first response made after a 1-minute interval, on average, since the last reinforcement

concurrent reinforcement schedule

A reinforcement schedule in which the organism can make any of several possible responses, each of which may lead to a different outcome (each of which may be reinforced according to a different reinforcement schedule).

secondary reinforcer

A reinforcer that initially has no biological value but that has been paired with (or predicts the arrival of) a primary reinforcer.

primary reinforcer

A reinforcer, such as food, water, or sleep, that is of biological value to an organism

reinforcement schedule

A schedule that determines how often reinforcement is delivered in an operant conditioning paradigm.

aplysia

A sea snail was used to study how memories can change neurons

word-stem completion task

A task in which participants are asked to fill in the blanks in a list of word stems (e.g., MOT ) to produce the first word that comes to mind; in a priming experiment, participants are more likely to produce a particular word (e.g., MOTEL) if they have been exposed to that word previously

negative punishment

A type of operant conditioning in which the response causes a desirable element to be "subtracted from" the environment; over time, the response becomes less frequent.

positive reinfrocement

A type of operant conditioning in which the response causes a reinforcer to be "added" to the environment; over time, the response becomes more frequent.

positive punishment:

A type of operant conditioning in which the response causes an undesirable element to be "added" to the environment; over time, the response becomes less frequent.

negative reinforcement

A type of operant conditioning in which the response causes an undesirable element to be "subtracted from" the environment; over time, the response becomes more frequent.

endogenous opioid

Any of a group of naturally occurring neurotransmitter-like substances that have many of the same effects as heroine, morphine, and other opiate drugs; may help signal the hedonic value of reinforcers in the brain.

altruism

In behavioral economics, an action or a behavior that provides benefit to another at the expense of some cost to the actor.

reciprocal altruism

In behavioral economics, the principle that one organism may donate time or resources to help another in the expectation that the other will return the favor later on.

post-reinforcement schedule

In operant conditioning, a brief pause in responding that follows delivery of the reinforcer.

discriminative stimulus

In operant conditioning, a stimulus indicating that a particular response (R) may lead to a particular outcome (O).

motivational value

In operant conditioning, the degree to which an organism is willing to work to obtain access to a stimulus.

hedonic value

In operant conditioning, the subjective "goodness" or value of a reinforcer.

implicit learning

Learning that occurs without the learner's awareness of improvements in performance or, in the case of people with amnesia, awareness that practice has occurred.

negative contrast

The phenomenon in which the reinforcing value of one reward is reduced because a better reward is expected.

matching law of choice behavior

The principle that an organism, given a choice between multiple responses, will make each response at a rate proportional to how often that response is reinforced relative to the other choices.

punishement

The process of providing outcomes (punishers) that lead to decreased probability of a particular behavior occurring in the future

reinforcement

The process of providing outcomes (reinforcers) that lead to increased probability of a particular behavior occurring in the future.

operant conditioning

The process whereby organisms learn to make or to refrain from making certain responses in order to obtain or avoid certain outcomes.

delay discounting

The progressive reduction (or discounting) of the subjective value of a reward the longer it is delayed.

behavioral economics

The study of how organisms allocate their time and resources among possible options.

drive reduction theory

The theory, proposed by Clark Hull, that all learning reflects the innate, biological need to obtain primary reinforcers.

identical elements theory

Thorndike's proposal that learned abilities transfer to novel situations to an extent that depends on the number of elements in the new situation that are identical to those in the situation in which the skills were encoded.