Unit 7: Language & Learning
B.F. Skinner
A behaviorist, he developed the theory of operant conditioning -- the idea that behavior is determined by its consequences, be they reinforcements or punishments, which make it more or less likely that the behavior will occur again.
Reinforcement schedule: FR
A fixed-ratio (FR) schedule provides reinforcement after a set number of responses. For example, if a rat is on an FR-5 schedule, it will be rewarded after the fifth bar press.
Images
A mental image or mental picture is the representation in a person's mind of the physical world outside of that person. ... However, the majority of philosophical and scientific investigations of the topic focus upon visual mental imagery.
Morphemes
A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaningful sound. Morphemes can be words, such as a and but, or they can be parts of words, such as the prefixes an- and pre-. So language consists of phonemes put together to become morphemes, which make up words.
Reinforcement schedules
A reinforcement schedule is a tool in operant conditioning that allows the trainer to control the timing and frequency of reinforcement in order to elicit a target behavior.
Reinforcement schedule: Varied interval
A variable-interval (VI) schedule varies the amount of time required to elapse before a response will result in reinforcement. In a VI-3 minute schedule, the rat will be reinforced for the first response made after an average time of three minutes.
Reinforcement schedule: VR
A variable-ratio (VR) schedule also provides reinforcement based on the number of bar presses, but that number varies. A rat on a VR-5 schedule might be rewarded after the second press, the ninth press, the third press, the sixth press, and so on; the average number of presses required to receive a reward will be five.
Elizabeth Loftus
American cognitive psychologist and expert on human memory. She has conducted extensive research on the malleability of human memory.
Availability heuristic
An availability heuristic is a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to mind. When you are trying to make a decision, a number of related events or situations might immediately spring to the forefront of your thoughts.
Partial reinforcement effect
Behavior that is reinforced intermittently is more resistant to extinction than behavior that is continuously reinforced.
Belief bias or belief perseverance
Belief perseverance is a psychological phenomenon in which people hold on tightly to their beliefs regardless of convincing evidence that proves they are actually incorrect. This term was coined by social psychologists Ross, Lepper and Hubbard.
Chaining
Chaining is an instructional procedure used in behavioral psychology, experimental analysis of behavior and applied behavior analysis. It involves reinforcing individual responses occurring in a sequence to form a complex behavior.
Convergent thinking
Convergent thinking is a term coined by Joy Paul Guilford as the opposite of divergent thinking. It generally means the ability to give the "correct" answer to standard questions that do not require significant creativity, for instance in most tasks in school and on standardized multiple-choice tests for intelligence.
Divergent thinking
Divergent thinking refers to a way of solving problems wherein a variety of possible solutions are proposed in an effort to find one that works. This is in contrast to convergent thinking, which relies on focusing on a finite number of solutions rather than proposing multiple solutions.
Functional fixedness
Functional fixedness is a cognitive bias that limits a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally used. The concept of functional fixedness originated in Gestalt psychology, a movement in psychology that emphasizes holistic processing.
Second-order/higher-order conditioning
Higher Order Conditioning (also known as Second Order Conditioning) is a classical conditioning term that refers to a situation in which a stimulus that was previously neutral (e.g., a light) is paired with a conditioned stimulus (e.g., a tone that has been conditioning with food to produce salivating) to produce the same conditioned response as the conditioned stimulus.
Token economy
In a token economy, every time people perform a desired behavior, they are given a token. Periodically, they are allowed to trade their tokens for any one of a variety of reinforcers. Token economies have been used in prisons, mental institutions, and even schools.
Unconditioned response
In classical conditioning, an unconditioned response is the unlearned response that occurs naturally in reaction to the unconditioned stimulus. For example, if the smell of food is the unconditioned stimulus, the feeling of hunger in response to the smell of food is the unconditioned response.
Conditioned stimulus
In classical conditioning, the conditioned stimulus is a previously neutral stimulus that, after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus, eventually comes to trigger a conditioned response.
Unconditioned stimulus
In classical conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) is one that unconditionally, naturally, and automatically triggers a response. For example, when you smell one of your favorite foods, you may immediately feel very hungry.
Fixed interval
In operant conditioning, a fixed-interval schedule is a schedule of reinforcement where the first response is rewarded only after a specified amount of time has elapsed.
Punishment
In operant conditioning, punishment is any change in a human or animal's surroundings that occurs after a given behavior or response which reduces the likelihood of that behavior occurring again in the future. As with reinforcement, it is the behavior, not the animal, that is punished.
Confirmation bias
In psychology and cognitive science, confirmation bias (or confirmatory bias) is a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions, leading to statistical errors.
Algorithm
In psychology, algorithms are frequently contrasted with heuristics. A heuristic is a mental shortcut that allows people to quickly make judgments and solve problems. However, heuristics are really more of a rule-of-thumb; they don't always guarantee a correct solution.
Heuristic
In psychology, heuristics are simple, efficient rules, learned or hard-coded by evolutionary processes, that have been proposed to explain how people make decisions, come to judgments, and solve problems typically when facing complex problems or incomplete information.
Insight learning
Insight learning occurs when one suddenly realizes how to solve a problem. You have probably had the experience of skipping over a problem on a test only to realize later, in an instant, (we hope before you handed the test in) how to solve it.
Latent learning
Latent learning is a pretty weird concept. Latent literally means hidden, and latent learning is learning that becomes obvious only once a reinforcement is given for demonstrating it. Edward Toleman studied latent learning by using rats and showing us that learning can occur but may not be immediately evident.
Learning
Learning is commonly defined as a long-lasting change in behavior resulting from experience.
Generalized reinforcers
Money is a special kind of secondary reinforcer, called a generalized reinforcer, because it can be traded for virtually anything. One practical application of generalized reinforcers is known as a token economy.
Omission training
Omission training is a behavior-analytic term that refers to a specific form of punishment in which a positive event is withdrawn contingent on the occurrence of a target behavior (e.g., property destruction, aggression toward other people).
Phonemes
Phonemes are the smallest units of sound used in a language. English speakers use approximately 44 phonemes. If you have studied another language or if your primary language is not English, you have experience with other phonemes. Native Spanish speakers find the rolled R phoneme natural, but many English speakers have difficulty learning how to produce it since it is not used in English. Speakers of other languages have difficulty learning some English phonemes.
Positive punishment
Positive punishment works by presenting a negative consequence after an undesired behavior is exhibited, making the behavior less likely to happen in the future. The following are some examples of positive punishment: A child picks his nose during class and the teacher reprimands him in front of his classmates.
Positive reinforcement
Positive reinforcement refers to the addition of something pleasant. for instance, if we give a rat in a Skinner box food when it presses a lever, we are using positive reinforcement.
Primary reinforcers
Primary reinforcers are, in and of themselves, rewarding. They include things like food, water, and rest, whose natural properties are reinforcing.
Learned taste aversion
Research suggests that animals and humans are biologically prepared to make certain connections more easily than others. Learned taste aversions are a classic example of this phenomenon. If you ingest an unusual food or drink and then become nauseous, you will probably develop an aversion to the food or drink. Learned taste aversions are interesting because they can result in powerful avoidance responses on the basis of a single pairing
Secondary reinforcers
Secondary reinforcers are things we have learned to value such as praise or the chance to play a video game.
Shaping
Shaping is a conditioning paradigm used primarily in the experimental analysis of behavior. The method used is differential reinforcement of successive approximations. It was introduced by B. F. Skinner with pigeons and extended to dogs, dolphins, humans and other species.
Albert Bandura
The Bobo Doll Experiment was how Albert Bandura studied aggression and non-aggression in children.
Prototypes
The concept of prototype psychology is closely related to schema in psychology. Linguistically, the word "prototype" is used for something original — an original form of something that serves as a standard.
Reinforcer, reinforcement
The food is called a reinforcer, and the process of giving the food is called reinforcement. Reinforcement is defined by its consequences; anything that makes a behavior more likely to occur is a reinforcer. Two kinds of reinforcement exist.
Linguistic relativity hypothesis
The principle of linguistic relativity holds that the structure of a language affects its speaker's' world view or cognition. Popularly known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, or Whorfianism, the principle is often defined to include two versions.
Representativeness heuristic
The representativeness heuristic is used when making judgments about the probability of an event under uncertainty. It is one of a group of heuristics(simple rules governing judgment or decision-making) proposed by psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman in the early 1970s.
Syntax
These words are then spoken or written in a particular order, called syntax. Each language has its own syntax, such as where the verb is usually placed in the sentence.
Continuous reinforcement
This is an operant conditioning principle in which an organism is reinforced every single time that organism provides the appropriate operant response. For example, you, as a researcher, might present a food pellet every time the rat presses the lever.
Edward Tolman
Through Tolman's theories and works, he founded what is now a branch of psychology known as purposive behaviorism.
Skinner box
a laboratory apparatus in which an animal is caged for experiments in operant conditioning and which typically contains a lever that must be pressed by the animal to gain reward or avoid punishment.
Classical conditioning
a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired; a response that is at first elicited by the second stimulus is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone.
Aversive conditioning
a type of behavior conditioning in which noxious stimuli are associated with undesirable or unwanted behavior that is to be modified or abolished, as the use of nausea-inducing drugs in the treatment of alcoholism.
Observational learning or modeling
a type of learning most associated with the work and social learning theory of psychologist Albert Bandura. can produce new behaviors, and either increase or decrease the frequency with which a previously learned behavior is demonstrated.
Conditioned response
an automatic response established by training to an ordinarily neutral stimulus.
Rosalie Rayner
assistant and later wife of Johns Hopkins University psychology professor John B. Watson, with whom she carried out the famous Little Albert experiment.
Overgeneralization or overregularization
children gradually increase their abilities to combine words in proper syntax if these uses are modeled for them. This misapplication of grammar rules is called overgeneralization or overregularization.
Noam Chomsky
contributed greatly to Cognitive psychology through language research. Chomsky challenged the Behaviorist view that language, like any other behavior, was learned through exposure to language in the environment.
John Watson
established the psychological school of behaviorism.Watson promoted a change in psychology through his address Psychology as the Behaviorist Views it
Operant conditioning
is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior.
Discrimination
is a term used in both classical and operant conditioning. It involves the ability to distinguish between one stimulus and similar stimuli. In both cases, it means only responding to certain stimuli but not to those that are similar.
Wolfgang Kohler
like Max Wertheimer, and Kurt Koffka, contributed to the creation of Gestalt psychology.
Benjamin Whorf
linguist who developed the principle of linguistic relativity, which held that thought is influenced by the structure of language. Today, Whorf's work remains influential in the fields of linguistics, psychology, and anthropology.
John Garcia
most known for his research on taste aversion.
Language acquisition
process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language, as well as to produce and use words and sentences to communicate. Language acquisition is one of the quintessential human traits, because non-humans do not communicate by using language.
Acquisition
refers to the first stages of learning when a response is established. In classical conditioning, it refers to the period when the stimulus comes to evoke the conditioned response
Negative reinforcement
refers to the removal of something unpleasant. However, if we terminate a loud noise or shock in response to a press of the lever, we are using negative reinforcement.
Robert Koelling
specialized in the involvement of cognitive processes in classical conditioning focusing on animal learning and behavior.
Robert Rescorla
specialized in the involvement of cognitive processes in classical conditioning focusing on animal learning and behavior.
Language acquisition device
the ability to learn a language rapidly as children (this is also called the nativist theory of language acquisition).
Extinction
the process of unlearning a behavior is known as extinction. In terms of classical conditioning, extinction has taken place when the CS no longer elicits the CR. Extinction is achieved by repeatedly presenting the CS without the US, thus breaking the association between the two. If one rings the bell over and over again and never feeds the dogs, the dogs will ultimately learn not to salivate, to the bell.
Spontaneous recovery
the process of unlearning a behavior is known as extinction. In terms of classical conditioning, extinction has taken place when the CS no longer elicits the CR. Extinction is achieved by repeatedly presenting the CS without the US, thus breaking the association between the two. If one rings the bell over and over again and never feeds the dogs, the dogs will ultimately learn not to salivate, to the bell.
Indistinct drift
the tendency of an animal to revert to instinctive behaviors that interfere with a conditioned response. The concept originated with B.F. Skinner's former students Keller Breland and Marian Breland when they tried to teach a raccoon to put tokens into a piggy bank.
Generalization
the tendency to respond in the same way to different but similar stimuli. For example, a dog conditioned to salivate to a tone of a particular pitch and loudness will also salivate with considerable regularity in response to tones of higher and lower pitch.
Law of effect
thout mental activity but rather simply connected a stimulus and a response. Thorndike put forth the law of effect that states that if the consequences of a behavior are pleasant, the stimulus-response (S-R) connection will be strengthened and the likelihood of the behavior will increase. However, if the consequences of a behavior are unpleasant, the S-R connection will weaken and the likelihood of the behavior will decrease
Instrumental learning
used the term instrumental learning to describe his work because he believed the consequence was instrumental in shaping future behaviors.
Ivan Pavlov
was a Russian scientist interested in studying how digestion works in mammals. He observed and recorded information about dogs and their digestive process. As part of his work, he began to study what triggers dogs to salivate.
Edward Thorndike
work on learning theory that lead to the development of operant conditioning within behaviorism. Whereas classical conditioning depends on developing associations between events, operant conditioning involves learning from the consequences of our behavior.
