Chapter 7

Question 1

Learning

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Classical Conditioning

Answer 2

learning by association

something that didn’t cause reaction before can now trigger a response automatically

over time this response will decrease without the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned being paired (bell and food)

Question 3

Pavlov (classical conditioning)

Answer 3

Pavlov was a Russian physiologist who won
Nobel Prize for Medicine for his research on
the digestive system of dogs
* His major contribution to Psychology (theory
of classical conditioning) was entirely
serendipitous…
“Pavlov became aware of an odd and
annoying phenomenon: the dogs would
secrete gastric juices at times other than
feeding – for instance when they heard
their keeper shortly before mealtime”
(Hunt, 2007)

Question 4

Unconditioned stimulus/response vs conditioned stimulus/response

Answer 4

-Unconditioned Stimulus: something that reliably
produces a naturally occurring reaction in an organism
-Unconditioned Response: a reflexive reaction that is
reliably produced by an unconditioned stimulus

-Conditioned Stimulus: A previously neutral stimulus
that produces a reliable response in an organism
-Conditioned Response: a reaction that resembles
an unconditioned response but is produced by a
conditioned stimulus

Question 5

Second-order Conditioning

Answer 5

Second-order conditioning is when something new gets linked to a conditioned stimulus instead of the original thing.

Ex: Advertising– putting steph curry in a subway ad.
Outside of the ad:
steph curry: Conditioned stimulus
Positive experiences: Unconditioned stimulus
Positive emotions: Unconditioned response

In the ad:
steph curry: Conditioned stimulus
Positive experiences: conditioned stimulus
Positive emotions: conditioned response

You already feel good (positive emotions) when you think about fun or positive experiences. Now, because Steph Curry is in the ad, you start to connect him (and Subway) with those good feelings — so just seeing him in the ad makes you feel happy, even without the original experience.

Example: If a dog learns that a bell means food, and then a light always comes before the bell, the dog will eventually drool just at the light — even without hearing the bell or seeing the food.

Question 6

Contingency Learning

Answer 6

Contingency learning is when you learn that one thing depends on or predicts another — like realizing that if one event happens, another will likely follow.

Example: If every time you hear thunder (event 1), lightning follows (event 2), you learn that thunder means lightning is coming.

Question 7

Contingency vs Contiguity

Answer 7

contingency: 2 things happen close to each other in time

contiguity: one thing predicts the other

ex of Rescorla & Wagner study:

2 groups have same number of CS - US pairings (same amt of contiguity)

only 1 group CS - US pairing was more reliable (each time CS occurred, US also occurred) therefore more contingent

Finding: contiguity doesn’t matter as much as contingency, group that had more reliable pairing learned better

Question 8

conditioning should be easier when the ____ is unfamiliar

Answer 8

conditioning should be easier when the conditioning stimulus is unfamiliar

Question 9

generalization (Little Albert Experiment)

Answer 9

Generalization: the CR is observed even though the CS is
slightly different from the CS used during acquisition

Example: If a dog is trained to drool when it hears a bell, it might also drool when it hears a similar sound, like a phone chime — even though it’s not the exact same bell.

Question 10

Can classical conditioning be a basis for treatments for phobias? explain the relationship between CS/US in acquisition of phobia and exposure therapy

Answer 10

Acquisition of phobia: Conditioned stimuli and unconditioned stimuli pairings

Exposure therapy: Extinguish fear to Conditioned Stimuli
via presentation of CS
without Unconditioned Stimuli

Acquisition of phobia: You develop a fear when something scary (unconditioned stimulus, like a dog bite) gets paired with something neutral (conditioned stimulus, like a dog). After that, the neutral thing alone makes you afraid.

Exposure therapy: To get rid of the fear, you face the conditioned stimulus (the dog) without the scary event happening. Over time, your brain learns that the CS is safe, and the fear goes away.

Question 11

Operant/Instrumental Conditioning

Answer 11

type of learning where consequences of an organism’s behavior determine whether it will repeat that behavior in the future
-“learning what works and learning
what doesn’t work”

Question 12

Operant conditioning vs classical conditioning

Answer 12

Classical:
“involuntary”/”reactive” behaviors

Operant:
“voluntary”

Question 13

Origins of Operant Conditioning: Thorndike and the Law of Effect

Answer 13

Thorndike’s Law of Effect: Behaviors that are followed by a
‘satisfying state of affairs’ tend to be
repeated, and those that produce an
‘unpleasant state of affairs’ are less
likely to be repeated

Reinforcement of behavior:
the increase of behavior due to a satisfying state

Punishment of Behavior:
The decrease of a behavior due to an unsatisfying state

Question 14

Positive vs negative reinforcement and punishment

Answer 14

Reinforcement
Positive: stimulus added, increases likelihood of behavior
Negative: stimulus removed, increases likelihood of behavior

Punishment
Positive: stimulus added, decreases likelihood of behavior
Negative: stimulus removed, decreases likelihood of behavior

Question 15

Intermittent Reinforcement Effect

Answer 15

Behaviors that are rewarded sometimes (not every time) are harder to stop than behaviors that are rewarded every time.

Question 16

Explain these:
Interval vs Ratio
Fixed vs Variable

Answer 16

Interval vs. Ratio Schedules:
* Interval: based on the time
intervals between reinforcements
* Ratio: based on the rate of
responses to reinforcements

Fixed vs. Variable Schedules
* Fixed: presented at
fixed/consistent interval / ratio
* Variable: presented on an
average interval / ratio

ex:
fixed-interval=every 2 minutes exactly
variable-interval=on average every 2 mins

fixed-ratio=every 5th behavior exactly
variable-ratio=on average every 5th behavior

Question 17

Different combinations of these and their effects:
Interval vs Ratio
Fixed vs Variable

Answer 17

fixed-interval=every 2 minutes exactly
-low rate of responding
-low rate at beginning of interval, high rate as end nears

variable-interval=on average every 2 mins
-low rate responding
-steady rate of responding
-slow extinction of behavior

fixed-ratio=every 5th behavior exactly
-high rate responding
-higher rate as reward nears, low rate after reward
-fast extinction of behavior
-good for initial teaching of behavior

variable-ratio=on average every 5th behavior
-high rate responding
-steady rate responding
-very resistant to extinction

Question 18

Tolman Studies: Latent Learning
Findings?

Answer 18

A lot of learning can happen
without reward / punishment

challenges the simplistic behaviorist view

Question 19

Latent Learning

Answer 19

learning that
occurs without immediate
behavioral manifestation

Question 20

The Garcia Effect
(Taste Aversion / Biological Preparedness)
&
John Garcia study

Answer 20

The study of taste/food aversion revealed unique patterns of learning that are unlike typical (classical) conditioning phenomena

1. It develops quickly
2. Develops despite delay between food digestion and illness
3. Develops even though it may not be the cause of illness

John Garcia study:

Key idea: Some associations are easier to learn than others.

Example: Rats easily learned taste → sickness, but not sound → sickness.

Question 21

Habituation vs sensitization

Answer 21

Habituation is a decrease in response to a repeated stimulus, while sensitization is an increase in responsiveness after exposure to a strong or noxious stimulus

Question 22

Ex of Garcia Effect in Cancer Patients

Answer 22

Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy often
develop an aversion to food they eat before treatment
* This aversion can be diminished by eating a weird-
flavored candy before treatment (aversion to the candy
is developed instead)

Question 23

Challenges to Conditioning (Findings that highlighted limitations to conditioning)

Answer 23

1. Cognitive Maps
2. Latent Learning
3. Taste Aversion and Biological Preparedness

Question 24

Observational Learning and “Bobo Doll” Experiment

Answer 24

Learning by watching actions of others

“Bobo Doll”:
-Children who watched an adult act
aggressively were more likely later
to act aggressively
-Reward and punishment of adult
aggression would influence
children’s behavior
* ***Much of what we learn is not
from direct reward & punishment

Question 25

3 Qualities of Observational Learning

Answer 25

1. Developmental Origins -Facial imitation in newborns 2. Comparative Research -Monkey "cognitive" imitation (not just copying, understanding) 3. Neural Mechanisms -Mirror Neurons: Neurons that discharge both when performing an action and when the observing another individual performing the same action

Question 26

Implicit Learning -definition -Neural Mechanisms

Answer 26

Learning that takes place largely independent of awareness of both the process and the products of information -not aware that you're picking up certain info AND results Neural Mechanisms: Implicit learning may not involve the hippocampus * Amnesic patients (like HM & EP) perform just as well on an artificial grammar learning task Brain activation patterns in visual implicit learning task: -Explicit learning involved increases in frontal, parietal and temporal areas (relative to baseline) -Implicit learning involved decreases in occipital areas (relative to baseline) Learning without awareness shows decrease activity in occipital areas

Question 27

Areas that are more active during Implicit vs explicit

Answer 27

Explicit: Increases in frontal, parietal, temporal areas Implicit: Decreases in occipital areas