Behavior
The ways in which animals act or respond in an environment
Learning
A relatively permanent change in observable behavior that results from experience with an environment
Meme
A cultural invention that is passed on from one generation to the next
Associative process
The cognitive process that connects two stimuli, a stimulus and a response, or a response and a reinforcer
Reflex
An innate, involuntary response to a specific stimulus in the environment
Orienting reflex
(Pavlov) An instinctive response to a stimulus, such as turning the head to locate a sound source
Unconditioned stimulus (US)
(Pavlov) A stimulus that elicits an innate, involuntary, unconditioned response (UR)
Unconditioned response (UR)
(Pavlov) A reflexive response to an unconditioned stimulus (US)
Classical conditioning
A procedure in which a conditioned response results from the pairing of a conditioned stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
(Pavlov) A stimulus (such as the sound of a bell) that can trigger a conditioned response (such as salivation)
Conditioned response (CR)
(Pavlov) A reflexive response that is triggered by a conditioned stimulus
Habituation
Decreased responsiveness to a repetitive stimulus
Sensitization
Increased responsiveness following the presentation of a single stimulus
Extinction
(Classical conditioning): A reduction in the conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus is presented without the unconditioned stimulus
Spontaneous recovery
(Pavlov) The reappearance of an extinguished response following a delay in the extinction process
Higher-order conditioning
(Pavlov) The process through which a conditioned stimulus acquires the properties of an unconditioned stimulus
Stimulus generalization
The tendency to perceive stimuli that share common properties as being similar
Discrimination
The ability to perceive a difference between two stimuli
Conditioned emotional response
An emotional response (such as fear) that is triggered by a conditioned stimulus
Second-signal system
(Pavlov) The way in which a word (the second signal) is attached to raw sensory input (the first signal)
Conditioned taste aversion
A conditioning procedure in which an animal drinks a flavored solution (the CS) and is then made sick by a toxin (the US)
Conditioned compensatory response
(Siegel) A homeostatic response that counteracts a drug's effect after repeated exposures
Instrumental response
A voluntary, non-reflexive response that acts on the environment in a meaningful way
Instrumental learning
The modification of a non-reflexive behavior using reinforcers and punishers
Law of effect
(Thorndike) The rule that responses that are followed by "satisfiers" tend to be repeated, whereas responses that are followed by "annoyers" tend not to be repeated
Satisfier
(Thorndike) A pleasant stimulus
Annoyer
(Thorndike) An unpleasant stimulus
Operant
(Skinner) An instrumental response, such as a lever press, that effectively operates on the environment
Positive reinforcer
(Skinner) Any stimulus that follows an operant response and has the effect of increasing the rate of response
Positive reinforcement
(Skinner) A process in which a reward such as food is used to reinforce an operant response
Operant conditioning
(Skinner) The process through which reinforcement strengthens (make more probable) an operant response
Shaping
A procedure in which responses that approximate the target behavior are reinforced
Secondary reinforcer
A neutral stimulus that acquires reinforcing properties through the process of higher-order conditioning
Schedule of reinforcement
The pattern according to which response are reinforced
Continuous reinforcement
A procedure in which each response is followed by a reinforcer
Partial reinforcement
A procedure in which patterns of responses (rather than single responses) are reinforced
Fixed ratio (FR) schedule
A schedule of reinforcement in which a fixed number of responses must be made before a response is reinforced
Variable ratio (VR) schedule
A schedule of reinforcement in which a varying number of responses must be made before a response is reinforced
Fixed interval (FI) schedule
A schedule of reinforcement in which the first response made following a specified time interval is reinforced
Variable interval (VI) schedule
A schedule of reinforcement in which the first response following a varying time interval is reinforced
Partial reinforcement effect (PRE)
The tendency for responses that are being maintained on a partial reinforcement schedule to be highly resistant to extinction
Differential reinforcement of high rates of response (DRH)
A schedule of reinforcement that is designed to reinforce bursts of operant responses
Differential reinforcement of low rates of response (DRL)
A schedule of reinforcement that is designed to reinforce pauses between operant responses
Extinction
(Instrumental conditioning): A reduction in the rate of response when reinforcement is withheld
Behavioral control
The contingencies that determine the expression of a behavior through reinforcement and punishment
Discriminative stimulus (S^d)
A signal that indicates when a response will be reinforced
negative discriminative stimulus (S^?)
A stimulus that signals that a response will not be followed by reinforcement
Stimulus control
In discrimination training, the demonstration of a response in the presence of S^d, but not in the presence of S^?
Punishment
The process through which an aversive stimulus decreases the rate of the response to which it is applied
Escape
A procedure in which an animal makes an instrumental response that terminates an aversive stimulus
Avoidance learning
A procedure in which an instrumental response prevents an aversive stimulus
Negative reinforcement
A process in which response that prevent aversive events are learned, presumably because the absence of an aversive event is reinforcing
Observational learning
Learning by watching others; imitation
Instinctive drift
(Breland) The theory that arbitrarily established responses erode (drift) in the face of more innate (instinctive) behavior
Cognitive map
(Tolman) A mental representation of the route or shortest path to a target destination
Latent learning
(Tolman) Learning that occurs in the absence of specific food rewards
Foraging pattern
An innately determined food-searching behavior
Cognitive processes
The psychological processes of perceiving, thinking, knowing, remembering, and so forth
Win-stay, lose-shift strategy
(Harlow) A strategy in which an animal continues to make a response that is reinforced (win-stay) but switches to a different response when not reinforced (lose-shift)
Tabula rasa
Idea proposed by John Locke that a baby's mind is a blank slate, on which experience writes
________ shape the instinctive components of behavior.
Environments
Environment not only shapes behavior and learning; it determines _______.
Opportunity
How are memes transmitted across generations?
Through oral and written history
Who began the empirical study of learning?
Ivan Pavlov began it with laboratory studies
What kind of conditioning are Pavlov's experiments associated with?
Classical conditioning
How is a reflex different from an instinct?
Reflexes involve fewer synapses and a simpler brain organization
Neutral stimulus
In classical conditioning, it is the type of stimulus that initially or normally does not elicit an overt behavioural response (apart from focusing attention) in the observed organism but when paired with the unconditioned stimulus and presented simultane
Salivary reflex
unlearned response to the taste of food
Conditioning occurs when. . .
two stimuli, the CS and the US, become associated
Non-associative learning
A change in behavior occurs to a singly presented stimulus
Internal inhibition
Frustration at not receiving a reward when expected
External inhibition
The disruptive effect of an extra stimulus on both conditioning and extinction
Significance of higher-order conditioning
Once a "neutral" stimulus has been conditioned, it can be used to condition other responses
The more _____ a conditioned stimulus, the more easily it is associated with an unconditioned stimulus
intense
Both stimulus generalization and discrimination allow us to . . .
recognize differences and make distinctions within our environments
Conditioned suppression
When a conditioned emotional response suppresses an action
Little Albert" experiment
Experiment conducted by John B. Watson in which he conditioned an 11-month-old child to fear a white rat
What is the foremost "neutral stimulus" for conditioning human responses?
Language
What is our most important meme?
Language
How do words derive their meaning?
By being associated with other environmental signals
Plasticity
The fact that the environment can change both an animal's behavior and the physical structure of its nervous system
Is taste aversion a rapid or slow learning process?
Rapid
Tolerance
The reduction of a drug's effectiveness after a person has taken it repeatedly
Instrumental response vs. conditioning
Learning by doing something vs. having something done to oneself
Instrumental learning constructs ___ behaviors
new
_____ and ______ interact when a person is learning a new skill.
Reflexes; instrumental responses
Hedonism
The tendency to seek pleasure and avoid pain
Primary reinforcers meet _______ ______.
biological needs
Secondary reinforcers acquire value through the _______ _______.
learning process
Postreinforcement pause
A pause following reinforcement in which the animal pauses to eat its reward
Environmental determinism
The position that environmental stimuli exert almost total control over an animal's behavior
Punisher
Any stimulus that decreased the rate of the response that preceded it
Primary punisher
Any stimulus that is inherently aversive
Secondary punisher
A stimulus that has acquired punishing properties through conditioning
Negatively reinforced responses extinguish more (slowly, quickly) than positively reinforced responses
slowly
Item-specific strategy
Responses to "correct" stimuli are reinforced, and responses to "incorrect" stimuli are not
Relational strategies
An animal is first trained with specific stimuli and subsequently tested with novel stimuli (so-called transfer tests)