Ch.3 Practice Questions And Key Terms From Domijian

Front 1

Habituation

Back 1

is a decrease in the vigor of elicited behavior

Front 2

Sensitization

Back 2

is an increase in responsivity

Front 3

What are the basic features of the habituation and sensitization phenomena?

Back 3

-they are among the simplest and most common forms of behavior change
-they often occur as a part of a more complex learning phenomena
-Many of the principles of habituation and sensitization apply as well to more complex learning

Front 4

What is the primary purpose of habituation and sensitization phenomena?

Back 4

Habituation and Sensitization
regulate our reflex responses and increase the efficiency of our interactions with the environment.

Front 5

Which of Descartes's ideas about reflexes are disproved by the phenomena of habituation and sensitization?

Back 5

Descartes said strength of a reflex is derectly related to intensity of eliciting stimulus and that a given reflex respose always occurs when its elicting stimulus is presented He wrong on BOTH counts because reflex strength can be regulated and the simplest and best know regulators are Habituation and Sensitization

Front 6

What is homeostatic regulation and how is it generally acheived?

Back 6

"Regulation"- something is said to be regulated if its funtions are maintained within acceptable limits, or within a defined target range. Physiological regulation is referred to as homeostasis. The "target range" in physiological systems is the homeostatic level. Generall regulation is achieved by the activation of opponent processes.

Front 7

What is the visual attention task that is used in research with infants?

Back 7

Infant is seated in front of a screen, visual attention is measured by how long the infant's eyes remain fixed on the stimulus. This depends on:
- what the stimulus is and how often it has been presented.

Front 8

What is the visual attention task that is used in research with infants?
-The effects of the repeated presentation of an eliciting stimulus to infants

Back 8

For each group, a 10 sec visual stimulus was presented 8 times, with a 10 sec intertrial interval (iti) FOr one group the stimulus was a 4x4 checkerboard pattern and for the other is was a 12x12 (more complex) pattern.

Front 9

What is the visual attention task that is used in research with infants?
-Results

Back 9

Results
-With the simple pattern responsiveness progressively habituated (the decrease in the vigor of elicited behave)
-With the more complex pattern sensitization(increase in responsivity) occured from trials 1 to 2 followed by habituation thereafter
-but note that it took until trial 7 just to habituate back to the original level

Front 10

Startle Response

Back 10

This is a sudden movement or flinch to a novel stimulus

Front 11

Pattern of stimulus relationships with startle responses
Very mild eliciting stimulus:

Back 11

very mild eliciting stimulus: Tends to produce a monotonic habituation pattern.
Occasionally there may be a few startle responses, but these will quickly habituate
-another very good example is the pressure of shoes when first put on

Front 12

Pattern of stimulus relationships with startle responses
More intense eliciting stimulus

Back 12

more intense eliciting stimulus:
Tends to produce sensitization at first, followed by habituation
Recall the infants' reactions to the complex visual pattern

Front 13

Pattern of stimulus relationships with startle responses
Very intense eliciting stimulus

Back 13

Very intense eliciting stimulus:
-tends to result in a sustained sensitiztion
-people in a war zone for a long time may never get used to gun shots and loud noises
-if your shoes are actually a couple of sizes too small you may never habituate to them

Front 14

Major Characteristics of Habituation Effects

Back 14

Stimulus Specificity
-Habituation is specific to the repeated stimulus
-If the stimulus is altered, the habituated response recovers (the degree of recovery is determined by the degree of similarity)
This is a defining feature of habituation.

Front 15

Opponent processes

Back 15

are simply processes that counteract or oppose eachother. Generally "regulation" is achieved byt the activation of opponent processes.

Front 16

Example: Stimulus Specificity a defining feature of HABITUATION.

Back 16

Stimulus specificity(using the typical infant setup)
- A spot of light is presented repeatedly on the screen until the infant stops fixating (habituates)
-Then, the light is presented again, but in different places on the screen
-Maximum habituation (least responding) to the stimulus presented exactly where it had occured during habituation training > This illustrates stimulus specificity

Front 17

Stimulus Generalization (of habituation)

Back 17

stimulus generalization: Less and less habituation is obtained as stimuli get farther away from the original position, in a gradient like fashion. *By the way , recovery of responding with a change in the eliciting stulus rules out fatigue as a potential explanation of habituation effects.

Front 18

Spontaneous Recovery

Back 18

Dissipation of habituation over time. In some cases responding does recover. However, in others, responding does not recover even with long rest periods.

Front 19

When does Spontaneous Recovery of a habituated response occur?

Back 19

Spontaneous recovery of a habituated response occurs when there is a recovey of a esponse produced by a period of rest after habituation.

Front 20

How does spontaneous recovery help distinguish between short-term and long-term habituation effects?

Back 20

Habituation effects have been classified according to whether or not they exhibit spontaneous recovery. Cases in which substantial spontaneous recovery occurs are called shor-term habituation, while cases in which significant spontaneous recovery does not occur are called long-term habituation.

Front 21

Spontaneous Recovery-dissipation of habituation over time: key points

Back 21

-in some cases responding does recoer
-however, in others responding does not recover even with long rest periods.
-e.g., no spontaneous recovery is evident in habituation of the novelty response to TASTE(or flavor) Neophobia eg- coffee usually elicits an initial aversion response, but after drinking coffe a few times without ill effect, he neophobia habituates AND the habituation is usually permanent.

Front 22

Habituation effects can be classified in terms of amount of spontaneous recovery.

Back 22

Short-term habituation- substatial spontaneous recovery.
Long-term habituation-relatively little spontaneous recovery NOTE: not mutually exclusive - there can be intermediate levels of recovery; flcantors that promote long-term vs. shor-term habituation are not well understood.

Front 23

Neophobia (flavor neophobia)

Back 23

an aversion caused by the unfamiliarity of the flavor of a new food

Front 24

Stimulus Frequency

Back 24

- Higher stimulus frequenqies produce more rapid habituation
:because there are shorter intervals between repetitions of the stimulus, and therefore less spontaeous recovery

Front 25

Stimulus Intensity

Back 25

In general, habituation occurs more slowly (if at all) as the eliciting stimulus gets more intense-we saw this before with the startle response~very mild eliciting stimulus:tends to produce a monotonic habituation pattern~more intense eliciting stimulus: tends to produce a pattern of sensitization at first followed by habituation~very intence eliciting stimulus: tends to result in a sustained sensitization

Hint 25

Major characteristic of HABITUATION effects

Front 26

Effects of Exposure to a Second Stimulus

Back 26

-Can result in recover of a habituated response-When this occurs, it is called *dishabituation*
-Effects of time after a dishabituating stimulus
~dishabituation is usually short lived, i.e. dishabituation effect usually dissipates with time

Hint 26

Major characteristic of HABITUATION effects

Front 27

(Illstration of dihabituation)
Figure 3.5

Back 27

-visual fixation time of infants was measured to a 4x4 checkerboard pattern
-Repetition of the stimulus eight times resulted in habituation
-After trial 8, a tone was presented w/ the checkerboard pattern
- presentation of the tone caused significant recovery of visual fixation to the pattern

Hint 27

Major characteristic of HABITUATION effects

Front 28

The Dual Process Theory of Habituation and Sensitization a)(The best and most well supported theory of habituation and sensitization)

Back 28

The dual process theory of habituation and sensitization proposed by Groves and Thomson (1970)a.)We will review the essentials of this theory for two reasons:1)it is the est theory available to explain some of the probable mechanisms behind habituation and sensitization2) it illustrates and exemplifies the process of theory development in science

Front 29

The Dual Process Theory of Habituation and Sensitizationb) first we must make an important distinction etween phenomena and processes

Back 29

-Habituation and sensitization "phenomena" are "performance effects" they are observable changes in behavior(our data)-in contrast habituation and sensitization processes refer to the underlying events that are postulated to e responsile for the behavioral habituation and sensitization effects

Front 30

The Dual Process Theory of Habituation and Sensitizationc) The nervous system is conceptualized as consisting of two functional components, "the S-R system" and the "State system"

Back 30

-The S-R system corresponds to Descartes' reflex arc; it consists of 3 neuron:a sensory neuron, an interneuron, and a motor neuron.-The State System consists of all neural processes that are NOT par of the S-R system u influence the responsivity of that system. Neural path ways in the spinal cord that ascend to and descend from the brain. These serve to modulate spinal reflexes.

Front 31

The Dual Process Theory of Habituation and Sensitizationd) IN A NUTSHeLL the theory states that:

Back 31

The habituation process takes place in the S-R system where as.. the sensitization process takes place in the state system. Habituation and sensitization processes are not directly evident in behavior. - Rather observable behavior reflects the net effect of the processes. (remember the two processes are intervening variables)

Front 32

dcont)Dual Process theory Habituation and sensitization processes serve as opponent mechanisms regulating relex responivity

Back 32

-Whenever hab process is stronger than sens process, net effect is a decline in respondingif the sens process is stronger than the hab in process, net effect is increase in responding-After being activated, both processes decay with time, unless influenced by other variables

Front 33

The dual process theory of habituation and sensitization
*Implications*

Back 33

The habituation process is a universal feature of elicited behavior; that is each activation of that system results in some buildup of the habituation process. Nevertheless whether a habituation "effect" is evident in behavior will depend on whther the habituation process is counteracted by activation of the sensitization process.
-The Sensitization process on the other hand is NOT universal; it occurs in the state system, which mudulates responsivity of the S-R system
-Sensitization occurs if the organism encounters a stimulus that is particularly intense or significant.: you can become sensitized e.g. by a loud unexpected noise or by a soft voice saying that a close friend was seriously injured. Thus the state system and the sensitization process are activated by intense or significant stimuli.

Front 34

Implications of the dual process theory cont.

Back 34

Because the state system is separate from, and more complex than the S-R system, the state system can be activated by stimuli that not registered in the S-R system of the response that is being measured(i.e can be activated by memories, emotional states, etc. that just happen to active in the brain at the moment)- this is a critical reature of the dual process theory and another respect in which sensitization differs from habituation.

Front 35

Implications of the dual process theory cont.- Bottom line

Back 35

The bottom line is that in contrast to habituation, sensitization is not necessarily produced by the currect eliciting stimulus
-The fact that the sensitization and habituation processes can be activated by differencet stimuli permit the dual process theory to explain a number of key phenomena, including for example the phenomena of dishabituation- dishabituation is produced by the "addition" of the sensisitization processs to a behavioral situation rather than the reversal or wekaening of the habituation process.