Learning

Front 1

Habituation

Back 1

A decline in the response to a stimulus once it is familiar.

Front 2

Dishabituation

Back 2

Increased responsiveness when something novel is presented following a series of presentations of something familiar.

Front 3

Unconditioned Stimulus

Back 3

A stimulus that reliably triggers a particular response without prior training.

Front 4

Unconditioned Response

Back 4

A response elicited by a US without prior training.

Front 5

Conditioned Stimulus

Back 5

An initially neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a new (conditioned) response due to pairings with the unconditioned stimulus.

Front 6

Conditioned Response

Back 6

A response elicited by a conditioned stimulus (a neutral stimulus which has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus).

Front 7

Classical Conditioning

Back 7

A form of learning in which one stimulus is paired with another so that the organism learns a relationship between the stimuli.

Front 8

Second-order Conditioning

Back 8

A form of learning in which a conditioned stimulus is paired with another neutral stimulus until the NS elicits the CR too.

Front 9

Extinction

Back 9

A weakening of a conditioned response when a conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus.

Front 10

Stimulus Generalisation

Back 10

The tendency for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit a reaction similar to the conditioned response.

Front 11

Generalisation Gradient

Back 11

A graph showing how the strength of response changes with similarity. Strongest response typically found when test stimulus is identical to conditioned response. As stimuli become less like the original CR, the response gets weaker.

Front 12

Discrimination

Back 12

The tendency for an organism to learn to respond differently to stimuli that have been associated with an unconditioned stimulus (or reinforcement) and stimuli that haven't (they learn that a NS means no US).

Front 13

Inhibitor(CS-)

Back 13

A stimulus signalling that an event isn't coming, elicits a response opposite to the one the event usually elicits (learn that NS and absence of CS mean a period of time with no US).

Front 14

Contingency

Back 14

Conditioned stimulus provides info about unconditioned stimulus' arrival. A conditioned response is only acquired when the conditioned stimulus is informative about things to come.

Front 15

Blocking Effect

Back 15

A result showing that an animal learns nothing about a stimulus if it provides no new info (shows importance of surprise and expectations).

Front 16

Compensatory Response

Back 16

Offsets effects of upcoming unconditioned stimulus (tries to preserve homeostasis).

Front 17

Instrumental Conditioning

Back 17

Operant conditioning: A form of learning in whic the participant receives a reinforcer only after performing the desired response, and thereby learns a relationship between the response and reinforcer.

Front 18

Law of Effect

Back 18

Thorndike law of learning: consequence or effect of a response will determine whether the tendency to respond in the same way in the future will increase or decrease. Followed by a reward - will be strengthened, no reward/punishment - will be weakened.

Front 19

Operant

Back 19

In Skinner's system, an instrumental response that is defined by its effect on the environment.

Front 20

Reinforcer

Back 20

A stimulus delivered after a response that makes the response more likely in the future.

Front 21

Shaping

Back 21

The process of eliciting a desired response by rewarding behaviours that are increasingly similar to that response.

Front 22

Behavioural Contrast

Back 22

A response patter in which an organism evaluates a reward relative to other rewards available or those that have recently been available.

Front 23

Partial Reinforcement

Back 23

A learning condition in which only some of the organism's responses are reinforced.

Front 24

Schedule of Reinforcement

Back 24

The rules about how often and under what conditions a response will be reinforced.

Front 25

Ratio Schedule

Back 25

A pattern of delivering reinforcements only after a certain number of (correct) responses.

Front 26

Interval Schedule

Back 26

A pattern of delivering reinforcements only after a certain amount of time has passed.

Front 27

Latent Learning

Back 27

Learning that occurs without any corresponding change in behaviour.

Front 28

Learned Helplessness

Back 28

A condition of passivity (apparently) created by exposure to inescapable aversive events. This condition inhibits or prevents learning in later situations in which escape or avoidance is possible.

Front 29

Observational Learning

Back 29

The process of watching how others behave and learning from their example.

Front 30

Vicarious Learning

Back 30

A form of learning in which the learner acquires a conditioned response merely by observing another participant being conditioned.

Front 31

Mirror Neurons

Back 31

Neurons that fire whenever an animal performs an action, and also whenever the animal watches another performing the same action.

Front 32

Taste Aversion Learning

Back 32

A form of learning in which an organism learns to avoid a taste after just one pairing of that taste with illness (one-trial learning).

Front 33

Prepared Learning

Back 33

Learning that occurs without extensive training because of an evolved predisposition to the behaviour.