Psychology Of Learning - Chapter 2

Front 1

ethologist

Back 1

a scientist who studies how animals behave in their natural environments.

Front 2

control systems theory

Back 2

a branch of science that analyzes goal-oriented in both living creatures and inanimate objects.

Front 3

comparator

Back 3

in control systems theory, a device that compares its goal state (the reference input) and the current situation (the actual input) and signals that action is necessary if the two are not equal.

Front 4

reference input

Back 4

x

Front 5

actual input

Back 5

x

Front 6

reflex

Back 6

an innate movement that can be reliably elicited by presenting the appropriate stimulus.

Front 7

interneuron

Back 7

any neuron that occurs in a chain of synapses that begins with a sensory neuron and ends with a motor neuron.

Front 8

spinal reflex arc

Back 8

neutral pathways that produce the reflexive withdrawal of one's hand from a painful stimulus consisting of pain-sensitive neurons in the hand with axons that extend into the spinal cord, interneurons, and motor neurons that activate the muscles of the arm.

Front 9

tropism

Back 9

an innate movement of a creature's entire body in response to a specific stimulus.

Front 10

kinesis

Back 10

a tropism in which the direction of the movement is random in relation to the stimulus

Front 11

taxis (taxes)

Back 11

a tropism in which the eliciting stimulus determines the direction of the creature's movement

Front 12

fixed action pattern

Back 12

an innate sequence of behaviors that is elicited by a specific stimulus and, once started, continues to its end whether or not the behaviors are appropriate in the current situation

Front 13

sign stimulus

Back 13

a stimulus that initiates a fixed action pattern

Front 14

reaction chain

Back 14

an innate sequence of behaviors in which the progression from one behavior to the next depends on the presence of the appropriate stimulus. portions of the sequence may be skipped or omitted depending on which stimuli are presented and which are not.

Front 15

human universals

Back 15

abilities or behaviors that are found in all known humans

Front 16

habituation

Back 16

a decrease in the strength of a reflexive response after repeated presentation of the stimulus that elicits the response

Front 17

orienting response

Back 17

an innate reaction to a sudden or unexpected stimulus in which an animal stops its current activity to look at or listen to the novel stimulus

Front 18

generalization

Back 18

the transfer of a learned response from one stimulus to another, similar stimulus

Front 19

simple systems approach

Back 19

in physiological research, the strategy of studying primitive creatures, which have smaller and less complex nervous systems

Front 20

positron emission tomography (PET)

Back 20

a brain imaging technique that can show which parts of a person's brain are currently most active

Front 21

functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Back 21

a brain-imaging technique that can show, in real time, which parts of a person's brain are currently most active

Front 22

plasticity

Back 22

the nervous system's ability to change as a result of experience or stimulation

Front 23

a-process

Back 23

in the opponent-process theory, an initial fast-acting emotional response to a stimulus, which is later followed by the b-process, leading to the opposite emotion

Front 24

b-process

Back 24

in the opponent-process theory, an emotional response that is opposite of the a-process. it is supposedly activated only in response to the activity of the a-process, and it is more sluggish both to rise and to decay

Front 25

tolerance

Back 25

a decrease in the effects of a drug that is observed after the repeated use of the drug.

Front 26

kinesis and taxes

Back 26

two major categories of tropism