Chapter 1: Foundations of Learning
What term describes a change in behavior that results from experience?
Learning
What is the term for decreased responding after repeated exposure to a stimulus?
Habituation
What do we call a stimulus that naturally elicits a response without learning?
Unconditioned stimulus (US)
Blocking occurs because:
A. New CS provides no new information
B. US becomes weaker
A. New CS provides no new information - the previously conditioned CS blocks the new CS
Albert’s fear of rabbits after conditioning to rats is:
Generalization
Empiricists believed knowledge comes from ______, while Nativists believed knowledge comes from ______.
A. Reason; Experience
B. Experience; Innate ideas
C. Innate ideas; Reinforcement
B. Experience; Innate ideas
Which stimulus is LEAST likely to habituate while studying?
A. Soft hum
B. Phone notification
C. Blaring radio
C. Blaring radio - because of stimulus intensity principle
In Pavlov’s study, what was the CS, US, and CR?
CS = bell; US=food; CR=salivation
US > expectation leads to...
A. No Conditioning
B. Inhibitory Conditioning
C. Excitatory Conditioning
C. Excitatory Conditioning - you learn because the US exceeded your expectations so conditioning to the CS occurs
What was the conditioned stimulus in Pavlov’s dog experiment?
Bell
Name one of Aristotle’s three principles of association.
Contiguity, Similarity, or Contrast
What term describes the return of a habituated response after a sudden, intense stimulus, but habituation is quickly recovered?
Dishabituation - sudden stimulus disrupts habituation and then recovers
What term describes responding to stimuli similar to the CS?
Generalization/Stimulus generalization
What term describes when a more salient CS dominates learning over a weaker CS? (example: a loud tone vs. a dim light)
Overshadowing
In the spinal reflex arc (relfex pathway), sensory neurons are processed in the brainstem and bypass the _____
Brain
Which of the following is an innate behavior?
A. Using a spoon
B. Walking
C. Sucking reflex
C. Sucking Reflex - present at birth, no learning required
Which of the following is a principle of habituation?
A. Effects of time
B. Stimulus intensity
C. None
D. Both
D. Both
Extinction occurs when:
CS is repeatedly presented without US
True or False: More attention paid to a CS = Stronger CR
True
Prepared Associations happen quickly because there are pre-exisitng _____
neural pathways; pathways; evolutionary purpose; etc.
Give an example of ONE of Aristotle's three principles: contiguity, similarity, contrast
contiguity - anything associated by spatial closeness
similarity - related/similar concepts
contrast - opposite concepts
Name the type of tropism where movement is directional toward or away from a stimulus.
Taxis - remember, a taxi drives in a specific direction towards something
What phenomenon shows that extinction suppresses learning rather than erasing it?
Spontaneous recovery
Comparator theory says the CR occurs when:
A. CS-US is stronger than other cues
B. CS is novel
C. US is unpredicatable
A. CS-US is stronger than other cues - orgaisms "compare" CS to other stimuli, if CS wins CR occurs
True or False. Habituation is caused by sensory adaptation.
False - habituation is caused by presynaptic changes