Learning Lecture

1. Which neurotransmitter is important in making predictions,

particularly if the outcome is surprising?
● Dopamine
2. What is learning?
● Predicting , change in behavior
3. What is nonassociative learning? What is associative learning?
● Nonassociative:Simple learning to reduce(habituation) or
increase (sensation) the amount of responding we do to stimuli
that innately drive a response
● Associative: You are linking up stimuli and experiences because
something that was previously neutral predicts something
important(good or bad)
4. What is habituation?
● You react less to stimulus
5. What is sensitization?
● You react more to stimulus
6. What is classical conditioning?
● Learning a key association
● A neutral cue that predicts an important outcome that provokes
a response/action
7. What is the unconditioned stimulus (sometimes abbreviated as US or
UCS) and the unconditioned response (sometimes described as UR or
UCR)?
● US:Provokes a response naturally
● UR:Natural response to stimulus
8. What are the conditioned stimulus (CS) and conditioned response
(CR)?
● CS: Neutral at first, but then predicts something you care about
● CR: Response to CS. Leans more and more to the UR
9. Are classical conditioning responses voluntary or involuntary?
● Involuntary
10. What is acquisition? What is extinction? What is spontaneous
recovery?
● Acquisition is the initial learning of the US-CS link in classical
conditioning
● Extinction: Stop responding to the stimulus when it isn’t
predicting the US
● Spontaneous recovery is when the prediction becomes true after
extinction
11. What is blocking?
● Stimulus that doesn’t give any added information about US
12. What is the Garcia effect?
● Some associations are evolutionarily advantaged
13. What is latent inhibition?
● Trouble learning that cues predicts anything at all
 14. What is operant conditioning? How is it different from classical
conditioning?
● Learning that a voluntary action triggers an outcome
● Different than classical conditioning/pavlovian because the
actions are relatively more voluntary

TEXTBOOK ONLY QUESTIONS (There are no Chapter 5 questions,

these are from Chapter 6)

15. What did Pavlov show in his classical conditioning experiment?

Be sure to be able to identify the US, UR, CS, and CR
● US:The food
UR:saliva
CS:non-food stimulus
CR:salivation
16. What is stimulus generalization?
● Tendency to respond to stimuli that are similar to the CS
17. What is discrimination?
● Learning to respond to a particular stimulus, but not others
18. What do the Little Albert studies show? How can fear be
conditioned?
● Fear can be conditioned in humans
● Neutral CS with aversive US
19. How do advertisers use classical conditioning principles?
● Associate their product with a feeling that makes people more
likely to buy their product
20. What is a conditioned taste aversion?
● Associate nausea(UR) with food (CS) rather than environment
21. How is operant conditioning different from classical
conditioning?
● Operant conditioning is about associating a voluntary behavior
and a consequence
22. What was Thorndike’s Law of Effect?
● Behaviors followed by a reward.reinforcement are more likely
than behaviors followed by a punishment
23. What are reinforcers? What’s the difference between primary
and secondary reinforcers?
● Reinforcers: Increases the likelihood of a behavior being
repeated
● Primary: Consequence that is innately pleasurable and/or
satisfies a biological need
● Secondary:Learned pleasure that acquires value through
experience as a result of being associated with primary
reinforces
24. How are positive and negative reinforcements processes similar
and different?
● Positive reinforcement increases the frequency of a behavior by
adding a positive stimulus as a follow-up. While negative
reinforcement increases the probability of a behavior by
avoiding or removing an outcome
25. How are positive and negative punishments similar and
different?
● Positive punishment occurs with an unpleasant stimulus
presented to decrease a behavior. Negative punishment
decreases a behavior by removing the stimulus
26. What is the difference between a continuous schedule of
reinforcement and a partial schedule of reinforcement?
● Continuous is rewarded every time while partial reinforcement
is rewarded periodically
27. What are the different types of partial schedules of
reinforcement? How do the outcomes differ for each?
● fixed-ratio schedule:Requires a specific number of behaviors
before reward is given
● variable-ratio schedule: Average number of behaviors is
required before reward is given
● fixed-interval schedule:Fixed amount of time before reward is
given
● Variable-interval schedule:Based on amount of time between
rewards that varies around a constant average
28. What is operant conditioning?
● The learner makes associations between a voluntary behavior
and its consequences and makes a behavioral change as a
result.
29. What is a Skinner box?
● Apparatus used to condition animals
30. How are reinforcement and punishment different?
● Reinforcement increases the likelihood of a behavior, while
punishment decreases the likelihood of a behavior
31. What is reinforcement and what are the different types of
reinforcement?
● Reinforcement increases the likelihood of a behavior
● Primary reinforcement: satisfies an innate/biological need
● Secondary reinforcement: Learned pleasure
● Positive reinforcement: Adds a positive stimulus to increase the
likelihood of a behavior
● Negative reinforcement: Removes an unsatisfying stimulus to
increase the likelihood of a behavior
32. What do “negative” and “positive” mean in operant
conditioning?
● Negative is removing, and positive is adding.
33. What is insight?
● The degree of personal awareness and understanding
34. What is shaping and chaining?
● shaping focuses on a single behavior and its successive
approximations, forward chaining teaches a sequence of
behaviors in the order they need to occur.
35. What is insight learning?
● Immediate and clear learning, “aha!” moment
36. What is observational learning?
● Learning that occurs when a person observes and imitates a
behavior from a model
37. What are social learning theory and cultural transmission of
learning?
● Social Learning Theory:People cognitions, behaviors and
dispositions are shaped by imitating and observing the actions
of others
38. What are the four kinds of outcomes in operant conditioning?
● Positive reinforcement
● Negative reinforcement
● Positive punishment
● Negative punishment
39. Does punishment usually work? Why not?
● no