So, just thought I'd share my definition bank for some of Area of Study 1 for Unit 4.
I haven't covered the neural basis of learning yet which I might do tomorrow, or any of you could add.
If there's anything I've missed or any errors I've made just say so.
Anyway, here you go:
Learning – A permanent change in behaviour as a result of experience.
Classical Conditioning – A type of learning that occurs through the repeated association of two (or more) different stimuli. During this learning, a response that is automatically produced by one stimulus becomes associated with another stimulus that would not normally produce this response.
Neutral stimulus (NS) – A stimulus that does not cause any response, particularly the unconditioned response.
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) – A stimulus that consistently causes a naturally occurring and automatic response.
Unconditioned response (UCR) – The response that occurs automatically, after the UCS is presented.
Conditioned stimulus (CS) – The stimulus that was previously the NS and did not produce the UCR before the conditioning took place.
Conditioned response (CR) – The response that is caused by the CS due to classical conditioning.
Acquisition – The overall process during which an organism associates the NS with the UCS, to finally achieve the CR.
Extinction – The gradual decrease in the strength or rate of the CR that occurs when the UCS is no longer presented along with the CS, until the CR does not occur at all.
Spontaneous recovery – The reappearance of the CR when the CS is presented after a rest period once the response seemed to be extinguished.
Stimulus discrimination – When an organism only produces the CR after the presentation of the CS but not any stimulus that is similar to the CS
Stimulus generalisation – The tendency for an organism to produce the CR once presented stimulus similar to the CS, as well as the CS itself.
Graduated exposure – The presentation of successive approximations of the CS until the CS itself no longer produces the CR.
Flooding – Bringing a phobia client into direct contact with the fear producing stimulus until the conditioned response is extinguished and the client can withstand the stimulus.
Aversion therapy – A therapy that uses classical conditioning to discourage undesirable behaviour by pairing it with a negative/undesirable stimulus.
Trial and error learning – Learning by trying alternative possibilities until the desired outcome is achieved. This usually involves a number of incorrect actions which are not repeated and a correct action which yields the desired response.
Instrumental learning – The process through which an organism learns the association between behaviour and its consequences.
Operant conditioning – A method of learning in which an organism learns to repeat behaviours that provide desired/positive outcomes and not repeat those that produce negative/undesired outcomes.
Three phase model of operant conditioning – The three phase model consists of a stimulus (which precedes the organism’s response), a response (an action made by the organism in response to the stimulus) and a consequence (either negative or positive, which will determine if the response will occur similarly next time the stimulus is presented).
Skinner box – A small chamber in which an animal learns to make a particular response for which the consequence is decided by the experimenter (usually food).
Reinforcement – A stimulus used as a consequence which strengthens or increases the frequency of the response that occurred beforehand.
Reinforcer – Any stimulus which is used as a consequence to strengthen or increase the frequency of the response that it is given for.
Positive reinforcement – A type of reinforcement that increases the likelihood of a desired response by providing a desirable consequence.
Negative reinforcement – A type of reinforcement that increases the likelihood of a desired response by removing an undesirable stimulus.
Continuous reinforcement – A schedule of reinforcement that involves providing a reinforcer after each correct response.
Partial reinforcement – The process of reinforcing some correct responses but not all of them, which can be done different schedule types, which are fixed-interval, variable-interval fixed-ratio and variable ratio.
Fixed-interval schedule – The delivery of a reinforcer after a specific period of time, which does not change.
Variable-interval schedule – The delivery of a reinforcer after a different amount of time, each time.
Fixed-ratio schedule – The delivery of a reinforcer after a certain number of correct responses.
Variable- ratio schedule – The delivery of a reinforcer after an unpredictable amount of correct responses.
Punishment – The delivery of an unpleasant consequence that follows a behaviour in order to decrease the likelihood of that behaviour occurring again.
Response cost – The removal of a pleasant stimulus in order to decrease the likelihood of a behaviour occurring again
.
Acquisition – The overall learning process during which a specific response or pattern of responses are established with the help of reinforcers, punishment or response cost.
Extinction – The gradual decrease in the strength or rate of a conditioned response to a stimulus due to the lack of reinforcement.
Spontaneous recovery – When an organism will respond to a stimulus after the response was thought to be extinguished due to the lack of reinforcement.
Stimulus generalisation – When an organism responds to similar stimuli that it was conditioned to, as well as the stimulus it was initially conditioned to respond to.
Stimulus discrimination – The tendency for an organism to only respond to the stimulus it was initially conditioned to and not stimuli similar to it.
Shaping – A procedure in which a reinforcer is given for any response that successively approximates and ultimately leads to the final desired response or target behaviour.
Token economies – A setting in which an individual receives tokens, which are used as reinforcers for desired behaviours. The tokens can then be collected and exchanged for other reinforcers in the form of ‘actual’ rewards.
Observational learning – A type of learning in which a person uses observation of another person’s actions and their consequences to guide their future actions.
Attention – The learner’s initial attention to the person they are observing, so that actions and consequences are noticed.
Retention – The learner’s ability to remember the action and consequences seen during the attention stage.
Reproduction – The learner’s attempt at reproducing the actions that were noticed and remembered in order to gain the desired consequence.
Motivation-reinforcement – The learner’s motivation to complete the behaviour which is usually the consequence. If the consequence after the reproduction stage is desirable, it will be done again, if the consequence is not desirable, it will most likely not be repeated again.
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