Learning

Learning

1. Classical Conditioning: when a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus

   • Terminology and Procedures
     • Unconditional stimulus: stimulus that evokes an unconditional response without previous conditioning.
       • UCR: Unlearned reaction to an unconditioned stimulus that occurs without previous conditioning
         • CS: neutral stimulus that has, through conditioning response.
           • CR: Learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus that occurs because of previous conditioning
   • Classical Conditioning in Everyday Life
     • Conditioned fear and anxiety
       • Evaluative conditioning of attitude
         • Conditioning and physiological responses
           • Conditioning and drug effects
   • Basic Processes in Classical Conditioning
     • Acquisition: forming new responses
       • Extinction: weakening conditioned responses
         • Spontaneous Recovery: Resurrecting responses
   • Stimulus Generalization
     • Stimulus Discrimination: an organism that has learned a response to a specfic stimulus does not respond in the same way to new stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus
       • Higher-Order Conditioning: a conditioned stimulus functions as if it were an unconditioned stimulus
   • Evolutionary and biological effects on Conditioning
     • Conditioned Taste Aversion: The "Sauce Bearnaise syndrome"
       • Preparedness and phobias
         • Recent Directions in Pavlovian Conditioning

2. Operant Conditioning

   • Thorndike's Law Effect
     • Law of effect: response in the presence of a stimulus leads to satisfying effects, the association between the stimulus and the response is strengthened
   • Basic processes in Operant Conditioning
     • Acquisition and Shaping
       • Extinction
         • Stimulus Control: Generalization and Discrimination
   • Schedules of Reinforcement: Occurances of a specific response result in the presentation of a specific response result in the presentation of a reinforcer
     • Continuous Reinforcement, Intermittent, Fixed, and variable ratio
   • Positive and Negative Reinforcement
     • Positive: when a response is strengthened because it is followed by the presentation of a rewarding stimulus
       • Negative: when a response is strengthened because it is followed by the removal of an aversive stimulus
   • Evolutionary and Biological effects on Conditioning
     • Evolutionary Perspectives on learning
       • Response-Outcome relations and reinforcement

3. Observational Learning

   • Basic Processes
     • To Learn a person needs: Attention, Retention, Reproduction, and Motivation
   • Observational Learning and the Brain: Mirror Neurons
     • Mirror neurons are neurons that are activated by performing an action or by seeing another monkey or person perform the same action