Term
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Definition
A process based on experience that results in a relatively
permanent change in behaviour or behavioural potential. |
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Term
| learning–performance distinction |
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Definition
The difference between what has been
learned and what is expressed in overt behaviour. |
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Term
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Definition
A decrease in a behavioural response when a stimulus is
presented repeatedly. |
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Term
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Definition
The behavioural response to stimuli opposite to that seen
with habitutation. |
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Term
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Definition
People’s verbal reports of their own sensations, images, and
feelings. |
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Term
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Definition
The area of psychology that focuses on the
environmental determinants of learning and behaviour. |
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Term
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Definition
A type of learning in which a behaviour
(conditioned response) comes to be elicited by a stimulus (conditioned
stimulus) that has acquired its power through an association with a
biologically significant stimulus (unconditioned stimulus). |
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Term
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Definition
An unlearned response elicited by specific stimuli that have
biological relevance for an organism. |
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Term
| unconditioned stimulus (UCS) |
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Definition
In classical conditioning, the stimulus
that elicits an unconditioned response. |
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Term
| unconditioned response (UCR) |
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Definition
In classical conditioning, the response
elicited by an unconditioned stimulus without prior training or
learning. |
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Term
| conditioned stimulus (CS) |
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Definition
In classical conditioning, a previously neutral
stimulus that comes to elicit a conditioned response. |
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Term
| conditioned response (CR) |
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Definition
In classical conditioning, a response elicited
by some previously neutral stimulus that occurs as a result of pairing
the neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus. |
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Term
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Definition
The stage in a classical conditioning experiment during which
the conditioned response is first elicited by the conditioned stimulus. |
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Term
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Definition
In conditioning, the weakening of a conditioned association in
the absence of a reinforcer or unconditioned stimulus. |
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Term
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Definition
The reappearance of an extinguished conditioned
response after a rest period. |
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Term
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Definition
The automatic extension of a conditioned
response to similar stimuli that have never been paired with the
unconditioned stimulus. |
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Term
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Definition
A conditioning process in which an organism
learns to respond differently to stimuli that differ from the conditioned
stimulus on some dimension. |
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Term
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Definition
A basic law of learning that states that the power of a
stimulus to evoke a response is strengthened when the response is
followed by a reward and weakened when it is not followed by a
reward. |
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Term
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Definition
Learning in which the probability of a response is
changed by a change in its consequences. |
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Term
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Definition
Behaviour emitted by an organism that can be characterized in
terms of the observable effects it has on the environment. |
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Term
| reinforcement contingency |
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Definition
A consistent relationship between a response
and the changes in the environment that it produces. |
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Term
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Definition
Any stimulus that, when made contingent upon a response,
increases the probability of that response. |
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Term
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Definition
A behaviour is followed by the presentation of an
appetitive stimulus, increasing the probability of that behaviour. |
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Term
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Definition
A behaviour is followed by the removal of an
aversive stimulus, increasing the probability of that behaviour. |
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Term
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Definition
When a behaviour no longer produces predictable
consequences, its return to the level of occurrence it had before operant
conditioning. |
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Term
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Definition
Any stimulus that, when made contingent upon a response,
decreases the probability of that response. |
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Term
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Definition
A behaviour is followed by the presentation of an
aversive stimulus, decreasing the probability of that behaviour. |
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Term
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Definition
A behaviour is followed by the removal of an
appetitive stimulus, decreasing the probability of that behaviour. |
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Term
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Definition
Stimuli that act as predictors of reinforcement,
signaling when particular behaviours will result in positive
reinforcement. |
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Term
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Definition
The means by which organisms learn that, in the
presence of some stimuli but not others, their behaviour is likely to
have a particular effect on the environment. |
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Term
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Definition
Biologically determined reinforcers such as food and
water. |
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Term
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Definition
In classical conditioning, formerly neutral
stimuli that have become reinforcers. |
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Term
| schedules of reinforcement |
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Definition
In operant conditioning, the patterns of
delivering and withholding reinforcement. |
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Term
| partial reinforcement effect |
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Definition
The behavioural principle that states that
responses acquired under intermittent reinforcement are more difficult
to extinguish than those acquired with continuous reinforcement. |
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Term
| fixed-ratio (FR) schedule |
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Definition
A schedule of reinforcement in which a
reinforcer is delivered for the first response made after a fixed number
of responses. |
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Term
| variable-ratio (VR) schedule |
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Definition
A schedule of reinforcement in which a
reinforcer is delivered for the first response made after a variable
number of responses whose average is predetermined. |
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Term
| fixed-interval (FI) schedule |
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Definition
A schedule of reinforcement in which a
reinforcer is delivered for the first response made after a fixed period
of time. |
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Term
| variable-interval (VI) schedule |
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Definition
A schedule of reinforcement in which a
reinforcer is delivered for the first response made after a variable period
of time whose average is predetermined. |
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Term
| shaping by successive approximations |
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Definition
A behavioural method that
reinforces responses that successively approximate and ultimately
match the desired response. |
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Term
| biological constraints on learning |
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Definition
Any limitations on an organism’s
capacity to learn that are caused by the inherited sensory, response,
or cognitive capabilities of members of a given species. |
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Term
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Definition
The tendency for learned behaviour to drift toward
instinctual behaviour over time. |
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Term
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Definition
A biological constraint on learning in which an
organism learns in one trial to avoid a food whose ingestion is followed
by illness. |
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Term
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Definition
The comparative study of the mechanisms and
origins of cognition in various species; researchers trace the
development of cognitive capabilities across species and the continuity
of capabilities from nonhuman to human animals. |
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Term
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Definition
| A mental representation of physical space. |
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Term
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Definition
The process of learning new responses by
watching the behaviour of another. |
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