Ch.6

1. Evidence that extinction does not eliminate an association

Extinction is a process in which the conditioned response is weakened when the conditioned stimulus is repeated without the unconditioned stimulus. The evidence is the conditioned response is gone when the conditioned stimulus no longer predicts the unconditioned stimulus. But suppose the plant blooms only during a certain time of year. The adaptive response is to check back one in a while to see if the plant blooms that time of the year.

2. How drug administration is a classical conditioning trial

Classical conditioning plays a role in drug addiction. Conditioned drug effects are common and demonstrate conditioning’s power. For example, the smell of coffee can become a conditioned stimulus, one that leads coffee drinkers to feel activated and aroused as though they have actually had caffeine.

3. Who Edward L. Thorndike was and what he studied

Edward L. Thorndike had been influenced by Darwin and was studying where animals showed signs of intelligence. As part of his research, Thorndike built a puzzle box, a small cage with a trapdoor. The trapdoor would open if the animal inside performed a specific action, such as pulling a string. Thorndike placed the food deprived animals, initially chickens; inside the puzzle box to see if they could figure out how to escape.

4. How to get an animal to display a behavior that doesn’t show on its own.

Through shaping which is a process of operant conditioning; it involves reinforcing behaviors that are increasingly similar to the desired behavior, which is a way that you can get an animal to display behavior own its own.

5. The difference between positive and negative reinforcement.

Positive reinforcement is the increase in the probability of a behavior’s being repeated following the administration of a stimulus, something the animal desires=reward. Negative reinforcement is the increase the probability of a behavior’s being repeated through the removal of a stimulus, getting rid of the undesirable stimulus (the removal of a negative stimulus).

1. Discuss how classical conditioning produces brain changes in drug addicted people and how these changes perpetuate the addiction.

Brain imaging studies have found that such cues with drug addicted people lead to activation of the prefrontal cortex and various regions of the limbic system, areas of the brain involved in the experience of reward. Seeing a tantalizing food item when you are hungry activates these same brain regions, as you anticipate enjoying your tasty meal. In the same way, the sight of drug cues produces and expectation that the drug high will follow.

2. What are conditioned food aversions, how do they arise and what is unusual about them?

Conditioned food aversions are when a person can recall a time when they ate a particular food and then became ill with nausea or an upset stomach. Whether or not the food caused the illness, even if the illness clearly was caused by a virus or some other condition, most people respond to this sequence of events with a conditioned food aversion, especially if the food was not part of the person’s diet. Conditioned food aversions are easy to produce with smell or taste, but they are very difficult to produce with light or sound. This difference makes sense, since smell and taste are the main cues that guide animals’ eating behaviors. Food aversions are not easily learned, you know its okay but your mind tells you it’s not.

3. Discuss how expectations are involved in classical conditioning. What information does the CS provide to the participant in the experiment?

Classical conditioning is a relatively passive process in which a person or animal associates events that occur together in time, regardless of what the person or animal does beyond that. This form of conditioning does not account for the many times that one of the events occurs because the person has taken some action. Our behaviors often represent means to particular ends. We buy food to eat it, we study to get good grades, we work to receive money. Thus many of our actions are done for a purpose. We learn that behaving in certain ways lead to rewards.

4. Discus FI,FR, VI, and VR schedules of reinforcement and what patterns of behavior they produce

FI (Fixed Interval) is a schedule in which reinforcement is consistently provided upon each occurrence. FR (Fixed Ratio) is a schedule in which reinforcement is based on the number of times the behavior occurs. VI (Variable Interval) a schedule in which reinforcement is applied at different rates or at different times. VR (Variable Ratio) a schedule in which reinforcement is based on the number of times the behavior occurs.

5. What are cognitive maps and what evidence indicates the laboratory rats learn them rather than particular behaviors?

Cognitive maps are a visual or spatial mental representation of an environment. The third group, critically, started receiving reinforcement only after the first 10 trials , at which point it showed an amazingly fast learning curve and immediately caught up to the group that had been continuously reinforced. This result implies that the rats had learned a cognitive map of the maze and used it when the reinforcement began.