Chapter 6 Learning Vocab

1.Acquisition: In classical conditioning the initial learning of the conditioned responcse (CR) 2.Behavioral Learning: forms of learning, such as classical conditioning and operant conditioning, that can be described in terms of stimuli and responses 3.Classical Conditioning: When a neutral stimulus evokes a response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally evokes a response. 4.Cognitive Map: a mental representation of the layout of one's environment 5.Conditioned Stimulus: a previously neutral stimulus that has, through conditioning, acquired the capacity to evoke a conditioned response 6.Extinction (in classical conditioning): The weakening of a conditioned response in the absence of an unconditioned stimulus. 7.Extinction (in operant conditioning): A process by which a response that has been learned is weakened by the absence or removal of reinforcement. 8.Fixed Interval Schedule: in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed 9.Fixed Ratio Schedule: in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses 10.Habituation: decreased responsiveness with repeated presentation of the same stimulus 11.Insight Learning: a form of cognitive learning, originally described by the Gestalt psychologists, in which problem solving occurs by means of a sudden reorganization of perceptions 12.Law of Effect: Thorndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely 13.Learning: A relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience. 14.Long-term Potentiation: an increase in a synapse's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory

15.Negative Reinforcer: the removal of an unpleasant stimulus that increases the likelihood that behavior will continue; is more effective in learning than punishment 16.Neutral Stimulus: a stimulus that before conditioning does not produce a particular response 17.Observational Learning: change in behavior due to watching other people behave 18.Omission Training (negative punishment): The removal of an appetitive stimulus after a response, leading to a decrease in behavior. 19.Operant Conditioning: a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher 20.Positive Punishment: weakens a response through the application of an unpleasant stimulus 21.Positive Reinforcer: (reward) any stimulus whose presentation increases the probability that a behavior will occur 22.Premack Principle: Concept developed by David Premack in which learners do less-preferred activities in order to engage in more-preferred activities. 23.Primary Reinforcer: A reinforcer that meets our basic biological needs such as food, water, sleep, or love. 24.Punishment: unpleasant consequences used to weaken behavior 25.Schedules of Reinforcement: programs specifying the frequency and timing of reinforcements 26.Secondary Reinforcer: stimulus such as money that becomes reinforcing through its link with a primary reinforcer 27.Spontaneous Recovery: the reappearance, after a rest period, of an extinguished conditioned response 28.Stimulus Discrimination: Process by which an organism learns to respond only to a specific stimulus and not to other stimuli 29.Stimulus Generalization: (psychology) transfer of a response learned to one stimulus to a similar stimulus 30.Token Economy: conditioning in which desirable behavior is reinforced with valueless objects, which can be accumulated and exchanged for valued rewards 31.Unconditioned Response: in classical conditioning, the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus (US), such as salivation when food is in the mouth.

32.Unconditioned Stimulus: in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionallynaturally and automaticallytriggers a response. 33.Variable Interval Schedule: in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals 34.Variable Ratio Schedule: in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses