PSYC2911 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Microdialysis, Nociception, Blood Sugar
Document Summary
Key words: reinforcement, contingency, contiguity, shaping, schedules of reinforcement, extinction. A stimulus is presented and a response is rewarded or punished. Pavlovian conditioning involves no voluntary response: a neutral stimulus (cs) is paired to a biologically relevant stimulus (us) to elicit some response. Thorndike"s law of effect: a pleasurable outcome to a response makes that response more likely. A frustrating outcome to a response makes that response less likely. Thorndike also found that animal learning was trial and error and not insightful. Skinner did not like the idea of cognition, so removed the idea of pleasure & frustration. A reinforcer is simply an outcome which makes an event more likely. Secondary reinforcement: contextual stimuli can obtain reinforcing properties. The smell of the chamber or the sound of the food dispenser can be associated with the response. Contiguity: the length of time between the response and the reinforcement. Due to trace decay motor memory fades with time.
