PSY 1101 Chapter Notes - Chapter Learning: Operant Conditioning Chamber, Startle Response, Classical Conditioning

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 1101
• Professor: Kenneth Campbell

Document Summary

Association: all learning involves the formation of association between two formerly unrelated events. Habituation: upon repetition of the stimulus, the response to the stimulus becomes smaller and gradually decreases altogether. This process is called habituation: it is possible that the initial presentation of a stimulus was consciously detected. The nervous system thus shows flexibility of responding: a memory for the stimulus has formed! With repetition of stimulus input, a memory for its features is formed. Psychologists call this memory a sensory representation : the incoming sensory stimulus is compared to the model of that stimulus that exists in memory (the representation), if the sensory stimulus matches the memory, processing in the nervous system ceases. There is no need for the subject to continue to respond. The nervous system is specialized to detect change: this is perhaps the simplest form of learning. A change has occurred in the nervous system!