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Definition
| any process through which experience at one time can alter an individual's behavior at a future time |
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| a training procedure or learning experience in which a neutral stimulus (the conditioning stimulus) comes to elicit a reflexive response through its being paired with another stimulus (usually an unconditioned stimulus) that already elicits that reflexive response |
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| generalization (classical conditioning) |
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Definition
| the phenomenon by which a stimulus that resembles a conditioned stimulus will elicit the conditioned response even though it has never been paired with the unconditioned stimulus |
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| generalization (operant conditioning) |
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Definition
| stimulus resembles a discriminative stimulus that will increase the rate at which the animal produces the operant response, even though the response has never been reinforced in the presence of that stimulus |
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| procedure by which generalization between two stimuli is diminished or abolished by reinforcing the response to one stimulus and extinguishing the response to another |
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| Thorndike's principle that responses that produce a satisfying effect in a particular situation become more likely to recur in that situation, and responses that produce a discomforting effect become less likely to recur in that situation |
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| operant conditioning (instrumental conditioning) |
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Definition
| a training or learning process by which the consequence of a behavioral response affects the likelihood that the individual will produce that response again |
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| in operant conditioning, the condition in which a response results in removal of a negative reinforcer (stimulus) |
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| in operant conditioning, the type of punishment in which the removal of a stimulus (such as taking food or money) when a response occurs decreases the likelihood that the response will recur |
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| ethologists' term for a relatively sudden and irreversible form of learning that can occur only during some critical period of the individual's development |
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| a strategy for improving the ability to remember a set of items by grouping them mentally to form fewer items |
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| a structure in the limbic system if the brain that is essential for encoding explicit memories for long-term storage |
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| logical reasoning from the general to the specific; the reasoner begins by accepting the truth of one or more general premises and uses them to assert whether a specific conclusion is true, false or indeterminant |
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| IQ (intelligence quotient) |
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Definition
| average score for the population is 100 and the distribution of scores around that average matches a normal distribution |
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Definition
| the smallest meaningful units of a verbal language; words, prefixes, or suffixes that have discrete meanings |
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| the various vowel and consonant sounds that provide the basis for a spoken language |
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| short term memory (working memory) |
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Definition
| the memory store that is considered to be the main workplace of the mind; among other things, it is the seat of conscious thought and reasoning |
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| information that is retained in the mind for long periods (often throughout life) |
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| an operant-conditioning procedure in which successively closer approximations to the desired response are reinforced until the response finally occurs |
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| decline in the magnitude of a reflexive response when the stimulus is repeated several times in succession |
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| part of Pavlovian conditioning: stimulus elicits less and less response and eventually none at all |
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| part of Pavlovian conditioning: conditioned reflex can be partially renewed after extinction |
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Term
| inter-stimulus interval (ISI) |
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Definition
| time between the offset of one stimulus and the onset of another stimulus |
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| uses reason to solve problems rather than personal experience |
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| people learn new behavior through reinforcement or punishment |
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| ability to retain impressions of sensory information after the original stimulus has ceased |
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| loss of the ability to create memories after the event that caused amnesia, leading to a partial or complete inability to recall the past |
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| someone is unable to recall the events that occurred before the development of amnesia |
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| involves moving from a set of specific facts to a general conclusion |
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| occurs when we overweigh evidence that comes to mind easily |
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| tendency for people to prefer information that confirms their hypotheses, independently of whether or not they are true |
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| logical argument in which one proposition (the conclusion) is inferred from two others (the premises) of a certain form |
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| effective method for solving a problem expressed as a finite sequence of instructions |
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| debates an individual's innate qualities vs. personal experience in determining or causing individual differences in physical and behavioral traits |
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| understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched (one of infant's most important accomplishments) |
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| artificial language developed for use by non-human primates using a keyboard to punch in lexigrams (symbols corresponding to objects or ideas) |
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| idea that spirits exist not only in humans but also in animals, plants and other natural objects |
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| implies that children do not have the ability to understand that other people may have different opinions and beliefs than they do |
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| conditioned taste aversion |
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Definition
| when a subject associates a taste of a certain food with symptoms caused by a toxic or spoiled substance |
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Definition
| subject comes to associate particular behaviors with the consequences they produce |
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| method used to construct and accumulate spatial knowledge, allowing the "mind's eye" to visualize images in order to reduce cognitive load and enhance recall and learning of information |
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| conditioning to a stimulus can be stopped if the stimulus were reinforced in compound with a previously conditioned stimulus |
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| illustrates the decline of memory retention in time |
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| stage in which some response is being associated with some stimulus |
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| represents the initial difficulty of learning something, and to an extent, how much there is to learn after initial familiarity |
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| part of brain where amnesia could occur |
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| predisposed to find order in our world, so that we are inclined to see or anticipate order when it doesn't exist |
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| the degree to which variation in a particular trait, within a particular population of individuals, stems from genetic differences among those individuals as opposed to environmental differences |
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| language acquisition device |
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Definition
| set of innate mental mechanisms that enable a child to acquire language quickly and efficiently |
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