Chp 6 - Learning

Learning

relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs through experience

Early Forms of Learning

Habituation - stimulation becomes less effective over time

Sensitization - stimulation becomes less effective over time

Associative Learning/Conditioning

organism makes a connection between two events

Classical __________

Operant _________

Classical Conditioning

learning process in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an innately meaningful stimulus and acquires the capacity to elicit a similar response

involuntary behavior

organism is learning to anticipate events

Operant Conditioning

Voluntary behavior

behavior with muscular and skeletal system

consequences of behavior will be reinforcement or punishment

Long -Term Potentiation (LTP)

Whenever condiitoning is learned , your brain increases synaptic connections

Ivan Pavlov

Russian Physiologist

Interested in studying dog salivation

Psychic Secretion- name of conditioned response

Food - Saliva

Bell/ Food - Salivate

Bell - Salivate

Process of Classical Conditioning

UCS - UCR - Pair NS with UCS over and over then NS will become CS which will illicit a CR

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

illicits natural response without an prior learning

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

Naturally or Reflexive response to unconditional stimulus (Fear, Love, or Anger)

Neutral Stimulus (NS)

_____ that doesn’t illicit the desired response to classical conditioning

Conditioned Stimulus

previously neutral stimulus that comes to illicit a conditioned response due to association with Unconditioned Stimulus

Conditioned Response

when previously neutral stimulus leads to response previously associated with unconditioned stimulus

Little Albert Experiment

John Watson and Rayner

NS - White Rat

UCS - Bang

UCR - Cry

White Rat becomes Conditioned White Rat leading to tears

Rules for Learning to Occur

Neutral stimulus MUST ALWAYS come before unconditioned stimulus; once organism has _____ I have to present CS to keep connection

Short Time Delay between CS and UCS (0.5 milliseconds)

Repeated pairings MUST occur

Neutral Stimulus must be distinctive against all others

4 Ways to Pair Neutral Stimulus from Best to Worst

Delayed Pairing

Trace Pairing

Simultaneous Pairing

Backwards Pairing

Delayed Pairing

present Neutral Stimulus and overlap Unconditioned Stimulus

Trace Pairing

present Neutral Stimulus, stop, then present UCS

Simultaneous Pairing

Neutral Stimulus and Unconditioned Stimulus at the same time

Backwards Pairing

Unconditioned Stimulus then Neutral Stimulus (Doesn’t Work)

Generalization

observe organism performs Conditioned Response when similar stimuli are present compared to conditioned stimulus

Discrimination

Conditioned Responses appear after Conditioned Stimulus but not other Conditioned Stimuluses

Extinction

Conditioned Response weakened by presenting Conditioned Stimulus without Unconditioned Stimulus

Pavlov rang bell but did not present food; dog stopped salivating

Spontaneous Recovery

Conditioned Response will return after Extinction has occurred after time delay and without additional learning

Conditioned Taste Aversion

you eat something, you get violently ill, you never want to do it again

One Pairing is Enough

Long Delay

Low Generalization

Discredits Equipotentiality

How to Help - Counterconditioning

Equipotentiality

all stimuli can be classically conditioned equally

Counterconditioning

Conditioned Stimulus paired with Unconditioned Stimulus

Operant Conditioning

focuses on associations between behaviors and consequence/stimuli that follow; consequences change the likelihood of behavior occurring

Elliot Thorndike’s Stimulant Response Theory

Law of Excercise

Law of Effect

Law of Excercise

I practice/ perform a behavior the better I become at it

Law of Effect

behavior that are followed by outcomes Like the outcome - keep doing it

Don’t like the outcome - don’t keep doing it

BF Skinner’s School of Radical Behaviorism

can manipulate thoughts like behaviors but since we don’t study things we can’t see, we’re not studying it

Reinforcement

increase probability of behavior occurring again

Can be positive (adding stimuli) - add something organism likes- or negative (removing stimuli) - taking something away that organism doesn’t like

Punishment

decrease probability of behavior occurring again

Can be positive (adding stimuli) - pulled over and given a ticket > stops speeding- or negative (removing stimuli) - takes car away because person came home past curfew > doesn’t come home late

Shaping

reward small approximations of large desired behavior

Types of Reinforcers

Primary

Secondary

Primary Reinforcers

innately satisfying

food, water, and sex

Secondary Reinforcers

become satisfying through experience

learned by repeated association with preexsisting _________

ex: token economy

Token Economy

setting or institution that reinforces desired behaviors with a secondary reinforcer, allowing secondary to be traded in for primary

Types of Reinforced Behavior

Generalization

Discrimination

Extinction

Generalization

performing a reinforced behavior in a different setting or situation

Discrimination

organism will know difference between different stimuli and its reinforcement (knows what will be reinforced)

Extinction

decrease behavior by not enforcing behavior

Schedules of Reinforcement

Continuous Reinforcement

Partial Reinforcement

Continuous Reinforcement

behavior _____ all the time. (Highly susceptible to Extinction)

Partial Reinforcement

behavior ________ only some of the time

Fixed Ratio

Variable Ratio

Fixed Interval

Variable Interval

Fixed Ratio (FR)

reinforcement follows a set number of behaviors

Variable Ratio (VR)

reinforcement follows an unpredictable number of behaviors (highly resistant to Extinction)

Fixed Interval

set amount of time has elapsed until reinforcment (Close to Christmas > More excitable children)

Variable Interval

reinforcement follows an unpredictable amount of elapsed time

Does Reinforcement work better than Punishment?

Yes

What needs to occur for Punishment to be most effective

consistency and close in approximation to when behavior happens

Downsides to Punishment

organism starts to fear punisher

organism may develop anxiety or depression

can lead to avoidant learning through lying

Does an organism prefer Immediate Reinforcement or Delayed Reinforcement

Immediate

Applied Behavior Analysis/ Behavior Modification

using operant conditioning principles to change human behavior

used in a variety of settings

most widely used for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Premack Principal

reward yourself for things you don’t want to do (low-based rate behavior) with something you do want to do (high-based rate behavior)

Observational Learning

learning that occurs when a person _____ and imitates behavior (modeling)

Ex: younger animals learning to hunt from older ones

Human vs Animal Observational Learning

_____ can imitate AND Emulate (get to same end point but in a different manner), whereas ______ can only imitate

_____ can leanr through mirror neurons in prefrontal cortex allowing for the feeling of empathy to develop

Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory

can children learn aggressive behavior from watching an aggressive adult? Children will learn aggressive or positive behaviors from adults

Behaviors required for Observational Learning

Attention

Retention

Motor Reproduction

Reinforcement

Cognitive Learning

Does learning involve more than environment-behaviors?

Expectancy Learning

Latent/ Implicit Learning

Insight Learning

Expectancy Learning

placebo effect

information value

Latent/ Implicit Learning

learning has taken place without performing the behavior (ex: knowing how to get somewhere before you were able to drive)

Insight Learning (Kohler)

rapid perceptiong of relationship between stimuli

sudden ____ - thinking outside the box

Biological Constraints on Learning

Instinctive drift

Preparedness - Disproves extrapotentiality

Instinctive Drift

sometimes organism will resort back to instinctual behavior after conditioning

Preparedness

humans have been biologically ____ to avoid being around food that has made them violently ill

Psychological Constraints on Learning

fixed vs growth mindset

how to develop growth

Fixed Mindset

intelligence is static, results in anxiety avoidance of challenges and fragile confidence that hinders learning

Growth Mindset

intelligence is malleable, allowing for resilience, effort, and improved learning