Chapter 7 Psych

Learning

the acquisition, from experience, of new knowledge, skills, or responses that results in a relatively permanent change in the state of the learner, do not need to relearn everything everyday

Learning is based on experience

Learning produces changes in the organism

These changes are relatively permanent

Habituation

a general process in which repeated or prolonged exposure to a stimulus results in a gradual reduction in responding, automatically, known as desensitization

Sensitization

occurs when presentation of a stimulus leads to an increased response to a later stimulus

Classical conditioning

a type of learning that occurs when a neutral stimulus produces a response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally produces a response

Pavlov's Apparatus

An example of predictive regulation, Studying digestive system of dogs

Pavlov showed that dogs learned to salivate to neutral stimuli such as a buzzer or a metronome after the dogs had associated that stimulus with another stimulus that naturally evokes salivation, such as food

unconditioned stimulus (US)

something that reliably produces a naturally occurring reaction in an organism

unconditioned response (UR)

a reflexive reaction that is reliably produced by an unconditioned stimulus

conditioned stimulus (CS)

a previously neutral stimulus that produces a reliable response in an organism after being paired with a US

The UR becomes the CR

conditioned response (CR)

a reaction that resembles an unconditioned response but is produced by a conditioned stimulus

second-order conditioning

which is a type of learning in which a CS is paired with a stimulus that became associated with the US in an earlier procedure

acquisition

the phase of classical conditioning when the CS and the US are presented together

extinction

the gradual elimination of a learned response that occurs when the CS is repeatedly presented without the US

spontaneous recovery

the tendency of a learned behavior to recover from extinction after a rest period

generalization

The CR is observed even though the CS is slightly different from the CS used during acquisition

• e.g. A child taught to open a door by turning a door knob generalizes the behavior to push down a lever-style door handle or slide a screen door to achieve the same goal.

Rescorla-Wagner model

• classical conditioning only works trial-by-trial and learning is is driven by prediction error

• the Rescorla-Wagner model correctly predicted that conditioning would be easier when the CS was an unfamiliar event than when it was familiar, the outcome should be surprising, that is when learning is truly learned

Important because expectation is a mental construct

discrimination

the capacity to distinguish between similar but distinct stimuli

Thompson and colleagues showed that the cerebellum is critical for the occurrence of eyeblink conditioning

cerebellum

part of the hindbrain and plays an important role in motor skills and learning

biological preparedness

a propensity for learning particular kinds of associations over other kinds

Operant conditioning

a type of learning in which the consequences of an organism's behavior determine whether it will repeat that behavior in the future

Behaviorists did like this passive process

Thorndike's Puzzle Box

A hungry cat placed in a puzzle box would try various behaviors to get out — scratching at the door, meowing loudly, sniffing the inside of the box, putting its paw through the openings — but only one behavior opened the door and led to food: tripping the lever in just the right way. After the cat earned its reward, Thorndike placed it back in the puzzle box for another round

Law of effect

the principle that behaviors that are followed by a "satisfying state of affairs" tend to be repeated, and those that produce an "unpleasant state of affairs" are less likely to be repeated

the unconditioned stimulus occurs on every training trial

operant behavior

refer to behavior that an organism performs that has some impact on the environment

Skinner box (operant conditioning chamber)

allows a researcher to study the behavior of small organisms in a controlled environment

reinforcer

any stimulus or event that increases the likelihood of the behavior that led to it

Delaying reinforcement or punishment renders it almost to completely ineffective, immediate is the most effective

punisher

any stimulus or event that decreases the likelihood of the behavior that led to it

positive reinforcement

a stimulus is presented, and its presentation increases the likelihood of a behavior)

negative reinforcement

a stimulus is removed, and its removal increases the likelihood of a behavior

positive punishment

a stimulus is administered, and its administration reduces the likelihood of a behavior

negative punishment

a stimulus is removed, and its removal decreases the likelihood of a behavior

secondary reinforcers derive their effectiveness from their associations with primary reinforcers through classical conditioning

For example, money starts out as a neutral CS that, through its association with primary USs such as acquiring food or shelter, takes on a conditioned emotional element

Food, comfort, shelter, and warmth are examples of primary reinforcers because they help satisfy biological needs or desires

the more time elapses, the less effective the reinforcer

After training, the participants discriminated appropriately

Those trained with the Monet painting responded when other paintings by Monet were presented, but not to other cubist paintings by Picasso. Those trained with a Picasso painting showed the opposite behavior.

in operant conditioning, the reinforcements occur only when the proper response has been made, and they don't always occur even then

interval schedules

based on the time intervals between reinforcements

ratio schedules

based on the ratio of responses to reinforcements

fixed-interval (FI) schedule

reinforcers are presented at fixed time periods, provided that the appropriate response is made

variable-interval (VI) schedule

a behavior is reinforced on the basis of an average time that has expired since the last reinforcement

fixed-ratio (FR) schedule

reinforcement is delivered after a specific number of responses have been made

continuous schedule

when the reinforcement schedule is delivered every one time

variable-ratio (VR) schedule

the delivery of reinforcement is based on a particular average number of responses, although the ratio of responses to reinforcements is variable

intermittent reinforcement

whereby only some of the responses made are followed by reinforcement

intermittent reinforcement effect

refers to the fact that operant behaviors that are maintained under intermittent reinforcement schedules resist extinction better than those maintained under continuous reinforcement

shaping

learning that results from the reinforcement of successive steps to a final desired behavior

successive approximation

or a behavior that gets incrementally closer to the overall desired behavior

Edward Chace Tolman

Tolman proposed that the conditioning experience produced knowledge or a belief that, in this particular situation, a specific reward (the end state) will appear if a specific response (the means to that end) is made

Latent learning

a process in which something is learned, but it is not manifested as a behavioral change until sometime in the future

cognitive map

a mental representation of the physical features of the environment

Animals will work to stimulate the medial forebrain bundle, hypothalamus, and nucleus accumbens

Neurons involved are dopaminergic, which respond to reward-based prediction errors

Negative prediction errors would be signaled by less reward than expected

Positive prediction errors would be signaled by more reward than expected

The activation of this system is thought to reflect updating reward value

One way to avoid redundancy is to communicate only what is unexpected

The brain produces a continuous stream of unconscious predictions based on an internal model

Sensory input = prediction error

The neurons in the medial forebrain bundle, a pathway that meanders its way from the midbrain through the hypothalamus into the nucleus accumbens, are the most susceptible to stimulation that produces pleasure

The neurons along this pathway and in the nucleus accumbens itself are dopaminergic

Foraging animals such as rats have well-developed spatial representations that allow them to search their environment efficiently

The Brelands' work shows that all species, including humans, are biologically predisposed to learn some things more readily than others and to respond to stimuli in ways that are consistent with their evolutionary history