Learning 5: Observational Learning in Humans

Observational Learning

learning takes place by watching the actions of others, ex: social behaviour passed on from generation to generation(Bobo doll experiment and aggression learned from adults)

Diffusion chain

individuals learn behaviour by observing another individual perform it

Observational Learning in Animals

• pigeons use to learn to get reinforced for pecking behaviour

• Rhesus monkeys learned fear of snakes through an observational diffusion chain

• monkeys an chimps can learn to use tools

• enculturation hypothesis

Observational Learning in neurons

mirror neurons fire to produce OL in humans and animals, represented in frontal and parietal lobes

Mirror neurons

play a role in the imitation of behaviour and prediction of future behaviour; located in frontal(Area 44) and parietal(Area 40) lobes

Implicit Learning

learning that takes place without awareness of the process; resistant to some disorders that affect explicit learning(amnesia)

Habituation

repeated or prolonged exposure to a stimulus results in gradual reduction in response, changes may not last long

Implicit learning characteristics

• little individual difference on tasks, not related to IQ, changes across lifespan, influenced by culture

• deficits in reading skill acquisition(dyslexia) for some children

Implicit and Explicit Learning: amnesia

intact implicit learning but impaired explicit learning: damage to hippocampus and medical temporal lobe impairs explicit memory

Implicit and Explicit Learning: Brain areas

• occipital, visual processing

• left temporal, right frontal, parietal lobe

Implicit and Explicit Learning: Cultural learning

• Analytic: Western, focusing on an object independent of its context

• Holistic: Eastern, focusing on relationship between object and content

Distributed practice

spreading out study activities with more time between repetition of the to-be-learned information

Interleaved practice

practice schedule that mixes different kinds of problems or materials within a single study session