Learning

(week 9 and 10)

Metacognition

knowing when you are learning something and when you aren’t quite getting it

innate (unlearned) behaviors

behaviors an organism is born with (instincts and reflexes)

reflexes

a motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment

• simpler than instincts

• involve the activity of specific body parts and systems (knee-jerk reflex, contraction of the pupil in bright light)

• involve more primitive centers of the central nervous system (spinal cord and medulla)

instincts

innate behaviors that are triggered by a broader range of events, such as maturation and the change of seasons

• more complex patterns of behavior

• involve movement of the organism as a whole (sexual activity, migration)

• involve higher brain centers.

learning

acquiring knowledge and skills through experience; a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that results from experience

associative learning

when an organism makes connections between stimuli or events that occur together in the environment

classical conditioning

organisms learn to associate events/stimuli that repeatedly happen together; studied by focusing on behaviors; involves unconscious processes

operant conditioning

organisms learn to associate behaviors and their consequences (reinforcement or punishment); tends to involve conscious processes

Observational learning

the process of watching others and then imitating what they do; adds social and cognitive layers to all the basic associative processes, both conscious and unconscious

unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

a stimulus that elicits a reflexive response in an organism

unconditioned response (UCR)

a natural (unlearned) reaction to a given stimulus

 (UCS) →  (UCR)

neutral stimulus (NR)

presented immediately before an unconditioned stimulus; stimulus that does not naturally elicit a response; turns into conditioned stimulus when used in conjunction with UCS

(NS) + (UCS) → (UCR)

conditioned stimulus (CS)

a stimulus that elicits a response after repeatedly being paired with an unconditioned stimulus

conditioned response (CR)

behavior caused by the conditioned stimulus

higher-order (second-order) conditioning

using a conditioned stimulus to condition a neutral stimulus

acquisition

the initial period of learning in classical conditioning; when an organism learns to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus; the neutral stimulus begins to elicit the conditioned response, and eventually the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus

Timing in classical conditioning

there should only be a brief interval between presentation of the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus (5 seconds to several hours)

taste aversion

a type of conditioning in which an interval of several hours may pass between the conditioned stimulus (something ingested) and the unconditioned stimulus (nausea or illness); conditioning based on a single instance and involving an extended time lapse between the event and the negative stimulus

extinction

the decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with the conditioned stimulus

spontaneous recovery

the return of a previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period

stimulus discrimination

when an organism learns to respond differently to various stimuli that are similar

stimulus generalization

when an organism demonstrates the conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the condition stimulus

phobia

a persistent, excessive fear of a specific object or situation

operant conditioning

when organisms learn to associate a behavior and its consequence

law of effect

behaviors that are followed by consequences that are satisfying to the organism are more likely to be repeated, and behaviors that are followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated

positive (oc)

you are adding something

negative (oc)

you are taking something away

reinforcement

you are increasing a behavior; can be positive or negative; increases the likelihood of a behavioral response

punishment

you are decreasing a behavior; can be positive or negative; decreases the likelihood of a behavioral response

positive reinforcement

a desirable stimulus is added to increase a behavior

negative reinforcement

an undesirable stimulus is removed to increase a behavior

positive punishment

you add an undesirable stimulus to decrease a behavior

negative punishment

you remove a pleasant stimulus to decrease a behavior

Shaping

Instead of rewarding only the target behavior, you reward successive approximations of a target behavior

primary reinforcer

has innate reinforcing qualities (e.g., food, water, shelter, sex)

secondary reinforcer

has no inherent value unto itself and only has reinforcing qualities when linked with something else (e.g., money, gold stars, poker chips)

Continuous reinforcement

When an organism receives a reinforcer each time it displays a behavior

partial reinforcement (intermittent reinforcement)

the person or animal does not get reinforced every time they perform the desired behavior

fixed (pr)

the number of responses between reinforcements, or the amount of time between reinforcements, which is set and unchanging

variable (pr)

the number of responses or amount of time between reinforcements, which varies or changes

interval (pr)

the schedule is based on the time between reinforcements

ratio (pr)

the schedule is based on the number of responses between reinforcements (gambling)

fixed interval reinforcement schedule

when behavior is rewarded after a set amount of time (patient-controlled, doctor-timed pain relief); can lead to a higher quality of output

variable interval reinforcement schedule

Reinforcement is delivered at unpredictable time intervals (checking Facebook, restaurant inspection)

fixed ratio reinforcement schedule

there are a set number of responses that must occur before the behavior is rewarded (getting paid after making x number of products); better suited to optimize the quantity of output

variable ratio reinforcement schedule

the number of responses needed for a reward varies

Radical behaviorism

belief that cognition didn’t matter to behavior

Latent Learning

a form of learning that is not immediately expressed in an overt response; occurs without any obvious reinforcement of that which is learned; not readily apparent to the researcher because it is not shown behaviorally until there is sufficient motivation

Cognitive map

mental picture of the layout of the environment

observational learning

we learn by watching others and then imitating, or modeling, what they do or say

Models

The individuals performing the imitated behavior

Social learning theory

pure behaviorism could not explain why learning can take place in the absence of external reinforcement; internal mental states must also have a role in learning, and observational learning involves much more than imitation

Three types of models

live, verbal, and symbolic

live model

demonstrates a behavior in person

verbal instructional model

does not perform the behavior, but instead explains or describes the behavior

symbolic model

fictional characters or real people who demonstrate behaviors in books, movies, television shows, video games, or Internet sources

Process of modeling

• attention: you must be focused on what the model is doing

• retention: you must be able to retain, or remember, what you observed

• reproduction: you must be able to perform the behavior that you observed and commit it to memory

• motivation: you need to want to copy the behavior

vicarious reinforcement

if you saw that the model was reinforced for her behavior, you will be more motivated to copy them

vicarious punishment

if you observed the model being punished, you would be less motivated to copy them

Prosocial (positive) models

can be used to encourage socially acceptable behavior

Antisocial (negative) models

can prompt others to engage in violent, aggressive, and unhealthy behaviors