PSYC-Week 4- Learning

only do star ones

Learning styles

Idea that people learn best in specific ways

What is the main problem with the ideas of learning styles?

The main problem with the ideas of learning styles is that research has not consistently supported the effectiveness of tailoring teaching methods to individual learning styles, suggesting that these preferences may not significantly impact learning outcomes.

Critical self-reflection

Questioning whether your beliefs about your learning are actually true

What is the two ways that improve learning?

understanding and making meaning is important & using the material itself to determine how you learn it. Different information may require different approaches.

What is Learning

a broad process where our experience changes our behaviour, knowledge, or responses.

Perceptual learning

our ability to recognize or respond to sensory information changes because of experience. Ex: You listen to a song repeatedly, you become familiar with it, your brain responds to the sounds differently. 

Implicit learning

learning that happens without intentionally trying to learn. Ex. You don't intentionally try to memorize how people normally behave in a certain situation but over time, you become better at predicting what will happen. 

Implicit memory

past experiences influence your behaviour even when you aren't consciously trying to remember them. Ex. You have learned a skill through practice, now you can perform the skill without consciously thinking about everything you learned.

Nonassociative learning

Nonassociative learning: Habituation

your response decreases after repeated exposure. Ex. A grandfather clock initially seems loud and annoying. After hearing it repeatedly, you barely notice it. 

Nonassociative learning: Sensitization

your response increases after repeated exposure. Ex. Someone has an especially annoying laugh. The more you hear it, the more irritating your response becomes. 

Associative learning

learning a relationship between things. 

Associative learning: Classical conditioning

learning a relationship between two stimuli. Ex. A dog sees its owner open a can of dog food. The dog learns that the sound of the can opener comes before food, just hearing the can opener makes the dog excited and expect food.  

Associative learning: Operant conditioning:

learning a relationship between a behaviour and its consequence. Ex. Dog rolls over → gets a treat. The dog learns that performing the behaviour leads to a reward. 

Four Factors That Affect Learning 

Learners, encoding activities, materials, retrieval

How is motivation significant to learning?

we put more effort into information that we consider important or rewarding 

How is Organization significant to learning?

planning and organizing your studying can significantly improve your learning ( knowing when, what, and how to study)  

What is Working memory

 Temporarily holds information while you work with it. It has limited capacity (~5–9 pieces). Helps with reasoning, reading comprehension, and attention. 

How is Anxiety significant to learning?

Can take up working-memory space and make learning harder. Writing about worries before a test may reduce anxiety and improve performance. 

How is Expertise significant to learning?

Prior knowledge helps you learn new information because you can recognize patterns. 

What is Chunking

Grouping information into meaningful units makes it easier to remember

What is spacing while studying?

spreading study sessions out over time.

What is interleaving while studying?

mixing different types of problems or skills while studying. 

Is intentional learning always better than incidental learning

no

what is an example of incidental learning?

Listening to a song: You hear a song repeatedly and eventually learn the lyrics 

Encoding

The act of putting information into memory.

Transfer-appropriate processing

A principle that states that memory performance is superior when a test taps the same cognitive processes as the original encoding activity

Metacognition

knowledge and skills people have in monitoring and controlling their own learning and memory. (paying attention to our success and failure)  

What is classical conditioning?

The procedure in which an initially neutral stimulus (the conditioned stimulus, or CS) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (or US). The result is that the conditioned stimulus begins to elicit a conditioned response (CR). Classical conditioning is nowadays considered important as both a behavioral phenomenon and as a method to study simple associative learning. Same as Pavlovian conditioning

Conditioned compensatory response

In classical conditioning, a conditioned response that opposes, rather than is the same as, the unconditioned response.

when your body learns to anticipate something, like a drug, and automatically produces the opposite effect to maintain balance.

What type of response occurs in classical conditioning?

Involuntary/passive responses, such as salivation, fear, or emotional reactions.

Context

Stimuli that are in the background whenever learning occurs.

What is the mechanism of classical conditioning? this one

A stimulus produces a response because of a previous pairing. (association)

What is Pavlov's dog example?

Food → drooling; Bell + food → repeated pairing; Bell → drooling after learning

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

A stimulus that naturally causes a response.

Unconditioned Response (UR)

The natural response to the US.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A previously neutral stimulus that becomes meaningful after learning.

Conditioned Response (CR)

A learned response caused by the CS.

Fast-food logo example or classical conditioning?

Food (US) → salivation (UR); restaurant logo (CS) → salivation (CR).

What is operant conditioning?

Learning where a voluntary behavior becomes associated with a consequence, changing how likely it is to happen again.

What type of response occurs in operant conditioning?

Voluntary/active behaviors, such as pressing a lever or raising your hand.

What is the mechanism of operant conditioning?

A behavior is freely performed and then shaped by its consequences.

Skinner's rat example (operant conditioning)

Rat presses lever → gets food → food reinforces lever pressing → rat presses more.

What is a reinforcer?

A consequence that increases a behavior.

What is a punisher?

A consequence that decreases a behavior.

Classical vs. operant conditioning

Classical = involuntary response to a stimulus; operant = voluntary behavior shaped by consequences.

What is systemic body preparation?

A CS can prepare the entire body for an upcoming US, not just cause one response.

Example of systemic body preparation

A food-related cue can trigger salivation, gastric acids, pancreatic enzymes, and insulin before eating.

What is a conditioned compensatory response?

A learned body response that opposes an upcoming drug's effects.

when your body learns to anticipate a drug or a stimulus. And then it sort of pushes back in the opposite direction. So for example, if someone regularly takes a drug in the same setting, their body can start to trigger the opposite physiological effect just from the environment alone. It's basically the body's way of preparing and trying to maintain balance, and that is what contributes to tolerance over time

Why can a new environment affect drug tolerance?

Familiar environmental cues help the body prepare; unfamiliar settings may prevent this preparation

What is motivational priming?

Classical cues can increase motivation to perform goal-directed behaviors.

Does simply pairing a CS and US always create learning?

No. Learning depends on useful or surprising information.

What is the blocking effect?

In classical conditioning, The blocking effect is when an animal, or a person, doesn't learn to associate a new cue with an outcome because they've already learned that another cue predicts the same outcome. So the first cue kind of hogs all the credit, and the new one doesn't get linked.

What is prediction error?

A difference between what is predicted and what actually happens

Why is prediction error important?

Conditioning learns information that reduces the difference between prediction and outcome. Learning kicks in when something's surprising. So if everything's perfectly predicted, there's nothing new to learn

What is salience/intensity?

Stronger, more noticeable CSs and USs generally produce faster learning.

What is novelty?

Conditioning is more effective when the CS or US has not been frequently experienced before.

What is preparedness?

Evolution makes some associations easier to learn than others.

Example of preparedness

Taste + illness is easily associated, while light/sound + illness is less easily associated.

What is extinction?

Repeatedly presenting the CS without the US causes the CR to decrease. (keep ringing bell with no food)

Does extinction erase the original learning?

No. it inhibits the learned behavior rather than completely erasing the memory.

What is spontaneous recovery?

An extinguished response returns after time has passed

What is the renewal effect?

An extinguished response returns when the CS is encountered in a different context.

What is a discriminative stimulus?

A stimulus that signals whether a behavior will currently be reinforced. (an environmental cue that signals whether a specific behavior will lead to a reward or a consequence)

ex. The light on the machine is the discriminative stimulus. When it's on, you know pressing the button is going to get you a snack. When it's off, well, pressing it won't do anything.

What does "sets the occasion" mean?

The stimulus creates an opportunity for a voluntary behavior to occur.

Example of a discriminative stimulus

A green arrow signals that turning left is appropriate.

What is the quantitative law of effect?

A reinforcer's effectiveness depends partly on the rewards available for alternative behaviors.

bigger or more frequent rewards make behavior strengthen faster and last longer.

What happens when better alternative rewards are available?

A particular reward becomes less attractive or effective.

In that case, behavior shifts toward the option with the bigger or more frequent payoff.

What is goal-directed behavior?

Behavior performed because the organism expects and currently values a specific outcome.

What is the reinforcer devaluation effect?

Behavior decreases when its expected reward is made undesirable.

Goal-directed vs. habit behavior

Goal-directed behavior is value-sensitive; habits are more automatic and value-insensitive.

Why are habits useful?

They save mental energy because they do not require conscious planning each time.

What is R–O learning?

Connecting a response (R) with its outcome (O).

What is S–O learning?

Connecting a stimulus/environment (S) with an outcome (O).

What is S–R learning?

Connecting an environmental stimulus directly to a response, producing a habit.

What is S–(R–O)?

The environment signals that a response will produce a particular outcome right now.

What is observational learning?

Learning new responses, rules, or strategies by watching others.

R - O (Instrumental Learning)

Connecting the action to its result. You perform R because you want O.

S - O (Classical Learning)

Connecting the environment to the reward. Environmental cues trigger physical preparation (e.g., walking into a restaurant triggers insulin release and salivation before food arrives).

S - R (Habit Learning)

Connecting the environment directly to the action. Over time, the environment automatically triggers the action without thinking about the result.

S - (R - O) (Occasion Setting)

The environment signals that performing action R will successfully yield outcome O right now.

Does observational learning require direct rewards?

No. Learning can occur simply by observing a model.

What is Social Learning Theory?

Bandura's theory that people can learn behaviors by observing others.

What are the four steps of observational learning?

Attention → Retention → Initiation → Motivation.

Attention

Actively watching the model's behavior.

Retention

Storing the observed behavior in memory

Initiation

Having the physical ability to reproduce the behavior.

Motivation

Having the desire to perform the behavior.

What is vicarious learning?

Your likelihood of performing a behavior changes after seeing someone else's consequences.

What is vicarious reinforcement?

Learning by observing another person being rewarded or punished.

What is fear conditioning?

Classical conditioning where a CS becomes associated with an aversive US and produces fear.

What is taste aversion learning?

Becoming unwilling to consume a taste after it has been associated with sickness.

What is stimulus control?

When an operant behavior is controlled by a stimulus that comes before it.

“hey this behaviour is likely to pay off right now”

What is the Law of Effect?

Behaviors followed by pleasant consequences strengthen; behaviors followed by unpleasant consequences weaken

What is renewal?

Recovery of an extinguished response after the context changes

What are social models?

People whose behaviors are observed and used as models for learning.

Accommodation

Changing one’s beliefs about the world and how it works in light of new experience.

Like if a kid calls every four-legged animal a dog, then learns cats aren't dogs, that's accommodation.

Appraisal structure

The set of appraisals (an expert judgment or estimation of the value, quality, or condition of something or someone) that bring about an emotion.

So an exam might feel exciting if you see it as a challenge, threatening if you see it as a failure risk. So the interpretation drives the emotion.

Appraisal theories

Emotions come from how you interpret an event, not from the event itself.