YR1SM2 PS101: Learning

What did behaviorists believe in regards to learning?

(observable characteristics, such as; falsifiable; whereas)

observable characteristics/behaviors, such as face reddening and tenseness, were too subjective and falsifiable, whereas the environment's impact on behavior was more external and thus concrete

2 main types of learning according to behaviorists

Nonassociative

Associative

Nonassociative learning occurs..

without the organism having to make any conscious connection between two stimuli

Most primitive learning

nonassociative

3 examples of non-associative learning

habituation

dishabituation

sensitization

Habituation refers to a

decrease in the intensity of the response behavior due to familiarity, or repeated exposure to the stimulus

Worm jar demonstration of habituation

Scientists shook a jar with a worm in it, and after multiple trials, the worm jiggled in response less and less

Rat bam sound demonstration of habituation

Scientists would occasionally distribute a loud bang to a box with a rat in it, and after multiple bangs, the rat became less and less startled until ignoring it

Dishabituation refers to an ...

increase in the intensity of the response behavior due to a change in the original stimulus

Habituation is linked to the emotion of ..., while dishabituation is linked to the emotion of...

boredom/disinterest

surprise

Sensitization refers to an...

EX?

increase in the intensity of a response behavior due to repeated exposure to an aversive/threatening stimulus

EX: phobia

Via what process can someone manage a phobia? How does this process work?

desensitization; someone is repeatedly exposed to the aversive stimulus, but in manageable, incremental steps that increase in interaction

Two types of associative learning

classical conditioning and operant conditioning

How does classical conditioning occur?

by associating a neutral stimulus with a stimulus that naturally produces a response, allowing for the neutral stimulus to eventually produce that response too

How did Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov accidentally observe classical conditioning?

initially wanting to measure dogs' salivation levels in response to food, Pavlov would ring a bell shortly before presenting the food, but eventually he realized the dogs would salivate as soon as the bell rang

Preconditioning: the name of the stimulus and the response and the eye doctor example

UnConditioned Stimulus (UCS): puff of air

UnConditioned Response (UCR): blinking

Conditioning: the name of the stimulus and the response and the eye doctor example

Conditioned Stimulus (CS): ringing a bell before blowing the puff of air

Conditioned Response (CR): blinking

Name the UCS, UCR, CS, and CR of the Easy Button experiment (video we watched in class)

UCS: toy gun firing

UCR: flinching

CS: "That was easy" noise

CR: flinching

Acquisition

strengthening of the conditioned response as the respondent further, OFTEN GRADUALLY, links the UCS and CS together

Extinction

diminishing of a conditioned response to the CS until not occurring at all, due to the association between the UCS and CS becoming weaker

What 2 outcomes does spontaneous recovery of the CR prove and why?

-extinction does not mean the connection is gone forever, because a break before being presented with the CS again produces the CR, just not at as great of an intensity

-learning occurs faster the second time, proven because after being presented with the CS again after a break, the respondent will require less trials to produce the CR

X and Y axes of the classical conditioning graph

X: time passed

Y: growing strength of the CR

What do the 5 stages of the classical conditioning graph look like?

Acquisition; Extinction; Pause/Break; Spontaneous Recovery of the CR; Extinction

Acquisition: ascending, concave curve

Extinction: descending, convex curve

Pause: no curve at all

Spontaneous Recovery of the CR: point which starts at a lower strength than the peak of acquisition

Extinction: descending, convex curve

Stimulus generalization occurs when...

an organism is presented with not the CS but a similar stimulus, causing them to produce the same reaction even though the UCS does not follow the similar stimulus

Stimulus discrimination occurs when...

an organism is able to distinguish between the CS and the similar stimulus, causing them to produce no response towards the similar stimulus

In order to effectively train classical conditioning, what two guidelines should be followed?

Either an overlap of the UCS and the CS or a short delay of the UCS after the CS

Multiple trials

How does taste aversion development deviate from the typical guidelines of classical conditioning?

1) natural sickness stimulus

2) food

3) nausea

4) that one bad experience

5) now avoids

Someone eats food --> later, comes into contact with a stimulus that naturally causes a sickness which won't arise until later --> later at night, feels nauseous --> attributes sickness to that one bad experience with the food --> now avoids the food

JB Watson's experiment with Little Albert proved what two things?

classical conditioning does not always need many trials

phobias can develop via classical conditioning too, not just via non-associative learning

Name the (UCS), (UCR), (CS), and (CR) of the Little Albert experiment

UCS: loud bang behind the curtain

UCR: startled, crying

CS: white rat

CR: startled, crying

How does JB Watson's Little Albert experiment demonstrate generalization?

Any white fluffy object/organism would produce a startled, crying noise from Little Albert

In what case can classical conditioning be inherent, biological?

EX: bug, broccoli

Aversions, needed to increase humans' chance of survival; for example, a phobia of any type of bug and a taste aversion to broccoli, whose bitterness we've come to associate with poison

Chemotherapy application of CC, specifically taste aversion

PART 1: what is the risk?

Starting chemo leads to feelings of sickness, and since the patient obviously has to eat food during that period, they may risk associating their comfort food with the sickness

Chemotherapy application of CC, specifically taste aversion

PART 2: what are doctors trying to avoid?

the association between the comfort food and the sickness leads to a taste aversion to that comfort food, which doctors want to avoid since this food can help someone's wellbeing improve

Chemotherapy application of CC, specifically taste aversion

PART 3: how do doctors go about preventing this?

during the stage of sickness, doctors monitor the food given to the patient so that they develop a taste aversion to those foods and not their comfort food

Wolf and sheep application of CC

To stop wolves from hunting the sheep, the farmers traced mutton bait with a hidden, throw-up inducing chemical; the wolves obviously became ill but believed the mutton itself as the cause, causing them to avoid the sheep

Second order classical conditioning occurs by ...

associating a new, neutral stimulus with the previously neutral stimulus, aka the CS of the first order

Operant conditioning/instrumental learning compare and contrast with classical conditioning

Both want to induce a certain behavior, but CC induces the behavior in response to something (a stimulus) and OC induces the behavior by repeatedly responding to it with a consequence

How does Thorndike's puzzle box represent that animals understand the basic Law of Effect?

when a cat was placed in a box with a lever that opened the door, it eventually understood this relationship and was able to escape faster over the following trials

BF Skinner proposes ...

essentially the groundwork of operant conditioning, that you can introduce a consequence in order to induce certain behaviors

How did BF Skinner validate the theory of operant conditioning through the Skinner box?

each Skinner box contained a lever that, when pushed, dispensed a treat, and over time the rat increased its lever-pushing behavior due to the treat

Operant conditioning 3 principles and short description of each

Reinforcement: consequence that increases LIKELIHOOD of behavior

Punishment: consequence that decreases LIKELIHOOD of behavior

Extinction: decline in behavior when no reinforcement is provided

Positive vs negative reinforcement compare and contrast

Both aim to increase likelihood of a behavior, but positive reinforcement ADDS a pleasant consequence in response to a behavior, while negative reinforcement REMOVES an unpleasant consequence in response to a behavior

Two examples of each: positive and negative reinforcement

(psych hw, grades)

(car, sleep)

POSITIVE:

turn HW in early --> bonus credit

get good grades --> money

NEGATIVE:

buckle in seatbelt --> annoying beeping is removed

go to sleep early --> removal of exhaustion

2 main types of schedules of reinforcement and the most effective one

Continuous: reinforced for each display of behavior

Partial: reinforced for only some of the displays of behavior

Partial, because it maintains a sense of uncertainty and hope, while continuous instills complacency

Partial Schedule of Reinforcement: two sub schedules (actually, one deals with time passage)

Ratio schedule: every kth display of the behavior, reinforce

Interval schedule: every k amount of time passed, reinforce

Ratio and interval schedule as a FIXED schedule vs

as a VARIABLE schedule

under a fixed schedule, reinforcement occurs after the same amount of trials/time passed

under a variable schedule, reinforcement occurs after differing amount of trials/time passed

On a time vs cumulative behaviors/responses graph, what does the curve look like: FIXED RATIO

a positive trend line split into steps, with each step, or slow rise in behavior, occurring right after every evenly-spaced reinforcement

On a time vs cumulative behaviors/responses graph, what does the curve look like: VARIABLE RATIO

And why does it look different from the curve for fixed ratio?

A positive, steeper trend line split into fewer steps since the respondent is uncertain of how many behavior displays they must show in order to be reinforced

On a time vs cumulative behaviors/responses graph, what does the curve look like: FIXED INTERVAL

Why does it have this shape?

an accelerating curve between each evenly-spaced reinforcement; since the respondent knows when they'll be reinforced, they feel less motivated to display the behavior right after being reinforced and more motivated to as the next reinforcement grows closer

On a time vs cumulative behaviors/responses graph, what does the curve look like: VARIABLE INTERVAL

a more linear, steeper, positive line since the respondent is uncertain of when they'll be reinforced next, causing them to display the behavior more and more consistently

Out of all the 4 combinations of fixed/variable and ratio/interval, which produces the greatest cumulative responses in the shortest amount of time and WHY?

variable ratio; the respondent is uncertain of how many displays of behaviors are needed for the next reinforcement, and unlike time, the behavior is something under their control, so this uncertainty and control leads to greater behavior

In operant conditioning, punishment overall is (effective/not very effective)

Compare and contrast positive and negative punishment

not very effective

Both wish to decrease a behavior, but positive punishment adds something aversive whenever the behavior is displayed, while negative punishment removes something pleasing whenever the behavior is displayed

Positive punishment example (dog)

Negative punishment example (games)

dog barks too loudly --> shock from shock collar --> dog barks less

kid treats parents cruelly --> videogames taken away --> kid stops treating parents cruelly

As seen by the Skinner box and Thorndike cat experiments, the subjects discover the behavior ..., indicating that operant-conditioned behavior is ...

accidently; unnatural

Due to the unnatural nature of the operant-conditioned behavior, in order to even induce this behavior, what is a method often used?

easing an organism into doing a desirable behavior by reinforcing behaviors that approximate the desirable one, each behavior becoming closer and closer

Shaping the lever press response from rats: how does this represent successive approximations?

Phase 1: approach wall with lever

Phase 2: sniff lever

Phase 3: touch lever

Phase 4: push lever

Each phase increases in specificity and closeness to the actual, and once the rat learns that completing a phase's action garners a treat, the researches do not reinforce until the rat learns the next phase

Studying hard for a test: name an external and internal reinforcement

External: receive an A+

Internal: feel proud, elated

Spontaneous Recovery (Operant Conditioning)

once the reinforcement stops and the subject stops doing the behavior, after taking a break, the subject will begin doing the behavior again, just not at the same intensity

How does latent learning defy behaviorists' belief that learning only occurs via OC or CC (some sort of external, environmental prompting)?

latent learning states that an organism in part learns and develops processes under conscious awareness, so not just through environmental prompting

Describe the set-up of the rat t-maze experiment

a +, with each arm containing a medium that masked the smell of food; a rat would be placed in one arm and would eventually discover, by accident, that one medium hid food

The rat is initially placed in arm A and learns that the food-containing mound is in arm B (up, then right). This trial repeats again and again until the rat learns this more concretely.

By operant conditioning, what would happen if the rat was placed in arm C?

Since the rat learned that this specific set of behaviors—up, right, dig—garnered food, it would perform this same set and end up in arm D

What actually happened when the rat was placed in arm C, and what is the reason proposed?

the rat still wound up in arm B, because through all the trials, it didn't solely memorize its own motions, but naturally created this mental map of the maze as a whole

How does the idea of insight defy behaviorists' beliefs?

Problem-solving often happens by insight, or that sudden, unprompted aha! moment that comes to your mind after not knowing how to solve the problem

Insight example: chimpanzee

Chimpanzee wants peanut at the bottom of a narrow tube --> initially confused --> suddenly starts filling mouth with water and releasing it into the tube until the peanut floats up

How does observational/social learning move away from behaviorists' beliefs?

this learning suggests that organisms learn not from some external, environmental prompting, but rather from them just mimicking the actions of others

What two key findings did the Bobo doll study demonstrate?

that children can learn aggressive behaviors by simply observing others doing so, even without their behaviors being reinforced or punished

that exposure to violence can actually cause children to further increase and innovate on their aggressive tendencies

Name and describe the 2 stages of observational learning

1) ACQUISITION: an organism must actively attend to the model

2) PERFORMANCE: an organism now must reproduce the modeled behavior

Name two breakdowns that can occur in the acquisition stage

not paying attention

memory is still underdeveloped, so cannot fully internalize the modeled behavior

Name two breakdowns that can occur in the performance stage

Ex of the first?

do not have the means of reproducing the behavior (EX: Broca's aphasia speech production)

no motivation

How can learning occur via a mix of observational learning and operant conditioning?

vicariously; if an organism watches someone receive a reinforcement or punishment from performing a behavior, then there is a chance that the organism will increase or decrease that behavior in themselves

How does the macaque - snake experiment demonstrate vicarious learning?

Describe the macaque - snake punishment model

wild macaques greatly fear snakes while captive-raised macaques do not; when shown videos of the wild macaques fearing snakes, the captive macaques developed a fear of snakes too

Macaques approach snakes --> positive punishment: snake reacts aggressively and attempts to eat --> macaque stops approaching and begins to avoid snakes

Mirror neurons

activate to mirror the pattern of motion that oneself is currently doing, imagining doing, or the motion that others are doing

Mirror neurons explain why we have ...

3 examples?

physical empathy

we wince when someone receives an eye injury; we feel a tingling sensation over our body when we see someone covered in bugs or dirt; we start crying when seeing others cry