PSYC2050

what is learning?

an adaptive process where the tendency to perform a specific behaviour, emotion and/or thought is changed by experience

what is experience?

any effects of the environment mediated by a sensory system

what are the three common features of learning definitions?

- change is lasting

- experience and practice

- learning situation is important

what are the two major ways of learning?

- non-associative

- associative

what is a type of non-associative learning?

habituation

what is habituation?

- the organism gets used to a novel stimulus

- simplest form of learning

- does not require linking stimuli together

- decline/disappearance of reflexive response when the same stimulus is repeatedly presented

what orienting responses do a novel stimulus lead to?

- head turns towards the stimulus

- heart rate slows down

- person "attends" to stimulus

what happens after prolonged exposure to a novel stimulus?

- stimulus no longer novel

- no longer have orienting response

- organism has "learned" that this stimulus has no special significance

- habituation taken place

why is habituation adaptive?

allows us to learn that a stimulus is not significant and therefore you don't have to be distracted by petty events

what is associative learning?

- forming new associations

- connecting stimuli with each other and with behaviour

what is cognitive psychology?

study of mental processes such as perceiving, attending, remembering and reasoning

what does low level cognition mean?

- close to input from our senses (vision, hearing, touch, taste and smell)

- mental representations correspond to objects and events in the environment

what does high level cognition mean?

- abstract, conceptual, relational

- abstract mental representations

- derived from many individual experiences

what is the free energy principle?

- global theory of how the brain works

- a formulation of how adaptive systems (that is, biological agents, like brains) resist a natural tendency to disorder

- biological systems must maintain their states despite a constantly changing environment (both external and internal)

- physiological and sensory states in which an organism can be is limited (low entropy)

- biological agents must minimise the long-term average of surprise to keep sensory entropy low

what is entropy?

surprise

what is classical conditioning?

- discovered by pavlov

- involuntary

- a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired

what are the four elements of classical conditioning?

- unconditioned stimulus (US)

- unconditioned response (UR)

- conditioned stimulus (CS)

- conditioned response (CR)

what does unconditioned mean in classical conditioning?

connection between stimulus and response is innate

what does conditioned mean in classical conditioning?

connection between stimulus and response is learned

explain classical conditioning through dog salivation

1. before conditioning

unconditioned stimulus: food

unconditioned response: salivation

2. before conditioning

neutral stimulus: whistle

no salivation because no conditioned response

3. during conditioning

whistle + food = salivation

salivation is still unconditioned

4. after conditioning

conditioned stimulus: whistle

conditioned response: salivation

what does unconditioned stimulus (US) refer to in classical conditioning?

stimulus that elicits an unlearned response

what does unconditioned response (UR) refer to in classical conditioning?

unlearned response to a US

what does conditioned stimulus (CS) refer to in classical conditioning?

stimulus to which an organism must learn to respond

what does conditioned response (CR) refer to in classical conditioning?

response to a CS (which is learned)

what are the three stages of a typical classical conditioning experiment?

habituation, acquisition and extinction

explain the habituation stage of a typical classical conditioning experiment

CS is presented alone

explain the acquisition stage of a typical classical conditioning experiment

CS presented along with US

explain the extinction stage of a typical classical conditioning experiment

CS presented alone again

what is measured throughout a typical classical conditioning experiment?

a response (UR/CR)

what are two factors that influence the acquisition curve?

- intensity of the US (more intense, more rapid learning)

- order and timing (the CS coming before the US is better)

what is delay conditioning (short)?

- interstimulus interval (ISI) occurs during CS but before US

- US occurs after ISI while CS is still ongoing

what is delay conditioning (long)?

- interstimulus interval (ISI) occurs during CS but before US

- ISI occurs for longer than delayed conditioning (short)

- US occurs after ISI while CS is still ongoing

what is trace conditioning?

- CS occurs first

- trace interval in between (CS and US not present)

- US occurs after trace interval

what is simultaneous conditioning?

CS and US occur at the same time

what is backward conditioning?

- US occurs first

- CS occurs after US

what is temporal conditioning?

a form of classical conditioning in which the CS is the passage of time

what is it called when the stimulus that the animal is learning about (CS) is presented before the stimulus that already holds some meaning (US) but there is a delay between the end on the first stimulus and the beginning of the second?

trace conditioning

3 multiple choice options

in a typical conditioning experiment, a neutral stimulus (CS) is presented along with a stimulus that we already know something about (US). What is this phase called?

acquisition

3 multiple choice options

what are the two types of pavlovian conditioning?

excitatory and inhibitory

what is excitatory conditioning?

- CS predicts the occurrence of US

- pavlovs dog

- if 'A' was a bell → A-US, A-US, A-US (A leads to a CR)

what is inhibitory conditioning?

- CS predicts absence of US

- if 'B' was a light → A-US, A-US, AB, A-US, AB (B predicts the absence of US)

- the organism learns that B predicts the absence of US and therefore doesn't make a CR