chapter 18 - conditioning and learning

Learning

A process by which behavior or knowledge changes as a result of experience

2 types of learning

1. Cognitive learning - direct learning

Ex. Studying for bio by memorizing

1. Associative learning - learning through association with our different senses

Ex. Smelling a candle and it reminds you have your old house

Ivan Pavlov

Physiologist who won a Nobel prize for his research on digestion

• developed the idea of psychological reflex using dogs

Psychological reflex

Sight of food produced salivation despite no food being present due to a response called psychic secretion

Classical conditioning

• learning that occurs when a neutral stimulus causes a response that was originally caused by another stimulus

• Ex. Dogs salivate hearing boots

Elements of classical conditioning

1. Unconditioned stimulus

• stimulus that elicits a reflexive response without learning

2. Unconditioned response

• a reflexive, unlearned reaction to an unconditioned stimulus

3. Neutral stimulus

• stimulus that doesnt normally elicit a reflexive response without learning

4. Conditioned stimulus

• a once neutral stimulus that later elicits a response because it has a history of being paired with an unconditioned stimulus

5. Conditioned response

• the learned response that occurs to the conditioned stimulus

• The CS must elicit a CR in the absence of NS

Possible mechanism of conditioning

• during conditioning, weak synapses fire at the same time as related strong synapses

• The simultaneous activity strengthens the connections in the weaker synapses

Stages of conditioning

1. Acquisition

• initial phase of learning in which the response is established

• The CS helps predict that the US will appear

• Is stronger if the CS and the US are presented close together in time to make the pattern more easily recognizable

2. Extinction

• the loss or weakening of a CR when a CS and US no longer occur together

3. Spontaneous recovery

• the reoccurrence of a previously extinguished CR

Stimulus generalization

Process in which a response that originally occurs to a specific stimulus also occurs to different, through similar stimuli

Ex. Cats generalized the opening of cat food can to all canned foods. And thought that all the can noises were its food

Stimulus discrimination

• when an organism learns to respond to one original stimulus but not to new stimuli that may be original stimulus

• Often occurs when similar stimuli are NOT paired with a US

Phobia

• when fear of an object or situation becomes irrational and note refers with normal activity

• Can occur naturally (genetics) or through experience primarily

Little Albert experiment

• Albert was 11 months with no natural fear of animals and experimenters used classical conditioning to create a fear

• They made a loud noise which made him jump

• Then paired that with the appearance of animal Which then later created a fear of rats

• The fear generalized to other furry animals or stimuli of anything furry

Conditioned emotional responses

Emotional and physiological responses that develop to a specific object or situation

Ex. Little Albert

Preparedness

The biological predisposition to rapidly learn a response to a particular class of stimuli (hard wired to fear certain things over others)

Fear conditioning in the brain

• amygdala is involved in fear conditioning

• Some patients have more hypersensitive amygdala (more easily to experience fear) and some have blunt responses

Contextual fear conditioning

Learning to fear a location

• involves hippocampus

• Pairs with fear conditioning since its right beside the amygdala

Conditioned taste aversions

An acquired dislike or disgust of a food or drink because it got paired with an illness

• this triggers a decreased reward response in the brain

• Ex. Ate charcuterie board, then got diarrhea now im scared and dont want it

Garcia effect

• taste produces stronger aversive conditioning than sights and sounds

• A single exposure is often enough to stop us

• CTA develops even if sickness occurs hours later

• This biological tendency likely evolved through natural selection because it enhances a species survival

Latent inhibition

When frequent experiences with a stimulus before it’s paired with a US makes it less likely that conditioning will occur after a single episode of illness (good overrides the bad)

Advertising techniques using classical conditioning - evaluative conditioning

• Pairing emotional stimulus with a target in order to influence peoples perceptions and attitudes to that target

Ex.

• using popular songs in commercials

• Using attractive people with their product

Negative political advertising (attacks ads)

• using black and white, grainy images so we can become frustrated

• Images that allow you to judge/mark the target

• Images of the political making an angry face and using an angry narrator whose voice will spark that feeling of anger to the viewers

Law of effect

choosing a behaviour thats been reinforced with reward in a recurring situation

Ex. Thorndike put a cat in a box and the cat eventually recognizes the pattern to escape

Operant conditioning

• type of learning in which behaviour is influenced by consequence

• A response and a consequence are required for learning to take place

• Consequence depends upon the action (Not automatic)

Processes of increasing likelihood using operant conditioning

1. Reinforcement

• process in which an event or reward that follows a response increases likelihood of that response occurring again

Ex. Training a dog to sit by giving it treats will increase its likelihood to sit

2. Reinforcer

• the action that stimulates the response and that results in an increase probability of that response occurring again

Ex. Giving the dog a treat so it will sit

Processes of decreasing likelihood sing operant conditioning

1. Punishment

• process that decreases the future Probibility of a response or behviaor

2. Punisher

• The action that stimulates a response that decreases the result of a behavior

Studying operant conditioning using a Skinner box

• lab apparatus containing keys the animal can manipulate but the experimenter controls which behaviour is rewarded or punished

2 types of reinforcement

1. Positive reinforcement - increasing behavior by gaining a stimulus

Ex. Doing good on a test so you want to study more

2. Negative reinforcement - increasing behavior to decrease a stimulus

Ex. Parents giving into whining children so children stop whining

2 types of negative reinforcement

1. Escape learning - A type of negative reinforcement in which a response removes a stimulus that was already present

Ex. Your parents keep nagging you so you study more so they stop nagging

2. Avoidance learning - removes possibility that a stimulus occurs and is associated with increased activity in frontal lobe

Ex. Studying in advanced so your parents dont nag you at all

2 types of punishment

1. Positive punishment - process in which a behaviour decreases because a stimulus is added

Ex. You get bullied for studying so now you stop studying

2. Negative punishment - process in which a behaviour decreases as a stimulus is removed

Ex. Cheating on a test results in being grounded, now im less likely to cheat because i dont want to be grounded

Primary reinforcer

Reinforcing stimuli that satisfy basic motivational needs (things that affect an individuals ability to survive and reproduce)

Secondary reinforcer

Stimuli that acquire their reinforcing effects only after we learn they have value (things not needed for survival)

Ex. Money

Reinforcer in brain activity

Triggers dopamine release in the reward centre of the brain (nucleus accumbens)

• largest dopamine response during learning of stimulus reward association (initial learning)

• larger in people more prone to high risk behavior

Discriminative stimulus

• a cue/event that indicates a response, if made wil be reinforced

• When the cue isnt present theres no point in responding since no reinforcement will occur

ex. Steve smith wearing white socks to show the kids hes fun and black socks to show hes no fun

Generalization in operant conditioning

• When an operant response takes place to a new stimulus that’s similar to the old stimulus in the original learning

Ex. Steve smith wears off white socks but kids generalize it to being white

Discrimination

When an operant response is made to one discriminate stimulus but not another even if theyre similar

Shaping

A procedure in which a specific operant response is created by reinforcing successive approximations of that response (Rewarding baby steps to reach desired response)

Chaining

Shaping several shape behaviors into a sequence

Delayed reinforcement effects

Conditioning is stronger when the reinforcement immediately follows the behavior

• the more delayed the reinforcement is, the fewer the response is

Extinction

Weakening of an operant response when reinforcement is no longer available and eventually response just stops or if reward is devalued (less appealing)

• thus decreased dopamine response

Continuous reinforcement

When every response made results in reinforcement this leads to rapid learning

Partial reinforcement

When only a certain number of responses are rewarded or a certain amount of one must before before reinforcement is available

4 types of partial reinforcement

1. Fixed ratio schedule - when reinforcement is delivered after a specific number of response has been completed

Ex. Being paid per product made

2. Variable ratio schedule - when the number of responses required to achieve reinforcement varies according to an average

Ex. Slot machines

3. Fixed interval schedule - when reinforcement occurs following the first response occurring after a set amount of time passes

Ex. Students study the most for an exam last minute because they know the exam is upcoming

4. Variable internal schedule - when the first response is reinforced following a variable amount of time

Ex. Waiting for a falling star while stargazing

Partial reinforcement effect

A phenomenon in which organisms have been conditioned under partial reinforcement resists extinction longer than those conditioned under continuous reinforcement

• also known as superstitions

Do superstitious behaviors help

They can help/maintain performance on tasks involving control like sports, otherwise its useless

Punishment with ticketing in photo radar and or police

Photo radar has small effects than police officer since punishment is not immediate

• tickets from police are more effective since more immediate

5 Principles of effective principles

1. Severity - severity should match effect

2. Initial punishment level - should be strong enough to know its a punishment

3. Contingity - needs to occur immediately after

4. Consistency - maintaining same level of punishment

5. Show alternatives - showing how reinforcement can be obtained by engaging in more meaningful behaviors

Early learning and the mind

• thought as a black box

Latent learning

Learning that is not immediately expressed by a response until the organism is reinforced for doing so

Ex. Group of rats were slow until they got rewarded, learning then speeds up through the maze

S-O-R learning and SOR theory

• early learning theories focused on stimulus response contingencies

• Stimulus organism response theory

• Theory suggesting that individual differences were based on people cognitive interpretation of that situation

Observational learning

• changes in behaviour and knowledge that results from watching others

• Highly efficient way to pass on knowledge, without some skills would never have been possible

Ex. Some chimps gather termites with mouth, some have used tools

4 processes in observational learning

1. Attention - to the act or behavior

2. Memory - to be able to copy it and compare it to your own action

3. Reproduce - ability to recreate

4. Motivation - opens opportunities

Imitation

Recreating someone elses behavior or expression to accomplish a specific goal

Role of imitation

Involves the mirror neuron system and allows to learn social rules

3 parts neuron system

Posterior STS - watching movement

Ventral PMC - movement becomes active

Rostal - know where you are to be able to mimic movement

Observational learning and violence

Early or present exposure to violence tends to lead to people being more violent through childhood, media films, music (ethical way to study this)

• BUT effects of violent video games are small

Observational learning with violence in the brain

• Watching videos led to decreased activity in frontal and parietal areas (less control in movement)

• People who watch violent movies had smaller frontal lobe responses during an attentional inhibition task than did control participants

Classical conditioning with drugs

When a drug is taken it can be associated with cues present at the tie of consumption thus when the person experiences the same cue again, the response can be related to the drug itself

Conditioned compensatory response

When the body knows a pain suppressor will soon be taken, it will become more sensitive to pain and decrease its impact of the drug on the body

• overdose usually occurs when a drug is taken in an unfamiliar place

Blocking

When one stimulus associates itself with a response already and additional stimulus is added. We automatically ‘block’ out the other stimulus because we’re already familiar with the first stimulus

Predictions error

The chance that a conditioned stimulus wont lead to an expected outcome

• this is needed for classical conditioning to occur

Stimulus control

knowing when / how to react to certain stimuli

Ex. Traffic light is green but you know only to turn left when theres a green arrow

Categorizing sets of stimuli

Putting stimuli’s in groups based on context despite not knowing what it is

Reinforcer devaluation effect

Animals learn about specific consequences of each behavior and will perform one depending on how much they want the consequence (weighing out options)

• the behavior is goal oriented

• If done enough, it can become a habit

Social learning theory

Individuals can learn responses through observing others behaviors

• reliant on a ‘social model’ where the person is typically higher status or authority than the observer.

Ex. Teachers

Vicarious reinforcement

Not experiencing the reinforcement/punishment directly but is still influenced by observing it

Ex. Children witnessing bad children receive punishment thus making them less likely to act bad