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

what are the two tests that an inhibitor must pass?

summation and retardation

what is a retardation test and how does it work?

- first, inhibitory conditioning takes place (A-US, AB-nothing, A-US, AB-nothing; B becomes inhibitor 'I')

- train inhibitor 'I' and a neutral 'N' to become excitatory (I-US, I-US, I-US; N-US, N-US, N-US)

- slower learning to inhibitory I

what is the summation test and how does it work?

- first, inhibitory conditioning takes place (A-US, AB-nothing, A-US, AB-nothing; B becomes inhibitor 'I')

- to test: present excitatory CS alone: 'N' ; present a new excitatory CS + inhibitor: N+I

I think that foods that provide us with support are a natural example of a conditioned inhibitor. To test this, I present participants with pictures that they have previously learnt predict a shock alone or along with a burrito. What test am I doing?

summation test

3 multiple choice options

what are the three things that happen during extinction?

- spontaneous recovery

- renewal effect

- reinstatement

what is spontaneous recovery?

- reintroduce CS after "break"

- CR reappears

what is renewal?

- when extinction is context specific

- acquisition in context X

- extinction in context Y

- present CS in context X: CR

what is reinstatement?

- present US alone after extinction

- then present CS = CR

what is equipotentiality?

any two stimuli can be paired together

what is contiguity?

the more two stimuli are paired, the stronger the individual will associate them

what is contingency?

conditioning changes trial to trial in a regular way

what are some hidden assumptions of classical conditioning?

equipotentiality, contiguity, contingency

what is blocking?

- when a neutral stimulus and an excitatory stimulus together are paired with the US

- learner does not form an association between neutral stimulus and US

use the rat study by Kamin (1968) to explain blocking

- rats were divided into control or blocking groups

- control group: saw light and heard a noise before getting shocked; repeated until CR developed

- blocking group: heard a noise before getting shocked until they developed a CR; then heard a noise and saw a light before getting shocked

- Kamin tested whether the rat reacted to just the light by trying to avoid it being shocked (control group did, blocking group didn't)

what is superconditioning?

- opposite of blocking

- when neutral stimulus and inhibitory stimulus together are paired with US

- learner forms a stronger association between neutral stimulus and US

use the rat study by Rescorla (1971) to explain superconditioning

- some rats played a tone in the absence of shock (tone became cue of safety; inhibitor)

- rats were presented tone with a light, followed by a shock

- finally, rats were presented with the lights alone; rats in this group showed stronger conditioning to the light than rats in control group

You think you have a conditioned inhibitor. You decide to do the retardation test first so you...

pair the inhibitor with a US and a neutral stimulus with the US over and over and compare CRs

3 multiple choice options

You are Pavlov's dog. One particular guy always brings you food. You always salivate when you hear his footsteps or see him coming towards you. He starts bringing a friend along with him when he brings the food. One day that friend comes alone and your mouth is dry. What is this an example of?

blocking

3 multiple choice options

You are still Pavlov's dog. All sorts of people bring you food, but there is this old guy with a beard that never does. One day he comes along with a new person and you get some food. When that new person comes to visit you alone, you are salivating a lot. What is this?

superconditioning

3 multiple choice options

does CS pre-exposure affect conditioning?

yes

1 multiple choice option

what type of tests can be used on conditioned inhibition?

- summation test

- retardation test

what type of tests can be used on CS pre-exposure/latent inhibition?

retardation test

what evidence is there that CS-pre-exposure/latent inhibition is not the same as inhibitory conditioning?

when a pre-exposed CS is presented along with an excitatory stimulus, conditioned responding is not reduced compared to the excitatory stimulus alone

3 multiple choice options

what is generalisation?

- other (similar) stimuli may also produce the CR

- the more similar to the original CS, the more likely it is to elicit the CR

what is discimination?

- early on during acquisition, generalisation may cause the learner to respond to a variety of stimuli

- as learning continues, the organism learns which CS seems to be best associated with US (they discriminate)

what are models in psychology?

- formal attempt to explain a wide body of research

- makes predictions

- predictions can be tested

what is the rescorla-wagner model?

- level of conditioning is a result of an internal comparison between expected strength of the US and actual strength of the US

- expectation is based on prior experience with the US (i.e. previous trials)

- strength of the US is fixed (e.g. mild shock)

what is the equation for the rescorla-wagner model?

∆V = αβ (λ-V)

3 multiple choice options

what does the rescorla-wagner model (1972) basically assume?

CR gets stronger if the CS-US pair is surprising

use the rescorla-wagner model to explain the blocking effect on the rat study by Kamin (1968)

the light doesn't change how surprised the rat is at being shocked, which is why the rat ignores the light because it already expects the shock to happen because of the noise

use the rescorla-wagner model to explain the superconditioning on the rat study by Rescorla (1971)

old stimulus is inhibitory and the combination is excitatory therefore it is a surprise that US is presented

what is a limitation of the rescorla-wagner model?

has difficulty explaining/predicting CS Pre-exposure (latent inhibition)

what is taste aversion?

learned response where an individual develops a strong dislike or avoidance of a specific food or flavour after experiencing illness or aversive symptoms shortly after consuming it

what is systematic desensitisation?

gradual exposure of a phobic object to a client

what is shaping?

selective reinforcement of behaviour resembling the desired target behaviour

what is chaining?

- many behaviours are made up of smaller behaviours

- acquiring behaviour is easier if done in bits and pieces

- can be done forwards or backwards

- often best to start with the last behaviour in the chain (backward chaining)

do reinforcers increase or decrease behaviour?

increase

1 multiple choice option

do punishers increase or decrease behaviour?

decrease

1 multiple choice option

what does positive mean in operant conditioning?

add something

what does negative mean in operant conditioning?

take away something

what is positive reinforcement?

add something to increase behaviour

what is bridging?

- used to teach association between a stimulus that can be delivered immediately and a subsequent reward

- helps bridges the time between the behaviour and the primary reinforcement

what is positive punishment?

adds something to decrease a behaviour

what is negative reinforcement?

removes something to increase a behaviour

what is negative punishment?

removes something to decrease a behaviour

what are the two types of schedules of reinforcement?

continuous (CRF) and partial (PRF)

what is fixed ratio (FR)?

every nth time (e.g. newspaper delivery)

what is variable ratio (VR)?

on average every nth (e.g. gambling)

what is fixed interval (FI)?

first behaviour after N seconds (e.g waiting for a bus)

what is variable interval (VI)?

on average, first behaviour after n seconds (e.g. checking emails)

in terms of schedules of reinforcement, what does ratio mean?

instances of behaviour

in terms of schedules of reinforcement, what does interval mean?

time of behaviour

what is the most efficient schedule of reinforcement?

ratio schedules

which schedule of reinforcement is the most resistant to extinction?

variable ratio

in schedules of punishment, is continuous or partial most effective?

continuous

is punishment or reinforcement more effective?

reinforcement

what are the three reward variables?

drive, size and delay

explain the reward variable of drive

reinforcement depends on how much the organism wants the reinforcer

explain the reward variable of size

- size matters in operant conditioning

- BUT could also cause diminishing returns

- acquisition faster with large/desired reward

- extinction faster with large/desired reward