WEEKS 1 - 2 MIDTERM

What is learning (as according to Ethan)?

the means by which organisms adapt to their environment - the means by which animals use the past to predict the future.

Basically, what is pavlovian conditioning?

Wherein, people are conditioned by cues to avoid or approach something that makes them feel good or bad. → Motivational landscapes are shaped by random swirls and worlds of colour that trigger associations of positive or negative feelings.

What did Watson and Raynor do?

They based on Pavlov’s book Conditioned Reflexes, tested his animal-based theories on humans with little Albert, a baby who was conditioned to fear a white rat. When the rat approached, a hammer would be struck on a metal bar, causing Albert to startle. Over time, Albert would startle even when only the rat was introduced to him.

What did Pavlov’s Apparatus do?

Pavlov’s apparatus was initially designed to measure the amount of salivation a dog produced by connecting a fistula implant to a tube and then measuring the amount of spit produced by different food. Noticing ‘psychic secretions’, Pavlov later started to research conditioned reflexes by pairing food with the sound of bells.

Why did Pavlov call the salivary responses conditioned vs. unconditioned reflexes?

Pavlov called the salivary responses elicited by food unconditioned reflexes as their occurrence was NOT conditional on prior experience.
Pavlov called the salivary responses elicited by food conditioned reflexes as it WAS conditional on a specific history.

Contrast the conditioned and unconditioned salivation?

Salivation to food in the month was understood in terms of the physiological structure which mediate reflexive responses
Anticipatory salivation was viewed as a response of the body to a mental state of affairs.

How did Pavlov expand his findings?

Testing on all 5 modalities (vision, sense, touch, olfactory and introception) found that the learning system can use any detectable stimuli as a signal for food.

What was External Inhibition?

Loss of salivation when the sound is combined with a novel stimulus, such as a light .Presenting novel stimuli - distracts the animals and reduces the response.
Experimentally proven when after conditioning. Pairing the bell with a light reduced the dog’s response.

What was Extinction?

Extinction - refers to the gradual decline in salivation when the signal [conditioned stimulus (CS)] is repeatedly presented in the absence of food.
Experimentally proven when the sound is repeatedly presented without food - response changes.

What was Disinhibition?

Disinhibition refers to the finding that the salivation that has been extinguished reappears when the sound is combined with the light
Extinction is not erasure of the initial association - it is a change in the initial association - responses could be restored by presenting novel stimuli
Experimentally proven when after extinguishment - if you add bell and light back with food - salivation response happens again.

What was spontaneous recovery?

Spontaneous recovery - the salivation that ceased to occur at the end of extinction re-occurred when the conditioned stimulus was presented days or weeks later.
Experimentally proven when after extinction - if represented days or week later the CR comes back

What is instrumental conditioning?

When our ACTIONS determine a specific response, that over time if we get the same response will ultimately change our actions.

What is a reinforcer?

A Reinforcer as anything that increases the likelihood of immediately preceding behaviour.

What is a schedule of reinforcement?

A schedule of reinforcement is the relationship between responses and their reward, Skinner was particularly interested in this, finding ultimately, that occasional or partial reinforcement is more effective than consistent reinforcement in maintaining behaviour.

What is a ratio reinforcement schedule?

is where reinforcement depends on some number of responses - a ratio schedule. There are two types to this reinforcement schedule

What is a fixed ratio schedule?

Has a “fixed ratio n” is where n responses are required to procure the reinforcer. --> fixed ratio schedules are characterised by post-reinforcement pauses, that is after you earn the reinforcement you wait a while before starting again.

What is a variable ratio schedule?

A “variable ratio n” is where n responses on average are required to procure the reinforcer --> produces a very constant rate of responses (no-reinforcement pauses)

What is an interval schedule?

is where reinforcement depends on some response but only if some period of time has elapsed

What is a fixed interval schedule?

is where behaviour is reinforced after a fixed period of time.

What is a variable interval scheduler?

is where behaviour is reinforced at variable intervals of time.

What is omission training?

Wherein the behaviour prevents the desired outcome.

Explain sign tracking in the context of pigeon light and grain?

Sign tracking was discovered as a result of Skinner’s experiment on pigeons wherein, a light flashed every time grain was delivered to a pigeon in a box. Despite a lack of action needed, the pigeon would automatically start to tap on the light.

What does the behaviour of sign tracking represent and how do we know this?

Pigeon pecking behaviour represents their expectation of what the reward will be. In experiments where partners, water or food was offered, pigeons would peck as if they were getting food with the food reward, peck as if they were drinking water etc. ‘

Explain if pigeons can ‘not’ peck?

Can humans ‘not’ peck?

Nope, humans also sign track, Le Pelly et al (2015) exposed participants to a display in which a presence of colour = a high reward. The only thing the humans needed to do was not look at the signal. Like pigeons, humans couldn’t help but also look at the signal removing the reward.

What is the difference between sign-tracking venus goal-tracking in rats?

Sign-tracking = the behaviour of reacting to a thing despite non-reaction needed for reward,
Goal-tracking = just waiting for the reward (goal)
Individual differences in sign- vs. goal-tracking are related to how readily rats (and humans) imbue something with incentive salience (i.e. a motivational force that drives individuals to seek out rewards, particularly when those rewards are associated with learned cues. ), those who are sign trackers are more likely to become addicted to drugs or develop addictions generally.

List examples of Pavlovian conditioning in problem solving and preparation?

Food selection
Reproductive fitness
Promote defence
Shaped by biology.

Explain Pavlovian conditioning in the case of food selection?

Basically Pavlovian conditioning allows for attraction to certain flavours, although we may be inherently attracted to sweet and dislike inherently bitter flavours, via pavlovian conditioning people associate flavours with their physiological impacts on one’s body.
Each flavour starts out with a neutral or even negative hedonic value and acquires positive value as a signal effect produced by bitcoin, alcohol or coffee.

Explain Pavlovian conditioning in the case of male productive fitness?

Pavlovian conditioning allows for better learning of the association of a place and female birds. In the case of domestic quail, the male who received conditioning sired more babies than those who had not been specifically exposed to females in one place.

Explain Pavlovian conditioning in the case of promoting defense?

Pavlovian conditioning allowed for better reactions to threats in the case of male fish (blue gourami). Fish who were conditioned with a light and the appearance of a rival were more successful than controls in fights for dominance and therefore, more successful in maintaining their territory to attract females and reproduce.

Explain fear conditioning in rats and its link to promoting defense?

Learning fear conditioning allows for better responses to danger, allowing people to anticipate and respond accordingly (i.e. the fight or flight response).
This is backed up with fear conditioning in rats, wherein when a rat is conditioned to a certain environment with shocks, when placed in that environment, the rat will experience physiological activation.

Explain how Pavlovian conditioned responses can be shaped by biology?

This is the idea that we have naturally evolved to associate negative physiological sensations with favour and noise with shock, rather than the other way around, is a produce of biology evolving for the sake of adaptation.
This idea is demonstrated via rat experiments where both groups were conditioned to associate a noisy, bright tube producing water with either sickness (using x-rays) or electric shocks. This found that rats were able to associate the noise with shock and the unusual favour with sickness, BUT NOT the other way around.

Explain temporal contiguity as when learning occurs?

Classically, learning can be considered as a result of temporal contiguity, that is, as one thing happens the next proceeds.
However, this does not hold for all situations, events can be associated despite considerable delays between stimuli and response and we incorrectly attribute relations between events that have never occurred together.

What is the blocking effect?

Wherein preconditioning stimuli leads to blocking of new learning when these stimuli are paired with another stimulus.
Experiments wherein the experimental group of dogs are shocked when a light appears. But the control group is not. In stage 2, where light, sound and shock are all paired. Only the control group (that is, the group without initial shocks) will have a conditioned response.

What is the Contingency effect?

Wherein if an unconditioned stimulus and conditioned stimuli are interrupted by only the conditioned stimuli, there will be no learning.

What is the general rule of learning?

Learning fails when the CS is accompanied by a better predictor, in the blocking effect the pretrained light was a better predictor, in the contingency example, the context was better.
Note that this rule applies to both instrumental and pavlovian conditioning.

What is the proposal of Kamin and Rescorla?

Learning is regulated by prediction error
All cues present are used to calculate the error
The size of the error the amount of learning
The signs (positive or negative, unexpected or expected) of the error determine learning is excitatory or inhibitory.

Explain the Rescolar Wagner model?

Is a model used to explain change in connection between a CS and a US, given each exposure of CS.
Lambda- is the maximum conditioned response to US, therefore the amount that can be learned about an outcome (normally 1, determined by the amount of US).
V - the total amount of learning that can be learnt (given participants history) (from 1 to 0)
Alpha and beta are the salience between the CS and US.

Explain the application of the model on the blocking effect?

As according to the equation
Let and = 0.5 respectively as we assume equal salience under the assumption that is 1.
In the blocked trial, initial conditioning increases V to one. Total change in understanding in this trial is 0 as 0.5(0.5)( 1-1).

Explain what lambda -ΣV is?

Prediction error, the difference between the actual US which occurs on a trial and that predicted by all cue presents on a trial.
The change is positive when lambda (what occurs) is more than what is expected
The change is negative when lambda (what occurs) is less than what is expected.

Explain the application of the model on the contingency effect?

Conditioning will fail when the probability of the US occurring with or without the CS is equal, the context will acquire all the associative strength, this does not fit into the model.

‘Conditioning fails when P(US|CS) = P(US|no CS) because the context where these experiences occur acquires all the associative strength (V).’

Explain what happens when a CS is informative about the absence of the US?

According to the model

The conditioning of the light increases the V value to approx 1
During trials with noise and light are presented without shock the error time is negative which drives V values for both stimuli down. This weakens both associations. This shows that as the V-value starts at zero, it inhibitors the expectancy that the shock will occur. (it has become a conditioned inhibitor.
This result is reflected in Rescolar’s experiments

: ΔV = α × β × (0 - 100)

What is positive reinforcement?

Positive reinforcement - adding a positive to increase behaviour
behaviour - Drinking coffee -->
outcome - makes you happy -->
you will drink more coffee

What is negative reinforcement?

Negative reinforcement - removing a negative to increase behaviour
behaviour - giving the dog attention.
outcome- dog barking late a night
I will continue to give my dog attention.

person might wear sunscreen to avoid getting sunburned

What is positive punishment?

Positive punishment - adding a negative to reduce behaviour
Behaviour - eating junk food
outcome - tummy ache
Decreases junk food consumption

Behaviour - talking during class
Outcome - teacher yells at you
Decrease talking

What is negative punishment?

Negative punishment - removing a positive to reduce behaviour
Behaviour - removing sweets
Outcome - child screaming
Decrease child screaming

Behaviour - crime
Outcome - loss of freedom
Decreases crime

Explain what second-order conditioning is?

Wherein if an initial CS-CR is created, if the CS is linked with a new US, for example, an aversive US. The initial CR will be linked also with the new aversive US, causing the same CR as the second CS.
E.g. If I associate the scent of coffee with driving to work, this is my initial CS1 and CR and I get into a car crash and now have a negative reaction to cars (CS2- CS1). The scent of coffee can cause fright because of it’s association with driving and cars. (CS2 can cause CR)

Explain mediated association vs. chaining as explanations for second-order conditioning?

Mediated association - wherein the integration between CR2 and CS1 occurs as a result of the retrieval of CS1 and CR1 (CS2) that occurs every time CS2 and CR2 is reinforced.
Chaining - wherein the integration between CR2 and CS1 occurs because CS1 and CS2 are chained together.

What did the lecturer conclude on which theory is better for second-order conditioning?

Given experiments that either limited or allowed the activation of the PRh ( a part of the brain that activates during retrieval) finding that the experimental group did not show typical CR responses to CS1, evidence more strongly supports the idea of mediated association account

What is the competing memory hypothesis?

states that the extinction produces a new association called a CS-noUS association, the original CS-US association remains intact. If the CS-noUS occurs it inihibits the expression of the conditioned response.

What is the Perirhinal Cortex (PRh)?

A part of the brain involved in forming memory between tone and light association in stage 1 of presensory conditioning, according to the mediation association hypothesis, the phr is used in stage 2 to retrieve memory.

Explain the evidence for the competing memory hypothesis?

Reinstatement - re-exposure of US creates higher levels of retention and indicates that the memory is not removed completely, that is, a US can tease.
Renewal - that if extinction occurs in a separate context to initial learning. Reduction of behaviour will not occur in the initial learning context.
Spontaneous recovery - that if given enough time between extinction and retrieval, initial association will become stronger.

What is lambda?

Amount that can be learnt.

What is Sigma v?

degree to which it is expected.

Explain what happens in conditioned inhibition?

In the case of conditioned inhibition, because of previous conditioning the expectancy is high therefore Sigma V is high, however, because lambda is 0 as there is no association to be learnt. The predictive error becomes -, and therefore, the change in association is negative, creating a conditioned inhibition for the CS.

Explain what Rescorla 1968 do?

What is super conditioning?

The idea that you can strengthen the strength of association between US and CR by changing the expectancy of signal outcome.
For example, wherein a group is trained to expect no shock when Noise occurs, but in stage 2, animals are shocked even when noise occurs. Their reactions in the third stage to noise will be more extreme compared to those who were not inhibitory.

What is extinction?

Extinction occurs when an already-conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented in
the absence of the US.
• Responding to the CS declines across the CS alone presentations

eventually, it
ceases altogether, at which point the CS is said to be extinguished

What does the RW model predict about extinction?

The RW model predicts that extinction results in the erasure of the CS-US association. However, signature characteristics of extinction disagree with this assessment.

What are the signature characteristics of extinction?

Rapid reacquisition of responding
Reinstatement of responding
Spontaneous recovery
Renewal responding when the CS is tested outside of the context where it has been extinguished.

What is Rapid reacquisition?

Wherein although the US-CR association was extinguished by presenting CR without US, there is still very rapid reacquisition of the initial US-CR association when CS-UR is presented again.

What is reinstatement of conditioned fear?

Whereas although the US-CR association was extinguished by presenting CS without UR, there is rapid acquisition of initial US-CR association when only US is presented again.

What is spontaneous recovery?

What is spontaneous recovery?

• : Wherein extinction fades if there is enough time between extinction condition and presentation again of strong CR. ; 

What is the renewal of responding ?

wherein if CS is presented outside the context of conditioning conditioned fear behaviour will still emerge. Mainly different types, AAB. ABC. ABA. etc.,

Explain the blocking effect in extinction?

Basically if you extinguish a stimulus with another stimulus which also predicts inhibition, extinction will not occur. Similar to the classical blocking effect, if another predictor there will be no change in the strength of association between CS and CR.

What did Wagner 1972 do?

Tested the theory of the blocking effect in extinction. First in stage one they created conditioned inhibition, in stage two, they presented the condition inhibitor with an extinction protocol. In the third stage, they compared the fear responses when US was presented despite conditioned inhibitors. They found that those with that already learnt the conditioned inhibition and those with no-extinction protocols achieved similar levels of fear. Indicating that the blocking effect exists.

What is acquisition?

The increase in associative strength between the CS and US produces an increase of the conditioned response (CR) .

What is compound conditioning?

Wherein there are two cues available to be conditioned and these cues have equal salience. Note that in these cases the sum of the associative strength is split between all cues present in each trial.

What is overshadowing?

Wherein there are two cues available to be conditioned, but one cue has greater salience compared to the other. In this situation the higher salience cue gains more associative strength than the other.

What is blocking?

Wherein there are two stages, stage: 1 where a CS is paired with US until strength is almost at full, but then in stage: 2 another CS2 is presented with previous CS with US. In this situation, the animal will learn very little about the novel CS and the learning is said to be ‘blocked’.

What is overexpectation?

Wherein there are two stages, stage 1 wherein the subject is trained on two different CS-US combinations until both have reached lambda, stage 2, where both CS is presented with US. In this situation the participant will overexpect what US will be and extinction occurs, wherein the associative strength decreases. — divorced parents

What is conditioned inhibition?

Wherein there are two stages. Stage 1 wherein CS-US is trained until Lambda is at 100 and stage 2, wherein only CS is presented again with a new cue. In this situation the participant comes to expect the US after initial CS, however, when CS is presented with only CS2 and no US, the CS2 becomes a conditioned inhibitor and extinction occurs

What is superconditioning?

Occurs when you pair a previously reinforced cue with a conditioned inhibitor. In phrase 1, the subject is trained on a CS-US until strong association occurs. In phrase 2, CS is presented with CS2 without US – creating CS2 as a conditioned inhibitor. In phrase 3, CS3 is paired with US until very close to lambda. In phrase 4, CS2 and CS3 are presented with US. in this situation CS3 becomes a superconditioner.

FIXED ratio schedules leads to

post-reinforcement pauses;

VARIABLE ratio schedules leads to

very constant rates of responding

what is super extinction?

wherein the presure of two cs predicting us will result in higher extinction when presented without us

divorced parents both give you nothing for BDAY, they get back together, bday cmes, gets presents. extinsthing previous expectation

what is incentive sailence

a term used to decribe what sign-trackers tend to do with ‘signs’ in their environment, they tend to enbue signs with ‘incentive salience’ causing them to more likely to interact and therefore be controlled by environmental cues —> which can be linked to drug taking and responding.

explain super conditioning in the context of the RW model?

• In stage 3, the predictive error is represented by a lambda of 1 and an expectation of a negative value, this creates a positive prediction error that increases the overall change in strength of association!.

What to note about sensory preconditioning, when increasing the amount of intial light-tone pairings?

Increasing the number of tone-light pairings in Stage 1 makes the tone-light association stronger and more familiar. This shifts integration from Stage 2 to the Test, supporting the chaining mechanism. It shows that memory integration is flexible and dependent on procedural parameters.