Research Methods in Learning (week 1)

Learning and Cognition

Learning

Acquisition of new knowledge

Learning types

• Role learning

• Associative learning

• Classical conditioning

• Operant conditioning

• Observational learning

Role learning

repetition of particular stimuli

Associative learning

link two events that occur close together

Behaviour

Anything a person/animal does that can be measured both internal and external

Elicited behaviour

Reflexes and Fixed action patterns

Reflexes (Basic)

• Simple automatic

• survival value

• startle, orienting, flexion, vomiting

Fixed action patterns/ Modal Action Patterns (MAP)

• Fixed sequence of response

• unique to species

• involve entire organism

• e.g. yawning

General behaviour traits

a tendency to engage in a certain kind of behaviour

Scientific method

• make assumptions about behaviour

• develop hypothesis

• Gather data to test hypothesis

• Generalise findings

Motivating operators

• Affects the nature of the stimuli

• establishing increases

• abolishing decreases

Independent variable

the variable that you change

Dependent variable

the variable that you measure

Stimulus

• Anything in the environment

• Appetitive (seeking)

• Aversive (avoid)

Contiguity

• Temorpral

  • Extent to which events occur close together in time

• Spatial

  • extent to which events are situated close to each other

Contingency

predictive relationship between two events

Measures

1. Errors

2. Typography (how)

3. Intensity or magnitude

4. Speed and rapidity

5. Latency or lag time

6. Rate or frequency - cumulative record

7. Fluency

8. Duration or length of time

9. Interval recording (continuous time)

10. Time-sample recording (discontinuous time)

Behaviour analysis

ABC

Antecedent, Behaviour, consequences

Descriptive studies

• case studies

• Anecdotes

• Naturalistic observation

Descriptive studies Advantages

Rich, detailed information

Descriptive Studies Disadvantages

• Can’t determine cause and effect

• Influence of extraneous variables

Experimental Research

• Group designs

• Single subject designs

• Reversal Design

• Multiple Baseline designs

• Changing-criterion designs

Group designs

• Between subjects

• Factorial design

• Comparative design

Group Design Advantages

Test cause and effect

Group design disadvantages

• Needs large N

• Assess average performance

• Analyse at the end of the study

Single subject designs

• Behaviour in baseline condition compared to behaviour in treatment condition

• Within-subject design

Single subject design Advantage

Small N

Single subject designs Disadvantage

Does not control for external influences

Reversal Design

• Repeated ABAB alterations

Reversal Design Advantage

• Small N

• Individualised treatment

• No need for complicated statistics

• Replication allows for generalisation

• Test multiple treatments

Reversal Design Disadvantage

• Can be ambiguous

• Inappropriate for a treatment with long-term effects

• Ethical concerns

Multiple-baseline designs

Across person, setting, behaviour

Multiple-baseline designs advantages

• Don’t withdraw treatment

• Good for treatments that produce permanent change

Multiple-baseline designs disadvantages

• Need 2+ people (settings or behaviour)

• Treatment may generalise before we are ready

Changing-criterion designs advantage

• Useful if we expect gradual change over time and that criterion is altered systematically over time

Changing criterion designs disadvantage

• behaviour has to closely match changing criterion – type of measurement is important

Issues with research on learning

• Naturalistic v artificial settings

• small samples and the effects of individual traits

  • matching