Learning Ch. 5

Learning- any relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience or practice

-part of the brain physically changes

Reflex- an involuntary response

Pavlov and Classical Conditioning

• Ivan Pavlov inspired Jon Watson to work on this idea of classical conditioning

• John Watson’s successor, B.F. Skinner continued it

• Skinner gave operant conditioning its name

• Classical Conditioning (CC)- learning to make a reflex response to a stimulus other than the original, neutral stimulus (ex. Pavlov)

• Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)- naturally occurring stimulus that leads to an involuntary response

• Unconditioned response (UCR)- an involuntary response to a naturally occurring stimulus

• Neutral Stimulus (NS)- a stimulus that has no effect on the desired response prior to conditioning

  ### Classical Conditioning Concepts

• Conditioned Stimulus (CS)- stimulus that becomes able to produce a learned reflex response by being paired with the UCS
• Conditioned Response (CR)- learned reflex response to a CS
• Stimulus Discrimination (SD)- the tendency to stop making a generalized response to a stimulus that is similar to the original conditioned stimulus that is never paired with the unconditioned stimulus
• Cognitive Perspective- focuses on memory, intelligence, perception, problem solving, and learning

Conditioned Emotional Response

• Conditioned Emotional Response (CER)- emotional response classically conditioned to occur to learned stimuli

-may lead to phobias: irrational fear responses

Classical Conditioning Principles

1. CS must come before the UCS
2. CS and UCS must come very close together in time- seconds apart
3. NS - UCS pairings must occur repeatedly before conditioning takes place
4. CS usually distinctive or stands out from other competing stimuli

• Stimulus Generalization- tendency to respond to a stim that is only similar to the original CS with the CR
• Extinction--disappearance or weakening of a learned stimulus response following removal or absence of UCS
• Spontaneous Recovery- reappearance of a learned response after extinction has occurred
• Higher-Order Conditioning- occurs when a strong CS is paired with a NS, causing the NS to become a second CS

Taste Aversion

• Conditioned Taste Aversion- developing nausea or aversive response to particular taste because that taste was followed by a nausea reaction; one trial learning (ex. cancer patients when chemo causes nausea, association of food eaten and nausea)

• Biological Preparedness- tendency to learn certain associations with only one or few pairings due to survival value of the learnings (ex. birds won’t eat brightly colored moths because they look like poisonous monarchs)

• Vicarious Conditioning- involuntary response or emotion by watching the reaction of another person (ex. daughter sees mother is afraid of rabid dogs, so she develops this fear too)

• $Operant Conditioning-$ $the learning of voluntary behavior through the effects of pleasant and unpleasant consequences to responses$

• $Thorndike's Law of Effect-$ $if an action is followed by a pleasurable consequence, it will tend to be repeated (ex. cat in a puzzle box must press the lever to escape)$

• $Operant-$ $any behavior that is voluntary$

• $Reinforcement-$ $any event or stimulus. that when following a response, increases the probability that the response will occur again$

• $Reinforcers-$ $any events or objects that, when following a response, increase the likelihood of that response occurring again$

• Partial Reinforcement Effect- the tendency for a response that is reinforced after some, but not all, correct responses to be very resistant to extinction (ex. Alicia gets a quarter every night she puts her clothes in her hamper, Bianca gets a dollar at the end of the week if she puts her clothes in her hamper every night)

• Continuous Reinforcement- the reinforcement of each and every correct response

• Variable Schedule of Reinforcement- the number of response changes from one trial to the next (ex. a rat pushes a lever for an average of 20 times for food, or reinforcement)

• $Punishment by Application-$ $the addition or experiencing of an unpleasant stimulus$

• $Punishment by Removal-$ $the removal of a pleasurable stimulus$

1. Punishment should immediately follow the behavior that is meant to punish
2. Punishment should be consistent
3. Punishment of the wrong behavior should be paired, whenever possible, with reinforcement of the right behavior

Schedules of Reinforcement

• Fixed Ratio Schedule- the number of responses required for reinforcement is always the same (ex. $1.00 for every 5 cookies sold)
• Variable Ratio Schedule- the number of response required for reinforcement is different each trial (ex. gambling)

  -ratio schedule means the number of responses is more important

• Fixed Interval Schedule- the interval of time that must pass before reinforcement becomes possible is constant (ex. paid ever 2 weeks)
• Variable Interval Schedule of Reinforcement- the interval of time that must pass before reinforcement becomes possible is different for each trial or event (ex. fishing)

  -interval schedule means the timing of the response is more important

• Discriminative Stimulus- any stimulus, such as a stop sign or doorknob, that provides the organism with a cue for making a certain response in order to obtain reinforcement

• Shaping- the reinforcement of simple steps in behavior through successive approximations that lead to a desired, more complex behavior

• Instinctive Drift- tendency for an animal’s behavior to revert to genetically controlled patterns

• Behavior Modification- the use of learning techniques to modify or change undesirable behavior

• Token Economy- the use of objects called tokens to reinforce behavior in which the tokens can be accumulated and exchanged for desired items or privileges

• Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)- modern term for a form of functional analysis and behavior modification that uses a variety of behavioral techniques to mold a desired behavior or response

• Latent Learning- learning that remains hidden until its application becomes useful

• Insight- the sudden perception of relationships among various parts of a problem, allowing the solution to the problem to come quickly

• Learned Helplessness- the tendency to fail to act to escape from a situation because of repeated failures in the past

• Observational Learning- learning new behavior by watching a model perform that behavior

• Learning/Performative Distinction- referring to the observation that learning can take place without actual performance of the learned behavior

4 Elements of Observational Learning

1. Attention
2. Memory
3. Imitation
4. Desire