Learning and Conditioning Lecture Review

Exam & Course Logistics

• Recitation: Friday, September 19, 2025

  • Optional: Exam review session.

• Exam 1: Monday, September 22, 2025

  • Ensure punctuality.

  • Written exam; bring a pen/pencil.

  • Part I: Short answer questions

    • Choose 5 out of 6

    • Responses limited to 6 sentences only.

  • Part II: Multiple answer questions

    • Choose 1 out of 2

Learning: Core Concepts

• Definition: The acquisition of new information or behaviors through experience.

• Mechanism: Humans learn by making associations.

  • We learn that two events often occur together.

  • Conditioning: The specific process of learning these associations.

Behaviorism

• Guiding Principle: Understanding mental processes is not necessary to understand learning.

  • This theoretical position is known as behaviorism.

• Core Tenet: The goal of psychology should be to study only observable behaviors and explain them using learning principles.

  • Suggests humans respond to environmental stimuli in a manner similar to pigeons.

  • Our thoughts and cognitions are considered byproducts, not causal agents, and do not significantly affect our behavior.

  • This idea (that thoughts don't really matter) is quite controversial.

• Free Will: Behaviorists challenge the concept of free will.

  • They propose that individuals possess less free will than commonly believed.

  • Free will implies conscious thought and self-determination of outcomes.

  • Behaviorists argue that the simplest explanation for behavior does not require consciousness.

  • While we may perceive our actions as choices, behaviorists suggest we are primarily reacting to our environment based on past experiences and anticipated reinforcements.

  • Behaviorist Model: STIMULUS \rightarrow X (\text{COGNITIONS / THOUGHTS}) \rightarrow BEHAVIOR

Types of Learning

• Two Major Types of Conditioning:

  • Classical Conditioning

  • Operant Conditioning

• Other Types of Learning:

  • Observational Learning

Classical Conditioning (Pavlovian Conditioning)

• Historical Context: Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)

  • Russian medical doctor who initially studied digestive secretions in dogs.

  • Observed that dogs began salivating before food was presented (e.g., to the approach of footsteps).

  • This serendipitous observation led him to investigate if dogs could be conditioned to salivate to other stimuli consistently paired with food, such as a ringing bell.

• Fundamental Principle:

  • Affects all animals as a basic, shared genetic mechanism.

  • Always begins with a natural reflex or an unlearned, naturally occurring response to a stimulus (something not consciously controlled).

    • Examples: Food in mouth \rightarrow salivation; Light in dark room \rightarrow squinting.

  • A neutral stimulus is then consistently paired with the stimulus that naturally evokes the reflex.

  • Eventually, the neutral stimulus alone comes to evoke the reflex.

• Diagrammatic Explanation:

  • Before Conditioning:

    • Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS: food in mouth) \rightarrow Unconditioned Response (UCR: salivation)

    • Neutral Stimulus (tone) \rightarrow No salivation

  • During Conditioning:

    • Neutral Stimulus (tone) + Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS: food in mouth) \rightarrow Unconditioned Response (UCR: salivation)

  • After Conditioning:

    • Conditioned Stimulus (CS: tone) \rightarrow Conditioned Response (CR: salivation)

• Key Components:

  • Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): The stimulus that unconditionally and naturally triggers a response.

    • Pavlov's dogs: The presence of food (meat).

  • Unconditioned Response (UCR): The unlearned, naturally occurring reflex or response to the unconditioned stimulus.

    • Pavlov's dogs: Salivating.

  • Conditioned Stimulus (CS): A previously neutral stimulus that, after consistent association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response.

    • Pavlov's dogs: A tone, a ringing bell, or shuffling of feet.

  • Conditioned Response (CR): The learned response to a previously neutral conditioned stimulus (which is essentially the same reflex or naturally occurring response).

    • Pavlov's dogs: Salivating.

• Crucial Timing Requirement: The Conditioned Stimulus (CS) must occur before the Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) for classical conditioning to be effective. If the CS were presented after the UCS, conditioning would not occur.

• Other Important Terms:

  • Acquisition: The initial stage of learning during which a response is established and gradually strengthened through pairing the CS and UCS.

  • Extinction: The diminishing of the Conditioned Response (CR) when the Conditioned Stimulus (CS) is repeatedly presented without the Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS).

    • Example: If the tone is no longer paired with food, the dogs will eventually cease to salivate at the sound of the tone.

  • Spontaneous Recovery: The sudden reappearance, after a rest period, of an extinguished conditioned response.

    • This can be a difficult concept: After an association has been extinguished (e.g., tone no longer paired with food), if a significant rest period occurs (e.g., a week) without presenting the CS, the next time the CS is presented, the CR may reappear.

    • This happens despite the original extinction and without any further pairing of the CS and UCS.

    • A longer rest period between extinction and the reappearance of the CS generally leads to a stronger recovered response.

    • It's as though the brain