Knowledge and Behavior: LING209 Language and Human Mind, Fall 2025

Announcements

Welcome newly enrolled students!
Problem set 1 is due on September 19th via Canvas.
Readings for the next class and RQ3 include LU Chapter 4, the SEP article on Innateness & Language, and a short article by Miller.

Agenda

This session's agenda covers:

Behaviorism & Empiricism
Whether rats are empiricists
The concept of an instinct to learn
(If time permits) Insect navigation

Behaviorism & Empiricism

Historical Context and Core Principles of Behaviorism

Watson's 1913 Perspective: Psychology, as viewed by Watson, criticizes esoteric methods and untrained introspection. He argued that if experimental findings are not reproducible, the fault lies not in apparatus or stimulus control but in the "untrained introspection" of the observer. This advocated for a more objective, measurable approach to psychology.
Three Tenets for Behaviorism:
1. Psychology is defined as the science of behavior, explicitly not the science of the mind.
2. Behavior can be fully described and explained without making ultimate reference to internal mental events or psychological processes.
3. If mental terms or concepts are used in describing or explaining behavior, they must be replaceable or paraphrasable by purely behavioral concepts.

Radical Behaviorism

This model posits a direct link between inputs and outputs, effectively ignoring or dismissing any internal mental states. The workflow is simply: $Inputs \to Outputs$ .

Associationism and "Hebbian Learning"

Hebb (1949) coined the principle: "Neurons that fire together, wire together." This means any two cells or systems of cells that are repeatedly active at the same time will tend to become 'associated' so that activity in one facilitates activity in the other.
Arbitrary Associations: Symbols, such as the word "cat" in English or "Ngeru" in Maori, are formed through arbitrary associations that link a specific form with a particular meaning.
Associative Chains: Complex behaviors or cognitive processes are explained as chains of associations, where the output of one step serves as the input for the next, forming a linked sequence.

Quiz: Understanding Behaviorism

Question: Behaviorism holds that the primary explanation for an organism's behavior is found in…
Answer: (B) The environment. (This reinforces the focus on external stimuli and observable responses).

Summary of Behaviorism (So Far)

Behaviorism aimed to establish psychology as a more rigorous science by concentrating on controllable inputs and measurable behavioral outputs.
Under radical behaviorism, behaviors are considered to be solely a product of the inputs from the environment.
Associations form the fundamental logic of behaviorism, where co-occurring inputs and outputs become linked, sometimes developing into complex associative chains.

Are Rats Empiricists? Testing Behaviorist Theories

Food-Finding Behavior in Rats

Rats demonstrate complex learning by solving mazes to obtain food rewards, suggesting more than simple stimulus-response learning.
Associative Learning Model (Radical Behaviorism): This model suggests that rats learn a sequence of associations. For example: $(hunger) + visual \ scene \ A \to action \ A$ ; $(hunger) + visual \ scene \ B \to action \ B$ ; $(hunger) + visual \ scene \ C \to action \ C$ ; and so on, ultimately leading to a reward. This forms an associative chain, sometimes referred to as a Markov Chain.
Tolman & Honzik (1930) Experiment: Rats, after repeated trials, learn to identify the behavior that leads to the quickest reward. If their knowledge were merely a complex associative chain, then a blockage in the maze should necessitate the rat resorting to a completely alternative, pre-learned chain.
Maze Experiment Scenario: A maze has a starting place, a door, a curtain, and a food box. There are typically three paths. If Block B is introduced, blocking Path 1, a radical behaviorist paradigm would predict the rat would simply try Path 2 (the next shortest pre-learned path) or revert to earlier learned behaviors. However, rats typically choose Path 3 (a longer but logically more efficient route given the blockage), implying they have formed a mental "map" rather than just a linear chain of associations.

Radical vs. "Mellow" Behaviorism

Radical Behaviorism: $Inputs \to Outputs$
(No consideration for internal mental states).
"Mellow" Behaviorism: $Inputs \to Mental \ States \to Outputs$
(Acknowledges internal mental states, but maintains that these mental states are entirely a product of experience, thus still consistent with empiricism).

Summary: Rat Behavior (So Far)

Rat behavior in mazes indicates they can construct an internal "map" of the maze, rather than merely relying on associations from one step to the next.
This observation suggests a shift from Radical Behaviorism to a "Mellow" Behaviorism, which allows for internal mental states.
Despite this, "Mellow" Behaviorism remains consistent with Empiricism, as it assumes the rat's knowledge of the maze is derived entirely from its experiences.

An Instinct to Learn

Constraints on Song-Bird Learning

Experiment: Research on two sparrow species with distinct song-types (Song Sparrow and Swamp Sparrow).
Conspecific: Refers to another individual of the same species.
Methodology: Birds were raised with a choice of exposure to songs from their own species (conspecific) and other species. Hatchlings were taken from the nest at $3-5$ days old or from the egg.
Findings: Regardless of exposure, sparrows show a strong preference to learn and produce songs characteristic of their own species. This suggests an innate, species-specific bias in their learning process.

Marler (1991): The Crucial Point on "Instincts to Learn"

Instincts are not immutable or entirely lacking in ontogenetic plasticity (developmental flexibility). They are, by definition, influenced by experience.
When conspecific stimuli are presented, the bird becomes acutely attentive, opening a brief "time window." During this window, the conspecific stimulus cluster becomes more salient, more easily memorized, and is likely used later to guide the development of its song.

Sensitive Period for Acquisition

Experiments involving continuously changing model songs reveal a "sensitive period" – a specific developmental time frame during which birds are most adept at acquiring new song material.
Graphical data illustrates that different sparrow species (e.g., Song Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow tape-tutored, Swamp Sparrow live-tutored) exhibit peaks in their learning ability at certain ages (e.g., between approximately $50$ and $150$ days of age), after which the ability to acquire new songs diminishes.

Models of Mind/Behavior: Integrating Innate Structures

Radical Behaviorism: $Inputs \to Outputs$ (No internal mental states).
"Mellow" Behaviorism: $Inputs \to Mental \ States \to Outputs$ (Mental states are purely learned from experience).
Rationalist Alternative: This model introduces an innate mental structure that influences how inputs are processed and how mental states are formed: $Inputs \to Innate \ Mental \ Structure \to Mental \ States \to Outputs$ .
- This innate structure guides the learning process, explaining why organisms learn certain things more readily or in specific ways.

Quiz: Evidence for "Instinct to Learn"

Question: Which of the following is evidence for an "instinct to learn"?
Answer: (C) Sparrows prefer to hear their own species songs. (This indicates an innate bias or predisposition that channels their learning toward specific patterns compatible with their species' survival and communication).

If Time: Insect Navigation

While not detailed in the slides, this topic is listed as part of the agenda and implicitly connects to the formation of complex mental representations beyond simple associative chains.

Take-aways

Animals demonstrate an innate predisposition (an instinct to learn) to acquire certain patterns within their environment. For instance, Song sparrows exhibit a preference for learning their own species' songs, even when they are raised from an egg and exposed to other types of songs.
Various animal species form complex mental representations, such as internal maps and learned patterns. These representations are not solely a product of experience (empiricism) but are also shaped by innate, instinctual biases (rationalism).
The discussion reviewed the progression from Radical Behaviorism to Mellow Behaviorism, and finally to a Rationalist alternative, which accounts for innate mental structures guiding learning.
The next class will return to the topic of language.