Chapter 6: What is Learning
Types of Learning:
Learning involves change and results in a new "version" of oneself.
Learning allows us to perform tasks more efficiently without starting from scratch each time.
Definition of learning: a systematic, relatively permanent change in behavior that results from cognitive experience.
Learning is "relatively permanent," but not "absolutely permanent."
It involves cognitive experience rather than changes due to aging or trauma.
Behaviorism is an approach that focuses on observable behaviors and defines learning as relatively stable, observable changes in behavior.
Behaviorism suggests that the principles of learning apply to both humans and nonhuman animals.
Early research on learning involved animals like rats, cats, pigeons, and raccoons.
What is Non-Associative Learning:
the word “associative” refers to connecting events or things
it involves procedures when only a single event or stimulus is presented without any reward or punishment when only a single event or stimulus is presented without any reward or punishment
What is Habituation:
Habituation is the process of decreasing the response to a repeated or prolonged stimulus over time.
Habituation allows us to ignore stimuli that provide little or no important information.
It helps us focus on input essential to our survival and well-being.
Researchers use habituation to test infants' capacity to differentiate between stimuli, such as voices or colors.
Without habituation, we would constantly respond to every sensory input, making life overwhelming.
What is Sensitization:
Sensitization is a form of non-associative learning that involves an increase in the response to a repeated or prolonged stimulus.
Sensitization can make you more aware of noises and stimuli, especially after exposure to high-intensity stimuli like a loud noise or a startling event.
In contrast, habituation typically occurs with low-intensity stimuli, making you less responsive to them over time.
What is Imprinting:
Imprinting is a form of non-associative learning that occurs within hours or days of birth or hatching and results in an enduring behavior, often directed toward a specific individual or object, such as a mother.
Imprinting can lead to a strong bond where an animal, like a duckling, follows and imprints on the first thing it sees during this critical period.
Early experiences, even with unusual stimuli, can have long-lasting effects on an individual's behavior and preferences, as demonstrated by a study on rats where exposure to a specific scent during infancy influenced sexual preferences later in life.
What is Associative Learning:
Associative learning involves making connections between two stimuli or events and is the process of learning these associations.
There are two types of conditioning: classical conditioning and operant conditioning.
Classical conditioning is about learning the association between two stimuli, helping organisms anticipate events. For example, lightning is associated with thunder.
Operant conditioning is about learning the association between a behavior and a consequence, leading to increased rewarded behaviors and decreased punished behaviors.
Observational learning is a form of social learning that occurs when individuals learn by observing the behavior of others.
Human infants primarily rely on imitation and observational learning to acquire cultural knowledge and behaviors.
Classical Conditioning:
Hearing scraping fingernails on a blackboard leads to a natural, unlearned response of grimacing and recoiling.
The response to the anticipated sound of fingernails on a blackboard illustrates classical conditioning, where a neutral stimulus (seeing fingernails on a blackboard) becomes associated with an innately meaningful stimulus (the unpleasant sound) and triggers a similar response.
Pavlov’s Studies:
Pavlov's work demonstrated the significance of classical conditioning.
He noticed that dogs salivated not only when presented with meat powder but also in response to stimuli predicting its delivery.
This type of learning came to be known as classical conditioning.
Classical conditioning includes unlearned (innate) and learned components.
Unconditioned stimulus (US) produces unconditioned responses (UR) without prior learning.
In classical conditioning, a conditioned stimulus (CS) becomes associated with the unconditioned stimulus and elicits a conditioned response (CR).
Example: Seeing fingernails on a blackboard (CS) and responding with a grimace and recoil (CR) due to pairing with the unpleasant sound of fingernails (US).
The buzzer used by Pavlov was a neutral stimulus that became a conditioned stimulus (CS) when paired with meat powder (US), leading to salivation (CR).
Salivation can be a conditioned response in various animals, including dogs, humans, and even cockroaches, by pairing the smell of peppermint (CS) with sugary water (US).
What does acquisition depend on:
Acquisition is the learning phase where the conditioned stimulus (CS) is paired with the unconditioned stimulus (US) to acquire a conditioned response (CR).
The acquisition of the CR depends on factors like contiguity and contingency.
Contiguity refers to the close temporal proximity between the CS and US.
Contingency means that the CS serves as a reliable indicator that the US is coming.
Contingency is about the information value of the CS in predicting the US.
If the CS and US are not contingently related, learning does not occur because the CS does not reliably signal the US.
What are generalization and discrimination in classical conditioning:
Pavlov observed that the dog salivated in response to various sounds similar to the original buzzer, even when they were not paired with food.
Generalization in classical conditioning is when a new stimulus similar to the conditioned stimulus elicits a response similar to the conditioned response.
Generalization allows for learned responses to apply to similar stimuli.
Stimulus generalization may not always be beneficial, as it can lead to inappropriate responses.
Discrimination in classical conditioning is the process of learning to respond to specific stimuli and not to others.
Discrimination is achieved by associating the unconditioned stimulus with only one specific stimulus, like the buzzer in Pavlov's experiment.
What are extinction and spontaneous recovery in classical conditioning:
Extinction in classical conditioning is the weakening of the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented.
Extinction can be thought of as learning that the conditioned stimulus (CS) now means that the unconditioned stimulus (US) is not coming.
Extinction is not always the end of a conditioned response, as spontaneous recovery can occur, which is the recurrence of an extinguished conditioned response after a time delay without further conditioning.
Spontaneous recovery can weaken over time as long as the CS is presented alone (without the US).
Renewal is the recovery of the conditioned response when the organism is placed in a novel context.
Renewal can be a significant challenge to overcome in various situations.
These processes of acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, and renewal highlight the role of learned associations in survival and the difficulty in breaking such connections entirely.
Can classical conditioning explain fears:
Classical conditioning explains the acquisition of fears.
John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner conducted an experiment with an infant named Albert to demonstrate classical conditioning's role in fear development.
They initially presented Albert with a white laboratory rat, which was a neutral stimulus (CS).
The researchers paired the rat (CS) with a loud noise, which served as the unconditioned stimulus (US).
The loud noise would startle Albert, making him cry, which was the unconditioned response (UR).
The pairing of the rat (CS) and loud noise (US) was the process of acquisition.
After this, presenting the rat (CS) alone caused Albert to become afraid, which was the conditioned response (CR).
Albert's fear of the rat generalized to other rat-like stimuli.
Watson concluded that many fears are learned through classical conditioning.
Watson and Rayner's study would not be allowed today due to ethical concerns.
Classical conditioning may also offer a way to unlearn acquired fears.
Can we use classical conditioning to break habits:
Therapists sometimes use classical conditioning to change the relationship between a conditioned stimulus and its conditioned response.
Counterconditioning is a classical conditioning procedure that transforms an undesired response to a stimulus into a desired response.
Aversive conditioning is a form of treatment involving repeated pairings of a stimulus with a very unpleasant stimulus to establish new connections or break old ones.
Electric shocks and nausea-inducing substances are examples of noxious stimuli used in aversive conditioning.
A person might reduce alcohol consumption by pairing it with a nausea-inducing mixture, making alcohol-associated with something highly unpleasant.
Antabuse, a drug for alcoholism treatment, enforces the association by causing illness when even a small amount of alcohol is consumed.
Classical conditioning often influences mindless, habitual behaviors through conditioned stimuli that evoke feelings and behaviors without conscious thought.
These automatic associations, such as checking email when sitting in front of a laptop or snacking when opening the fridge, can be beneficial or problematic.
The imaginary dog Bill from Pavlov's lab exhibits food-related behaviors when he hears a buzzer, even when not hungry, due to a learned association.
Classical conditioning principles have been used to address overeating and obesity in humans by targeting such associations.
Can we use classical conditioning to break habits:
Therapists sometimes use classical conditioning to change the relationship between a conditioned stimulus and its conditioned response.
Counterconditioning is a classical conditioning procedure that transforms an undesired response to a stimulus into a desired response.
Aversive conditioning is a form of treatment involving repeated pairings of a stimulus with a very unpleasant stimulus to establish new connections or break old ones.
Electric shocks and nausea-inducing substances are examples of noxious stimuli used in aversive conditioning.
A person might reduce alcohol consumption by pairing it with a nausea-inducing mixture, making alcohol-associated with something highly unpleasant.
Antabuse, a drug for alcoholism treatment, enforces the association by causing illness when even a small amount of alcohol is consumed.
Classical conditioning often influences mindless, habitual behaviors through conditioned stimuli that evoke feelings and behaviors without conscious thought.
These automatic associations, such as checking email when sitting in front of a laptop or snacking when opening the fridge, can be beneficial or problematic.
The imaginary dog Bill from Pavlov's lab exhibits food-related behaviors when he hears a buzzer, even when not hungry, due to a learned association.
Classical conditioning principles have been used to address overeating and obesity in humans by targeting such associations.
How does classical conditioning explain the placebo effect:
Placebo effects involve substances or procedures with no biologically known ingredients influencing a person.
Placebos are used as controls to distinguish actual treatment effects.
Placebo effects result in observable changes, like reduced pain, not explained by a real treatment's biological effects.
Classical conditioning principles can help explain some placebo effects.
A placebo, like a fake pill or syringe, acts as a conditioned stimulus (CS), while the actual treatment (a drug) is the unconditioned stimulus (US).
After experiencing pain relief from a real drug, a fake pill or syringe may lead to a conditioned response (CR) of reduced pain even without an actual painkiller.
Research on the immune system and the endocrine system provides strong evidence for classical conditioning's role in placebo effects.
Are the immune and the endocrine systems affected by classical conditioning:
Classical conditioning can induce immunosuppression, a reduction in antibody production that weakens the body's ability to fight disease.
Robert Ader discovered the link between classical conditioning and immunosuppression while studying conditioned responses in rats. He paired sweetened water (CS) with a nausea-inducing drug called Cytoxan (US).
Unexpectedly, the rats developed a disease, and many died, revealing that the sweet water became a conditioned stimulus for immunosuppression.
Conditioned immune responses also occur in humans, as seen in patients with multiple sclerosis.
Placebo pills can influence hormone secretion in individuals with prior experiences of pills containing actual drugs affecting hormones.
Learned associations between conditioned stimuli and immune and endocrine functioning involve the sympathetic nervous system's role in response to stress.
How do we learn a distaste for a taste:
Taste aversion learning involves a learned association between a specific taste and nausea.
It often requires only one pairing of the taste (CS) with nausea (UR) and can persist for a long time.
Taste aversion learning can occur even when the illness was caused by factors unrelated to the taste, like a virus or unrelated events.
In taste aversion, the taste is the CS, the agent causing sickness is the US, nausea or vomiting is the UR, and the learned aversion is the CR.
Taste aversion learning can be applied in the treatment of some cancers where radiation and chemotherapy induce nausea, leading to aversions to foods consumed before treatment.
Researchers use classical conditioning to reduce these aversions, particularly in children for whom anti-nausea medication is often ineffective.
How do we acquire a taste for a taste:
Classical conditioning explains why we learn to like cues associated with foods.
We prefer tastes (the CS) that are paired with unconditioned stimuli like calories, recovery from illness, and positive emotions.
How is classical conditioning used in advertising:
Classical conditioning is the foundation for many advertisements.
Advertising creates associations between products and pleasant feelings.
TV advertisers use classical conditioning to pair positive experiences (unconditioned stimuli) with their products (conditioned stimuli).
Product placement and embedded marketing are techniques that also use classical conditioning principles.
Advertisers hope that your positive feelings about a TV show, movie, or character (unconditioned responses) will transfer to their products (conditioned stimuli).
Advertising can be highly effective, as demonstrated by the high costs of Superbowl commercials.
How does classical conditioning explain drug habituation:
Classical conditioning can help explain drug habituation, where an individual develops a tolerance to a psychoactive drug and requires larger doses for the same effect.
A mind-altering drug serves as an unconditioned stimulus (US) and naturally produces a response.
Neutral stimuli, like the appearance of the drug in a pill or syringe and the environment in which the person takes the drug, become conditioned stimuli (CS) through repeated pairings with the drug.
The conditioned response (CR) to a drug can be the body's way of preparing for the drug's effects and may be opposite to the unconditioned response (UR).
Drug users might try to prevent habituation by varying the location where they take the drug.
Classical conditioning can play a role in drug overdose cases when the user takes the drug under different circumstances or after rehab, leading to a lack of conditioned responses and increased overdose risk.
Operant Conditioning:
Classical and operant conditioning are forms of associative learning.
Classical conditioning involves learning the association between two stimuli, the unconditioned stimulus (US) and conditioned stimulus (CS).
Classical conditioning is a type of respondent behavior, which is an automatic response to a stimulus.
It explains how neutral stimuli become linked to unlearned, involuntary responses.
However, it's not as effective in explaining voluntary behaviors like studying for a test, gambling, or service dogs obeying commands.
Operant conditioning is more suitable for understanding voluntary behaviors, focusing on the association between behaviors and their consequences.
How do we define operant conditioning:
Operant conditioning is a form of associative learning where behavior is influenced by its consequences.
B. F. Skinner coined the term "operant" to describe behavior that operates on the environment.
The outcomes of behavior determine whether the behavior is likely to be repeated.
Contingency, which means the occurrence of one stimulus can be predicted from the presence of another, is important in both classical and operant conditioning.
In operant conditioning, the consequences are contingent on the behavior.
For instance, when a rat pushes a lever (behavior), the delivery of food (consequence) is contingent on that behavior.
Contingency is crucial in operant conditioning and helps explain the training of service dogs, where rewards should be given at the right time to avoid interfering with their work.
What is Thorndike’s law of effect:
E. L. Thorndike's experiments with cats in puzzle boxes predated B.F. Skinner's work in operant conditioning.
Thorndike's experiments involved placing a hungry cat in a box with food outside, and the cat had to learn to open the latch inside the box to access the food.
The cat initially made random and ineffective responses to escape, such as clawing or biting the bars and thrusting its paw through openings.
The cat eventually stepped on a lever by accident, which released the door bolt, allowing it to access the food.
On subsequent trials, the cat made fewer random movements and learned to step on the lever immediately to open the door.
Thorndike's work led to the development of the "law of effect," which suggests that the consequences of a behavior determine the likelihood of that behavior being repeated.
The probability of behavior repetition depends on whether the consequences are desirable or undesirable.
B.F. Skinner's operant conditioning model expands on the concepts introduced by Thorndike.
What was skinner’s approach to operant conditioning:
B.F. Skinner believed that the mechanisms of learning are consistent across all species, which led him to study animals like pigeons to uncover fundamental principles of learning applicable to humans.
During World War II, Skinner trained pigeons for missile guidance, although the military eventually did not employ pigeons for this purpose.
Skinner's focus, along with other behaviorists, was to study organisms under highly controlled conditions to explore the connection between operant behavior and its consequences in great detail.
In the 1930s, Skinner developed the operant conditioning chamber, also known as the Skinner box, to maintain precise experimental conditions.
In the Skinner box, a rat was placed, allowed to adapt to its environment, and a lever was introduced for observation.
When the rat pressed the lever, a food pellet was dispensed as a consequence, leading the rat to learn the association between its behavior (pressing the lever) and the outcome (receiving food).
To enhance control, Skinner soundproofed the box to minimize external influences on the rat's behavior.
Many experiments involved mechanical recording of responses, and food delivery was automated to minimize human error.
What is shaping:
Shaping is a training method that can be used to teach complex behaviors to animals, including dogs.
It involves rewarding successive approximations of a desired behavior.
In the context of training a rat to press a bar to obtain food, shaping could involve initially rewarding the rat for being near the bar, then for touching the bar, and finally for pressing the bar.
For example, in training a service dog to do laundry, shaping might involve rewarding the dog for gradually getting closer to the washing machine, from picking up clothes to eventually putting them inside.
Shaping is commonly employed by trainers to teach animals various tricks, such as a dolphin jumping through a hoop.
This technique is also utilized to help people with motor difficulties, and a recent patent application describes a remote device delivered through a smartphone to shape behaviors in individuals with neuromuscular disorders, potentially making rehabilitation support accessible in remote areas
What are the principles of reinforcement:
Operant conditioning is based on the principle that behaviors resulting in desirable outcomes are more likely to be repeated, while those leading to undesirable outcomes are less likely to recur.Reinforcement is the key process where a reinforcer, a stimulus or event, following a behavior, enhances the likelihood of that behavior happening again.
There are two types of reinforcement with pleasant consequences: positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement.
Positive reinforcement increases the frequency of a behavior when a desirable event or stimulus is presented.
Negative reinforcement also boosts the frequency of a behavior when an aversive or unpleasant event or stimulus is removed, leading to a more pleasant experience.
What are positive and negative reinforcement:
Positive reinforcement increases behavior frequency by following it with a desirable stimulus, such as a smile after a greeting or giving a dog food for lifting its paw.
Negative reinforcement raises behavior frequency by removing something undesirable, like cleaning the garage to stop nagging or taking aspirin to reduce a headache.
Both positive and negative reinforcement reward behavior, but they differ in that positive reinforcement adds something pleasant, while negative reinforcement removes something unpleasant.
These terms are not related to "good" and "bad" but indicate whether something is added or taken away.
Avoidance learning is a powerful form of negative reinforcement where the organism learns to make a response to escape or avoid a negative stimulus.
Learned helplessness occurs when an organism believes it has no control over negative outcomes, leading to a deficit in avoidance learning.
It can generalize from specific failures to affect other areas of functioning and is associated with issues like domestic violence victims not escaping and students giving up after school failure
What are the types of reinforcers:
Psychologists classify reinforcers as positive and categorize them as primary or secondary depending on their innate or learned rewarding quality.
A primary reinforcer is innately satisfying, not requiring learning, and includes things like food when hungry, water when thirsty, warmth when cold, and sexual satisfaction.
A secondary reinforcer gains its positive value through an organism's experience and is learned or conditioned.
Secondary reinforcers can be associated with primary reinforcers through classical conditioning, such as pairing the sound of a whistle with food in cat training.
What is generalization:
In operant conditioning, generalization refers to the performance of a reinforced behavior in a different situation.
An example involves pigeons that were reinforced for pecking at a disk of a particular color.
Researchers assessed stimulus generalization by presenting pigeons with disks of varying colors, and pigeons were most likely to peck at disks closest in color to the original.
Generalization can be illustrated in a scenario where a student's excellent grades in psychology, achieved through nightly studying, lead them to apply the same study habit to history and biology.
What is Discrimination:
In operant conditioning, discrimination refers to responding differently to stimuli that indicate whether a behavior will or will not be reinforced.
An example involves going to a restaurant with a "University Student Discount" sign and showing your student ID for a reduced-price meal.
Discrimination helps explain how service dogs "know" when they are working by wearing a training harness during duty.
Service dogs also need to practice selective disobedience, meaning they override commands if the context suggests that obedience is not appropriate.
Cues in the environment serve as indicators of whether a particular reinforcement contingency is in effect.
What is Extinction:
In operant conditioning, extinction happens when a behavior is no longer reinforced and decreases in frequency.
An example involves not inserting more coins into a vending machine that eats your money without providing a drink.
Spontaneous recovery in operant conditioning is demonstrated when, after a break, you attempt the behavior again, hoping for a different outcome.
SUMMARY:
What are the types of Learning:
Learning is a systematic, relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs through cognitive experience.
Non-associative learning involves a change in behaviour to a repeated or prolonged stimulus or event.
Associative learning involves learning by making a connection between two stimuli or events.
Conditioning is the process by which associative learning occurs.
In classical conditioning, organisms learn the association between two stimuli.
In operant conditioning, they learn the association between behaviour and a consequence.
Observational learning is learning by watching what other people do.
What is Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning involves an initially neutral stimulus becoming associated with a meaningful stimulus to elicit a learned response.
The process involves linking an unconditioned stimulus (US) with a conditioned stimulus (CS), leading to the conditioned response (CR).
Acquisition is the initial association of stimuli, requiring contiguity and contingency.
Generalization occurs when a new stimulus similar to the original CS produces a similar CR, while discrimination is learning to respond to specific stimuli.
Extinction is the weakening of the CR when the CS is no longer followed by the US.
Spontaneous recovery is the CR's return after extinction, even without the CS or US.
Renewal involves the CR occurring when the CS is presented in a new environment.
Classical conditioning is applied in humans to eliminate fears, treat addiction, understand taste aversions and preferences, and explain experiences like pleasant emotions and drug overdose.
What is operant conditioning
Operant conditioning changes behavior through consequences.
Skinner coined the term "operant" for the organism's behavior that acts on the environment.
Operant conditioning focuses on voluntary behavior.
Thorndike's law of effect states that behaviors with pleasant outcomes are repeated, while unpleasant outcomes reduce behavior.
Shaping rewards approximations of desired behavior.
Positive and negative reinforcement increase behavior through rewarding or aversive stimuli.
Primary reinforcers are inherently satisfying, while secondary reinforcers are learned.
Reinforcement can be continuous or partial, based on fixed or variable schedules.
Punishment reduces behavior through negative or positive consequences.
Operant conditioning includes generalization, discrimination, and extinction.
Applied behavior analysis applies operant conditioning to real-life behaviors.
What is observational learning
Observational learning occurs when a person or animal observes, retains, and sometimes imitates someone else’s behaviour.
Bandura identified four main processes in observational learning:
attention (paying heed to what someone is saying or doing)
retention (encoding that information and keeping it in memory so that you can retrieve it)
motor reproduction (imitating the actions of the person being observed)
reinforcement (seeing the consequences for another person of doing an activity).
Are cognitive factors involved in learning:
Tolman emphasized goal-directed behavior and the role of cognitive mechanisms like expectancies.
Latent learning is unrefined learning not immediately reflected in behavior.
Latent learning is demonstrated when an individual shows knowledge of a location after being rewarded for their behavior.
Köhler introduced insight learning, a form of problem solving involving sudden understanding of a problem's solution.
what are the biological, cultural and psychological factors in learning
Tolman emphasized goal-directed behavior and the role of cognitive mechanisms like expectancies.
Latent learning is unrefined learning not immediately reflected in behavior.
Latent learning is demonstrated when an individual shows knowledge of a location after being rewarded for their behavior.
Köhler introduced insight learning, a form of problem solving involving sudden understanding of a problem's solution.
How can learning improve our health and wellness
Research using rats and other animals has demonstrated four important variables involved in the human stress response: predictability, perceived control, perceptions of improvement, and outlets for frustration.