Learning

Wednesday, January 3rd, 2023

Obj:

• Define learning and identify some basic forms of learning

• Explain behaviorism’s view of learning

• Describe associative learning and its two main types

What is learning?

• The process of acquiring through experience new and relatively enduring information or behaviours

• The emphasis here is on enduring….learning is very different from cramming

• To truly learn, is to own the knowledge, skill, or idea

What are some ways we learn?

• We learn to expect and prepare for significant events such as food or pain (classical conditioning)

• We learn to repeat acts that bring rewards and avoid acts that bring unwanted results (operant conditioning)

• We learn by observing events and people (observational learning)

• We learn things we have neither experienced or observed (cognitive learning)

What is associative learnin__g?__

• Learning that certain events occur together

• The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequence (as in operant conditioning).

• The associations may be positive or negative

What are two types of associative learning?

• Classical Conditioning

  • In classical conditioning, we learn to associate two stimuli and thus anticipate events.

  • Stimuli are things we do not control and that we respond to automatically (involuntary responses)

• Operant Conditioning

  • In operant conditioning, we learn to associate a response (our behaviour) and its consequence. The behavior is voluntary, we operate on the environment to produce a consequence

How do associations lead to habits?

• Learned associations also feed our habitual behaviors

• The reason so many of us eat popcorn in the movie theater is that we have come to associate the movie theater with buttery popcorn.

What is habituation?

• Habituation is what happens when repeated stimulation produces waning responsiveness.

What is the difference between habituation and sensory adaptation?

• Habituation

  • Habituation is a type of learning or relatively permanent change in behavior that involves a reduced response as a result of repeated but not constant exposure

• Sensory Adaptation

  • Sensory adaptation is a perceptual phenomenon that occurs when the brain stops recognizing a constant and unchanging stimulus

What is a stimulus?

• any event or situation that evokes a response

  • so… for the sea slug… the stimulus was the squirt from the choppy ocean waters or the electric shock from the researcher.

  • For the popcorn eater…the stimulus was the movie the purchasing and eating of popcorn

What is a response?

• the behaviour that follows a stimulus

How is classical conditioning defined?

• Classical conditioning is a type of associative learning that involves learned involuntary responses.

• We associate stimuli that we do not control, and we respond automatically (exhibiting respondent behaviour)

• Involuntary responses include salivation, blinking, sweating, and cringing or the automatic bodily reactions to strong emotions such as fear