9a. Learning about the World and the Psychology of Action

Question 1

Animal Cognition Quote

Answer 1

Lloyd Morgan 1903

““In no case is an animal activity to be interpreted in terms of higher psychological processes if it can be fairly interpreted in terms of processes which stand lower in the scale of psychological evolution and development”

Question 2

2 Types of Behaviour

Answer 2

• Unleared

- Learned

Question 3

Unlearned Behaviours

- 2 Basic Level Behaviour Types

Answer 3

Simple spinal reflexes and brainstem reflexes critical for survival

• Respiratory movements
• Pain withdrawal reflexes
• Postural control
• Salivation

Autonomic function

• Regulation of heart rate
• Maintenance of blood pressure via vascular smooth muscle tone

Question 4

Unlearned Behaviours

- 2 Complex Level Behaviour Types

Answer 4

Swallowing, which involves >10 muscles in precise temporal order

Complex innate species specific behaviours, which are highly stereotypical
- Egg rolling in female greyly geese

Question 5

Female GreyLay Geese

Answer 5

Egg rolling - unlearned (innate), complex, species-specific, stereotypical behaviour

Will continue the movement if the egg is replaced with another object, or even removed

Question 6

Learned Behaviours

- 2 Mechanisms

Answer 6

• Pavlovian conditioning

- Instrumental conditioning

Question 7

Pavlovian Conditioning

- Date

Answer 7

First described by Pavlov in 1927

Question 8

Learned Behaviour

Answer 8

Animals and humans are readily able to learn associations between environmental stimuli and movements/actions

Question 9

Pavlovian Conditioning

- Definition

Answer 9

Describes the acquisition of a new response to a previously neutral stimulus as a result of experiencing a predictive relationship between the neutral stimulus and a biologically relevant stimulus.

This predictive relationship is independent of the animal’s behaviour.

Question 10

Pavlovian Conditioning

- Example

Answer 10

Pairing presentation of food (unconditioned stimulus), which generates salivation (unconditioned response), with a bell (neutral stimulus) so that the bell (conditioned stimulus) causes salivation (conditioned response).

Question 11

Pavlovian Conditioning

- Neural Basis

Answer 11

3 possible associations form

• CS-response association
• CS-US association
• CS-affect association

Question 12

Pavlovian Conditioning

- CS-Response Association Description

Answer 12

Simple stimulus response association
Carries no information about US

Devaluing US would have no effect on response - LiCl contamination of food which causes strong nausea would have no effect on salivation

Question 13

Pavlovian Conditioning

- CS-Response Association Mapping

Answer 13

Mapped by Krupa et all in 1993

Found to work via the deep nuclei of the cerebellum

Question 14

Pavlovian Conditioning

- Cs-Response Association Evidence

Answer 14

Demonstrated in:

• Aplysia by Kandel in 1991
• Rabbit eye blink conditioning process

Question 15

Pavlovian Conditioning

- CS-US Association Description

Answer 15

Pavlov’s theory of the neural mechanism

Carries no information about the US

Devaluing US would reduces salivation - LiCl contamination of food which causes strong nausea would reduce salivation
- This does occur

Question 16

Pavlovian Conditioning

- CS-Affect Associations Description

Answer 16

Emotionally/motivationally significant US:

• Fear association
• Reward expectation

Used extensively to study conditioned fear and is highly relevant to negative emotional dysregulation in humans, such as the fear potentiated startle and cued conditioned fear

Question 17

Rescorla Wagner Model

- Description

Answer 17

Describes Pavlovian Conditioning

Formulates a value (V = 0-1) for the associative strength of synapses in each association

Proposes that an animal learns the associations by comparing what they think is going to happen against what happens, where the larger the surprise the more is learned.

Question 18

Rescorla-Wagner Model

- Date

Answer 18

Formulated by Rescorla dan Wagner in 1972

Question 19

Rescorla-Wagner Model

- US

Answer 19

The US-response association always generates a high V value as there is strong synaptic association

Question 20

Pavlovian Conditioning

- Blocking

Answer 20

Blocking is where one full predictive conditioned stimulus blocks learning about another fully predictive conditioned stimulus when presented simultaneously.

This can be explain by the Rescorla-Wagner Model as the first fully predictive conditioned stimulus means that there is no surprise when the US is presented, so nothing new is learnt

Question 21

Pavlovian Conditioning

- 3 Adaptation Examples

Answer 21

1. Birds learn to fly after 1-2 trials
   Birds learn quickly not to eat bad tasting poisonous catapillars of the Cinnabar Moth
2. Honeybees associate flower colour with sugar content - Experimentally investigated using artificial flowers

Question 22

Pavlovian Conditioning

- Adaptation

Answer 22

Some pavlovian conditioning can be learnt fast, particularly when it is highly advantageous to the animal

Question 23

Instrumental Conditioning

- Date

Answer 23

First described in 1911 by Thordike

Question 24

Instrumental Conditioning

- First Experiment

Answer 24

Thordike placed cats in a puzzle box, and upon successful repetition they took less and less time for the cat to perform the behaviour to open the box.

Question 25

Instrumental Conditioning | - Description

Answer 25

Instrumental conditioning involves an animal's behaviour bringing about an outcome. Associations form between the behaviour and the outcome

Question 26

Instrumental Conditioning is not Explicable in Terms of Pavlovian Conditioning

Answer 26

Grindley showed this in 1932 Guinea pig was trained by 2 contingencies: - Pavlovian contingency = buzzer sounds as a carrot is presented directly in front of them - Instrumental contingency = turn head to the left to gain access to the carrot Reversing the head turning relationship, so that the head must be turned to the right, to gain access to the carrot was learned, even through the pavlovian contingency remained the same. This indicates that behaviour is controlled by instrumental contingency

Question 27

Pavlovian Conditioning is not Explicable in Terms of Instrumental Conditioning

Answer 27

Sheffield showed this Dog was trained using 2 contingencies: - Pavlovian contingency = associate the sound of a bell with food so that the bell induces salivation - Instrumental contingency = if the dog salivates the food is not given However, salivation cannot be controlled by an instrumental contingency

Question 28

Pavlovian and Instrumental Behaviours

Answer 28

Some behaviours can be controlled by pavlovian conditioning: - Salivation - Chick's walking Other behaviours can be controlled by instrumental conditioning: - Head turning - Lever pressing

Question 29

Instrumental Conditioning | - Neural Basis

Answer 29

- Stimulus-response associations | - Goal directed behaviour

Question 30

Instrumental Conditioning | - Stimulus-Response Association Description

Answer 30

Stimulus triggers the performance of a behaviour which leads to an outcome generated with environmental contingency. The outcome strengthens the neural association between stimulus and behaviour Model-free habit learning as there is no representation of the outcome making this link relatively inflexible Devaluing the outcome would have no effect on the stimulus response

Question 31

Instrumental Conditioning | - Goal-Directed Learning

Answer 31

Stimulus is given neural representation which triggers modelling of the action and predicted outcome, and assessment of its value, which feeds into the action generator to influence behaviour. Devaluing the outcome reduces the stimulus response

Question 32

Pavlovian and Instrumental Interaction | - 2 Examples

Answer 32

- Pavlovian to intrumental transfer (PIT) | - Conditioned reinforcement

Question 33

PIT | - Experiment

Answer 33

Rat is trained with Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning: - Pavlovian conditioning = bell is associated with sucrose - Instrumental contingency = lever pressing is associated with sucrose A PIT probe is performed, where a rat is presented with a bell or a light alongside the lever. When the bell is presented lever pressing increases, showing that pavlovian conditioned stimuli that predicts sucrose enhances the goal-directed response of lever pressing that is also paired with sucrose

Question 34

PIT | - Description

Answer 34

Pavlovian instrumental transfer Pavlovian conditioned stimuli can modulate instrumental performance

Question 35

Conditioned Reinforcement | - Description

Answer 35

Animals will perform a behaviour to gain a conditioned stimuli (instrumental) previously paired with a reward (pavlovian), even when the reward is removed.

Question 36

Conditioned Reinforcement | - Example

Answer 36

A rat is trained by: - Pavlovian conditioning to associate a bell with sucrose - Instrumental conditioning to press a lever to hear a bell A rat will still press a lever to receive the bell, even if it no longer receives the sucrose reward