Ch.5: The Biology of Learning Flashcards
Jennifer went to a friend’s house and tried this unknown substance for lunch. Later that day, she began to feel sick and nauseous. As a result, she now automatically stops eating that unknown substance ever again. Why does Jennifer steer away from that food?
This is due to a concept of learning called taste aversion. It is when individuals associate sickness with a previously eaten food and that food itself becomes a warning stimulus for sickness. This is also known as one-trail acquisition learning (OTA).
How does laws of classical conditioning and law of effect explain taste aversion?
To explore how the laws of classical conditioning explain taste aversion we can look at the previously visited coyote example for conditioned taste aversion. In order to prevent coyotes from eating live sheep, farmers add toxic chemicals (UCS) to sheep meat (CS) and that causes a stomach ache for the coyotes (UR). The coyotes then stop eating live (CR) sheep because the sheep meat becomes a warning stimulus for the stomach ache. Law of effect states that if a behaviour is going to result in a negative consequence then we tend not to repeat that behaviour again.
There are problems with the classical conditioning (cc) explanations of taste aversion due to the differences between cc and OTA. What are the differences?
They differ in the number of trials required for learning - cc takes more trials to learn the behaviour, meanwhile for OTA a change of behaviour occurs after just one association. They also differ in whether the stimulus-response can be generalized - cc it can be, and OTA it is very unlikely to. The time lapse between the CS & CR differs as well - cc it occurs almost immediately, meanwhile for OTA it can occur after a long time. In terms of extinction, it is more difficult to get rid of the response in OTA and it is very easy in cc.
What do all the differences between cc and OTA say about learning?
It implies that although cc is great, it cannot explain everything.
What is higher order conditioning? Are there limits to it? Explain by providing an example.
Higher order conditioning is following the idea of using the additional stimuli in forming a connection with learning. As humans, we can easily take part in higher order conditioning but not all organisms can. Animals such as rats go through an event called blocking. This can be explained by the Rescorla-Wagner Model. There are two groups - A (control) and B (blocking). Group B goes through the blocking event. First they are pre-trained to associate the noise stimulus with a shock that follows (through conditioning). Later, experimenters then add an additional stimulus - light, so now the noise and the light stimulus will have a shock followed by it. In the testing phase, they present the added stimulus - light, and the rats do not elicit a fear response. The fear response can be detected because the rat is pressing the lever bar, which indicates that a normal response and it is not in a freezing state which indicates fear. In group A, there was no pre-training occurring, both the noise and the light were conditioned with the shock at the same time during the conditioning phase. During the testing phase, only the light stimulus was presented, and the rate expressed fear - i.e. freezing state. This goes to show that there are limits to higher order conditioning.
How do the rules of natural selection help us understand the learning perspective?
There are three rules for natural selection. One is that all individuals of a species vary in behaviour and physiology. This reminds us that there are limits to learning in different species. Second is that these variations can be heritable which hints to researchers that some behaviours may be passed down and some many not. Lastly, individuals of a species are involved in competition for resources, which teaches researchers that these are different motivator factors.
What are two examples that show the biological limits on learning?
Blocking & Instinctive Drift.
An experimenter performs an experiment where the cat would perform abnormal behaviours. He taught the cat to get the token and place it into the coin bank. When observing, the experimenter realized that the cat was cleaning the coin before placing it in the bank. The experimenter was confused as he did not expect this to happen since he did not train the cat to clean the coin. What phenomena explains this? What does this tell us about learning?
This can be explained by instinctive drift. Instinctive drift occurs when there is a competition between the biological evolutionary built in behaviours and the learned responses. The subject itself would not expect to act like that but since these behaviours are instinctual, it just occurs. This tells us that there are biological limits to learning.
List the parts of the brain located in the forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain. Describe their function.
Forebrain has a limbic system which is comprised of thalamus (processes sensory information), hypothalamus (regulates metabolic processes), pituitary (helps regulate metabolic processes), amygdala (mediates emotions), and hippocampus (learning and memory). Midbrain consists of the reticular formation (arousal center and sleep-wake center). Hindbrain consists of cerebellum (movement related learning) and brainstem (breathing and heart rate).
What are the four forms that learning can take place in?
Perceptual learning, stimulus-response learning, motor learning, and relational learning.
Six year old, Sam, picks up an orange ball with black stripes, and calls it basketball before placing it into the bin with all the outdoor sports balls. What form of learning is Sam presenting?
Sam is presenting perceptual learning, which is being able to recognize, identify and categorize items.
Define stimulus-response learning.
Stimulus-response learning is learning to automatically make a specific response in the presence of particular stimulus. It is to form that stimulus-response association.
Describe the neural model for classical conditioning.
The neural model for classical conditioning follows Hebb’s rule, which states that when two synapses in between a neuron are continuously being fired, there is going to be a change in the weaker connection/synapse (i.e. it will get stronger). For example, through conditioning, an association has been created between a certain frequency tone and blowing puff of air into the eye, with blinking. When the tone is heard, a signal is made by the auditory neuron which results in blinking. Similarly, when the puff of air is blown, a signal is made by the somatosensory neuron resulting in blinking. The signal made by the auditory neuron is weak because there is no reason why we should blink when we hear the tone. When these synapses continuously are stimulated, this results in the weaker connection (i.e. the signal by the auditory neuron) to be stronger.
Describe the neural model for instrumental conditioning.
First there is a stimulus. Perceptual learning is then used to recognize and identify the stimulus. Motor learning is then used to create a behaviour towards that certain stimulus - this connection can be reinforced by the reinforcement system. This results in the behaviour, which then results in the response that we get from the stimulus.
What connects the perceptual system and the motor system together?
Stimulus-response learning
