Chapter 8: Learning Flashcards
learning
enduring changes in behavior that occur with experience.
When does learning occur?
When information moves from short term to long term memory
How does learning and memory work together?
Without one, the other cant function. Without learning and memory, we cant process, retain, or make use of new information.
They work together when you learn how to ride a bike, and everytime you go on it you don’t have to learn again, you just retrieve the knowledge from memory
What is orienting response?
Automatic shift of attention toward a new stimulus
What is an example of orienting response?
When you’re in a dark room, someone lights a candle, and you look at it immediately
What is habituation?
Results in a decrease in responding to this now familiar stimulus (orientating response)
Sensory process by which organisms adapt to constant stimulation
What is an example of habituation?
If you’re in a dark room, someone lights a candle, you look at it immediately. After a while, if the candle’s brightness and location stays the same, you would no longer respond to it (respond as in looking at it)
How is habituation learning?
Because habituation is a change in behavior due to experience
Why would someone argue habituation and orienting response isn’t learning?
Because each disappears immediately with a slight change in the stimulus (not learned)
Btw - habituation IS learning. just a question
What is association?
process by which two pieces of information from the environment are repeatedly linked so that we begin to connect them in our minds.
They form as the result of two events occurring together, regardless of whether or not the relationship between the two make any sense.
What is an example of a person learning by association?
Everytime you go to feed your cat, you open a drawer to get the can opener.
So everytime a drawer is opened, the cat responds to that noise knowing that food is coming by eagerly running to the kitchen. Even with the false alarms, they’ll still do it. But the association with the sound and being fed is strong for the cat
This is learning by association, it is powerful
What is conditioning?
A form of associative learning in which a behavior becomes more likely because the organism links that behavior with certain events in its environment
Whats an example of conditioning in its rawest term?
The cats are ‘conditionined’ to the sound of the drawer opening because they’ve come to associate that sound with food
Associations are key to what two major conditioning models of learning?
Classical Conditioning - Organisms learning from the relations between stimuli (involuntary)
Operant Conditioning - Organisms learn from the consequences of the behavior (voluntary)
What is classical conditioning?
form of associative learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a stimulus to which one has an automatic, inborn response.
(like the cats)
What happened with Ivan Pavlov’s dog experiment when serendipity (accidental discovery) occurred?
Would test dogs saliva by making them salivate (a reflex, automatic response to a particular stimulus such as food that requires no learning)
They would first use a tubes in their mouths to collect the saliva, using the apparatus.
Then they’d give the dog meat powder where they’d salivate.
After a while, they noticed the dogs would begin to salivate just when the doctors were getting the apparatus tube ready. They accidentally realized classical conditioning occurred
They tried it with a bell to see if the dogs would eventually respond to the bell with the meat powder after a few tries and it worked.
Pavlov’s term unconditioned response (UCR)?
Unconditioned - unlearned
the natural automatic, inborn reaction to a stimulus.
In Pavlov’s experiment, it would be the salivating.
Pavlov’s term unconditioned stimulus (UCS) ?
the environmental input (the meat powder) that always produces the same unlearned response (salivating)
Without learning, how does the UCS produces UCR?
In Pavlov’s experiment, the meat powder (UCS) poruduces salivation (UCR)
What is conditioned stimulus (CS)
a previously neutral input that an organism learns to associate with the UCS
For example, the bell in Pavlov’s experiment is the CS (conditioned stimulus)
What is conditioned response (CR)?
Behavior that an organism learns to perform when presented with the CS alone
In Pavlov’s experiment it would be the dog salivating when ringing the bell, before it got the food
What is forward conditioning and backward conditioning?
Forward conditioning - Presenting the neutral/conditioned stiumulus (bell) before the UCS (meat powder) or simutanteously
Backward conditioning - Presenting the neutral stimulus (bell) after the UCS (meat powder)
Due to the ineffectiveness of backward conditioning, what are the two most fundamental criteria for the success of stimulus-response conditioning?
- Multiple pairings/Reps of the UCS (meat) and CS (bell) are necessary for an association to happen so the CS (bell) can work
- The UCS and CS have to be paired or presented very close together in time for an association to form.
Briefly sum up UCR, UCS, CS, and CR?
UCS - Unconditioned stimulus - Food
UCR - Unconditioned response - Normal salivation based on UCS
CS - Conditioned stimulus - Ringing bell
CR - Conditioned response - Salivating based on CS
What is stimulus generalization?
When the association between UCS and CS to a broad away of similar stimuli
What is an example of stimulus generalization?
When the cats run to the kitchen not only to the sound of a drawer opening but also maybe the sound of a cabinet opening or anything related to food preparation
Or a baby is conditioned to be afraid to white rats. When hes sees other white fluffy things or white beards, he develops fear of that too.
What is stimulus discrimination?
Occurs when a CR (salivation) occurs only to the exact stimulus it was conditioned to
What is an example of stimulus discrimination?
When the dogs only salivate to the bell, not to a buzzer or clicking noises. It discriminated the other stimuli, only responded to the conditioned stimulu
What is extinction?
When the UCS is no longer paired with the CS
How does extinction happen?
When the dogs learn that the meat powder isn’t accompanied by the bell, they gradually stopped salivating to the bell. It can take as many as 100 times for the pair to be apart for extinction to occur
What is spontaneous recovery?
The sudden reappearance of an extinct/extinguished conditioned response
What is an example of spontaneous recovery?
Had a car accident in a parking lot from a bad turn. For months, you’re scared to go in that parking lot again. Then after a while you start parking in that lot again for a long time. Then after a few months, you had a panic attack from a situation you thought was happening again.
This sudden feeling is the conditioned response returning spontaneously.
How did John Watson and Rosaile Rayner show classical conditioning with the baby experiment?
They showed the baby a white rat. Baby responded OK. Then they paired it with loud noise, which made the baby upset. When they showed the white rat alone, the baby was upset with the white rat. He developed being upset with other white things such as the white beard and white fluffy things.
How was Watsons and Rayners experiment a good and bad thing?
Good - Paved the way for psychology to be known as a possible science of the study of human behavior
Bad - The ethical producers behind the experiment (the baby was never deconditioned). Questions about consent and protecting the rights of individuals rose
What is law of effect?
Consequences of a behavior increase (or decrease) the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated
(if a cat keeps banging on the door of a cage and it slowly moves, it’ll keep doing it. now learns how to escape the cage) (if you go to a café with free wifi, youll keep going back)
What was BF Skinners operant term meaning?
Operant - Behavior that acts or operates on the environment to produce specific consequences.
What is operant conditioning?
Process of changing behavior by manipulating the consequences of that behavior
What was Skinners thinking regarding operant conditioning and what are some examples?
Skinner believed that a behavior that is rewarded is more likely to occur again. Some examples:
- Hungry animal does something that is followed by the presentation of food, then the animal is more likely to repeat the behavior that preceded the food presentation.
- Behavior: Texting in class Consequence: Receive a text more entertaining than class Outcome: Keep on texting
- Behavior: Drink Coffee one morning. Consequence: More awake. Outcome: Have coffee every morning
What is the difference between classical and operant conditioning?
Classical conditioning changes an involuntary behavior such as salivating, operant condition works when voluntary behavior is made mostly by its consequences.
classical - you salivate when you hear microwave sound getting ready for coffee
operant - you drink the coffee because you know it keeps you awake every morning (the consequence)
Reinforcer
Any internal or external event that increases the frequency of a behavior
What is an example of a reinforcer and what about it is necessary?
When a baby sees he can get a smile from his mother when baby itself smiles at her, he is likely to smile more often. The mothers smile is the reinforcer because it increases the frequency of the babys behavior
It is important that a reinforcer is something the learner WANTS, so it obviously increases the likelihood that behavior happens again
Why is conditioning is this example and why: Companies offer iTunes credit if you use their bank card
It is operant conditioning, with iTunes credit being the reinforcer.
It is operant instead of classical because it is two things being linked together in occurrence, regardless of whether or not they are inherently rewarding.
What are the two main reinforcers?
Primary reinforcers - Not learned, innate and they satisfy biological needs
Secondary (or conditioned) reinforcers - Learned by associatoion, usually thru classical conditioning
What are examples of primary and secondary reinforcers?
Primary inforcers - Food, water, sex
Secondary reinforcers - Money, grades, approval
What is positive reinforcement? Example?
When the showing or addition of a stimulus to a situation increases the likelihood of behavior
Professor says extra credit points for handing in essay on time. It is a POSITIVE reinforcement because it led to students submitting their essays on time
What is negative reinforcement? Example?
The removal of a stimulus to INCREASE behavior. The stimulus removed is supposed to be something unpleasant
Your career keeps beeping loud because you didn’t fasten your seat belt. Once you fasten your seat belt, the car stops beeping. The removal of of the beeping is a negative reinforcement to help you put on your seat belt
What is an example of positive and negative reinforcement being confusing?
When you drink coffee in the morning to keep you awake, the caffeine is seen as a positive reinforcer
However one could argue it can be a negative reinforcer as well because you’re drinking the caffeine to get rid of fatigue, which makes it a negative reinforcer to help get you awake
It is still an reinforcer because in the end the consequence behavior is the same – u drink more coffee
What is punishment?
Stimulus that DECREASES the frequency of a behavior
How do you not get confused with punishment and negative reinforcement?
Negative reinforcers cant be punishment because it increases the behavior. The intention behind punishment is to DECREASE behavior (Good or bad)
What is positive punishment? Example?
Positive punishment is the addition of a stimulus that decreases behavior (usually undesirable)
A child wets himself instead of going to the bathroom. The mother spanks him, making it a positive punishment to decrease the undesirable behavior
You get a fine from cops for speeding. That’s positive punishment
What is negative punishment? Example?
Decreases behavior by removing a stimulus, usually removing a desirable stimulus to decrease the undesirable behavior
Grounding a child for a week after he hit his younger sibling.
What was the logic of Skinner believing that refinforcement is a better teaching method than punishment?
While punishment decreases behavior, it doesn’t tell kids for instance what they should be doing, only what they shouldn’t be doing. Reinforcement offers them an alternative
Punishment: Boy hits another boy because he took his toy. Parents punish boy in hopes he doesn’t do it again.
Reinforcement: Boy is told to politely ask for toy and parents reward him with ice cream. Boy is likely to understand better and learn, instead of decreasing behavior without understanding like punishment
Difference between positive and negative punishment?
Positive: To decrease undesired behavior, ADDS a negative stimuli
Negative: To decrease undesired behavior, REMOVES a positive stimuli
Whats is skinners box and what is shaping?
Skinners box - simple chamber used for operant conditioning of small animals
shaping - the reinforcement of successive approximations of a desired behavior
What is an example of manipulating operant conditioning in a skinners box with the shaping method?
Putting rat in skinners box and trying to get the rat to do a NON-INHERENT behavior, which is pushing down a lever.
Shaping behavior is done by constantly reinforcing behaviors closer and closer to the target behavior which is pulling down the lever. So when the rat comes closer and closer to pulling the lever int he chamber, you give it some food. Eventually they’ll make an association once it realizes it has to go by the lever to get the food and will press the lever later on
Which type of conditioning helps deal with diseases like autism?
Operant
What are the two main schedules of reinforcement?
Continuous reinforcement - Rewarding a behavior every time it occurs.
Intermittent reinforcement - Rewarding a behavior does not occur after every response
Why is intermittent reinforcement more effective in getting responses? Example?
Its better in getting rate of response and less likely risk of extinction. Since you’re not expecting it to be there, and not sure when/if it’ll come or not, you are more likely to do it more
When you’re expecting a very important e-mail (reinforcer) and don’t know when it’ll come, you will keep checking your email at a ridiculous rate because u don’t know when its coming.
What is the meaning behind schedules of reinforcement and what is the logic for it?
Patterns of intermittent reinforcement
Logic behind it is to find out whether patterns happen after either a certain amount of time has passed or after a set number of responses
What are the four types of schedules of intermittent reinforcement?
Fixed Ratio (FR) - Pattern of intermittent reinforcement that follows a set number of responses. It is pattern that is predictable, so the responses are not very steady
Variable ratio (VR) - Pattern of intermittent reinforcement where the set of responses is varied and NOT patterned. Since it is unpredictable, it gets a high number of responses
Fixed Interval (FI) schedule - Responses are always reinforced after a set period of time has passed.
Variable Interval (VI) - Responses are reinforced after periods of different duration. Difficult to predict, so it produces steady amount of responses
What are the three ideas of research that challenged traditional conditional learning thoughts?
- Conditioned taste aversion
- Instictive drift
- Latent learning
What is conditioned taste aversion, example, and how does it contradict traditional ideas?
The learned avoidance of a particular taste or food when nausea occurs at about the same time as the food
I have motion sickness. I go on a boat, eat a jelly donut. I get very sick on boat. I go 10 years without eating jelly donuts
It contradicts it because classical conditioning is known to happen with repeated pairings of CS and UCS to maintain a conditioned response, but conditioned taste aversion only requires one time for the conditioning to happen and not a very quick amount of time has to pass.
How did John Garcia test conditioned taste aversion
By having food and saccharin water paired with radiation relating to rats
Saw a decrease in rats wanting to have the water and food
What were the two contradictory findings John Garcia discovered?
- That conditioning and association only happens when organism is repeatedly exposed to something within a brief of time
- That organisms learn to associate ANY two stimuli
Both were found to false. You could avert taste regardless of how many times or how quick the two things happen. And it was also found that taste was not averted because of lighting, so ‘any’ stimuli was found incorrect
What is instinctive drift? What is the logic and foundings behind it from Keller and Marian?
Instinctive drift is learned behavior that shifts toward instinctive, unlearned behavior tendencies
Keller and Marian tried to make a lot of animals become conditioned to learn how to put poker chips into machine. They were successful with many animals but not with some others. Animals like the chickens couldn’t do it instead they pecked the chips, pigs decided to root them with their snouts, raccoons rubbed them.
It was learned this falls in line with the animals natural instinctive drift. It is their natural tendency to behave this way.
What is biological constraint model? Example?
Some behaviors are inherently more likely to be learned than others
Example would be that humans are inherently more likely to know how to speak
What did Keller and Marian’s instinctive drift change traditional thoughts?
That ALL organisms are equal and behave the same way to learning. Some species and animals innate, biological features make them act differently towards certain things
What is latent learning?
Learning that occurs in the absence of reinforcement and is not demonstrated until later, when reinforcement occurs
How did Edward Tolan discover latent learning?
- Rats in maze 1 was rewarded with food at the end, so they ran the maze very good
- Rats in maze 2 was not rewarded with food so they ran the maze poorly
- Rats in maze 3 was not rewarded with food at first, so they ran the maze poorly, but after a few times they were rewarded with food and started to run the maze very well. To a point where they started running even better than the rats in maze 1
Tolman argued the rats in maze 3 were learning all along but they didn’t show it before they started getting reinforced
How did Tolans discoveries with latent learning challenge previous thoughts?
Showed that prior experience, even when not being reinforced with something, helps in future learning
Also that motivation plays a part in learning. Latent learning implies that learning can be hidden until they are motivated to perform
What is observational and enactive learning?
Observational learning - Learning by watching the behavior of others
Enactive learning - learning by doing
What is Bandura’s social learning theory?
Kind of learning that occurs when we model or imitate the behavior of others
What is modeling?
The imitation of behaviors performed by others
What was the Bobo doll study?
Baby set 1 watched adult play with toy peacefully. Baby set 2 watched adult play with toy violently. Babies in either set imitated the behavior of adult when kept alone in a room
How is the effects of video games on children and teens similar?
Children imitate what they see. Experiments show when child sees aggressor rewarded, they become more aggressive.
What is imprinting? (Does not happen in humans)
Rapid and innate learning of characteristics of a caregiver very soon after birth
Ethology?
Scientific study of animal behavior (Where imprinting is most common and necessary for animals so they don’t get lost or killed)
How does imitation work?
When you watch some do something, its like doing something yourself. Neurons in the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex of your brain is involved
Children with autism struggle with this because of their neuron system being damaged
What physical changes to the neural network in the brain happen when we learn?
When we learn growth of synapses occur where they become stronger and grow more during long term associative learning.
“Practice makes perfect” - to learn and become proficient at something requires repeating the behavior over and over
What is the best way a child forms neurons?
Being in an enriched environment for a long time. And even better when that environment continues to have new and novel forms of stimulation
What happens if synaptic connections aren’t regularly used?
They weaken. May explain forgetting
Reasons why people smoke
- Social learning theory: A form of peer acceptance
- Operant conditioning (consequences of behavior)
helps maintain smoking behavior - negative reinforcers (smoking helps remove stress)
What is behavior modification and how it used?
techniques which uses principles of operant conditioning to change behavior
people to do it to try to quit smoking
