conditioning and learning

Question 1

Outline the behaviouristic approach

Answer 1

• Classical and operant conditioning are the building blocks of all learning
• Laws of learning same in all species
• Learning is to be understood solely by recourse to incidental processing of associations between external events

Question 2

define learning and responce in terms of behaviourism

Answer 2

Asscoiative learning:

Learning: Relatively permanent change in behaviour due to experience
• Response: Any identifiable behaviour

Question 3

outline classical conditioning

Answer 3

Ivan Pavlov: Russian physiologist studying digestion
• Studied salivation in dogs when they were presented with meat powder
• Food elicited reflex (salivation in this case): Automatic, non-learned, response
• Pavlov’s key discovery: An arbitrary (or neutral) stimulus (e.g., sound of a bell) paired with the meat powder began to elicit the reflex (salivation) * Also known as Pavlovian conditioning

Question 4

what are the stages to classical conditioning

Answer 4

NS = Neutral stimulus 
US = Unconditioned stimulus 
UR = Unconditioned response (or reflex) 
CS =  Conditioned stimulus
 CR = Conditioned response (or reflex
 before: 
bell (NS) 
meat powder (US) --> (relfex)  salivation (UR) 
Aquisition:
meat powder (US) +(associated) Bell (CS) --> UR 
post coditioning: 
CS--> CR

Question 5

what is trace conditioning?

Answer 5

Trace conditioning- all the animal has is a memory trace to associate with food

Question 6

what happens if you delay the time between a stimulus and US

Answer 6

delayed conditioning 
trace conditioning 
simultaneous conditioning 
delayed> trace> simultaneous 
Simultaneous learning- the association isn't so powerful because the food is already there

Question 7

what is critical for classical conditioning

Answer 7

Temporal contiguity of CS and US? (Pavlov assumed this)
Or…
Validity with which the CS predicts the US (contingency theory)

Question 8

Outline a study which looked into the differences between temporal contiguity and validy with which the CS predicts the US

Answer 8

Classic study by Rescorla (1967) sought to tease apart these two possibilities…
Exposed dogs to electric shock.
On some trials, shock (US) was preceded by a tone (CS)
• Two groups (A and B) presented with same number of temporally contiguous US-CS pairs.
• But only in Group A was a shock ALWAYS preceded by a tone
• Group A learned the association quickly, Group B did not
Extintion trials- if the bell doesn’t come with food, response will gradually become unlearned.

Question 9

describe classical conditioning spontaneous recovery

Answer 9

Reappearance of a conditioned response (CR) following its (apparent) extinction
• Without further pairings of the CS with US; CR not recovered to full strength however

Question 10

what is higher order classical conditioning?

Answer 10

regular conditioning carried out so eventually bell (CS) = salivation (CR)

then add CS2 e..g a clap preceeding bell
eventually CS2 –> CR

Question 11

what is stimulus generalisations?

Answer 11

Stimulus Generalisation A tendency to produce the conditioned response (CR) to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus (CS)
e.g. note signals shock
Eventuallly show stress response at note w/o shock
Response generalises to similar notes

Question 12

what is stimulus descrimination training?

Answer 12

Don’t hear any other note becomes selective
Baer and Fuhrer (1968)
as responce to CS1 increases responce to CS2 decreases

Question 13

outline how clasical conditining can explain conditioned emotional responces and phobias

Answer 13

Vicarious Classical Conditioning: Learning to respond emotionally to a stimulus by observing another’s emotional reactions

Desensitisation: Exposing phobic people gradually to feared stimuli while they stay calm and relaxed

Question 14

explain aversive therapy

Answer 14

Aversive therapy

Treatment of abnormal behaviour: Pair an unacceptable response with a punishment to produce a new, ‘acceptable’, response

Classical conditioning in the movies!

Question 15

outline a study looking into spontaneous recovery in humans

Answer 15

Spontaneous recovery from retroactive interference (RI) in memory
Briggs (1954): • (Human) participants learned paired associate words (A1-B1, A2-B2…etc) Concrete example: ‘pineapple – dog’, ‘desk – cushion’, …etc… • Then new list of paired associates but first word of previous pairs was presented again i.e., A1-C1, A2-C2,…etc) e.g., ‘pineapple – hammer’, ‘desk – scissors’, …etc…

Then presented an A item; participant to say the pair that “came to mind” (-B or -C).

• Due to RI, fewer B item responses than C item responses

• But…24 hours later, participants tested again; now, B item responses more frequent than C item responses (i.e., spontaneous recovery of initial association)
Acquisition phase = the period where a response is learned

Question 16

define operant conditioning

Answer 16

Learning based on the consequences of responding; responses are associated with their consequences

also known as instrumental conditioning

Question 17

explain the law of effect

Answer 17

Law of Effect (Thorndike): The probability of a response is altered by the effect it has; responses that lead to desired effects are repeated, those that lead to undesired effects are not
• Thorndike studied how cats learned to open a latch to get food through positive reinforcement

Question 18

give the classical study that looks into operant conditioning

Answer 18

B.F. Skinner (e.g., 1938)
• Built a Conditioning Chamber (or Skinner Box): Apparatus designed to study operant conditioning in animals
• Used Response-Contingent Reinforcement: Reinforcement given (only) after a desired response

Question 19

explain positive and negative reinforcement

as well as Punishment

Answer 19

Positive Reinforcement: When a response is followed by a positive stimulus that makes that response more likely
• Negative Reinforcement: When a response is followed by the removal of an aversive stimulus that makes that response more likely
• Punishment: When a response is either:
i) Followed by an aversive stimulus that makes that response less likely
ii) Followed by the removal of a positive stimulus that makes that response less likely

Question 20

explain how pigeons were onditioned for sea-rescues

Answer 20

When pigeon saw something red, orange or yellow it would peck it’s disk e.g. a person in a life jakcket, know the direction by which pigeon triggered their lever

Unfortunately the company arranging this, 2 of their helicopters crashed and so they had to drop the programme for financial reasons

Skinner- thought to use Kamikaze pigeons as missile navigation systems.

Question 21

Outline different types of reinforcers

Answer 21

Primary Reinforcer:
Non-learned and natural; satisfies biological needs (e.g., food, water, sex)
– Intracranial Stimulation (ICS): Natural primary reinforcer; involves direct activation of brain’s “pleasure centers”
• Secondary Reinforcer:
Learned reinforcer (e.g., money, grades, approval, praise)
– Token Reinforcer: Tangible secondary reinforcer (e.g., money, gold stars, poker chips)
– Social Reinforcer: Provided by other people (e.g., learned desires for attention and approval)

Question 22

define operant extinction

Answer 22

When learned responses that are NOT reinforced gradually fade away
• Negative Attention Seeking: Using misbehavior to gain attention!
• Not giving attention can extinguish the behaviour (e.g., Williams, 1959)

Question 23

What is the difference between stimulus generalisations and discrimination

Answer 23

Stimulus generalisation e.g., child petting other dogs following positive reinforcement of petting the family dog

Stimulus discrimination e.g., Through selective reinforcement of petting only family dog

Question 24

Outline the importance of timing in operant conditioning experiments

Answer 24

Rats in a Skinner box show a rapid drop in learning as delay between the response and the reinforcer increases

Question 25

what is the token economy?

Answer 25

e.g., Ayllon and Azrin (1965): Shaping desirable behaviour on a mental hospital ward

Question 26

give na example of operant conditioning in humans

Answer 26

Socialisation of a disturbed child
Matson, Sevin, Fridley, and Love (1990)
if please was reinforced after 35 sessions responded 100% correct

Question 27

how is operant conditioning seen when we’re learning to talk?

Answer 27

Child says “doll,” “duh,” “dat” when wanting a doll.
• Day 1 - parents give doll only if child says “doll”
• Day 20 - child only says “doll” to get doll - Job done!

Question 28

what is the ethiological approach?

Answer 28

Laws of learning not the same in all species • Ethologistsemphasise biological (genetic) predispositions over learning
• Evidence for ethological view:
> Chicken’s instinctive food-gathering behaviour competed with the desired learned response (Breland & Breland, 1961)
> The selectivity of associability in classical conditioning:
rats learned an association between taste and sickness but not between a tone and sickness

Question 29

give 2 aspects fo the ethiological apprach

Answer 29

• Imprinting
There is a critical period for developing attachment behaviours

• Bird songs
Birds have inborn template for acquiring their own species’ song

Question 30

give the cognitive challenge to conditioning

Answer 30

Learning and intelligence relies on the animal’s inner mental representations of the world
• Kohler (1920s): ‘Insight’ in apes
Mental note-taking in rats (e.g., Olton & Samuelson, 1976)