Intro To Learning

Question 1

Barbarous Terminology

Answer 1

generations of students have complained, one of the most repellent features of the study of conditioning in animals is the barbarous terminology it has developed.” (Nicholas Mackintosh, 1983)
conditioned stimulus (CS)
unconditioned stimulus (US)
conditioned response (CR)
stimulus substitution
excitatory
inhibitory
appetitive procedures
aversive procedures

Question 2

Excitatory appetitive conditioning

Answer 2

KEY pecking CR

Question 3

Excitatory aversive conditioning

Answer 3

Eye blink CR

Question 4

Illustrations from machinery book

Answer 4

Following Newton’s Laws and the industrial revolution, machines became a metaphor for the workings of the brain

Question 5

Rene Descartes 1600s

Concept of reflex

Answer 5

Descartes thought the brain was like a machine, but also allowed for the mind although this was construed as distinct (dualism)
Descartes also first described basic reflexes, the child unconditionally withdraws from fire; the ‘knee jerk reaction’ is a common everyday expression

Question 6

British empiricists 1600s

Locke and Hume

Answer 6

The empiricists (associationist philosophers) saw the mind as a blank slate to be written on by experience
Hume  (1711-1776) in particular recognised the importance of temporal contiguity (anticipating Pavlov)

Question 7

Darwin 1800s

Drawing from his notebook

Answer 7

Darwin’s evolutionary theory and in particular the notion of common ancestry paved the way for comparative psychology

Question 8

Lloyd Morgan 1800s

Morgan’s dog, Tony

Answer 8

The early comparative psychologists mostly observed their pets
Because of Lloyd Morgan’s canon we’d first assume that Tony has learned to open the gate by trial and error

Question 9

Edward thorndike 1900s

Puzzle boxes for cats

Answer 9

Thorndike (1898) published thesis on the intelligence of cats based on studies of learning in puzzle boxes

Thorndike (1911) proposed the Law of Effect – that ‘satisfaction’ (e.g. food) strengthens S-R associations

Question 10

Ivan Pavlov 1900s

Classical conditioning set up

Answer 10

Based on experimental observations Pavlov (1927) discovered learned or psychic digestive reflexes and developed his theory of temporal contiguity (anticipated by Hume)

Question 11

John B Watson 1900s

Behaviourism

Answer 11

Behavioural manifesto (Watson, 1913)
Little Albert
(Watson & Rayner, 1920)
Little alberts generalised fear

Question 12

Further theoretical development: connectionism

Answer 12

Connectionism based on simple associations (classical conditioning) has also been an important theoretical development
How do you think the above network would account for the association between dog and bark?

Question 13

Advertising

Answer 13

Coca-Cola is a large multinational company with a perhaps dubious reputation
Alternative associations to the Coca-Cola brand might include cool, fun, energetic, plus it’s the cuddly partner of WWF to save the polar bear..

Question 14

Different forms of associative learning

Answer 14

Classical/Pavlovian conditioning: the relationship between an environment event or signal and an outcome that matters (CS -> US)

Operant/Instrumental learning: also involves learning what goes with what, but in this case the first event is provided by a self-generated response which is followed by an outcome that matters (R -> ‘Reinforcer’)

Question 15

Skinner 1900s

Modern Skinner box

Answer 15

Skinner focused on the reflex at the behavioural S-R level, physiological and mentalistic correlates viewed as additional unnecessary complications…

Question 16

Theoretical construct like thirst not directly observable

Answer 16

Tolman (1938) accepted that unobservable constructs may be important in the explanation of behaviour; this approach is operational behaviorism

Question 17

Instrumental learning easier if the response is an automatic reaction to the US

Answer 17

• Pavlov’s dog salivating
• Easy to learn an approach response produces food
• Hard to learn that withholding responding is what you need to do to get food
• Autoshaping

Question 18

controlled experiments,

Answer 18

the level of behavioural responding can tell us the level of associative strength

Associative representations provide a basis for cognitive reactions

Cues also trigger behavioural responses in everyday situations