Introduction to Learning Flashcards
learning flow chart
refer to notebook
behaviouralist tradition
main mechanism of behaviourist learning
- pairing of stimulus + response
- i.e. pairing of an environmental stimulus ( to which the learner or subject = aware via 1+ senses) and some B/response on the part of the learner
operant conditioning (Skinner)
mechanisms of behaviouralist learning (+ reinforcement; - reinforcement; extinction; punishment)
BF SKinner had 0 interest in understanding the mental processes
- concern is observable actions
- how they relate to environmental factors
cognitive psychology vs the behaviouralist tradition
- cognitive psychology investigates internal mental processes
- emphasis is on internal mental states (attention, perception, memory, problem-solving)
text approach to behaviour and learning
awareness of
- behavioural outcome precedes study of underlying neural mechanisms
- behavioural research provides the endpoint, the learned B
empiricism
concept that all learning is derived from experience and observations
empirical evidence
- info acquired by observation or experimentation
- used to disprove or prove some hypothesis
ecological validity
does device/test performance accurately predict Bs in real world?
nervism
- philosophical position adopted by Pavlov
- all behavioural and physiological processes are regulated by nervous system
- neuroscience founded on analogous premise; B can be traced to structure and function of the nervous system
functional neurology
how the nervous system works, within context of their wider health
validity
assessments must measure what they are intended to measure
reliability
- different researchers studying the same topic
1. report consistent outcomes
2. results are replicated
3. independent replication of findings; there is strong support for this hypothesis
learning
change in the mechanisms of B
1. resulting from experience involving specific stimuli and/or responses involving specific stimuli
2. learning = distinguished from memory
- learning = how we adjust our B based on associations between stimuli, actions, consequences or based on repeated exposure to stimuli
- memory = how we acquire, store, and retrieve knowledge about facts/events/places
3. associations
- develop through conditioning (where stimuli and behavioural responses become connected
learning without conscious awareness
biological + necessary for survival
- essential for adaption to the environment and reproductive success
- we must learn to make and withhold responses
- most of what we do occurs without conscious awareness
- e.g. drug users have difficulty resisting automatically triggered impulses to use drugs
Pavlov: clarifying S + R
- responses to stimuli changes as a result of experience
- Pavlov showed not all reflexes are innate
- hence, new reflexes to stimuli can be established through mechanisms of association
- Pavlov regarded his studies of digestive, physiology as functions of the nervous system
- modern behaviour theory is built on the concept of stimulus response (S+R)
S+R: underlying B
a basic precept in psychology
1. thoughts lead to emotions - emotions lead to B
- thoughts = cognitions, beliefs, opinions
- attitude = extended or long-lived approach to thinking
2. but the overwhelming majority of thoughts = subconscious
- disconcerting thoughts that may suddenly (+frustratingly) come to mind when we try to sleep
3. conscious awareness of thoughts/attitudes
- thoughts/attitudes can be altered
- nature + nurture shape thoughts
4. emotions (+limbic system structures)
- thoughts impact emotions
- emotions are relatively identical around the world
- emotions are impacted by genetics/culture/experience
planes of brain scans
- sagittal
- coronal
- axial
main emotions and limbic structures: amygdala
- essential roles in fight-or-flight response, anger, fear
- attaches emotional significance to memories; key to emotional learning as in conditioned fear responses
- damage impairs development of conditioned fear responses
- very fast emotional/behavioural response (in milliseconds)
main emotions and limbic structures: hippocampus
- in floor of leteral ventricle near amygdala nucleus; long term memory formation
- learning, memory formation
- mediates spatial navigation; indexes memories for later access
main emotions and limbic structures: hypothalamus
- connects to pituitary gland or hypophysis; main outflow to automatic system
- regulation of blood pressure, hunger state, internal heat, sleep
main emotions and limbic structures: insula
- awareness of bodily states (interoception - hunger, need to sleep)
- somatosensory; emotional, cognitive, and motivational signals collected from cortical + subcortical regions
- important in experiencing emotions (especially disgust), recognition of facial expressions of disgust, anger, anxiety, guilt
main emotions and limbic structures: prefrontal cortex (PFC)
- moderates, influences limbic processing
- interplay of limbic structures + PFC = essential
- involved in self-control, judgment, logical analysis, planning, decision-making
- refer to slide 18 for extra info
limbic structures in stressful/non-stressful situations
- PFC regulation during alert, non-stress conditions
- amygdala control during stress conditions
- refer to slide 21, 22, 23
limbic structure activation system
info reaches amygdala along 2 separate pathways (graph in notebook)
1. fast path
- sensory info travels almost instantaneously through thalamus directed to the amygdala for priority processing
- believed to prepare for a threat
2. slow path
- by which sensory material travels from the thalamus to the cortex (visual/auditory cortex)
- information is scrutinized in greater detail before being passed on to the amygdala
- may confirm threat via more careful scrutiny
amygdala and cognition
- emotional events increase likelihood of activity in amygdala
- increases activity and more likely to improve long-term memory for event
- perception of social stimuli (e.g. deciphering facial expressions)
- damage to amygdala makes it more difficult to evaluate the intensity of fearful faces
what changes behaviour?
- thoughts + emotions
- stimulus change
- maturation
animal models of human behaviour
- they permit simple and controlled conditions
- there have to be similarities between the animal and human
- important in drug development
learning, performance and maturation distinction
LEARNING
- learning = emergent change in B
- performance of new responses/suppression of prior B
- change in mechanism of B
PERFORMANCE
- all actions of an organinism at a given time
- will likely involved learning
- some actions (e.g. reflexes) are not learned
MATURATION
- usually occurs in absence of learning/training/practice
levels of learning analysis
- how neural transmitters and circuits are organized to produce learned responses
epigenetics
impact of environment on manifested genetic phenotype
nervous system components
CNS: brain + spinal cord
PNS: automatic nervous system + somatic nervous system
neuron
- involved in execution/inhibition motor commands
- dendrites have receptor sites
- dendrite receptors transform NTs chemical signal to electrical signal
neuron properties: lipid bilayer
- separates inside + outside of cell
- prevents random diffusion of ions across the membrane
- inside of cell has more negative charge relative to outside
neuron properties: electrical potential
- difference in electrical charge
- polarization: neuron change on inside of membrane is different from outside
- resting membrane potential = negative (about -70mV)
NT activity
refer to notebook
sodium-potassium pump
- contributes to polarization
- helped stabilize membrane potential
- increases K+ outside the neuron, decreases Na+ inside
- maintains different charge across the membrane
- 3Na+ out the cell : 2K+ into cell ratio
- refer to notebook for schema
resting state: K+ channels
- higher concentration of K+
- outward flow of K+ = electrical potential - differential charge across cell membrane
- more + outside the cell, more negative inside
- concentration gradient - electrical potential
- K+ then achieves equilibrium
- concentration gradient equals electric potential due to accumulation of K+ outside cell
- electrical potential difference drives K+ into cell
action potential: neuronal firing
- determined by the number + frequency of signals the neuron receives
- occurs when the sum of excitatory + inhibitory signals leads to a + change in voltage that eceeds the neurons firing threshold
action potential: all-or-none principles
- principle that when a neuron fires, it fires with the same potency each time
- stronger stimulation results in higher frequency action potential
excitatory + inhibitory signals: excitatory postsynaptic cell potential (EPSP)
- glutamate = excitatory; activates ACh receptors (allows K+ and Na+ into the cell)
- more Na+ conductance = key to depolarization
excitatory + inhibitory signals: inhibitory postsynaptic cell potential (IPSP)
- GABA released in synpse; GABA receptors open Cl- channels
- Cl- influx into cell
- neuron axon hillock integrates all EPSPs and IPSPs
absolute refractory period
- after an ion channel opens + closes, channel cannot open again
- followed by relative refractory period
- ensure that APs always more away from the cell body to terminal buttons
neuron properties and AP
- presynaptic terminal contains vesicles (they hold the NTs)
- AP travels along the axon
- calcium ions in terminal (involved in infusion of vesicles with presynaptic membrane)
- vesicles release NT into synaptic cleft
- refer to notebook
NT fitting
NT cannot bind with a receptor if it cannot fit, it is only with its particular type of receptor
general process approach: assuming general, universal learning principles
- assumption that learning principles are general enough to apply under a wide variety of circumstances
- does not deny diversity of stimuli + responses
- does not deny there may be different learning rates
- focus on commonalities of learning
- assumed that learning is a product of the same mechanisms
- Skinner’s pigeon experiment (slide 48-49)
