Learning Flashcards
Learning definition
It is a relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of experience or practice
Classical conditioning - definition
Learning to make involuntary response to a stimulus other than the original, natural stimulus that normally produces a response
Operant conditioning - definition
Learning to make voluntary actions based on positive or negative consequences
Probability learning - definition
Learning associations in our environments by attending to probabilistic information
e.g. Children learn that sharing increases probability of making friends than being bossy
Programmed learning - definition
In Programmed learning, material that is to be learned is broken up into small parts which are linked together. Arrangement of these parts is called program and that’s why it’s called programmed learning
Theories of classical conditioning
- Stimulus substitution
2. Information expectation
Conditioned emotional response
John Watson - Little Albert experiment - Learning of phobias is and example of conditioned emotional response
Classical counterconditioning was demonstrated by Mary Cower Jones
Important researchers
- Ivan Pavlov - Classical Conditioning (1890s)
- E.L. Thorndike - Law of effect (1898)
- B.F. Skinner - Instrumental conditioning
- Breland and Breland - Instinctive drift (1961)
- Albert Bandura - Observation learning (social learning, modeling) (Bobo doll experiment -1960s)
- Tolman - Latent learning (1930)
- Kohler - Gestalt learning
- Rescorla - cognitive explanation for IC
- Pressey - Programmed learning
- Brunswick - Probability learning
- Seligman - Learned helplessness
- Lewis Terman - High IQ students
- John Watson - Phobias are learned (conditioning of emotional responses)
- Mary Cover Jones - classical counter conditioning
Habituation and Sensitization
Habituation - Behavioral response decreases to a innocuous stimulus
Sensitization - Behavioral response increases to fearful stimuli
Observation learning - definition
It is the learning of new behavior through watching the actions of a model/others
Learned helplessness - definition
The tendency to fail to act to escape from a situation because of a history of repeated failures in the past
Insight learning - definition
Insight learning occurs when a new behavior is learned through cognitive processes rather than through interactions with the outside world
Learning that happens when you gain a sudden insight. It involves perceptual reorganization of the elements in the environment such that new relationship among objects is suddenly seen
Latent learning - definition
Latent learning is learning that is not apparent from behavior until it’s application becomes useful
Probability learning
It emerged from Brunswick’s experiments
- he put rats in a T maze and varied reward probability
- Rats learned probability matching
Probability learning is descriptive, not prescriptive. It is not a question of rationality
1. What it does is correctly describe how animals are good at modifying their behavior to match unpredictable nature of our world
Factors contributing to reach optimal strategy
- Large financial incentives
- Regular feedback
- Extensive training - In an experiment, optimal strategy was achieved after about 1600 trials
Programmed learning
It is developed by Pressey and popularized by Skinner
In Programmed learning, material that is to be learned is broken up into small parts which are linked together
- Arrangement of these parts is called program and that’s why it’s called programmed learning
Features
- Small steps
- Immediate feedback
- Self pacing
- Active responding
It uses many principles of shaping like small steps (successive approximations), immediate rewards etc.
Types of programmes - Linear and Branching
Advantages and Disadvantages
Self Instructional learning
The ability to cognitively plan, organize, direct, reinforce and evaluate one’s own independent learning without a teacher’s prompting
1. Use of computers is ideal e.g. Coursera
Modeling and social learning
Processes that determine if child reproduces behavior
Factors affecting modeling
Evaluation of social learning theory
Classical conditioning - Importance, elements, principles
Pavlov’s experiments helped study the mental processes through direct observation of behavior, leading to a more rigorous and scientific study in Psychology
Elements - UCS, NS, CS, UR, CR
Principles
- CS must come before UCS
- CS and UCS must come very together in time; ideally no more than 5 seconds apart
- Neutral stimulus must be paired with UCS many times before conditioning takes place
- CS is usually a stimulus that stands out i.e. distinctive from others
Acquisition in CC
It is the process of CS acquiring the ability to elicit CR after repeated reinforced trials
Factors affecting acquisition
- Temporal arrangement of CS-UCS (simultaneous, trace, delayed, backward)
- Type of unconditioned stimuli
- Intensity of CS
- Biological constraints
- Schedules of reinforcement
Extinction and Spontaneous recovery in CC
If CS is presented in the absence of UCS repeatedly, CS loses the ability to elicit CR. It is called extinction
- But, after a period of rest, if CS is presented again, it elicits CR, but to a weaker degree than before. This is called spontaneous recovery
- -This shows that the original learning is not completely extinguished, but is just inhibited
For IC, if the response is not reinforced for a number of trials, the frequency of response drops
Diagram
Variations and exceptions of CC
Variations 1. Higher Order Conditioning 2. Pseudo conditioning Exceptions 1. Conditioned taste aversion 2. Biological constraints
Instrumental conditioning
Thorndike - Law of effect - If an action is followed by a pleasurable consequence, it will tend to be repeated. If an action is followed by an unpleasant consequence, it will tend not to be repeated
- This is the basic principle behind learning voluntary behavior
Skinner experiments
- The heart of operant conditioning is the effect of consequences of behavior
- Skinner box - organism’s rate of response is measure of conditioning
Schedules of reinforcement
Continuous and Partial
- Fixed ratio
- Variable ratio
- Fixed interval
- Variable interval
Partial reinforcement effect - The tendency for a response that is reinforced after some, but not all correct responses will be more resistant to extinction than if a response receives continuous reinforcement
Diagram
Types of reinforcement and punishment
Positive reinforcement
Negative reinforcement
Punishment
Omission training
Punishment v/s Negative reinforcement
4 differences
Disadvantages of punishment
How to make punishment more effective
Determinants of Operant conditioning
- Features of reinforcement (Types, frequency, quality, schedules)
- Nature of response or behavior to be conditioned
- Interval between response and reinforcement
Shaping and Chaining
Also called method of successive approximations
In this, reward is given when they do something closer to desired behavior and then increase the bar for rewards, ultimately rewarding only when the behavior is performed correctly
Through pairing of sound such as whistle or command with primary reinforcer of food, and using the whistle animal trainers can avoid having to overfeed learners
Chaining
- teach elaborate tricks to animals by training to do one shaped behavior after another i.e. chaining them together
- Breland and Breland trained thousands of animals for circus and TV shows
Biological constraints
Breland and Breland - Racoons - Instinctive drift
Instinctive drift suggests that 3 assumptions held by behaviorists (Skinner) are wrong
1. The animal comes to the laboratory a tabula rasa, or “blank slate,” and can,
therefore, be taught anything with the right conditioning.
2. Differences between species of animals are insignificant.
3. All responses are equally able to be conditioned to any stimulus.
Autoshaping - pigeon
Conditioned reinforcers
- Primary reinforcers are those that satisfy basic drives like hunger, thirst, pleasure etc. e.g. Chocolate
- Secondary reinforcers, like money and praise acquire their reinforcing properties from being paired with primary reinforcers
- Secondary reinforcers acquire this ability through classical conditioning
Comparison of CC and IC
The critical difference is in the contingency: in classical conditioning, the US occurs whether or not the CS elicits the CR; in operant conditioning, the reinforcing stimulus occurs if and only if the response has been emitted
- In classical conditioning, the experimenter controls the occurrence of US, while in operant conditioning, the occurrence of the reinforcer is in the control of the organism that is learning
- The technical terms used are different. What is called reinforcer in operant conditioning is called US in classical conditioning. A US has two functions - In the beginning, it elicits the response and also reinforces the response to be associated and elicited later by CS
Escape and avoidance learning
- Organisms can learn to make a response to terminate an ongoing aversive event. This is called escape learning
- e.g. Leaving a metal concert due to loud noise
- Often, escape learning is followed by avoidance learning - the organism learns to make a response to prevent an aversive event from even starting e.g. refusing when a friend asks to attend a metal concert
Shuttle box
Mechanism of avoidance learning
Avoidance learning is a bit of a puzzle. We know that a behavior is extinguished if it isn’t reinforced for a few trials. But, even though the organism escapes shock before it starts, the behavior of jumping away at the sight of light is not extinguished
- This is because the animal is reinforced by removal of conditioned fear i.e. removal of an aversive event ( Rescorla and Solomon)
- This stage involves instrumental conditioning
Extinction in IC
Extinction means disappearance of a learned response due to removal of reinforcement
How long does it take for extinction?
- Number of trials
- Nature of conditioning
- Features of reinforcement (Schedules, amount and quality of reinforcement, Effort
Theories of extinction
- Response inhibition theory
2. Competition frustration theory
Discrimination and Generalization
The tendency to respond to a stimulus that is similar to original conditioned stimulus is called stimulus generalization
e.g. Getting scared by grinder sound as it is similar to dentist’s grill
As the similar sounds are not reinforced with food, the dogs stopped responding to them altogether and they learned to discriminate between them in a process called stimulus discrimination
-Generalization and discrimination are complementary processes. Generalization is due to similarity and discrimination is a response due to difference
Generalization - It doesn’t occur due to failure of discrimination. The dog recognizes that the sounds are different, but it still expects a similar result. It is adaptive as organisms rarely encounter exactly the same stimulus again
Discrimination only occurs when original CS is being paired with UCS or original response is being rewarded while the similar stimuli isn’t
Cognitive learning
- After the invention of computers, interest in cognition, the mental processes that take place inside a person’s head while behaving began to dominate experimental psychology
- The Cognitive psychologists developed approaches that focus on cognitive processes that occur during learning rather than concentrating solely on S-R and S-S connections
- Therefore, in cognitive learning, there is a change in what the learner knows rather than what he does
Cognitive perspective of CC and IC
CC
- Information expectation theory
- Blocking
IC
- Response outcome relation and role of cognition
- If there is an exam tomorrow and a student is studying while listening to music and gets good marks in the exam, they will recognize that studying is the reason for good marks and not music
- reinforcement is not automatic. It occurs when we think the response is what caused the outcome
Observation learning
It allows for learning without any direct change in behavior, which goes against strict behaviorism
Bandura agrees with principles of IC, but added 2 important ideas
- Mediating processes occur between stimuli and responses
- Behavior is learned from environment through the process of observation learning
4 mediational processes - Attention, Memory, Reproduction, Motivation
Learned helplessness
Seligaman and Maier Experiment
Why did this happen? During conditioning the dogs learned that there was nothing they could do to escape the shock. So, they didn’t even try when conditions changed. They learned to be helpless. They believed they could not escape, so they didn’t even try
Effects
- Reduced motivation
- Cognitive deficit in the form of impaired ability to learn behaviors
- Emotional changes - Frustration , changes in appetite and depressed affect
Difference between IC and OL
In OL, similar to latent learning, we form cognitive representations; but we might perform them depending on the circumstances or we might not; thus distinguishing learning and performance
- In IC, learning is measured through performance
- According to OL, learning is dependent on Attention and Retention and performance is dependent on Reproduction and motivation
- Thus, like Skinner, Bandura also maintains reinforcement is a critical determinant of behavior. However, Bandura says that reinforcement influences performance rather than learning, per se
Insight learning
Learning that happens when you gain a sudden insight(aha)
Kohler Sultan experiment
- Learning did not occur as a result of trial and error and reinforcement, but came about in sudden flashes of insight
- The sudden experience of insight creates an “aha” moment
Characteristics of insight learning
- In insight learning, a problem is posed, and a period follows during which no apparent progress is made, and then solution comes suddenly
- The transition form pre solution to solution is sudden and complete
- The solution gained by insight is retained for a considerable length of time and can be easily applied for other, similar situations i.e. a great deal of generalization
Insight learning vs other theories
- Insight learning suggests that we learn not only by conditioning, but also by cognitive processes that cannot be directly observed, contrary to behaviorism
- The process of insight learning is not observable
Latent learning
Tolman rat experiment
- Tolman concluded that the rats learned the maze when they were roaming around during first 9 days and formed a ‘cognitive map’ of the maze, but didn’t demonstrate this because there was no incentive
- The mental map remained hidden or latent until the rats had a reason to demonstrate it. Tolman called it latent learning
These findings challenged behaviorist approach by proving that
- Learning can take place without reinforcement - Learning can take place without any behavioral changes being immediately present, meaning learning can be completely cognitive and not instilled through behavioral modification alone - And such learning can later influence behavior
