Learning Flashcards
What is learning?
A relatively permanent change in behaviour
Are learning and memory closely related?
YES
What does learning need to be?
INFERRED from behaviour
What is a behaviour?
An observable action
What are some examples of learning?
Learning a sport, driving, operating your smartphone
What is an Innate behaviour?
Behaviours that we already know how to do
What are some examples of innate behaviours?
a baby crying when hungry, some reflexes
What is a reflex?
An AUTOMATIC “stimulus-respons” behaviour (mostly to suppoer survival)
Whats an example of a reflex?
What happens when you touch something very hot
What are the three types of learning learnt in this psychology?
- Pavlovian conditioning (aka classical)
- Operant conditioning (aka instrumental)
- Social (aka vicarious)
Pavlovian conditioning
Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
Social
Latent learning
HIDDEN, anything you have learned that you can produce later on without really remembering
Biological constraints on learning and example
biology limits learning
eg. animals cannot learn to speak
Who was the russian physiologist who created classical conditioning?
Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
What was his work later used for as a base? for who?
John Watson and BF skinner
What did Pavlov study?
Animal behaviour - specifically dogs
What happened when Pavlov put on his lab coat?
Dogs started drooling
Conditioning =
= Learning
Stimulus is anything in the environment as long as it…
is detectable
is measurable
causes a response
what does unconditional stimulus cause?
unconditional response - reflex
Before conditioning, what was the lab coat considered as?
Neutral stimulus
After conditioning what did the lab coat become?
The conditional stimulus
What is the stimuli that changes after conditioning?
The neutral stimulus becomes the conditional stimulus
What is Ordinal Methods?
The order of presentation of stimuli
What are the abbreviations for
Unconditional stimulus
Unconditional response
Neutral stimulus
Conditional stimulus
Conditional response
Unconditional stimulus = UCS
Unconditional response = UCR
Neutral stimulus = NS
Conditional stimulus = CS
Conditional response = CR
What is an example of excitatory pavlovian conditioning?
Thunder and lightning
What are the ways that excitatory pavlovian conditioning happen?
- Short delay
- Long delay
- Trace conditioning
- simultaneous conditioning
- Backward conditioning
Short delay
very little time between CS and UCS
- MOST EFFECTIVE TYPE
Long delay
Time between warning and tornado is quite long
Trace conditioning
CS and UCS seem unrelated due to LONG DELAY
Simultaneous conditioning
Lightning (CS) and thunder (UCS) occur together - Called “inhibitory” conditioning
Backward conditioning
Thunder (UCS) happens before lighting (CS)
Superstition
Pavlovian conditioning is the cause to this!
Taste aversion learning
Eat a food and then become sick sometime later. Later on, even the sight of that food can make you feel sick
Pavlovian Extinction (loss of association)
Eg. Pavlov ringing bell without food for a few days
- The strength of the response would decrease
Spontaneous Recovery
If after the Extinction phase there is a pause, you can see that the conditioned behaviour did not completely disappear
Conditioned Fear
Pavlovian conditioning can develop fear
What are two examples of Conditioned fear in our society today?
Horror films, video games
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Conditioning of certain traumatic events - loud, big events
Symptoms of PTSD
Intense fear, nightmares, panic attacks, anxiety disorder, pain
What is a problem with PTSD? (2 things)
- Extinction isn’t enough - fear is biologically relevant
- creating a safety signal or new conditioning of noise doesn’t work in this population
Who were the people that studied whether people could learn to NOT be afraid during conditioning of these stimuli?
Jovanovic and colleagues in 2010
Did the Safety signal experiment in 2010 work?
No, it was a failed experiment
What was the Safety Signal experiment?
Showing the two different coloured boxes, one with a negative stimulus and one with a positive/safe stimulus
Evaluative Conditioning
What is an example of evaluative conditioning?
- homeowners will sometimes bake fresh cookies for an open house hoping that visitors will be more likely to buy the house
