Learning Flashcards
What is learning
Learning can be defined as the process by which any relatively permanent change in behaviour occurs as a result of practice and/or experience.
Behaviour can be mental (thought or image)
Or observable (fainting, throwing up, drooling
When learning takes place, you have been conditioned
Learning is a change that takes place through what?
Before learning can be called learning, what must take place ?
Learning is a change of behaviour, for better or worse:
It is a change that takes place through practice or experience; changes due to growth, maturation, fatigue or injury are not included in learning;
Before it can be called learning, the change must be relatively permanent, that is it must last fairly long time. For example, once an individual learns to ride a cycle he usually does not forget it.
The change in behaviour needs to occur immediately following the experience of learning. True or false
False
The change in behaviour needs not occur immediately following the experience. The behaviour can be expressed later. Eg. Dancing, use of maths to perform operations, etc.
State and define the three types of learning
Classical Conditioning: involve the involuntary reflexes.
Operant Conditioning: involve voluntary behaviours.
Cognitive Learning: Using mental processes, perhaps imitating others.
Both classical and operant conditioning are called what together?
Associative learning
Because you learn by associating two events together that happen at the same time.
What is classical conditioning
Other names for classical conditioning are?(state two)
It a type of learning in which a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus.
It is also known as respondent conditioning or pavlovian conditioning.
What did Ivan Pavlov experiments highlight?
His experiments highlighted the basic principles of how organisms learn through association.
Ivan Pavlov
(1849-1936)
Russian
Physiologist
interested in
studying the
digestive processes
of dogs.
How was Pavlovs experiment on conditioning done?
What is the neutral stimulus,conditioned response,unconditioned response,unconditioned stimulus,conditioned stimulus in the experiment Pavlov did?
Before conditioning, an unconditioned stimulus (food) produces an unconditioned response (salivation), and a neutral stimulus (bell) does not produce a response. During conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus (food) is presented repeatedly just after the presentation of the neutral stimulus (bell). After conditioning, the neutral stimulus alone produces a conditioned response (salivation), thus becoming a conditioned stimulus.
Pavlov’s experiment on conditioning, also known as classical conditioning, involved studying how animals (particularly dogs in his famous experiments) could be trained to associate a neutral stimulus with a reflex response.
Here’s a simplified explanation of Pavlov’s classical conditioning experiment:
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Initial Setup:
- Pavlov used dogs in his experiments. Normally, dogs naturally salivate (produce saliva) when they see or smell food. Initial Observations: Pavlov noticed that dogs would start to salivate not only when food was presented but also when they saw the lab assistant who fed them or heard the sounds associated with feeding.
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Neutral Stimulus (NS) and Unconditioned Stimulus (US):
- Pavlov introduced a neutral stimulus, such as a bell or a metronome, before presenting the dogs with food (which naturally elicited salivation). The bell or metronome at first did not elicit a salivary response from the dogs.
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Conditioning Process:
- Initially, the bell (neutral stimulus) does not elicit any salivation from the dogs.
- Pavlov then paired the neutral stimulus (bell) with the presentation of food (unconditioned stimulus), which naturally caused the dogs to salivate (unconditioned response).
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Establishing Association:
- After repeated pairings of the bell with the food, the dogs started to associate the bell with the food. They began to salivate in response to the bell alone, even when food was not presented.
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Conditioned Response (CR):
- Eventually, the sound of the bell alone (now a conditioned stimulus) became enough to elicit salivation from the dogs. This salivation in response to the bell, which originally was neutral, is called the conditioned response.
Key Points:
- Neutral Stimulus (NS): Initially, the bell did not elicit salivation. Pavlov used a neutral stimulus, such as a bell, which initially did not elicit any salivatory response from the dogs.
- Unconditioned Stimulus (US): The presentation of food naturally caused salivation. He presented food (an unconditioned stimulus) to the dogs, which naturally and reflexively caused them to salivate (unconditioned response, UCR).
- Conditioned Stimulus (CS): The bell, after being paired with the food.
- Unconditioned Response (UR): Natural salivation in response to food.
- Conditioned Response (CR): Salivation in response to the bell alone, after conditioning.
Pavlov’s experiment demonstrated that animals (and humans) could learn to associate neutral stimuli with meaningful events, altering their behavior based on these learned associations. This research laid the foundation for understanding how learning and behavioral conditioning work in both animals and humans.
Explain Pavlovs conditioning process
CONDITIONING PROCESS
1.Pairing of Stimuli: Pavlov repeatedly paired the NS (bell) with the UCS (food). During this phase, the NS would be presented just before the food.
2.Acquisition: After several pairings, the dogs began to associate the NS with the UCS. Eventually, the NS alone (now a Conditioned Stimulus, CS) would elicit salivation (now a conditioned response, CR).
Under Pavlov’s experiment:
What is classical conditioning
What is generalization
What is discrimination
What is extinction
What is spontaneous recovery
Key Findings
1.Classical Conditioning: Pavlov demonstrated that a NS could become a conditioned stimulus capable of eliciting a conditioned response through association.
2.Generalization: Dogs would also respond to stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus. For example, if a different tone of bell was used, the dogs would still salivate.
3.Discrimination: Dogs could learn to distinguish between different stimuli if only one specific stimulus was consistently paired with the UCS.
4.Extinction: If the CS was repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus, the CR would gradually diminish and eventually disappear.
5.Spontaneous Recovery: After extinction, if some time passed and the CS was presented again, the CR could briefly reappear
Under classical conditioning terminology what is a stimulus,unconditional stimulus,unconditional response,neutral stimulus,conditioned stimulus,conditioned response
Stimulus: Object that excites our sense organs.
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): A stimulus that will evoke a response without training. Eg. Food.
Unconditioned Response (UCR): The response to an unconditioned stimulus. Eg. Salivation.
Neutral Stimulus (NS): A stimulus that does not elicit (draw forth or bring about) the unconditioned (or reflexive) response eg. Tone, music etc
Conditioned Stimulus (CS): A NS that is paired with a UCS, and comes to provoke the same response as the UCS (in the absence of the US). Eg. Tone.
Conditioned Response (CR): The same response as the UCR, but now to a CS, rather than to a UCS. Eg. Salivation
Under principles of classical conditioning,what is stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination
What is extinction?
What is spontaneous discovery
Generalization and Discrimination
Stimulus Generalization: Learned response not only to the original stimulus also to other similar stimuli.
Stimulus Discrimination: The process of learning to make one response to one stimulus and a different response, or no response to another stimulus.
Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery
Extinction: CS is presented alone without the UCS for a number of trials.
Spontaneous Recovery: Reappearance of a previously extinguished CR.
State five everyday examples of classical conditioning
Police siren
Ambulance siren
Warning tardy bell
Smell of freshly baked bread
Taste aversions
What is operant conditioning
This theory was developed by who?
State three concepts in operant conditioning
A type of learning in which behaviour is strengthened if followed by reinforcement or diminished if followed by punishment.
The process of learning in which the consequences of a response determine the probability that the response will be repeated.
The theory was developed by B.F. Skinner, building on Edward Thorndike’s Law of Effect.
Key concepts or principle in operant conditioning include reinforcement, punishment, and extinction.
Explain thorndikes experiment and law of effect
Placed a hungry cat inside the box and shut the Door.
Placed some food on a dish outside the box that the cat could see through the slots in the crate.
The cat had to figure out how to open the door to get the food.
Cat accidentally hit the latch and the door opened – cat got to eat.
Law of Effect
It states that behaviours followed by satisfying consequences (rewards) are more likely to be repeated, while behaviours followed by unpleasant consequences (punishments) are less likely to be repeated.
Consequences of an action influence the likelihood of that action being performed in the future
Thorndike’s Puzzle Box
Cats placed in Thorndike’s puzzle box learned to make their escape through a random process of trial and error.
