learning Flashcards
factors you need in order to be able to interpret behaviour
-be critical
-start simple
-consider past experience
-can’t assume intelligence hence need to think of an alternative reason
what’s anthropomorphism
believing animals are similar to humans just because they did the same thing as us
avoiding cofounding factors
-Wilhelm van Osten and his ‘clever hans’ test where he was keen on showing animal intelligence so he asked a horse numerical questions and point to a number, Hans would then stomp the correct number of times
-later studies showed he wasn’t a wonder horse but he picked up on subtle cues made by audiences - anticipation and relaxation
-in order for this experiment tube done correctly, Wilhelm would need to be blindfolded nor in the same room
taxes
-innate (simple e.g. genetic) response to stimulus
-directional, move towards or away
positive chemotaxis- pipette deposits chemical in microorganism and therefore moving towards the stimulus- not learned, hardwired into organism at birth
learning is largely genetic if…
-species specific
-predictable
-inflexible (behaviour keeps being produced even if environment changes)
-constant timing
fixed action patterns
-robins: very territorial, when they’re challenged they will show characteristic threat towards challenger and will get physical if challenger doesn’t move
-red- is the releaser of the aggression, no red on robin challenger, less aggression shower
learning definition
the cognitive process of transforming experience into relatively permanent change in behaviour
-the more you do something, the better you get at it
non-associative learning
-single stimulus without reinforcement
-habituation: repeated exposure to stimulus, decreases the response to it
-sensitisation: repeated exposure to stimulus increases the response to it
associative learning: classical conditioning
-individuals par 2 external stimuli (one useful one random)
- after conditioning it responds to previously random stimuli
-e.g. a dog, meat and a bell
unconditional stimulus is the meat, conditioned stimulus is the bell
-ring them separately, the dog only responds to meat, ring them together, the dog responds, then ring just bell, dog respond
-done with babies and toys, every time the baby reached for a toy, a loud noise would go off, therefore making child petrified of toy
associative learning: operant conditioning
-aka trial and error
-consequence of own action -> stimulus response bond -> likelihood of repeating behaviour
-edwards thorndikes experiment on cats locked in a box who had to pull a lever to get out, once the cat had done this once, he could do it again ,much easier
what are the 4 types of operant conditioning
-positive reinforcement (+ve)
-negative reinforcement (+ve)
-punishment (-ve)
-extinction (-ve)
observational learning
-e.g. blue tits, milk delivered to doorstep, bird pecks holes in tin foil therefore bird would have the cream in the lid of the bottle
what are the 4 types of observational learning
-facilitation- presence of conspecific increases motivation
-enhancement - presence of conspecific draws attention to are or object (more likely to discover something by themselves )
-imitation - observer copies same sequence of actions as demonstrator
-emulation- actor reacts same end result as demonstrator
insightful problem solving
immediate understanding of how to solve a problem without trial and error or accidental discovery
