learning Flashcards
learning definition
enduring changes in behavior that come with experience
when does learning occur?
when something goes from short-term to long-term memory
orientating response
when you turn towards a new stimulus
what is habituation?
sensory process by which individuals adapt to constant stimulus
what is learning in its simplest form?
habituation
what is association?
when one piece of information from the environment is repeatedly linked to another and we begin to connect the two in our minds
what is classical conditioning?
a form of associative learning
- neutral stimulus becomes associated with a stimulus which the learner has an inborn, automatic reponse to.
- pavlov’s dogs
Pavlov’s Dogs experiment
began with just researching on saliva and digestion in dogs
- discovered classic conditioning accidentley
- put tube in dogs mouth to collect salvia then put meat powder in dog’s mouth
- after a while noticed the dogs began to salivate when he took out the tube
what is an unconditioned response?
the automatic, inborn response to a stimulus
ex salivating to meat powder
what is an unconditioned stimulus?
a stimulus that always produces the same unlearned response
- no learning needed to get a response
what is a conditioned response?
a behaviour that is learned when presented with a conditioned stimulus
what is a conditioned stimulus?
a previously neutral stimulus an individual learns to associate with an unconditioned stimulus
what is forward conditioning?
when, in the process of associative learnning, a neutral stimulus is presented before the unconditioned stimulus
ex: bell before meat powder
what is backwards conditioning?
neutral stimulus follows the unconditioned stimulus
not as successful
- her student had problems training her dog with backwards conditioning
the two most fundamental criteria for stimulus-response conditioning?
1) multiple pairings of the neutral stimulus (conditioned stimulus) and the unconditioned stimulus need to happen for association to occur and for the conditioned stimulus to illciet a response
2) the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus must be paired together very close in time in order for an association to form
What is stimulus generalization?
an extension of association between the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus to other similar stimuli
- hears similar sounding bell–> salivating for meat powder
what is stimulus discrimmination?
the conditioned response only happens to the exact conditioned stimulus
what is “extinction” applying to associative learning?
the weakening and disappearance of a conditioned stimulus
- when the conditioned stimulus is no longer paired to the unconditioned stimulus
what can make extinction faster?
a good nights sleep
what is spontaneous recovery?
reappearance of a conditioned stimulus that was extinguished
what is higher-order conditioning?
when once conditioning has been established, more conditioning can happen by pairing the conditioned stimulus with a new neutral stimulus
why does classical conditioning work?
through evolution we have needed to form associations with things for survival
ex: we learn that knives are dangerous
example of classical conditioning in the real world?
fears, a bee sting and then the person is afraid of bees
what is thorndike’s law of effect?
that consequences of a behaviour will increase or decrease the likely hood that behaviour will be repeated
what is operant conditioning?
the process of learning upon the consequences of the behaviour
what is a reinforcer?
any internal or external consequence that will encourage/ reinforce the behaviour
- a baby is more likely to smile back if you smile at it because it likes the results
What are primary reinforcers?
reinforcers that aren’t learned
- food, water, sex
- needs
want these things, will do behaviours again and again for them
what are secondary reinforcers?
reinforcers learned by association
- wants
- grades, money, peer approval
what is positive reinforcement
given something we want as reinforcement
- given ice cream for doing a chore
what is negative reinforcement?
something that we don’t like is taken away as reinforcement
- taking ibuprofen, headache is taken away, we are happy, will take ibuprofen again
punishment
a stimulus that results in the decreased frequency of the behaviour
postive punished
the addition of a stimulus that results in decreased behaviour
- spanking a child to stop bad behaviour
negative punishment
decreased behaviour as a result of the removal of a stimulus
- taking away phone to decrease a childs bad behaviour
what did BF Skinner think was more successful, reinforcement or punishment?
reinforcement
What is the Skinner Box?
box where animal can move around
inside there is a trigger they can push where eventually they get food
- might be several pushes, depending on experiment
Thorndike’s puzzle box?
box where animals needed to hit lever to get door to open to escape
only had to push lever once
resulted in faster getting out time by animals after several trials
what did the skinner box test?
effort animal is willing to exirt in order to get paticular result they want
- direct measure of motivation
elements of the modern skinner box?
- lever to press to deliver food as reinforcer
- small region of floor can be set up to deliver shock as punishment
- enough room for animal to move around
how do the rats figure out what the lever for food means in the first place?
by using process called shaping
reinforcing successful approximations of a desired behaviour
extinction in operant conditioning?
extinction occurs when behaviour stops being reinforced
ex: rat stops getting food after pushing lever multiple times
continuous reinforcement
reinforcing a behaviour every time it happens
ex: reward dog every time he sits
intermittent/ partial reinforcement
not getting reinforced after every response
ex: call someone, they answer most times, not always
which produces stronger behavioural responses? intermittent or continuous reinforcement?
intermittent
- no predictable pattern of reinforcement
ex: animal gets food sometimes after hitting lever, it will hit lever very often in hopes of getting more food
category of four types of intermittent reinforcing called what
schedules of reinforcement
1) fixed ratio schedule
2) variable ratio schedule
3) fixed interval schedule
4) variable interval schedule
fixed ratio schedule
reinforcement follows set number of responses
ex: hit lever 5 times to get supper
- fast then slow; scalloped pace as individuals know pattern
variable ratio schedule
the number of responses needed for reinforcement varies
- produces steady pace of responses as individual does not know pattern
fixed interval schedule
individuals get reinforcement after set amount of time after first response
- does not matter how many responses after first, will not change time intervals
ex: studying for exams, no matter how many times you open book to study, exam happens at same day and time
variable interval schedule
reinforcement happens after variable amounts of time after first response
- usually follow for a general mean
did skinner believe that he could teach an animal anything?
yes with positive reinforcement
biological limitations/ constraints on conditioning experiment
skinner students did experinment
- eventually ventured to species who had not been tested
- pigs, raccoons, chickens ect - training to insert poker chips in machine
- pigs rooted them
- chickens peck
- raccoons ‘washed’ hands with them
- these behaviours became worse as time went on
instinctive drift?
learned behaviour that shifts towards natural, instinctive, unlearned behaviour
biological constraint model of learning
model that says some behaviours are inherently more likely to be learned than others
why are biological contraints a thing?
they have helped us survive, our bodies know what works for survival and what doesn’t, it has taken millions of years to get to where we are no by learning what we have learned
imprinting
the rapid and inborn learning of the characteristics of a caregiver within a very short period after birth
ethology
the scientific study of animal behaviour
explain imprinting in real life
baby birds learn to follow whoever they imprinted on, whoever they saw the most, they would learn to follow them and learn from them
sensitivity period?
the period of time that an animal that imprints learns the most
- a period when a particular type of learning occurs easily id the animal is exposed to particular stimulus or situation
can imprinting happen in another time in the lives?
learning learned during the imprinting is pernament, and imprinting cannot be relearned, unlearned or alterned in anyway
what is latent learning?
learning that occurs in the absence or reinforcement and is not demonstrated until later when reinforcement occurs
rats in the maze
group one rewarded with food
group two receieved no food
group three receieved no food at first, then did
enative learning
learning by doing
- in the act
observational learning
learning by watching
Albert Bandura’s social learning theory
theory of the kinds of learning that occurs when we model or imitate the behaviours of others
modelling in social learning?
observing and imitating beaviours performed by others
ex: younger childern imitating older siblings
social learning and reinforcement?
social learning also works with reinforcement
- watch the reinforcement that happens to others when they perform a behaviour, learn from their mistakes or good acts
ex: childern and adults hit or play nice with the inflatable doll
Banduras inflatable doll experiment
the childern imitated the either good behaviour, playing nice, with the doll or the aggressive, punching the doll, behaviour they saw the adult perform with the doll
- repeated experiment, showed kids te aggresive man was punished for his behaviuor , or rewarded, based on whatever video that group was shown
- if they saw punishment video, their behaviuor was much less aggressive,
- if they saw the rewarded video, the childern were very aggressive with doll and eachother
Watson’s and Skinner’s perspective on learning
all learning was a function or wither stimuli (classical conditioning), or consequences (operant conditioning) which both came from the outside environment
what about genetics and behaviour?
Watson ignored the role of genetics, as it could not be observed
skinner acknowledged the role of genetics in behaviour
fear conditioning
little albert
common method of fear conditioning measurement?
freezing
animal stops all movement in repose to conditioned stimulus
what affected freezing behaviour in animals?
the amygdala
the freezing behaviour happen very little with animals whose amygdala was damaged
what else is the amygdala important in in learning?
associative learning to positive unconditioned stimulus such as tasty foods
nucleus accumbens and leanring
reward
brain becomes activated here whenr ewarded with money
what neurotransmitter si involved with nucleus accumbens and can effect the rats behaviuor based on its abundance?
dopamine plays important role
- blocking dopamine reduces rats effort in order to receive food
how long until human babies begin using imitation to learn?
7 hour old babies will begin imitates simple adult facial expressions
imitation experiment with monkeys?
- accidental discovery
- same neurons fired when monkey saw experiment grab an object as when the monkey, itself grabbed an object
- conclusion: mirror neurons support the function of rehearsal during learning. By watching others actions, we “exercise” the areas of our brain that are involved in make those actions if we did them ourselves. Helps us perofrm behaviuors when its our turn to do so
important: learning in essence is
the growth of new synapse
learning— enriched environments help or not?
- enriched or neutral environments helped rats grow more neural connections then genetically identical rates who were raised in impoverished environments
- animals do not have to be in enriched environments since birth to benefit from them
- longer life in enriches environments the more neural growth in hippocampus
