Learning Flashcards
What is learning
A process by which an animals response to stimuli is altered as a result of experience
What are the categories of learning
Habituation Associative learning Imprinting Insight learning Cultural transmission
What is habituation learning
Gradual reduction in he strength of a response to a continuous or repeated stimulus that is not associated with a reinforced
What is associative learning
Learning that one event is associated with another
What are the two types of associated learning
Pavlovian conditioning - classical
Operant conditioning - instrumental
What is instrumental conditioning
Where the animal learns the association between its behaviour and an outcome
What is instrumental conditioning sometimes referred to
Trial and error
Skinner believed that animals could learn to associate any stimulus with any reinforcement - what proved this to be wrong
Rats quickly learn to associate taste with nausea and a bell with an electric shock
the rats could not learn to associate the taste with the electrical shock or the bell with nausea
What is imprinting
Specialised form of learning in which young animals learn to recognised and approach a large moving object - like their parents
Why is imprinting a critical period of early development
This behaviour in the wild is a defence as they quickly learn to follow mum and dad which will protect them
Who first described imprinting
Konrad Lorenz
What is cognition
When birds and mammals use their knowledge and mental processing of information to solve complex problems
Cognition in rats
Rats can form cognitive maps
Cognition in chimps
Sign language
Show insight - eg chimp use water to fill tube to raise nut so chimp can eat nut
Cognition in birds and primates
Use of tools
Cognition in pigeons
Categorisation
Cognition in primates, dolphins and elephants
Pass the mirror self recognition test
What is cultural transmission
Some novel behaviour patterns may be copied and passed on to subsequent generations without an genetic changes being involved
Is cultural transmission rapid within and between generations
Yes
Examples of cultural transmission
Gull trapping by killer whales
Tools use and food washing in primates
Explain species differences in learning
Some species differences in the ability to learn can be explained by the differing complexity of their nervous systems
Even within closely related taxonomic groups species specific differences in natural behaviour affect performance in learning tasks
Why is a rhesus monkey more likely to solves a problem than a cat
Has a more complex nervous system so it more capable of learning
Ecological importance of behaviour
Allows rapid modification of behaviour
Major importance for vertebrates and cephalopods
Habituation are likely to be important for other animals
What does learning allow animals to do
Adapt rapidly to changes in their environment
In what animals is learning found
In most animals even those with simple nervous systems
