Learning

Question 1

Why is learning important?

Answer 1

1. Animals live in dynamic environments

-adaptive- individuals retain responses useful to them (offspring wont inherit learned responses but social learning can come into play)

2. Equips animals with ability to adjust their behaviour, benefit from experience
   - behavioural flexibility
   - advantages: avaoiding danger, more efficiently finidng resources

Question 2

How is “learning” defined as by Thorpe (1963)

Answer 2

“that process which manifests itself by adaptive changes in individual behaviour as a result of experiences”

Question 3

What two sipmle learning processes help animals interact within denvironments more efficiently?

Answer 3

1. Habituation =harmless stimulus originally elicits a response, but response gradually decreases over time
2. Sensitisation = increased responding to a stimulus

Question 4

What is habituation in the simple learning process?

Answer 4

1. Habituation =harmless stimulus originally elicits a response, but response gradually decreases over time
   - this learning is stimulus -specific
   (e. g. three spined sticklebacks (Peek & Veno, 1973))
   - individual variation in speed of this learning
   - important to establish it is learning - not sensory adaptation or fatgue
   - the initial responses can recover (if no exposure to stimulus for some time)

Question 5

What could be some consts to anmials if they did not habituation to various stimuli in their environment?

Answer 5

• Hypervigilance to potential predators (reduced feeding time)
• predators chasing everything
• reduced parental care
• energy expenditure

Trade off - reacting (and costs) vs. predation risk

• safe habituation - discrimination between dangerous and harmles events
• challanging in noisy environments (-> other strategies)

Question 6

What is classical ocnditioning?

Answer 6

bringing in the elicitation of involuntary responses under control of a stimulus that previously had no association whit that response

Question 7

Name four examples of involuntary behaviour

Answer 7

1. food on tongue (dog) ->salivation
2. puff of air in eye -> blinking
3. Bright light/darkness -> changes pupil constriction/dilation
4. loud noise/sudden motion … startle response

Question 8

define unconditionned stimulus (US)

Answer 8

has intrinsic significance to an animal (e.g. food)

Question 9

define unconditionned respons (UR)

Answer 9

involuntary respons (AKA reflex) the US elicits (e.g. salivation)

Question 10

define neutral stimulus

Answer 10

no significance (e.g. bell to call dog to feed)

Question 11

Define conditionned response (CR)

Answer 11

when the unconditionned response (UR) elicited by just conditioned stimulus (CS)

(e.g. soft air gun prank and bell (CS) with flinch (CR) of subject)

temporal contiguity is important for this conditioning to occur

• arrangement of stimuli in time
• e.g. CS present first, then the US - with some overlap

Question 12

Define operant conditioning

Answer 12

when the reoccurrence of voluntary behaviours is increased or decreased, depending on the consequences that followed that behavoiur

Question 13

give six examples for voluntary behavoiurs

Answer 13

1. recall
2. sit down
3. stationing
4. opening mouth
5. lifiting leg
6. manipulating items

Question 14

Graphically describe te process of operant conditioning

Answer 14

Question 15

What is the follwing example of?

what behaviour will likely occur?

you call a dog, they come to you, you give them a treat

Answer 15

positiv reinforcement (temporal contignity -> increase)

Question 16

What is the follwing example of?

what behaviour will likely occur?

a rat approaches a trap, the trap goes off (doesn’t trap the rat)

Answer 16

involuntary behaviour -> decrease (posotive punishement)

Question 17

What is the follwing example of?

what behaviour will likely occur?

an animal is behng handled and it wriggles free

Answer 17

negative reinforcement (increases)

Question 18

What is the follwing example of?

what behaviour will likely occur?

a cub claws at their mother and she gets up and walks away

Answer 18

negative punishement (decrease)

Question 19

define unconditioned reinforcement

Answer 19

no learning required to be reinforcing (e.g. food, warmth, sex, etc.)

Question 20

define conditionned reinfrcement

Answer 20

attain reinfocing value via classical conditioning (e.g. verbal praise, clickers)

Question 21

what is shaping?

Answer 21

=reinforcing succesive approximatoins of the final response

• animal initally received reinfocement for any small part of the final desired behaviour (e.g. slight turn of the head)
• you gradually shift the criteria for when you deliver reinforcement
  (e. g. master a slight head turn, wait for a 45 degree turn and reinforce only for that, then a 90 degree turn, the head turn + shoulder turn, etc
• often used without realising (e.g. training an animal to jump higher)

Question 22

define taste aversion

Answer 22

when an animal becomes unwell after eating a food and then avoids that food

learning, classical conditioning basis, but a bit different

• learning can take place with long delays (ca. 12 hours)
• learning can occur in jus one trial

Question 23

Give an example of taste aversion experiment in quails vs. rats and what adaptive value is there in thys type of learning?

Answer 23

• both ingested blue salty water, then made ill
• then given choice:

non coloured salty water or blue non-salty water

quails: avoided blue water
rats: avioded salty water

Why mighit this be?

Quails: blue water=visual cue

rats: salty water + taste and smell

important value for survival