Learning Flashcards
Do well in exam
Define learning
A relatively permanent change in capacity for behaviour as the result of experience
Classical conditioning
The process by which innate, reflexive behaviour come to be produced in new situations, e.g. Pavlov’s dog
Operant conditioning
Strengthening or weakening behaviour as a result of its consequences (trial and error learning) - can be reward or punishment
Vicarious conditioning
Observable learning
The Grandmaster experiment
A psychologist raises his children on chess, who all become extremely successful professionals. This demonstrates learning’s (nurture’s) role in ability
Summary of history of nativism vs empiricism
Plato - knowledge present at birth (nativist)
Aristotle - knowledge through experience (empiricist)
Descartes - knowledge from divine / rational mind
Locke - knowledge through senses (empiricist)
Watson - evolution important and learning is simple stimulus and response
Hull… then Tolman… then Bandura… then Skinner
Watsons (1924) main ideas (3)
Behaviour is reflexive and evolution dependent
Learning is simple stimulus and response
Infants born with love, fear and rage (all else learnt)
Clark Hull’s main ideas (2)
Thought unobservable events CAN be studied (if they can be operationalised)
Assumed internal processes were dictated by physiological mechanisms
Edward Tolman’s main ideas (3)
Interested in goal directed behaviour
Internal processes were mental and physiological
Suggested that behaviour effects the environment
Albert Bandura’s main ideas (2)
Emphasises the importance of observable learning and cognitive variables in behaviour
And that behaviour significantly effects the environment
BF Skinner’s main ideas (3)
A radical behaviourist, focused on environment’s influence on behaviour
Did not need to quantify or focus on internal events, more scientific to quantify consequences
Great advocate for operant conditioning
Stimulus
Anything that impinges on an organism, potentially effecting behaviour
Response
Any overt or covert behaviour triggered by a stimulus
Elicit behaviours
Responses automatically drawn out by stimulus
Emitted behaviours
Responses voluntarily triggered by the environments context
Fixed action patterns
Usually just for animals, complex behaviours completed automatically
Overt
Behaviour that has the potential to be directly observed
Covert
Behaviour only perceived by the performer of it
How can covert behaviours become overt
By using a means other than the senses to observe someone else (covert anxiety becomes overt when heart rate measured)
Simple learning, and two types
Non associative, often short lasting
Types: Habituation, Sensitization
Habituation
The reduction in effectiveness of a stimulus eliciting a response (if stimulus is repeatedly applied with no attention grabbing effects)
Sensitization
An increase in responsiveness to a stimulus following repeated presentation (stimulus has attention grabbing effects)
Associative learning
Learning to associate two events/stimuli that occur together
Contiguity
Contiguity
The principle that events occur together (temporally or spatially) and therefore associated
Contingency
A predictive relationship between two events (similar to temporal contiguity - one predicting the other, e.g. Pavlov’s dog)
Deprivation and example
Prolonged absence of an event or stimulus that tends to increase appetitiveness (e.g. food)
Satiation and example
Prolonged exposure to or consumption of a stimulus that tends to decrease appetitiveness or increase aversiveness (e.g. electric shock)
Experiment on reward’s effect on learning
Tolman (1930) - found rats to make less errors in a maze if they had knowledge of a reward. Introducing the reward half way through saw rapid improvements
The Skinner Box
Rat cage containing various stimuli to test behaviour (e.g. light, speaker, shocker, lever)
Also said to be used on his daughter!
Example of classical conditioning
Pavlov’s dog: dog heard a bell before every time it was fed. After a while, the dog elicit saliva to just the sound of the bell (contingency behaviour)
Describe classical conditioning
An unconditioned stimulus causes an unconditioned response. Pair the unconditioned stimulus with a neutral stimulus frequently and the unconditioned response will become a conditioned response to the now conditioned stimulus
How classical conditioning works with neurons
The US and UR have strong connection. When US paired with NS frequently, connecting neurons strengthen and CR and CS emerge
(Neurons that fire together wire together - stronger synapses)
Contiguous stimulus
That which co-occurs with another stimulus
Appetitive conditioning and examples
Types of learning that underlie our ability to see pleasure (food, drugs etc)
Aversive conditioning
Types of learning that underlie our ability to avoid pain (shock, unpleasant smell etc)
Evolutionary usefulness of classical conditioning and example
Associating something with something else (either pleasant or dangerous) to predict and adapt behaviour
E.g. - a lion’s roar with a lion = RUN
Suppression ratio define
How to quantify learning in classical conditioning through behaviour
Suppression ratio = …
.. = number of CS responses / number of CS responses + number of pre-CS responses
(Closer to 0 the more suppression, Max = 0.5)
Excitatory conditioning and example
Takes place when the US is present (Pavlov’s dog)
Inhibitory conditioning and example
Takes place when the US is absent (dog bites you only in owners absence, so seeing dog with owner is inhibitory
??
Temporal arrangement of stimuli
Interval between the onset of the CS and onset of US. The smaller the more effective the association
Maximum temperal arrangement of stimuli for (1) eye blink (2) Salvation (3) Taste aversion - being sick from food
1) 1 second
2) 5 seconds
3) 4 hours
Delayed conditioning
When NS onset precedes US onset
Trace conditioning
When offset of NS precedes onset of US
Simultaneous conditioning
NS and US onset at the same time
Backward conditioning
When onset of NS follows onset of US
Rank trace, backward, simultaneous and delayed conditioning for effectiveness
Delayed
Trace
Simultaneous
Backward
Characteristics of conditioning (6)
Acquisition speed Extinction Spontaneous recovery Disinhibition Stimulus Generalisation Stimulus Discrimunation
What does acquisition speed depend on for conditioning
The stronger the US and CS the faster the acquisition
Extinction in conditioning
The weakening of CR when the CS is repeatedly present without the US
Spontaneous recovery in conditioning
Reappearance of CR following a rest period after extinction (spontaneous!)
Disinhibition in conditioning
Recovery of CR during extinction when a novel (similar to CS) is introduced alongside US (e.g. different tone of bell for Pavlov’s dog)
??
Stimulus Generalisation in conditioning
Conditioning can occur from other stimuli similar to CS
Stimulus Discrimination in conditioning
Only responding to the specific CS, not generalising to similar ones
High order classical conditioning and example
conditioning a CS can result in the development of a CR to a NS that is already associated with CS
Wasp (CS) + Sting (US) = fear (CR), so rubbish bin (NS) + wasp = fear, thus rubbish bin = fear!
Sensory preconditioning and example
Classical conditioning of a CS can cause a CR to a NS that has been associated to the CS
Wasp + tree, Wasp + sting = fear, thus tree = fear
Difference between high order conditioning and sensory preconditioning
For sensory preconditioning, the tree and wasp are both NS’s at same time (the start). Whereas for high order, the rubbish bin only comes into it once the wasp is a CS
Latent learning
When learning occurs without an overt demonstration of learning (behaviour demonstrating comes under certain conditions)
Limitations of classical conditioning (3)
Overshadowing
Blocking
Latent inhibition
Overshadowing in classical conditioning and example
The more salient member of the conditioning compound, the more readily conditioned it is as a CS, interfering with the conditioning of the less salient one
E.g. - light more salient than faint metronome so becomes CS
Blocking in classical conditioning and example
Presence of already established CS interferes with conditioning of new stimulus
E.g. adding a light to Pavlov’s dog’s conditioning would be blocked by the well established bell
Latent inhibition in classical conditioning and example
An already familiar stimulus is more difficult to condition than an unfamiliar one
E.g. - trying to condition dog with a whistle (most likely hears regularly
Difference between blocking and overshadowing in classical conditioning
For blocking, the NS is paired with a CS
For overshadowing, two NS’s are paired together
Rescorla-Wagner Model
A US can only support a limited amount of conditioning (associations with NS’s), distributed amongst the ones available
(supported by blocking!)
What does V mean in terms of classical conditioning
Strength of association between CS and CR
e.g. - drops of saliva from Pavlov’s dog
Rescorla-Wagner rule
Learning occurs only if what happens does not match the organisms expectations (i.e. learning is proportional to surprise)
Change in association (for classical conditioning) = …
Vmax - V
Limitations of the Rescorla-Wagner rule (3)
May not account for… latent inhibition, sensory preconditioning and spontaneous recovery