lecture 1 & 2 & 3 Flashcards
Why are animals useful experimentally?
Can be used to explain human behaviour, we can manipulate events in ways you would not be able to on humans, the animal does not know that it is an experiment.
Application of information gained through studying animal behaviour
Lesions of the brain
Pharmacological manipulations
Genetically modified organisms
What is evidence for the evolutionary continuity between animals and humans?
Darwins theory of evolution through natural selection
Romanes (1881)
worked on animal intelligence. Identified that animals are rational, empathetic and reason.
Cornway Lloyd Morgan (1890)
Was against anthropomorphism and said that actions should be interpreted as an outcome of low psychological state.
Anthropomorphism
The view that animals and people have the same capabilities, motivations and desires.
Edward Thorndike
Understood that animals would learn. Experimented on the intelligence in cats- the ability of a cat to escape from modified orange crates (puzzle box) over successive trial. The cats learned through trial and error.
Thorndikes law of effect
If a response leads to a satisfying outcome it will be strengthened.
What did John B Watson advocate
Importance of learning
The science of behaviourism in which only observable behaviour can be studied
Use of animals
What does instrumental conditioning (Skinner & Pavlov) involve?
A stimulus that initiates a response and a reinforcer
What did Skinner believe the solution to the major problems today could be solved with?
Improving our understanding of human behaviour.
What did Skinner add to Watson’s behaviourist views?
Experimentation focused on rats and pigeons as these are evolutionary diverse
What is response shaping (Skinner)?
A technique developed to train animals to perform a particular behaviour to gain a reward.
What is used to ensure animals keep performing a trained response without always receiving a reward (Skinner)?
Schedules of reinforcement
What instrument did Skinner develop?
A conditioning chamber/Skinner box where levers were presented and could be pecked in response to certain cues to gain a food reward.
What is operant/instrumental learning (Skinner)?
A response that leads to a reward.
What conditioning did Colwill and Resocrla enforce?
Instrumental conditioning as animals had to respond to a problem with the outcome of food.
Explain the steps to Colwill and Resocrla conditioning.
Stimulus: lever
Response: Lever press
Outcome: Food
Explain the different stages involved in Colwill and Resocrla.
- lever press = food
chain pull = sucrose - food = illness
sucrose = nothing - re-test with lever and chain
Contamination in Colwill and Resocrla.
In stage 2 the food was contaminated with lithium chloride which would make the rats feel sick (they cannot vomit). An aversion for the food is created. In test the number of animals pulling the chain is significantly higher.
Fixed interval reward testing.
Food dispensed at set intervals. Animals would press a level few times after a food reward but with increasing time they press the lever more.
What are the different schedules of reinforcement?
Fixed ratio
Variable ratio
Fixed interval
Variable interval
What did Pavlov study about dogs?
Initially the digestive system.
Then trained salivary action in response to the delivery of food. The dogs salivate when research assistants arrived to feed the dogs meat powder.
Pavlov: what was conditional learning incorrectly translated to?
conditioning
Pavlovian conditioning
Classical conditioning/ Type 1/ Respondent. Neutral stimulus (bell) has no learned effect. When an unconditioned stimulus (food) is presented there is an unconditioned response (salivation). Pair the CS and US this eventually leads to a Conditioned response
Pavlov conditioning Conditioned stimulus Unconditioned stimulus Unconditioned response Conditioned response
Bell
Present Food
Salivation
Salivation
Pavlov’s measurements of the number of drops of saliva.
Number of drops of saliva from the conditioned response plotted against successive conditioned stimulus.
The number of drops increased over trials until reaching an asymptote.
When only presenting the CS the number of drops decreased until there was no longer a response (Extinction).
Pavlov: spontaneous recovery
After a 24 hour rest the re-presentation of CS will produce the CR.
What did Pavlov show about the properties of a conditioned response?
CR is sensitive to the properties of the CS .
A tone of 1200 Hz used.
If 1000-1400 Hz used CR seen.
Generalisation gradient and generalisation decrements (Pavlov).
Using a variety of Hz and plotting this on a graph shows a generalisation gradient.
The generalisation decrement is when a R presented is different to the CR due to the alteration in stimulus presented.
Define learning
A relatively permanent change in behaviour that results from experience.
This can be observed in animals as opposed to an acquisition of knowledge.
Results when Banks and Flora asked students to rank the intelligence of animals.
Humans scored 10
Fish (last) ranked 1.68
Aristotle: Scala naturae
The great chain of being where there is an ordered sequence of complexity and intelligence from simple animals to complex animals.
Romanes view on learning
The intelligence of animals was ordered in linear progression as a result of natural selection.
Problem: all animals have a long evolutionary history with many common ancestors so cannot rank mammals higher than birds when the evolutionary history is shared.
Jerison views on learning
The larger the brain the greater the intellect. But much of the brain is involved in controlling motor function so a larger body correlates to a larger brain.
Jerison generated a ratio of brain weight to body weight (cephalisation index). Humans and dolphins had a high index, elephants were lower.
Anazogora’s views on learning
Animals were equally intelligent but some are better able to express their intelligence.
Macphail’s views on learning.
Differences in intelligence can be explained by:
motivation
perception
motor skills
Skard’s experiments on rats.
Compared rats and humans in their ability to navigate through a maze. Found that rats were as quick as humans as learning the route
Angermeier research into learning
Trained various animals to make a response to gain a food reward.
Mammals had to press a lever, birds had to peck a disk and fish had to push a rod.
Fish (fastest), rabbits (slowest)
Jeff Bitterman’s explanation of animal learning
Difficult to equate perceptual demands of tests (some species may not see a lever)
Difficult to equate motivational demands
Discrepancies of intelligence within species so large sample size needed.
Contextual variables (perception & motivation)
Gracia and Koelling experiments (saline) into animal learning
Rats trained to drink from a water dispenser. 2 groups then given saline to drink followed by a mild food shock or mild poison.
Rats that were made ill avoided the saline. Rats that were shocked drank the saline.
Gracia and Koelling experiments (light and clicker) into animal learning
2 groups received water in the presence of a light and clicker. Rats made ill or given foot shock. Group that were shocked avoided the water in the presence of light and clicker, but those made ill drank lots.
Define memory in animals
Current behaviour is under the influence of past experience
Periodic timing
The ability of animals to respond at a particular time
Interval timing
The ability of animals to respond on the basis of specific durations
Vander wall’s work in animal learning
Clark’s nutcracker lives in high-altitude pine forest where there is lots of food in the autumn but little in the winter. Can store 30000 seeds in 4000 locations known as caches. Bird relies on memory to relocate the caches.
Vaughan & Greene experiments of animal learning
pigeons required to peck on a key in response to the presentation of stimuli and withhold response from other stimuli.
Shown pairs of photographs and received a reward for pecking on the key in front of one of the photographs. Position of photos were changed between trials. Birds could discriminate 320 photographs.
Church & Deluty experiments on learning
Trained rates to press on levers in a conditioning change.
Interval = 4 seconds & left lever pressed, food reward
Interval = 16 seconds & right lever pressed, food rewarded
Clever Hans
Horse able to tap his hoof to count/ solve arithmetic questions.
Unable to answer Q if questioner was not visible or if they did not know the answer to the Q.
Clever Hans was reading the questioner’s body language which was tense while the horse was tapping but relaxed when the answer was reaches. Tense = keep tapping. Relaxed = stop tapping.
Meek & Church experiments into animal learning
4 tones presented to rats, left lever pressed, food rewarded.
16 tones, right lever pressed, food rewarded.
Time taken to present the tones was controlled.
Bannon & Terrace experiments into animal learning
Monkeys were able to remember numbers represented by particular stimuli then would touch squares on the screen with different numbers of dots. Monkeys had to touch the squares in numerical order to be awarded food.
Rugani, Regotin & Vallortigara experiments into animal learning
5- day old chicks were able to remember the serial position of food in a row of 9 wells. Wells rotated to rule out the chicks learning the location. Birds would check the 4th well in from both sides.
Pepperberg and Alex (parrot)
Alex the African grey parrot could name the number of coloured blocks up to 7 or 8.
