Lecture 15: Mechanisms of Learning Flashcards
things to consider when interpretation animals learning:
- Be critical (parsimony)
- consider past experience (conclusions are meaningless otherwise)
- animals aren’t fluffy/scaly/feathery people (Anthropomorphism)
- Confounding factors (Clever Hans effect’
- why is the animal doing that? (Niko 4 questions)
Parsimony:
the principle that the simplest explanation that can explain the data is to be preferred.
Anthropomorphism:
Giving human characteristics to animals, inanimate objects or natural phenomena is a human trait called
Clever hans
demonstrated that the horse was not actually performing these mental tasks, but was watching the reactions of his human observers. E.g. observer cues
Tinbergens 4 questions:
- causation/mechanism
- Development
- adaption/function
- evolutionary history
development of behaviour is from
Interaction between genes and environment
Taxes are
- innate (e.g. genetic) responses to a stimulus.
- directional, move towards (+ve) or away (-ve)
- Chemotaxis, Phototaxis, Hydrotaxis, Magnetotaxis
behaviour should be examined using
timbergens 4questions
taxes and fixed action patterns which are largely genetic so are:
- species-specific
- predictable
- inflexible
- constant timing
fixed action patterns:
‘sign stimuli’ / ‘releasers’
Learning definition: (THORPE)
That process which manifests itself by adaptive changes in individual behaviour as a result of experience
non-associative types of learning:
- Habituation
- sensitisation
habituation: repeated exposure affect on response
DECREASES réponse
sensitisation: repeated exposure affect on response
increases response
Types of associative learning:
- Classical conditioning
- Operant conditioning
Classical conditioning:
- Organism pairs two external stimuli
- Responds to previously ‘uninteresting’ stimulus
- Pavlovs dog
Pavlov’s dog
- unconditioned stimulus (FOOD) –> unconditioned response
- Neutral stimulus (bell) –> no response
- unconditioned stimuli + conditioned stimulus (F+B) –> unconditioned response
- conditioned stimulus –> Conditioned response
operant conditioning:
- a.k.a trial & error / instrumental
- Consequence of own actions
- Stimulus-response (S-R) bond
- Likelihood of repeating behaviour
- SKinners box + rats
operant conditioning: Behaviourism
- observable
- mind unnecessary
- John Watson (1878-1958)
observational learning:
Learning that is influenced by the presence or actions of other individuals (normally conspecifics)
4 types of operant conditioning:
1) Positive reinforcement
2) Negative reinforcement
3) Punishment
4) Extinction
4 Types of Observational Learning
1) Facilitation - Presence of conspecific increases motivation
2) Enhancement - Presence of conspecific draws attention to area (local) or object (stimulus)
3) Imitation - Observer copies same sequence of actions as demonstrator
4) Emulation - Actor reaches same end result as demonstrator
Insightful Problem Solving?
- Immediate understanding of how to solve problem without trial-and-error or accidental discovery.
- Parsimony is Important!
- Wolfgang Kohler (1920s) Insight
- Epstein (1970s)-Associative learning - Chaining
