lecture 6 - learning Flashcards
define learning
process that leads to adaptive changes in behavior as result of experience
true or false: the ability to learn is not genetically encoded
false
what are the differences in imprinting and learning
imprinting is irreversible and happens within in a short time frame (restricted to the sensitive period)
learning is reversible and has no such sensitive period
what did tinbergen learn about differ wasps and nests
digger wasps use landmarks of a specific shape (arrangement of landmark) rather than type of landmark to find nest entereances
what did sheehan and tibbets learn about paper wasps
wasps are able to recognize faces but they must be intact. they are unable to learn geometric patterns
what is single stimulus learning
when they learn to do stuff by a single stimulus, this is the simplest experience that can lead to learning
what is sensitization
period of high responsiveness following arousal by rewarding or punishing expereinces
what is habituation
reduction in responses over time (can be problem in experiments)
what is involved in single stimulus learning
sensitization and habituation
what is a conditioned stimulus
associated with another stimulus that evokes that response (of the other stimulus) in the animal even if they are not paired together at this point (pavlovian or classical conditioning)
what is an unconditioned stimulus
stimulus that evokes the response in animal no matter what (response makes sense)
what is an appetitive stimulus
a pleasant, rewarding stimulus (food, mate, etc)
what is an averse stimulus
unpleasant stimulus (pain, etc)
what is a positive relationship with learning
first event predicts second
what is negative relationship with learning
first event predicts that second will not occur
what is excitatory conditioning produced by
positive relationships
what is inhibitory conditioning produced by
negative relationships
what is second order conditioning
add another element to the positive relationship timeline
what are the three types of learnability
- overshadowing
- blocking
- latent inhibition
what is overshadowing
stimulus produced a reduced response to another stimulus (hurts ability to learn)
what is instrumental conditioning/operant or goal directed leaning
Response is made and an animal is reinforced with a reward, which is different than pavlovian conditioning; must undertake some action or response to produce learning
what is paired stimulus
something happens every time you present that stimulus
what is blocking
block ability to pair one thing with the other thing
what is latent inhibition
a delay of the unconditioned stimulus being attached to the CS makes it take longer for learning to occur
when should natural selection favor learning over genetically programmed response
when environment changes often but not too often
list reasons why animals learn
foraging, individual recognition, predator avoidance, kin recognition, retrieving food stores, solving challenging problems
how do honey bees associate color and scent with food reward
they have a crucial 5 second time window where they associate flowers with reward (3 seconds during approach and 2 seconds after landing). after 3 learning events, the bees will remember forever
how do stress hormones affect learning in rats
stress hormones like corticosterone impact ability of rats to learn
