Lecture 9: Operant Conditioning - Foundations Flashcards
What is operant/instrumental conditioning?
- The organism acts on its environment, leading to an outcome
- Behaviour is influenced by consequences
- Thorndike’s Law of Effect: Learning happens by trial and error
What behaviours are repeated and what behaviours are not repeated in instrumental conditioning?
- Previously effective behaviours are repeated
- Previously ineffective behaviours are not repeated
What is an example of operant conditioning?
- Cats in the puzzle boxes
- Schrodinger’s cat
- Cat must learn how to open (ex. chain/latch/pedal)
- Escape is faster with repeated exposure to the same box
According to the Law of Effect, what are the associations between in operant conditioning?
- Associations b/n preceding stimulus and response (S-R association; outcome not considered)
What are S-R associations now considered a key mechanism of?
- Habitual behaviours
- Compulsions
- Once learned, antecedent/preceding stimulus triggers/evokes a response outside of consideration of the resultant outcome/consequence (behavioural habit)
- Don’t need to pay attention when performing S-R habits (ex. starting car)
What is a dominance in neural circuits seen as?
- Dominance in behavioural output
What is the Law of Effect?
- Gradual modification of nonreflexive behaviour by experience
- Those responses which are closely followed by satisfaction will be more firmly connected to the situation, so they will be more likely to recur
- The greater the satisfaction, the greater the strengthening of the bond (satisfaction modifies S-R association)
- Satisfaction ‘stamps in’ connection between S and R
What is an example of the S-R mechanism?
- Stimuli drive response
- Ex. people, paraphernalia and environment lead to drug seeking/taking behaviours
- Outcome reinforces response
- Ex. drug effects reinforce the behaviour and stamps S-R association
What is a discrete trial?
- Each training trial begins with placing the animal in the apparatus and removing the animal after instrumental response has been performed
What are 2 examples of discrete trial procedures?
Runway
- Running speed/latency to goal box is primary dependent measure
- Experimenter can manipulate reinforcement value
- Speed increases and latency decreases with repeated training for appetitive stimulus
T-maze
- Choice/place learning procedures
- Latency/speed are still measures
- Spatial awareness and memory are also factors
What is free-operant? Who was it developed by?
- Allow animal to engage in instrumental response repeatedly without interruption or constraint
- Developed by B.F. Skinner (designed to study behaviours that ‘operate’ on the environment in a continuous manner)
- Lever pressing, nose pokes, chain pulling, etc.
- Number of responses/response rate are primary measures of interest
What is latent learning? Give an example.
- A form of learning not overtly expressed immediately but becomes apparent when motivation present (absence of reinforcement)
- Cognitive factors are important to learning
- Rats still increased speed of completing maze without food reward at end
Is an outcome always necessary for S-R learning?
No
What is positive reinforcement?
- Response produces an appetitive stimulus
- Reinforcement/increase in response rate as result
- Ex. food/drugs given
What is positive punishment?
- Response produces an aversive stimulus
- Punishment/decrease in response rate as result
- Ex. foot shock induced
What is negative reinforcement?
- Escape or avoidance
- Eliminates or prevents occurrence of an aversive stimulus
- Reinforcement/increase in response rate as result
- Ex. Escape foot shock
What is omission training or negative punishment?
- Response eliminates or prevents occurrence of an appetitive stimulus
- Punishment/decrease in response rate as result
- Ex. remove toy, food, etc.
What are 3 examples of positive reinforcement?
- Study => high grades
- Complete chores => money
- Press lever => food
What are 3 examples of positive punishment?
- Climbing on table => squirt with water
- Writing on walls => spank
- Press lever => shock
What are the issues with positive punishment?
- Less effective
- Context-specific
What are 3 examples of negative reinforcement?
- Put on sunglasses => less painful sunlight
- Close window => less rain coming in
- Press lever => removes shock risk
What are 3 examples of negative punishment?
- Tantrum in store => no treat
- Writing on walls => take away crayons
- Press lever within a waiting period => removes food pellet
What are primary reinforcers?
- Stimuli needed for survival (food, water, sex)
- Stimuli that mimic the effects of food/water/sex in the brain (drugs artificially enhance system to get to next stage)
- Sensory stimulation and novelty
What are secondary/conditioned reinforcers?
- A previous ‘neutral’ stimulus that acquired the capacity to strengthen S-R associations b/c it has been repeatedly paired with a primary reinforcer
- CS/US overlays response
- Symbol associated with primary reinforcers
What are social reinforcers?
- Stimuli whose reinforcing properties derive uniquely from behaviour of other members of same species
- Ex. praise, affection, attention
- They are usually a blend of primary and secondary reinforcers
- Drives up rate of responding
- Ex. social component in drug abuse
What is response shaping? What 2 components does it involve?
- Sequence of training steps
- Learn operant response
- Ex. Rats are rewarded when on hind legs, then must be near lever, then only if rat presses lever
- Involves reinforcement of successive approximations to the final behaviour and withholding reinforcement for earlier response forms
What is the preliminary phase of conditioning called?
- Magazine training
- Ex. learning when food is available in cup (involves classical conditioning)
What is an appetitive stimulus?
- Pleasant event
What is an aversive stimulus?
- Unpleasant stimulus
