Overview of animal learning Flashcards
Project Orcon
skinner- aim for pigeons to fly missiles
trained to peak at target then boat then moving image lead to development of touch screens
History of animal research
20- Pavlov’s dogs
40- Skinner’s pigeon
50- exotic animals
80- sea slugs and neuroscience of learning
modern day machine learning
Learning
relatively permeant change in behaviour as a result of individual experience
difficult to define as over 40 types
Reflex
Motor or neural reaction to specific stimulus
Instinct
Innate behaviour triggered by a range of events
Inherit
behaviours genetically gained from parents
Why learn
as reflexes, instinct and inheritance not enough need to be able to adapt to environment
example of learning due to environment
climate change make ocean more acidic
Macro scale - looks like nothings changing/ gradual change -evolution boldness
Micro scale constantly rapid changes- learning to be more bold
Behavioural change in unison example
not isolated
Physiology
rattlesnake produces new venom and squirrel mechanism to neutralise
Behaviour
snake targets squirrels without antivenom and mother squirrels ingest snake kin and lick offspring to conceal scent
How old is learning
Cambrian explosion- new and diverse life from which can learn (540 mil years ago)
now can change behaviour ontogenetically (lifetime) when previously just phylogenetically (evolutionary)
against how old is learning
Might just be because hard body fossilizes easier so seems like a boom in creatures
Learning in single cells
Gelber- Wire coated in food given to single cells. single cells stuck to wire even without food
Alternatives to learning
motivation- internal force that drives behaviour
Maturation
Learning and intelligence
Widely debated
speed of learning not associated with relative brain size (EQ)
as smaller brains have less neurons that need to fire so are quicker
Spectrum of learning
increase in complexity and sue of cognition compared to pre-cognition but does not mean worse just less complex learning needed for environment
Non-associative -> associative -> contingency and casual learning
More knowledge of animal learning
Mostly study rats, pigeons, sea slugs and Rhesus marque
as can use invasive techniques
Main weakness of looking at animal learning for humans
definition of learning includes experience and cant ask animals about experience
Skinners box
artificial stimuli given with electric current along floor
rat easier to push lever to get food rather then avoid shock as not biologically predisposed to it
Contextual variable
a noncognitive factor that accounts for behavioural differences between species. (sensory, perceptual, motivational or morphological)
so train on same task across different conditions
Non-associative learning
a change in response towards a stimulus in the absence of any associated event
NA learning example
poke snail either snail no longer responds (habituation) or responds more and quicker (sensitization)
Real life examples of NA learning
leaves become habituated but anemone tentacles are dangerous so undergo sensitization
Habituation
Decrease in behavioural response to a repeatedly presented stimulus
Ruling out alternatives to habituation
Fatigue- animal responds to a different stimulus
Sensory adaptation- still responds when change in conditions so sensors still working
Sensitization
An increase in behavioural response to a repeatedly presented stimulus
not been studied a lot
Conditions for NA
weak or non-bio meaningful- Rapid hab/ or slow senz
Strong or bio meaningful- rapid senz or slow hab
Against NA
Too simple to actually be a form of learning
Critical stages of learning development
Before birth, between life phases, after birth and old age
Learning in the Utero/ embryonic learning
female fairy wrens sing to unhatched eggs so learn feeding call to avoid cuckoo
Cuttlefish perceive predators before they hatch
adult frogs prefer odours exposed to as frog spawn
Embryonic learning in the lab
Salamander eggs bathed in novel odour. when adult prefer that odour and stimuli generalisation happens and prefer similar odours
Chimpanzee in womb associate tone with vibration remember when born
Metamorphosis
process of transforming between 4 life stages: egg , larva, pupa and adult
Short term explanation of metamorphosis learning
emerging moth is exposed to chemical info from larval environment
Long term explanation of metamorphosis learning
learning maintained in the neural system
Evidence for long term explanation
caterpillar exposed to smell and shock . After metamorphosis put in maze and avoid arm with odour
ruling out short term explanation
apply odour to naïve caterpillar no preference for maze arm
or wash odour /shocked exposed caterpillar still avoid arm with odour
Learning retained after metamorphism
tadpole trained to avoid side of box with shocks when frog still avoid this side
Imprinting
Phase-sensitive which is rapid and independent of the consequence of behaviour
Filial
learn stimuli related to parent
Sexual (imprinting)
learn stimuli related to an appropriate mate
Precocial
born independent close to parents by filial imprinting for safety and food
Lorenz- goslings abnormally imprint in bird model, humans, or red ball.
Fear learning in early life
Fear adaptative. PTSD- fear persisting long after threat vanished which is exaggerated and inappropriate
Fear extinction learning
treatment- expose to stimuli related to threat over time no threat occurs so fear response reduced
e.g. rat associates shock with odour repeated odour exposure leads to no fear response
Fear peak at adolescents
due to first time going out alone so experience more danger
mice - note and shock. adolescent mice require longer before they unlearn fear response
Sensitivity to reinforcement changes with age
adults- reward and punishments
adolescents- Rewards
Difference between learning and memory
learning- process of acquiring knowledge
memory- process off recording, storing and retrieving info
Mouse models of learning declining with age
reach old age 18 months
learning effected differently
Complex (spatial) sensitive to ageing
simple- only impaired in very old
motor- well preserved
Reversal learning
Knowledge originally learned is reversed
Reversal of contingencies
pull lever when light red to gain food then switches to green for food
ability declines with age
WCST
Sample card is tasked to match with other cards based on colour, shape or number. after a while then change to one of the other categories. older humans struggle
