Problem 8 Flashcards
Social learning/
Observational learning
Refers to learning from others
–> actively monitoring the acts of others, then later choosing actions based on those observations
How does social learning differ from classical + operant conditioning
One cannot reliably predict WHAT an organism will learn from observing the actions of others
ex.: when watching friends in lecture, cannot reliably say whether they’re daydreaming or listening
Copying/
Imitating
Refers to the act of doing what one observes another organism doing
Banduras Bobo doll experiment
Children had to observe adults acting aggressively toward a Bobo doll
- -> some children imitated what they had seen
- -> due to the absence of reinforcement/punishment the possibility of conditioning was excluded
Modeling
Refers to a demonstration of actions that can be used to imitate
Social learning theory
Bandura
States that the kinds of reinforcements an individual has experienced in past social contexts will determine how this individual will act in any given situation
–> the relationship between action + outcome only needs to be observed, not performed, to be learned
–> imitation, observation + modeling
Which 4 basic processes did Bandura cite to explain imitation ?
- PRESENCE OF A MODEL
- -> increases the observers attention - Memories of the situation have to be stored in an ACCESSIBLE FORMAT
- -> so they can guide later actions - One has to be ABLE to REPRODUCE the actions
- One has to be MOTIVATED to reproduce
True imitation
Copying in which motor acts are replicated
Emulation
Replicating an observed outcome without reproducing the actions the model used to achieve that outcome
Two-action-test
Two “model” individuals are trained to perform a different action, which have same outcome
–> if naive observers are later asked to perform any actions to achieve the same outcome (Emulation), they will more likely perform same actions as “model” individuals (True imitation)
=> technique to investigate imitation abilities
Perspective taking
Imagining oneself in the place of another
–> only humans + few other species possess this ability
Which 3 Phenomena closely resemble imitation, but are not ?
- Emotional contagion
- Observational conditioning
- Stimulus enhancement
Emotional contagion
Refers to the inborn tendency to react emotionally to sights/sounds of emotion of others
ex. : yawning when someone else is yawning
- -> reaction is an UR
Observational conditioning
Learning an emotional response after observing similar responses in others
ex.: phobias; overcoming fear after observing someone else responding to the same fear, fearlessly
Stimulus enhancement
Process whereby observing another individual causes ones attention to be directed toward specific objects/events within an environment
ex.: seeing a lot of people looking into sky, looking up too to see what is so fascinating
Social transmission
Refers to a process in which an observer learns something new through experiences with others
ex.: person ahead of me at vending machine lost money, therefore i will not use it
Social transmission of food preferences by rats
Given a choice of 2 novel foods observer rats are more likely to eat the food they smelled on the demonstrator rats breath
Social conformity
Refers to the tendency to adopt the behavior of the group
–> has protective functions, but can also hinder the development of novel behavior patterns that might be advantageous
–> might be driven by stimulus enhancement
Social transmission of escape routes by guppies
Experiment
Demonstrator guppies were trained to escape from a net, by swimming through a particular hole in the net
–> Observer guppies tended to use the same escape path as the demonstrator guppies eventhough there was a different hole available
Which effects does the media have on behavior ?
The amount of violent TV watched by children in elementary school is correlated with their aggressiveness as teenagers
–> homicides increased after TV was introduced in the US
The ability to either imitate or emulate depends on … ?
The availability of memories for facts + events
Direct matching hypothesis
States that observing an action automatically activates the same neural systems required to perform the actions
–> memories for the action are stored as part of the process
Mirror neurons
Neurons that respond during performance of an action + during visual observations of the same action
- -> provide a neural link between seeing + doing an action
- -> hypothesized that they provide a basic mechanism for simple imitation
Song learning in bird brains.
In which way do the related findings relate to the human cortex ?
Song learning circuits of birds share many features in common with mammalian brain circuits for learning perceptual motor skills
–> Area X = Basal ganglia
LMAN = frontal cortex
Memory for socially transmitted info about foods in rats depends on which brain regions ?
Hippocampus + basal forebrain
Autism spectrum disorder
Refers to a set of disorders associated with deficits in social interactions + social learning
–> engage in echolalia
Echolalia
Refers to the automatic repetition of words/phrases immediately after hearing them spoken
–> would suggest ASD patients are good imitators
Mind blindness theory
States that children with ASD have problems with perspective taking
–> would explain imitation deficits
Which results ultimately explained why ASD children/patients suffer from impaired imitation abilities ?
Several brain regions were anatomically abnormal + slower activation of cortical regions
e.g.: cerebellum, corpus callosum, temporal lobes, amygdala affected
–> imitations start later + take longer to complete
Which effects to lesions to the frontal lobe have on imitation ?
Difficulty imitating actions when instructed to do so, but no problem when imitating automatically
F5 neurons
Mirror neurons
Neurons that become active during particular goal-directed hand movements, such as grasping, holding, and tearing
- -> sensitive to the meaning of actions /like neurons in FFA
- -> class of PREMOTOR neurons
Functions of the premotor cortex ?
Retrieving appropriate motor actions in response to sensory stimuli
–> Retrieval can also occur in response to gestures made by other individuals
Broken mirror hypothesis
As ASD patients have damage to their mirror neurons, they have lack of empathy
–> highly criticized
