Problem 8

Question 1

Social learning/

Observational learning

Answer 1

Refers to learning from others

–> actively monitoring the acts of others, then later choosing actions based on those observations

Question 2

How does social learning differ from classical + operant conditioning

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Copying/

Imitating

Answer 3

Refers to the act of doing what one observes another organism doing

Question 4

Banduras Bobo doll experiment

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Modeling

Answer 5

Refers to a demonstration of actions that can be used to imitate

Question 6

Social learning theory

Bandura

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Which 4 basic processes did Bandura cite to explain imitation ?

Answer 7

1. PRESENCE OF A MODEL
   - -> increases the observers attention
2. Memories of the situation have to be stored in an ACCESSIBLE FORMAT
   - -> so they can guide later actions
3. One has to be ABLE to REPRODUCE the actions
4. One has to be MOTIVATED to reproduce

Question 8

True imitation

Answer 8

Copying in which motor acts are replicated

Question 9

Emulation

Answer 9

Replicating an observed outcome without reproducing the actions the model used to achieve that outcome

Question 10

Two-action-test

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Perspective taking

Answer 11

Imagining oneself in the place of another

–> only humans + few other species possess this ability

Question 12

Which 3 Phenomena closely resemble imitation, but are not ?

Answer 12

1. Emotional contagion
2. Observational conditioning
3. Stimulus enhancement

Question 13

Emotional contagion

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Observational conditioning

Answer 14

Learning an emotional response after observing similar responses in others

ex.: phobias; overcoming fear after observing someone else responding to the same fear, fearlessly

Question 15

Stimulus enhancement

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Social transmission

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Social transmission of food preferences by rats

Answer 17

Given a choice of 2 novel foods observer rats are more likely to eat the food they smelled on the demonstrator rats breath

Question 18

Social conformity

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Social transmission of escape routes by guppies

Experiment

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Which effects does the media have on behavior ?

Answer 20

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

Question 21

The ability to either imitate or emulate depends on … ?

Answer 21

The availability of memories for facts + events

Question 22

Direct matching hypothesis

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Mirror neurons

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Song learning in bird brains.

In which way do the related findings relate to the human cortex ?

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Memory for socially transmitted info about foods in rats depends on which brain regions ?

Answer 25

Hippocampus + basal forebrain

Question 26

Autism spectrum disorder

Answer 26

Refers to a set of disorders associated with deficits in social interactions + social learning

–> engage in echolalia

Question 27

Echolalia

Answer 27

Refers to the automatic repetition of words/phrases immediately after hearing them spoken

–> would suggest ASD patients are good imitators

Question 28

Mind blindness theory

Answer 28

States that children with ASD have problems with perspective taking

–> would explain imitation deficits

Question 29

Which results ultimately explained why ASD children/patients suffer from impaired imitation abilities ?

Answer 29

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

Question 30

Which effects to lesions to the frontal lobe have on imitation ?

Answer 30

Difficulty imitating actions when instructed to do so, but no problem when imitating automatically

Question 31

F5 neurons

Mirror neurons

Answer 31

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

Question 32

Functions of the premotor cortex ?

Answer 32

Retrieving appropriate motor actions in response to sensory stimuli

–> Retrieval can also occur in response to gestures made by other individuals

Question 33

Broken mirror hypothesis

Answer 33

As ASD patients have damage to their mirror neurons, they have lack of empathy

–> highly criticized