Types of Learning Flashcards
Learning
Behaviour is modified by experience during the lifetime of an individual
Name the types of learning
*Habituation
*Spatial Learning
*Classical conditioning
*Trial and error
*Latent learning
*Social learning e.g. imitation
*Insight learning/problem solving
Name the types of associative learning
*Trial & Error
*Classical conditioning
Define Habituation
“A stimulus-specific decline in a response to a repeated stimulus not associated with reward or punishment”
*Effect is in the CNS
*Occurs in most animals
*Adaptive: avoids wasting time in response to meaningless stimuli
Spatial Learning
When animals modify their behaviour based on experience with the spatial structure of their environment.
(Cognitive Map & Landmarks)
e.g. location of food, nest sites and hazards
Name the types of spaital learning
*Landmark learning
*Cognitive maps
Landmark Learning
*Experiments by Tinbergen showed how digger wasps locate their nest using landmarks
*Landmarks must be stable within the timeframe of the activity
Cognitive Maps
*Internal codes of spatial relationships of objects in their environment
*Pinyon jays hide seeds in thousands of locations and can locate them again
*Cognitive map + memory
Classical conditioning
*A conditioned response is formed by the association of a previously neutral stimulus with reward ( positive (reinforcement) or punishment (negative reinforcement )
*The animal now responds to this stimulus as if it were the rewarding or punishing stimulus
Associative learning
*Involves acquisition of new responses, associated with consequences of importance (good/bad) to the animal
*If a stimulus or action is repeatedly associated with certain consequences, then a longterm association is formed between the two and the animal’s response changes
What are the characteristics of associative learning?
*Learning is most likely to occur if reinforcement occurs close to the conditioned stimulus or new reponse
*Improves with repetition
*If a conditioned response is no longer rewarded it eventually disappears.
Give an exception to associative learning
An exception: rats will associate illness with taste of a novel food eaten hours earlier
Latent Learning
*Learning that occurs in the absence of reward or punishment
*What is learnt may not be obvious at the time of learning
*Typical of exploration
*Novelty itself may be rewarding
Social Learning
Learning facilitated by observing or interacting with another animal its products
Gives examples of social learning
*Learning tool-use by chimps involves imitation of another chimp’s behaviour
*Song Learning in birds
*Bottle-opening in tits
