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
Why is social learning important?
Important in cultural transmission/evolution
Insight learning/problem solving
“the ability to combine spontaneously two or more isolated experiences to form a new experience which is effective for obtaining a desired end”
Comparative study of learning/intelligence
*Compare brains
*Compare test performace
*Compare ability to form learning sets
Learning sets
*Learn to perform simple test
*Grasp principle behind test
*Solve simple tasts quickly
Morgan’s Canon
that higher psychological processes should not be used to explain behaviour that can be explained using lower processes.
The phylogenetic hypothesis to explain humain intelligence
*Human mind and consciousness had precursors in ancestors
*Social life as driver of intelligence
*Gap in abilities between humans and current relatives.. but our abilities evolved gradually
