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Learning

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Any relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience of practice. ~When people learn anything some part of their brain in physically changed to record what they've learned ~Research suggests that once people learn something it is always present somewhere in their memory but they might not be able to get to it

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Maturation

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Changes like increase in height or size of the brain controlled by biology not experience

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Ivan Pavlov

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~Russian physiologist studying digestive systems in his dogs ~Built a device that would accurately measure the saliva produced and found that the dogs were salivating before their food was given to them ~The food is the Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) ~Salivation to the food is the Unconditioned Response (UCR) ~When the UCS (food) was paired with a NS (ticking noise) the dogs learned to salivate to the ticking noise ~This made the ticking noise a CS and salivation a CR ~He found that similar sounds produce salivation but not as strongly as the original CS- stimulus generalization ~Pavlov stopped feeding the dogs to the "fake" ticking noise so the dogs stopped salivating- stimulus discrimination ~If he stopped giving food after the CS the dogs CR would die out- extinction ~When he stopped the experiment for a while and then presented the dogs with the ticking noise again the CR reappeared (salivation), although it was weaker- spontaneous recovery

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Reflex

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An unlearned involuntary response that is not under personal control or choice that occurs in both humans and animals

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Stimulus

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Any object, event, or experience that causes a response or reaction in an organism

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Classical Conditioning

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Learning to elicit an involuntary reflex-like response to a stimulus other then the original, natural stimulus that normally produces it

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Unconditioned Stimulus

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(UCS) the original naturally occurring stimulus that ordinarily leads to the involuntary response (the food in Pavlov's exp)

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Unconditioned Response

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(UCR) the automatic and involuntary response to the unconditioned stimulus that is unlearned and occurs because of genetic wiring in the nervous system (the dogs salivation in Pavlov's exp)

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Neutral Stimulus

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(NS) stimulus that has no effect on a response

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Conditioned Stimulus

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(CS) previously neutral stimulus that begins to cause the same kind of involuntary response when paired continuously with the UCS

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Conditioned Response

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(CR) response given to the CS

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Acquisition

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The repeated pairing of the CS and the UCS

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Interstimulus Interval

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(ISI) the time between the CS and the UCS ~An UCS is always paired with a UCR while a CS is always paired with a CR

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Basic principles needed for Classical Conditioning

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1. The CS must come before the UCS 2. The CS and the UCS must come very close together in time- ideally no more than 5 seconds apart (shorter ISI's -less then 500 milliseconds- have been found to be ideal for conditioning) 3. The NS must be paired with the UCS several times before conditioning can take place 4. The CS is usually some stimulus that is distinctive or stands out

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Stimulus Generalization

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The tendency to respond to a stimulus that is only similar to the original CS

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Stimulus Discrimination

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When an organism learns to tell the difference between the real CS and those similar to it

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Extinction

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When the CS no longer elicits the CR learned

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Spontaneous Recovery

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The conditioned response can briefly reappear when the original CS returns, although the response is usually weaker and shorter lived

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Higher-Order Conditioning

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Occurs when a strong CS is paired with a NS. The strong CS can actually play the part of a UCS, and the previously neutral stimulus becomes a second conditioned stimulus. ~For example if Pavlov snapped before the ticking was played he could eventually snap and have the dogs salivate without the ticking (NS?CS?CR)

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Pavlov's explanation of why Classical Conditioning works

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He believed that the conditioned stimulus, through its close association in time with the unconditioned stimulus, came to activate the same place in the animals brain that was originally activated by the unconditioned stimulus- Stimulus Substitution. But if a mere association in time is all it took why would conditioning fail to happen if the CS is presented immediately after the UCS?

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Robert Rescorla's explanation of why Classical Conditioning works

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He believed that the CS must predict that the UCS is coming. He did an experiment with rats- shocking one group of rats while a tone was playing and shocking another one after the tone stopped. The first group showed fear responses when the ticking noise started and the second group showed them while the tone stopped- Cognitive Perspective- organism consciously expects something to occur, the CS provides information about the coming of the UCS

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Conditioned Emotional Response

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(CER) emotional responses that have become classically conditioned to occur in response to a learned stimuli. Based on work of John B. Watson that helps explain development of phobias. ~For example he paired the presentation of a white rat with a loud noise to a baby so the baby eventually learned to fear white rats- "Little Albert" experiment"

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Vicarious Conditioning

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To become classically conditioned just by watching someone else respond to a stimulus

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Conditioned Taste Aversion

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Situation where classical conditioning can occur without repeated pairings (getting sick after you eat a certain food? not wanting to eat that food anymore)

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Involuntary vs. Voluntary Behavior

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Involuntary behaviors are reflexes- like classical conditioning; voluntary behaviors are thought out, like operant conditioning

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Operant Conditioning

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Based off the research of Edward L. Thorndike and B.F. Skinner and is about how organisms learn voluntary responses.

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Thorndike's Puzzle Box

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• Created by Edward L. Thorndike- one of the first to explore the laws of voluntary responses (wasn't called operant conditioning yet) • He placed a hungry cat inside of a box with food on the outside and the only way out being a lever on the floor • The cat would try to get out and eventually accidentally hit the lever then the cat was fed from a dish outside the box • The lever was the stimulus, the pushing of the lever was the response and the consequences were the food and escape • The cat did not learn to push the lever right away and Thorndike would switch its position often, making the cat learn the process all over again • Based on this research he developed the Law of Effect

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Law Of Effect

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If an action is followed by a pleasurable consequence it will tend to be repeated. If an action is followed by an unpleasurable consequence it will tend to not be repeated - This became the basic principle behind learning voluntary behavior

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B.F. Skinner

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• Found a way to explain all behavior as the product of learning • He gave voluntary learning the name of Operant conditioning • Voluntary behavior is what people and animals do to operate in the world so for Skinner voluntary behavior is Operant behavior, and the learning of such behavior is operant conditioning • The heart of operant conditioning is the effect of consequences on behavior • Learning an involuntary behavior depends on what comes before the response the UCS will become a CS -and these stimuli are called the Antecedent (Preceeding) Stimuli • Learning an operant behavior depends on what happens after the response

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Reinforcement

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One of skinners greatest contributions that he defined as anything that, when following a response, causes that response to be more likely; or a pleasurable consequence to an organism

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Reinforcers

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Items of events that when following a response will strengthen it

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Primary Reinforcer

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Satisfies a basic need like any kind of food liquid or touch

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Secondary Reinforcer

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Gets its reinforcing properties from being associated with primary reinforcers, like money

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Positive Reinforcement

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Following a response with some kind of pleasurable consequence (like a reward) that will lead to an increase in the likelihood of that response being repeated

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Negative Reinforcement

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Following a response with the removal or escape from something unpleasant will increase the likelihood of that response being repeated

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Partial Reinforcement Effect

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Response that is reinforced after some, but not all, correct responses ~They will be more resistant to extinction, ~More realistic to real life situations, ~And not learned as quickly

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Continuous Reinforcement

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A reinforcer for each and every correct response ~It learned easier and quicker, but ~More susceptible to extinction

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Interval Schedule

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Used when timing of the response is more important

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Ratio Schedule

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Used when the number of responses are more important

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Fixed

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Number of responses or interval of time is the same in each case

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Variable

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Different number or interval is required in each case

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Fixed Interval Schedule of Reinforcement

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Reinforcer is received after a certain fixed interval of time has passed (like getting a paycheck every 2 weeks). ~A FIS does not produce a fast rate of responding since it matters that only one response is made during the specific interval of time, speed is not important.

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Variable Interval Schedule of Reinforcement

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The interval of time after which the organism must respond in order to receive reinforcer changes from one time to the next (rat may receive food pellet when it pushes a lever for different interval times that average out to 5- like 4 min then 6 min). ~Speed is not important so response rates will be slow and steady

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Fixed Ratio Schedule of Reinforcement

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The number of responses required to receive each reinforcer will always be the same number For example if a rat presses a lever exactly 5 times to get food. ~The rate of response will be very fast with little breaks when the rat gets the reward.

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Punishment

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Opposite of reinforcement where any event or stimulus that, when following a response, causes that response to be less likely to happen again. ~Punishment weakens responses, while reinforcement strengthens responses

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Punishment by Application

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Occurs when something unpleasant is added to the situation or applied (like spanking)

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Punishment by Removal

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Behavior is punished by the removal of something pleasurable or desired after behavior occurs (like taking away a teenagers phone)

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Problems with Punishment

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• In using reinforcement your strengthening a response that's already there but in punishment your trying to get rid of a response that is already well established, which isn't as easy • Punishment only serves as a temporary fix, it doesn't always eliminate the behavior especially as time goes on • Although Punishment by Application will stop the behavior (not permanently), it can be quite severe and should only be used to stop dangerous behavior • It teaches the child what not to do, not what to do • If a child is an attention-seeker, they could misbehave to get any kind of attention, even a punishment

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Drawbacks of Punishment by Application

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• May cause the child or animal to avoid the punisher instead of the behavior • May encourage child to lie to avoid the punishment • Severe punishment creates fear and anxiety, emotional responses that do not promote learning • Hitting provides a model for aggression o Adult is also modeling aggressive behavior to child o Adult has lost the opportunity to model a more appropriate way to deal with issues o The parent experiences negative reinforcement- "When I spank, the behavior goes away"- which may increase the tendency and lead to abuse

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Rules to Make Punishment More Effective

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1. Punishment should immediately follow the behavior its meant to punish 2. Should be consistent a. Parents should follow through if they say they will punish a certain behavior b. Punishment should stay at the same intensity or slightly increase, never decrease 3. Punishment of wrong behavior should be paired, whenever possible, with reinforcement of the right behavior

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Spanking and Aggression in Children

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~Child development experts have advised parents not to spank their children and use other methods of discipline ~The "Taylor Study" suggests increased risks of higher aggression levels at age 5 when spanking is used at age 3 ~The mothers in the study report spanking their 3 year olds more than twice in the previous month and those children at the age of 5 were much more likely to be aggressive (for ex. Taking part in bullying) when compared to mothers who spanked less than twice or not at all when their children were 3

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Discriminative Stimulus

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Stimulus that provides an organism with a cue for making a certain response in order to obtain reinforcement. For ex. a red traffic light means stop and or a handle on a door means you should pull, not push

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Extinction in Operant Conditioning

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Involves the removal of the reinforcement

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Stimulus Generalization in Operant Conditioning

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Just as in classical conditioning, operantly conditioned responses can also be generalized to stimuli that are only similar to the original stimulus (for ex. a baby who calls all men "dad" because of similarities in appearances)

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Spontaneous Recovery in Operant Conditioning

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The recurrence of a conditioned response after extinction can also happen in Operant conditioning (for ex animals will perform old tricks when learning a new one to try to get a reinforcer)

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Shaping

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Small steps toward some ultimate goal are reinforced until the goal itself is reached ~For ex training a dog to jump through a hoop by having it walk through the hoop on the ground then rewarding it. After that, gradually raising it and rewarding the dog, until the dog jumps through the hoop high off the ground without trouble

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Successive Approximation

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Achieving a goal in small steps one after the other, that get closer and closer to the goal- a process called shaping

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Instinctive Drift

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~When Keller and Marian Breland attempted to train a raccoon to dump 2 quarters into a bin (using operant conditioning) they would rub them against the inside of the container and not drop them in- a similar procedure they would do with their food by dipping it in and out of water before eating it. They found this problem was not limited to raccoons and called this tendency to revert to genetically controlled patterns Instinctive Drift.

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The Brelands determined that, contrary to Skinner's original ideas:

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1. An animal does not come into the laboratory a "blank slate" and cannot be taught just any behavior 2. Differences in species of animals matter in determining which behaviors can and cannot be produced 3. Not all responses are equally able to be conditioned to any stimulus

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Behavior Modification

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~The application of operant conditioning (and sometimes classical) to bring about changes in behavior ~Token economy, ABA, Biofeedback, and Neurofeedback use these principles ~For example if a teacher wants a student to be more attentive in class she may: 1. Select a target behavior- such as making eye contact with the teacher 2. Choose a reinforcer- such as a gold star 3. Put the plan into action by reinforcing the desired behavior and not reinforcing non-desired behaviors 4. At the end of the day the teacher gives the child a certain reward for having a specific number of gold stars

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Token Economy

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The use of tokens to modify behavior

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Applied Behavior Analysis

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(ABA) the modern term for a form of behavior modification that uses both analysis of current behavior and behavioral techniques to mold a desired behavior or response ~Skills are broken down into the simplest steps and taught to the child through a system of reinforcement and prompts are given as need when the child is learning a skill or refuses to cooperate ~It's a growing field and is used in kids with autism

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Biofeedback

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Technique for modifying behavior that was developed so that even behavior that is considered normally involuntary, such as blood pressure and muscle tension, can be brought under conscious control ~For nearly 60 years scientists have known how to use feedback of a persons biological info (such as heart rate) to create a state of relaxation where many problems can be controlled

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Neurofeedback-

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~Relatively newer biofeedback technique that involves trying to change brainwave activity by recording brain activity with an EEG, and having it recorded on a computer that analyzes the physiological activity of the brain. ~Neurofeedback can be integrated with video game-like programs individuals can use to learn how to produce specific types of brain activity associated with specific cognitive or behavioral states (for example people with ADHD may use it to increase attention span)

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Edward Tolmans Maze-Running Rats

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• He did an experiment with 3 groups of rats: o Group 1- placed in maze and reinforced with food for making its way out. o Group 2- treated exactly as first except there was no reward for exiting the maze until the 10th day of experiment o Group 3- control group with no rewards/reinforcements • Skinnerian would predict only the first group would learn the maze successfully because learning depends on reinforcing consequences • Group 1- solved the maze after a certain number of trials while group 2 and 3 seemed to wander around aimlessly • On day ten when Group 2 was presented with a reward at the end of the maze solved it on the first try, This was because the second group learned the wrong pathways of the maze and stored the info away until they had reason to demonstrate this information • Tolman called this Latent Learning- learning could happen without reinforcement and then later affect behavior

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Wolfgang Kohler's Chimp

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• When Kohler was stuck on an island he did a famous experiment on a chimp named Sultan • Sultan was faced with the problem of getting a banana out of his reach from the cage he was in. He solved it easily by using the stick in his cage as an extension to get the banana- a trial-and-error way of learning • Kohler then changed the experiment by adding 2 disconnected parts of a pole into the cage and the banana even further away. He tried to get the banana for an hour until he had a "moment of inspiration" then fit the 2 pieces together and retrieved it • Kohler called Sultans rapid perception of relationships Insight and determined that insight could not be gained through trial and error alone. Insight requires a kind of "coming together" of all elements of a problem that isn't predicted by traditional animal studies •There is still controversy on this topic and on how to interpret these studies

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Martin Seligman and Learned Helplessness

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• Seligman (a learning theorist) is famous for founding the field of Positive Psychology- a new way of looking at the entire concept of mental health and therapy that focuses on the adaptive, creative, and psychologically more fulfilling aspects of human experience rather than mental disorders • In Seligman's studies of Learned Helplessness dogs were placed on a 2-sided box that would shock them after a tone was played. Dogs that had no prior experience with being unable to escape the shock would quickly jump over a hurdle in the center of a box and land on the "safe" side. • Dogs that had previously learned escape was impossible (because they were strapped down) would stay on the side of the box in which the shock occurred, not even try to jump over the hurdle. When placed in a situation in which escape was possible the dogs did nothing because they had learned they were "helpless" • Learned Helplessness- the tendency to fail to act to escape from a situation because of a history of repeated failures in the past. • He used this definition to explain depression- depressed people may have learned in the past they seem to have no control over what happens to them (like staying in a bad marriage rather than ending it)

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Steven Maier's build on Seligman's Learned Helplessness

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• Maier suggested that its possible that the dogs in the earlier studies, rather than learning to be helpless, were not learning how to relax and take control of the situation. He suggests both training and input from the vmPFC (area in the frontal lobe that controls amygdala's fear response) are necessary for animals to learn how to take control

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Learned Helplessness

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The tendency to fail to act to escape from a situation because of a history of repeated failures in the past.

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Observational Learning

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The learning of a new behavior through watching the actions of a model (someone else doing the behavior) that can either be desirable or undesirable

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Bandura's Study

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• Bandura had 2 groups of children sit in a room watching a model play with the toys in the room. • The model in the first group ignored the presence in a punching doll "Bobo" and when the kids were left to play with the toys they did the same • The model in the second group violently punched and kicked the doll and when the kids were left to play with the toys they did the same. They learned this aggression with no reinforcement necessary • Learning/Performance Distinction- the fact that learning can take place without actual performance • Research stretching over 2 decades suggests a correlation between violent media and increased level of aggression in children

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The four elements of observable behavior

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~Created by Bandura 1. Attention- the learner must pay attention to the model to learn anything 2. Memory- learner must also retain the memory of what was done 3. Imitation- learner must be capable of reproducing or imitating the actions of the model 4. Desire- the learner must have the motivation or desire to repeat the actions

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