Understanding Associative and Template Learning

• Learning is a lasting change in potential behavior due to experience.
• Learning produces lasting changes in behavior.
• Changes in behavior may not always be immediately reflected in performance but occur under the right conditions.
• Acquired behaviors require the necessary circumstances to be observed.

Associative Learning

• Associative learning involves making connections between two events.
• For example, associating a food with subsequent illness can lead to aversion to that food.
• Two methods of associative learning include Pavlovian (classical) and operant (instrumental) conditioning.
• Pavlovian conditioning links two stimuli, changing behavior; for instance, a child associating a doctor's syringe with the discomfort of injections.
• Operant conditioning links behavior with consequences, influencing future actions; for example, pressing a button leading to an elevator or answering questions leading to praise.

Template Learning

• Template learning, such as language acquisition, involves complex processes.
• This requires a neural template for facilitation.

Pavlovian Conditioning

• Pavlovian conditioning rarely occurs at the conscious level.
• Pavlov's discovery involved ringing a bell (conditioned stimulus) before presenting food (unconditioned stimulus) to a hungry dog.
• Initially, salivation (unconditioned response) occurred only after food presentation.
• After repeated pairing, salivation (now a conditioned response) occurred after the bell, footsteps, or seeing the experimenter (conditioned stimulus).
• This experiment is primary conditioning, leading the dog to anticipate the food.
• An unconditioned stimulus (UCS) automatically triggers a response without learning or conditioning.
• An unconditioned response (UCR) is an unlearned reaction, like salivation when seeing food.
• A conditioned stimulus (CS) is a learned trigger, such as the bell, that the organism responds to.
• A conditioned response (CR) is the learned response to the conditioned stimulus, like salivating when hearing the bell.
• Unconditioned responses are generally more intense than conditioned responses.
• Conditioned fears or phobias can last a lifetime but can be extinguished with repeated conditioning trials and interventions.
• Acquisition is the period when an organism learns to associate the conditioned stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus.
• Acquisition is easier when the neutral or conditioned stimulus is clearly different from other stimuli.
• For instance, a dog may perceive the piano as the CS if playing when food is served alongside bell ringing.
• Stimulus salience is related to how quickly conditioning is acquired.
• The more salient a CS, the more readily conditioning occurs.
• Pairing the CS and UCS frequently facilitates conditioning.
• Contingency, or the degree to which the CS and UCS are related, influences conditioning, as shown in Rescorla's experiment.
• Rescorla's stimulus-contingent procedure involves presenting the CS (e.g., tone) followed by the UCS (e.g., shock) every time.
• Conditioning occurs when the UCS depends on the CS.

Noncontingent Procedure

• In a noncontingent procedure, the CS and UCS are presented independently.
• Conditioning does not occur because the UCS and CS are not dependent.
• Rescorla concluded that contingency, not just occasional pairings, is necessary for conditioning.
• Pavlov thought occasional pairings would suffice, but Rescorla demonstrated that contingency matters more.
• In delayed conditioning, the CS is present before the UCS, continuing until the UCS appears, promoting easier conditioning.
• The ideal CS-UCS interval depends on the association to be learned, but 0.5-2 seconds is optimal.
• Simultaneous conditioning involves presenting the CS and UCS at the same time.
• Trace conditioning involves the stimulus beginning and ending before the UCS is presented.
• Backward conditioning involves the UCS being presented before the CS.

Conditioned Taste Aversions

• Conditioned taste aversions were studied in Garcia's experiments.
• Rats exposed to a taste and then radiation, which made them ill, avoided the flavored water, even if normally preferred.
• Conditioned taste aversion reliably occurs with long CS-UCS intervals, even up to 24 hours.
• Conditioned taste aversions are common in people undergoing chemotherapy or radiation therapy, who develop aversions to rare tastes and smells.
• For example, a child pushed their mother away due to a new perfume used during the start of the radiation treatment.

Preparedness and Selective Associations

• Preparedness involves learning associations quickly, which is considered a survival advantage.
• Not all conditioned stimuli are equally associated with unconditioned stimuli.
• In Garcia's experiment, rats easily learned taste-illness and audiovisual stimulus-shock associations.
• Rats did not learn taste-shock or audiovisual stimulus-illness associations.
• Selective associations indicate that some CS-UCS pairings are easier to learn than others.
• Some CSs and UCSs naturally pair better together.
• The ease of learning certain CS-UCS associations explains why people develop specific phobias, such as fear of heights or insects.

Extinction and Reinstatement

• Extinction occurs when the CS is repeatedly presented alone, without the UCS, which diminishes the response.
• For example, a dog stops salivating to a bell if food is no longer presented.
• A response can be re-developed after extinction.
• Reinstatement is much faster to acquire than the first time around, needing only 1-2 trials or pairings.
• Reinstatement explains why drug addicts easily return to drug use after treatment.

Stimulus Generalization and Discrimination

• Stimulus generalization occurs when people or animals respond to similar stimuli without specific training.
• For example, different bells can trigger a dog's salivation.
• When a response is conditioned to a specific stimulus, other stimuli may produce the same response; for example, a war veteran seeks cover when a car backfires because it sounds like gunfire.
• Discrimination occurs when a learned response is restricted.
• Veterans learn the difference between sounds (e.g., loud noises vs. bullets), discriminating between car backfiring and gunshot.

Second-Order Conditioning

• Second-order conditioning involves a conditioned stimulus serving as an unconditioned stimulus for another conditioning of a second association.
• In Stage 1, a bell (CS1) is paired with meat (UCS) to elicit salivation (CR).
• Stage 2 pairs a tone (CS2) with the bell (CS1) to elicit salivation (CR).

Operant Conditioning

• Operant conditioning involves behavior influenced by consequences.
• Thorndike proposed that behavior is strengthened when followed by positive consequences and eliminated when it does not lead to satisfying consequences.
• The Law of Effect states that satisfying consequences strengthen behavior, which is the basic law for operant conditioning.
• Operant Conditioning is also known as instrumental conditioning: behaviors learned are instrumental in achieving positive outcomes.
• Skinner Box: A rat in a box realizes that touching the bar leads to food, learning the behavior for food delivery.
• Reinforcement strengthens the bond between behavior and reinforcer.
• Reinforcement guides and selects certain behavior.
• Operant behavior is measured by the rate of occurrence and recorded cumulatively.
• Discriminative stimuli control responses by signaling the availability of reinforcement.
• A rat pressing a bar only when a light flashes indicates that the light is a discriminative stimulus.
• Differential reinforcement occurs only under certain circumstances: A rat pressing the bar when the light is flashing.
• Reinforcement: a stimulus whose delivery following a response increases the frequency or probability of that response.
• Positive reinforcement involves presenting a stimulus after a response increasing the probability of the response.
• Negative reinforcement involves increasing the probability of a response by removing a stimulus when the desired response is made.
• Removing something to increase the likelihood of a behavior is the key to negative reinforcement.
• Escape Conditioning: A rat learns to stop an electric shock by pressing a bar.
• This conditioning demonstrates negative reinforcement through the removal of an unpleasant stimulus.
• Avoidance Conditioning: A rat learns to press a bar when a warning signal appears, preventing the shock.
• In contrast, primary reinforcers satisfy biological needs such as hunger, thirst, sex, and sleep.
• Conditioned reinforcers are neutral stimuli associated with primary reinforcers, such as money, praise, good grades.
• Conditioned reinforcers acquire reinforcing properties through learning.
• Money is considered a strong conditioned reinforcer through its association with things we want.
• Continuous Reinforcement: A behavior is reinforced every time it occurs.
• A rat gets a food pellet every time it presses the bar, producing the highest rate of acquisition of new behavior, but extinction begins if reinforcement is withdrawn.
• Partial Reinforcement: A behavior is reinforced only part of the time, which slows the establishment of reinforcement.
• Behaviors are generally more persistent when no reinforcement is provided.

Partial Reinforcement Delivery

• Partial reinforcement has two ways of being delivered, either through ratio or interval schedules.
• Ratio Schedule: Reinforcement is based on a certain percentage of responses.
• For example, that a casino machine is programmed to provide a payoff on 10% of all plays.
• Interval Schedule: Reinforcement is based on time.
• Subjects are reinforced on their first response after a certain amount of time has passed, regardless of how many responses occur during that period.
• Both ratio schedules and interval schedules can be variable or fixed.
• Variable Schedule: Reinforcement delivered unpredictably, with the amount of time or number of responses varying randomly around an average.
• Fixed Schedule: Reinforcement always delivered after a constant number of responses, or a fixed interval time.

Four Basis Partial Reinforcement Schedules

• The four basic partial reinforcement schedules are fixed ratio, fixed interval, variable ratio, and variable interval.
• Fixed Ratio: Reinforcement occurs after a fixed number of responses, producing high rates of responding.
• For example, the faster a rat presses a bar, the more pellets it gets; the faster a strawberry picker picks strawberries, the more money they get.
• In factory settings, productivity doesn't mean quality.
• After reinforcement, people or animals will pause briefly, learning their next few responses will not be reinforced.
• A pause following reinforcement is known as the Post Reinforcement Pause, or how people get paid on Friday.
• Variable Ratio: Requires the occurrence of a certain number of responses before reinforcement occurs, but the number of responses required for each reinforcer varies.
• A variable ratio has the occurrence of unpredictable reinforcement, produces no post reinforcement pause, and has a possible reinforcement that will occur on the next response.
• All of this makes variable ratio to be ultimately, hard to extinguish.
• Fixed Interval: Reinforcement is provided for the first response after a specified period of time has elapsed.
• For instance, that a rat is pressing on the bar for food, the next reinforcer will be 30 seconds after the bar press, and, because no reinforcement can occur for a period of time, animals typically stop working right after reinforcement is delivered.
• The animal only begins to respond toward the end of the interval, resulting in regular, recurring episodes of inactivity followed by short bursts of responding.
• Variable Interval: Variable time intervals exists between opportunities for reinforcement.
• The is schedule has the tendency to produce more steady rates of responding than fixed schedules and help researchers study the effects of other variables on behavior.
• A variable interval is considered a random, unpredictable occurrence of reinforcement.
• Partial reinforcement effect: partial reinforcement is delivered in an unpredictable fashion.

Reinforcement of new behaviors

• The two techniques of reinforcement of new behaviors are:
• Reinforcing Initial Operant Response, commonly demonstrated through verbal instructions.
• Shaping: A systematic process where responses are increasingly similar to the desired behavior, are reinforced step by step until said behavior occurs.
• This is the most effective in establishing new behaviors and are effective through reinforcements, indicated by a change in facial expression.

Modeling

• Modeling: Demonstrating the desired behavior to the learner.
• Therapist use this modeling on emotionally disturbed children and adults.
• Therapists also use modeling to influence the use of autistic children new behaviors + enhance social skills.
• Physical guidance can be used to enforce modeling.
• This is demonstrated when one gently manipulated to show what it is to comply with a command, then reinforce praise once the behavior is complete.

Punishment

• Punishment: Stimulus whose delivery following a response results in a DECREASE in frequency or probability of that response.
• To be effective punishment:
  • The long-term effectiveness isn't great.
  • Should be imposed in the most extreme manner to prevent repeat offences Limitations:
  • The long-term effectiveness isn't great
  • b/c punishment suppresses the unwanted behavior for a short time, but doesn't eliminate it.
  • Suppressed behavior can reemerge wheb the prospect of punishment is gone or is sharply curtailed
  • Contingency for punishment is that it must be maintained.
  • Punishment needs to be maintained regardless of the punishment discontinued.
• Emotional effects on punishment include;
  • A production of anger and fear
  • Possible inducement: the punishment can induce aggression against the punisher
• Problems when punishment are related to modeling:
  • a child can grow up to being punished by physical means and learn that physical aggression is what gets them what they want.

Considerations of punishment

• Always punish through physical altercations
• Always punish immediately

Types of Conditioning

• Conditioned punishment: Involves a stimulus associated with a punishment.
• Classical Conditioning: Involves learning association between a CS and a UCS where an involuntary response is produced.
• Operant Conditioning: Involves learning the association between a behavior and its consequences where the response is voluntary.
• The Two-Factor Theory of Learning is the integration of both the Pavlovian and Operant conditioning.

Role of Cognitive Processes in Conditioning Theories

• Cognitive learning theory discusses how an Individuals have an active participation in the learning processes.
• Latent learning theory: Memory and learning is retained even without the reinforcement being present.
• Observational learning: Having attention drawn to a modeled behavior. Describe role of observation + imitation in learning Models - ppl whose behaviors are observed and imitated

Brain Involvement in Learning

Cognitive factors in operant Consequences of behavior provide learner info about the probable consequence of a given behavior under certain circumstances Cognitive factors in observations -

• Observational learning involves both the Pavlovian and operant process
• Brain process all stored memories of observed behavior -> becomes subject to the rules of reinforcement: can alter behavior depending if it is a net positive or not Imitative behaviors become strengthened/weakened (more of which to do because it is seen as a reward/punishment)

Overview of Memory

• Memory is some property or state of the organism that resulted from experience and that has altered future potential outcomes.
• Info is stored in modified and/ or shaped in ways that fit in our natural environment.
• The Information Processing Model: Consists of three steps:
• Encoding
• Storage
• Retrieval Memory retention: Translated via Mnemonic devices

Memory Systems

• Consist of three types: sensory register, STM, and LTM.
• Each system process stimuli into an algorithm that is processed and either stored or disregarded in the brain.
• Sensory Register:
  • Sensory info that we perceive from the moment it's presented
  • Provides the ability to hold/preserve impressions of sensory stimuli for info to be transferred to short term memory.

Types of Memory

• Iconic memory: Short lived visual memory within the iconic register
• Contains information as the raw image our eyes see, but disappears within a second
• The echoic auditory memory is the aural counterpart to iconic memory lasting a few seconds allowing the brain to register. Modality effect Recall info better if we hear it rather than see it

Short-Term Memory and Short-Term Forgetting

• Short-term Memory: Recollection of stimuli limited to what we have just perceived
• Limited and is retained momentarily (20 sec max)
• Short term memory has a reduced amount of storage capacity resulting in only 7 units available at a time Process called chunking is used to circumvent

Memory Encoding in STM vs LTN

• STM: Encoded acoustically based on sounds
• LTM: Encoded by visual and is considered a semantics process

Long-term Forgetting

• STM forgetting - short term memories often discarded rapidly and is replaced with new information
• Long term memory: Can remain for minutes, hours, days, or a lifetime Fills up with facts, feelings, images, skills or other info

Types of information stored in LTM

• Consist of two types: procedural and declarative knowledge
• Declarative knowledge is split into two new categories:
• Epistemic: Memories encoded with knowledge related to a certain moment
• Semantic: General information and facts regarding a person/item

Long Term Encoding

• Method of Loci - using familiar trails that create tangible associations with memories

Short Term vs Long Term Memory Testing

• Short term focuses on recall and retrieving info that requires a certain level of understanding to make sense
• Long term focuses on a recognition based test

LTM Forgetting

• Caused via interference as a means for decay
• Decay of memory trace Memory trace: the neurochemical or anatomical changes in the brain that encodes memory - decay is also associated with memory failure and short-term forgetting

Types of Amnesia

• Motivated Forgetting: Caused by the unwillingness of a mind to remember because the mental state to traumatic
• Retrograde: The inability to recall certain events from the past

Sleep

• Natural and periodically recurring resting state where our body has the lowest level of stimulation.
• Measured by EEG.

Brain and Sleep

• Brain can actively change waveform while shifting between wakefulness.
• Changes occur in stages.

Stages of Sleep

• (REM) Rapid Eye Movement: The deepest type of sleep that can result in visual and active dreams that result in certain muscles in the body to be paralyzed and the nervous system increases the breathing
• During REM, hormones can be released - tissue engored with penis.
• During REM, a collection of cells that inhibit the movements in the nervous system can be activated, resulting in the experience of a loss of muscular ability.
• (NREM) Non-Rapid Eye Movement: Thought like processes with lower level dreams

REM and NREM sleep abnormalities

• REM: Sleeper can be up moving or otherwise active
• NREM: Sleepwalking occurs at that point
• REM = Stage 4

Sleep and age

• As age increases, quality in REM sleep decreases.
• Babies = 50% REM.
• Adults = 20% REM.
• Elderly = 25% REM.

Sleep Disorders

• Can be caused by stress, poor nutrition, or disease.
• Affects over millions worldwide.
• (RAS) Reticular Alerting System: Responsible for the awakening of the mind
• (SN) Serotinin Neurons: Originate from below the above brain and increase activity in sleep, which decrease the amount of stimulation and promotion.
• Types - Arousal, Sleep
• Sleep
• Serotonin and melatonin
• Sleep deprivation - can cause people to hallucinate and show delusions
• Theories associated - damage, too little hours