Learning Theories PDF

“Any relatively permanent change in behavior (or behavior potential) resulting from experience.” What is learning? What is learning? X Temporary changes due to drugs, fatigue or illness X Changes resulting from maturation ✓ Responses as well as response potential ✓ Positive and negative in nat...

“Any relatively permanent change in behavior (or behavior potential) resulting from experience.” What is learning? What is learning? X Temporary changes due to drugs, fatigue or illness X Changes resulting from maturation ✓ Responses as well as response potential ✓ Positive and negative in nature We learn through associations/pairing/conditioning. Direct Learning : by own experience Vicarious learning: by observing others How do we learn?  Classical Conditioning How an organism learns to transfer a natural response from natural to neutral stimulus. Ivan Pavlov 1849-1936 Ivan Pavlov’s Salivation Experiment Pavlov’s Experiment  Extinction: The diminishing (or lessening) of a “learned” or “conditioned” response when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus. – We repeatedly pair a neutral stimulus with the US to acquire a CR. But, if we want to reverse this learning, we only need to weaken the strength of the connection between the two stimuli. Extinction  Extinction merely suppresses the conditioned response, and the CR can occasionally reappear during spontaneous Spontaneous recovery. Recovery The response may re-appear after a rest period as an extinguished conditioned response. Classical conditioning: facts Neural basis for learning: Cerebellum and limbic system Mental imagery played major role in conditioning. Operant Conditioning A form of learning in which the organism learns a specific behaviour in anticipation of the desired consequences.  Effects of Operant Conditioning Behavioural responses are – strengthened when followed by a reinforcer – diminished when followed by punishment B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) B.F. Skinner and The Skinner Box Operant Chamber: a chamber with a bar or a key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforce while an attached device records the animal’s rate of bar-pressing or key turning.  A reinforcer is a stimulus whose anticipated presentation or removal after a specific response strengthens the probability of Reinforcement reoccurrence of the reaction. Positive Reinforcement: The presence of a desired stimulus increases the probability of the reoccurrence of a specific response. Negative Reinforcement: Removal of an unpleasant or aversive stimulus increases the probability of reoccurrence of a specific response. Reinforcement  A stimulus whose anticipated presentation or removal after a specific response weakens the Punishment probability of reoccurrence of the reaction.  Positive Punishment: An undesirable event that follows a behaviour. Negative Punishment: When a desirable event ends or when an item is taken away after a behaviour. Punishment  The consequence The consequence takes The predicted provides something something away effect (money, slapping…) (removes headache, timeout) The consequence REINFORCEMENT/ Positive Negative Reinforcement Reinforcement makes the behavior more likely to PUNISHMENT happen in the future. MATRIX Positive Negative The consequence makes the behavior Punishment Punishment less likely to happen in the future.  Continuous Reinforcement: A reinforcement schedule under which all correct responses are reinforced. – This is a useful tactic early in Reinforcement the learning process. It also Schedules helps when “shaping” new behaviour. Shaping: A technique where new behaviour is produced by reinforcing responses similar to the desired response.  Intermittent Reinforcement: A reinforcement schedule by which some, but not all, correct responses are reinforced. Reinforcement Schedules – Intermittent reinforcement is the most effective way to maintain a desired behaviour that has already been learned.  Schedules of Intermittent Reinforcement Interval schedule: rewards subjects after a specific time interval. Ratio schedule: rewards subjects after a certain number of responses. – There are four types of intermittent reinforcement: Fixed Interval Schedule (FI) Variable Interval Schedule (VI) Fixed Ratio Schedule (FR) Variable Ratio Schedule (VR)  Primary and Secondary reinforcement Primary reinforcement: something that is naturally reinforcing: food, warmth, water… Secondary reinforcement: something you have learned is a reward because it is paired with a primary reinforcement in the long run: good grades, money  Learning through associations between events is called Classical Conditioning. Learning through associations between behaviour and consequences is called an Instrumental /operant conditioning. Cognitive Learning Sometimes we have “flashes of insight” when dealing with a problem where we have been experiencing trial and error. The “Áha’’ experience. This type of learning is called cognitive learning, which is explained as changes in mental processes, rather than as changes in behavior alone. SULTAN THE CHIMP Wolfgang Kohler Kohler believed that chimps could solve complex problems by combining simpler behaviors they had previously learned separately. Kohler taught Sultan the chimp how to stack boxes to obtain bananas that were over his head and how to use a stick to obtain something that was out of his reach. He taught Sultan these skills in separate situations. Sultan’s Situation When Sultan was put in a situation where the bananas were still out of his reach after stacking the boxes, Sultan became frustrated. He threw the stick and kicked the wall before sitting down. Suddenly, he jumped up and dragged the boxes and stick under the bananas. He then climbed up the boxes and whacked the fruit down with the stick. This suggested to Kohler that the animals were not mindlessly using conditioned behavior, but were learning by reorganizing their perceptions of problems. Cognitive Learning Sultan was not the only animal to demonstrate cognitive learning. When rats were put into a maze with multiple routes to the reinforcer, the rats would repeatedly attempt the shortest route. If their preferred route was blocked, they would choose the next shortest route to the reward. Cognition Map: A mental representation of a place, like your personal “map” of IIMI. Latent Learning In a similar study, rats were allowed to wander around a maze, without reinforcements, for several hours. It formerly was thought that reinforcements were essential for learning. However, the rats later were able to negotiate the maze for food more quickly than rats that had never seen the maze before. – Latent learning: Learning that occurs but is not apparent until the learner has an incentive to demonstrate it.  An extension of operant conditioning, in which we observe someone else getting rewarded but act as though Observational we had also received the reward. Learning New responses are acquired after others’ behaviour, and the consequences of their behaviour are observed. Observational Learning After observing adults seeming to enjoy punching, hitting and kicking an inflated doll called Bobo, the children later showed similar aggressive behaviour toward the doll. Significantly, these children were more aggressive than those in a control condition who did not witness the adult’s violence.