Lecture 4 - Learning and Behavior PDF

Lecture 4 How do we learn? Complex behaviors: - Learning how to swim / ride a bicycle Complex knowledge: - Learning about ABCs / Math / etc Why focus on behavior? - Behaviorism - Mind is a black box - How do you 'know' that learning has taken place? - Focus on obser...

Lecture 4 How do we learn? Complex behaviors: - Learning how to swim / ride a bicycle Complex knowledge: - Learning about ABCs / Math / etc Why focus on behavior? - Behaviorism - Mind is a black box - How do you 'know' that learning has taken place? - Focus on observable behaviors - Not on mental constructs What do you mean by learning? - Learning - Relatively permanent - Change in behavior - Change in capacity for behavior - Due to experience What kinds of behavior? - 3 broad categories - Reflexes - Instincts - Learned behaviors - Reflexes - Inevitable & involuntary responses to stimuli - Not due to experience - Baby reflexes - Knee-jerk reflex, withdrawing hand from open fire etc. What kinds of behavior? - Instincts - Gut instincts - Internal guide to decisions or judgments - Note: NOT AN INSTINCT - Fixed action patterns - Inborn - Elicited by environmental stimuli - Not due to experience - More complex than reflexes What kinds of behavior? - Learned behaviors - Changed behaviors due to experience - Non-association - Nonassociative learning - Association - Associative learning - Observation - Observational learning - Modelling or social learning Nonassociative learning - Changes in magnitude of responses to stimuli - Stimulus-Response (S-R) link already exists - "Volume knob" - Habituation - Reduces magnitude of response - Evaluated - Harmless and unchanging - Moving house and silence - Habituation (Learning) - Occurs in the brain - Brain \'stops noticing\' unchanging stimulus (can still be perceived if attention is diverted to it - There is still some conscious control! - Examples: background noise, your glasses - Sensory Adaptation (NOT learning) - Occurs in the body (at neuronal/receptor level) - Automatic, involuntary (you cannot choose to notice blood vessels on your eye) - Receptors become less sensitive - Sensitivity can only be regained through leaving and then returning - Examples: smell of the LT, present temperature Nonassociative learning - Sensitization - Increases magnitude of response - Neighbour\'s renovation - Variable, random times at differing intensities - Why habituate or sensitize? - Limited cognitive resources - Focus on the important - Habituated to harmless (unimportant) - Sensitized to harmful (important) - Is it always good for us? -- not always - Habituation to violence (Estrada et al., 2020) - Exposure to violence (e.g., witnessing violence, hearing gunfire, being the victim of violence) - Higher chances of an individual perpetrating or using violence themselves - Sensitization as a possible explanation for Somatization disorder (Dowman, 2013) - Expression of mental phenomena as physical (somatic) symptoms - Often in the form of pain - May also underlie various forms of chronic pain Associative learning - Forming connections between stimuli and response - Stimulus -- Response (S-R) link - 2 Forms - Classical conditioning - Operant conditioning Classical conditioning - Ivan Pavlov -- Salivating Dogs - Classical conditioning = Pavlovian conditioning Classical conditioning - Stimuli - Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) - Leads to response (UCR) without experience - Neutral Stimulus (NS) - Does not lead to any reliable response - Conditioned Stimulus (CS) - Leads to response with conditioning - Responses - Unconditioned Response (UCR) - Response to UCS without experience - Conditioned Response (CR) - Response with conditioning Classical conditioning -- salivating dogs - Before - Food → Salivating - UCS → UCR - Bell → Nothing - NS → No R - During - Repeatedly pair - Food + Bell → Salivating - UCS + NS → UCR - After - Bell → Salivating - CS → CR Ein Bild, das Text, Screenshot, Schrift, Zahl enthält. Automatisch generierte Beschreibung Did they forget? - Spontaneous recovery - After extinction - Reappearance of CR after rest - Do not forget old associations - Learning new associations - Replace old associations - Need time + multiple sessions to break strong associations - Addictions Does it apply to us? - Classical conditioning is the means by which neutral, \'meaningless\' stimuli becomes meaningful to us - Product placement Is everything subject to classical conditioning then? - The \"Little Albert\" Experiment - Neutral stimulus \> white rat - Unconditioned Stimulus \> loud noise from a steel bar - Unconditioned Response \> Fear - Conditioned stimulus \> white rat - Conditoned Response \> Fear - Generalization occurred - Little Albert displayed signs of fear when shown other white, fuzzy objects (a white rabbit, Santa\'s beard) - Is it possible to use classical conditioning to make everything meaningful in some way then? - The Garcia-Koelling Selective Association Effect (a.k.a., the \"bright-noisy water\" experiment, conditioned taste aversion) - Rats are more likely to associate tasty (sweet) water with illness compared to water that is accompanied by bright lights and noise - On the other hand, rats are more likely to associate shocks with the latter as compared to the former - Implies that certain (hence, selective) associations are more easily formed than others. Operant conditioning - Learning from consequences - Organism operate on environment - Behavior → Consequences - Contingency: IF you perform a behaviour, THEN the consequence occurs - Contiguity: Sequence (behaviour, THEN consequence) and proximity considerations (how close in time are behaviour and consequence?) - Skinner Box - Press bar → Get food Operant conditioning -- different ways Reinforcement -- increase/maintain or strengthen behaviour Punishment -- Decrease/vanish or weaken the behavior ---------- ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ Positive Add pleasant stimulus Add aversive stimulus Negative Remove aversive stimulus Remove pleasant stimulus Positive reinforcement - Increase frequency of desired behavior - Adding desired outcome - Adding something nice - \"Rewards\" - The rat gets a treat IF it presses the lever - Ice-cream IF you finish your dinner - Ice-cream = reinforcer - What is effective as a reinforcer? - Premack Principle (Premack, 1965) - A high-frequency behaviour can be used to reinforce a low-frequency behaviour - Playing games, going out clubbing etc. \> high frequency behaviour - Doing chores, going to the gym \> low frequency behaviour - Primary Reinforcers - Naturally rewarding - Food, \'dopamine rush\' from exercise - Secondary Reinforcers - Gains value through association - Money or Grades Negative Reinforcement - Not punishment - Increase frequency of desired behavior (REINFORCEMENT) - Removing an undesired outcome (REMOVING SOMETHING FROM THE SYSTEM = NEGATIVE) - Remove something bad - The continous shocks stop IF the rat presses the lever - Child needs to do chores everyday - Generous behaviour to sibling - Share ice-cream - No need to do chores - Also sometimes called \"Escape/Avoidance learning\" Positive punishment - Decrease frequency of target behavior (PUNISHMENT) - Applying aversive consequence (POSITIVE) - Add something bad - The rat gets a shock IF it presses the lever - Misbehaving - Scolding by parent Negative punishment - Decrease frequency of target behavior (PUNISHMENT) - Removing desired consequence (NEGATIVE) - Remove something nice - Food is removed IF the rat presses the lever - Doing poorly in a test - Being grounded; driving privileges revoked What is more effective? - Depends on your age (Palminteri, Kilford, Coricelli, & Blakemore, 2016) - Adults (18-32) - Reinforcement = Punishment - Adolescents (12-17) - Reinforcement \> Punishment - Adolescents more sensitive to rewards as compared to punishments - Implications for school disciplinary committee? - What most learn to do instead is to avoid the punisher\... Does this mean we reinforce every single behavior? Schedules of reinforcement - Continuous vs. Partial - New behavior = Continuous - Sustaining an acquired behaviour = Partial - Fixed ratio (FR) schedule - FR = 1 = Continuous - FR = 5 - Reward once every 5 times - Steady responding with pauses after each response - Rest period after each reward - Variable Ratio (VR) Schedule - 1-10 responses needed for each reward - High steady rate of responding in a short time - Doomscrolling - Gacha games - Fixed Interval (FI) Schedule - Reward after a fixed amount of time - Responses increases near reward - Stops after - Checking behavior - Variable Interval (VI) Schedule - Reward after variable time has passed - Steady responding over time - Post something on Instagram - Checking of phone for responses  Observational learning - Limitation - Copying of behavior - Unlikely naturally or spontaneous - 4 conditions - Attention - Model must be attended to - Retention - Remember what model did - Reproduction - Able to replicate behavior - Motivation - Reason for imitating behavior - Children may learn many behaviors simply via observation Do adults learn by observation? - Travelling to a new place - Enter restaurant - Don't know how to order - What do you do?