Learning - Introduction to Psychology PDF

9/24/21 Learning Introduction to Psychology 1 What is Learning? Learning – any relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience or practice. When people learn anything, some part of their...

9/24/21 Learning Introduction to Psychology 1 What is Learning? Learning – any relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience or practice. When people learn anything, some part of their brain is physically changed to record what they have learned. Any kind of change in the way an organism behaves is learning. 2 1  9/24/21 Pavlov and Classical Conditioning Ivan Pavlov – Russian physiologist (person who studies the workings of the body) who discovered classical conditioning through his work on digestion in dogs. Classical conditioning - learning to make a reflex response to a stimulus other than the original, natural stimulus that normally produces the reflex. 3 Classical Conditioning Concepts Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) - a naturally occurring stimulus that leads to an involuntary response. Unconditioned means "unlearned" or "naturally occurring." Unconditioned response (UCR) - an involuntary response to a naturally occurring or unconditioned stimulus. 4 2  9/24/21 Classical Conditioning Concepts Conditioned stimulus (CS) - stimulus that becomes able to produce a learned reflex response by being paired with the original unconditioned stimulus. Conditioned means "learned." A neutral stimulus can become a conditioned stimulus when paired with an unconditioned stimulus. 5 Classical Conditioning Concepts Conditioned response (CR) - learned reflex response to a conditioned stimulus. Sometimes called a conditioned reflex. CS – ice cream truck CR – salivation when hear ice cream truck bell 6 3  9/24/21 Classical Conditioning UCS UCR Loud Noise Startle CS UCS UCR Bunny Rabbit Loud Noise Startle CS CR Bunny Rabbit Startle 7 Classical Conditioning UCS UCR Dog Bite Frightened CS UCS UCR Sight of Dog Dog Bite Frightened CS CR Sight of Dog Frightened 8 4  9/24/21 Classical Conditioning UCS UCR Car Crash Racing Heart CS UCS UCR Squealing Car Crash Racing Heart Brakes CS CR Squealing Racing Heart Brakes 9 Classical Conditioning UCS UCR Kiss Racing Heart CS UCS UCR Sight of Significant Kiss Racing Heart Other CS CR Sight of Significant Racing Heart Other 10 5  9/24/21 Figure 5.1 Classical Conditioning Before conditioning takes place, the sound of the metronome does not cause salivation and is a neutral stimulus, or NS. During conditioning, the sound of the metronome occurs just before the presentation of the food, the UCS. The food causes salivation, the UCR. When conditioning has occurred after several pairings of the metronome with the food, the metronome will begin to elicit a salivation response from the dog without any food. This is learning, and the sound of the metronome is now a CS and the salivation to the bell is the CR. 11 Classical Conditioning Concepts Acquisition - the repeated pairing of the NS and the UCS; the organism is in the process of acquiring learning. Although classical conditioning happens quite easily, there are a few basic principles that researchers have discovered: 12 6  9/24/21 Classical Conditioning Concepts The CS must come before the UCS. The CS and UCS must come very close together in time—ideally, only several seconds apart. The neutral stimulus must be paired with the UCS several times, often many times, before conditioning can take place. 13 Classical Conditioning Concepts The CS is usually some stimulus that is distinctive or stands out from other competing stimuli. Stimulus generalization - the tendency to respond to a stimulus that is only similar to the original conditioned stimulus with the conditioned response. 14 7  9/24/21 Classical Conditioning Concepts Stimulus discrimination - the tendency to stop making a generalized response to a stimulus that is similar to the original conditioned stimulus because the similar stimulus is never paired with the unconditioned stimulus. 15 Classical Conditioning Concepts Extinction - the disappearance or weakening of a learned response following the removal or absence of the unconditioned stimulus (in classical conditioning) or the removal of a reinforcer (in operant conditioning). 16 8  9/24/21 Figure 5.2 Strength of the Generalized Response An example of stimulus generalization. The UCS was an electric shock and the UCR was the galvanic skin response (GSR), a measure associated with anxiety. The subjects had been conditioned originally to a CS tone (0) of a given frequency. When tested with the original tone, and with tones 1, 2, and 3 of differing frequencies, a clear generalization effect appeared. The closer the frequency of the test tone to the frequency of tone 0, the greater was the magnitude of the galvanic skin response to the tone (Hovland, 1937). 17 Figure 5.3 Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery This graph shows the acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, and reacquisition of a conditioned salivary response. Typically, the measure of conditioning is the number of drops of saliva elicited by the CS on each trial. Note that on the day following extinction, the first presentation of the CS elicits quite a large response. 18 9  9/24/21 Classical Conditioning Concepts Reinforcer - any event or object that, when following a response, increases the likelihood of that response occurring again. Spontaneous recovery – the reappearance of a learned response after extinction has occurred. Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior. 19 Classical Conditioning Concepts Higher-order conditioning - occurs when a strong conditioned stimulus is paired with a neutral stimulus, causing the neutral stimulus to become a second conditioned stimulus. 20 10  9/24/21 Conditioned Emotional Response Conditioned emotional response (CER) - emotional response that has become classically conditioned to occur to learned stimuli, such as a fear of dogs or the emotional reaction that occurs when seeing an attractive person. CERs may lead to phobias – irrational fear responses. 21 Figure 5.5 Conditioning of “Little Albert” After “Little Albert” had been conditioned to fear a white rat, he also demonstrated fear to a rabbit, a dog, and a sealskin coat (although it remains uncertain if stimulus generalization actually occurred as this fear was to a single rabbit, a single dog, etc.). Can you think of any emotional reactions you experience that might be classically conditioned emotional responses? 22 11  9/24/21 Taste Aversion Vicarious conditioning - classical conditioning of a reflex response or emotion by watching the reaction of another person. Conditioned taste aversion - development of a nausea or aversive response to a particular taste because that taste was followed by a nausea reaction, occurring after only one association. 23 Taste Aversion Biological preparedness - the tendency of animals to learn certain associations, such as taste and nausea, with only one or few pairings due to the survival value of the learning. 24 12  9/24/21 Why Classical Conditioning Works Stimulus substitution - original theory in which Pavlov stated that classical conditioning occurred because the conditioned stimulus became a substitute for the unconditioned stimulus by being paired closely together. 25 Why Classical Conditioning Works Cognitive perspective - modern theory in which classical conditioning is seen to occur because the conditioned stimulus provides information or an expectancy about the coming of the unconditioned stimulus. 26 13  9/24/21 Operant Conditioning Operant conditioning - the learning of voluntary behavior through the effects of pleasant and unpleasant consequences to responses. 27 Operant Conditioning Thorndike’s Law of Effect - law stating that if a response is followed by a pleasurable consequence, it will tend to be repeated, and if followed by an unpleasant consequence, it will tend not to be repeated. 28 14  9/24/21 Skinner’s Contribution Behaviorist; wanted to study only observable, measurable behavior. Gave "operant conditioning" its name. Operant - any behavior that is voluntary. Learning depends on what happens after the response — the consequence. 29 Figure 5.7 A Typical Skinner Box This rat is learning to press the bar in the wall of the cage in order to get food (delivered a few pellets at a time in the food trough on lower left). In some cases, the light on the top left might be turned on to indicate that pressing the bar will lead to food or to warn of an impending shock delivered by the grate on the floor of the cage. 30 15  9/24/21 Reinforcement Reinforcement - any event or stimulus, that when following a response, increases the probability that the response will occur again. Primary reinforcer - any reinforcer that is naturally reinforcing by meeting a basic biological need, such as hunger, thirst, or touch. 31 Reinforcement Reinforcement - any event or stimulus, that when following a response, increases the probability that the response will occur again. Secondary reinforcer - any reinforcer that becomes reinforcing after being paired with a primary reinforcer, such as praise, tokens, or gold stars. 32 16  9/24/21 Positive and Negative Reinforcement Positive reinforcement - the reinforcement of a response by the addition or experiencing of a pleasurable stimulus. Negative reinforcement - the reinforcement of a response by the removal, escape from, or avoidance of an unpleasant stimulus. Example: Taking aspirin for a headache is negatively reinforced – removal of headache! 33 Shaping Shaping - the reinforcement of simple steps in behavior that lead to a desired, more complex behavior. Successive approximations - small steps in behavior, one after the other, that lead to a particular goal behavior. 34 17  9/24/21 Other Classical Conditioning Concepts Extinction – occurs if the behavior (response) is not reinforced. Operantly conditioned responses also can be generalized to stimuli that are only similar to the original stimulus. 35 36 18  9/24/21 Other Classical Conditioning Concepts Spontaneous recovery (reoccurrence of a once extinguished response) also happens in operant conditioning. One way to deal with a child’s temper tantrum is to ignore it. The lack of reinforcement for the tantrum behavior will eventually result in extinction. 37 Schedules of Reinforcement Partial reinforcement effect - the tendency for a response that is reinforced after some, but not all, correct responses to be very resistant to extinction. Continuous reinforcement - the reinforcement of each and every correct response. 38 19  9/24/21 Schedules of Reinforcement Fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement - schedule of reinforcement in which the number of responses required for reinforcement is always the same. Variable interval schedule of reinforcement - schedule of reinforcement in which the interval of time that must pass before reinforcement becomes possible is different for each trial or event. 39 Schedules of Reinforcement Fixed interval schedule - of reinforcement schedule of reinforcement in which the interval of time that must pass before reinforcement becomes possible is always the same. 40 20  9/24/21 Schedules of Reinforcement Variable ratio schedule of reinforcement - schedule of reinforcement in which the number of responses required for reinforcement is different for each trial or event. 41 Figure 5.8 Schedules of Reinforcement These four graphs show the typical pattern of responding for both fixed and variable interval and ratio schedules of reinforcement. The responses are cumulative, which means new responses are added to those that come before, and all graphs begin after the learned pattern is well established. Slash marks mean that a reinforcement has been given. In both the fixed interval and fixed ratio graphs, there is a pause after each reinforcement as the learner briefly “rests.” The “scalloped” shape of the fixed interval curve is a typical indicator of this pause, as is the stair-step shape of the fixed ratio curve. In the variable interval and ratio schedules, no such pause occurs, because the reinforcements are unpredictable. Notice that both fixed and variable interval schedules are slower (less steep) than the two ratio schedules because of the need to respond as quickly as possible in the ratio schedules. 42 21  9/24/21 Punishment Punishment - any event or object that, when following a response, makes that response less likely to happen again. Punishment by application - the punishment of a response by the addition or experiencing of an unpleasant stimulus. Punishment by removal - the punishment of a response by the removal of a pleasurable stimulus. 43 Punishment has several drawbacks. Severe punishment my cause avoidance of the punisher instead of the behavior being punished Severe punishment may encourage lying to avoid punishment Severe punishment creates fear and anxiety 44 22  9/24/21 45 46 23  9/24/21 How to Make Punishment More Effective Punishment should immediately follow the behavior it is meant to punish. Punishment should be consistent. Punishment of the wrong behavior should be paired, whenever possible, with reinforcement of the right behavior. 47 Operant Stimuli and Stimulus Control Discriminative stimulus - any stimulus, such as a stop sign or a doorknob, that provides the organism with a cue for making a certain response in order to obtain reinforcement. Shaping – the reinforcement of simple steps that leads to a desired complex behavior 48 24  9/24/21 Operant Stimuli and Stimulus Control Successive approximations – small steps, one after another that lead to a particular goal behavior 49 Behavior Resistant to Conditioning Instinctive drift - tendency for an animal’s behavior to revert to genetically controlled patterns. Each animal comes into the world (and the laboratory) with certain genetically determined instinctive patterns of behavior already in place. These instincts differ from species to species. 50 25  9/24/21 Behavior Resistant to Conditioning Instinctive drift - tendency for an animal’s behavior to revert to genetically controlled patterns. There are some responses that simply cannot be trained into an animal regardless of conditioning. 51 Behavior Resistant to Conditioning Raccoons commonly dunk their food in aand out of water before eating. This "washing" behavior is controlled by instinct and difficult to change even using operant techniques. 52 26  9/24/21 Behavior Modification Behavior modification - the use of operant conditioning techniques to bring about desired changes in behavior. Token economy - type of behavior modification in which desired behavior is rewarded with tokens. 53 Behavior Modification Time-out - a form of mild punishment by removal in which a misbehaving animal, child, or adult is placed in a special area away from the attention of others. Essentially, the organism is being "removed" from any possibility of positive reinforcement in the form of attention. 54 27  9/24/21 Behavior Modification Applied behavior analysis (ABA) – modern term for a form of behavior modification that uses shaping techniques to mold a desired behavior or response. 55 Biofeedback and Neurofeedback Biofeedback- the use of feedback about biological conditions to bring involuntary responses such as blood pressure and relaxation under voluntary control. Neurofeedback - form of biofeedback using brainscanning devices (fMRI) to provide feedback about brain activity in an effort to modify behavior. 56 28  9/24/21 Cognitive Learning Theory Early days of learning – focus was on behavior. 1950s and more intensely in the 1960s, many psychologists were becoming aware that cognition, the mental events that take place inside a person’s mind while behaving, could no longer be ignored. 57 Latent Learning Edward Tolman – early cognitive scientist. Edward Tolman’s best-known experiments in learning involved teaching three groups of rats the same maze, one at a time (Tolman & Honzik, 1930b). 58 29  9/24/21 Latent Learning Edward Tolman – early cognitive scientist. Group 1 – rewarded each time at end of maze. Learned maze quickly. Group 2 – in maze every day; only rewarded on 10th day. Demonstrated learning of maze almost immediately after receiving reward. Group 3 – never rewarded. Did not learn maze well. 59 Latent Learning Edward Tolman – early cognitive scientist. Latent learning - learning that remains hidden until its application becomes useful. 60 30  9/24/21 Figure 5.9 A Typical Maze This is an example of a maze such as the one used in Tolman’s experiments in latent learning. A rat is placed in the start box. The trial is over when the rat gets to the end box. 61 Figure 5.10 Learning Curves for Three Groups of Rats In the results of the classic study of latent learning, Group 1 was rewarded on each day, while Group 2 was rewarded for the first time on Day 11. Group 3 was never rewarded. Note the immediate change in the behavior of Group 2 on Day 12 (Tolman & Honzik, 1930). 62 31  9/24/21 Insight - Kohler Insight - the sudden perception of relationships among various parts of a problem, allowing the solution to the problem to come quickly. Cannot be gained through trial-and-error learning alone. "Aha" moment. 63 Learned Helplessness - Seligman Learned helplessness - the tendency to fail to act to escape from a situation because of a history of repeated failures in the past. 64 32  9/24/21 Figure 5.11 Seligman’s Apparatus In Seligman’s studies of learned helplessness, dogs were placed in a two-sided box. Dogs that had no prior experience with being unable to escape a shock would quickly jump over the hurdle in the center of the box to land on the “safe” side. Dogs that had previously learned that escape was impossible would stay on the side of the box in which the shock occurred, not even trying to go over the hurdle. 65 Observational Learning - Bandura Observational learning - learning new behavior by watching a model perform that behavior. Learning/performance distinction - referring to the observation that learning can take place without actual performance of the learned behavior. 66 33  9/24/21 Figure 5.12 Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment In Albert Bandura’s famous Bobo doll experiment, the doll was used to demonstrate the impact of observing an adult model performing aggressive behavior on the later aggressive behavior of children. The children in these photos are imitating the adult model’s behavior even though they believe they are alone and are not being watched. 67 Four Elements of Observational Learning ATTENTION To learn anything through observation, the learner must first pay attention to the model. MEMORY The learner must also be able to retain the memory of what was done, such as remembering the steps in preparing a dish that was first seen on a cooking show. 68 34  9/24/21 Four Elements of Observational Learning IMITATION The learner must be capable of reproducing, or imitating, the actions of the model. MOTIVATION Finally, the learner must have the desire to perform the action. (An easy way to remember the four elements of modeling is to remember the letters AMIM, which stands for the first letters of each of the four elements). 69 Real World Example Training a cat to use the toilet will involve: Shaping. Preparing "the training arena." Positive reinforcement on a variable schedule. 70 35