PSY381-Hande Kaynak Learning Theories PDF

PSY381-Hande Kaynak 10/10/2023 Three Examples of Specificity in CC CC 2 Chapter 4 continues & Chapter 5 overshadowing, blocking, and latent inhibition. 1 Conditioning occurs to specific stimuli only, despite close pairing of other stimuli with the UCS. 10/10/2023 Three Examples of Specific...

PSY381-Hande Kaynak 10/10/2023 Three Examples of Specificity in CC CC 2 Chapter 4 continues & Chapter 5 overshadowing, blocking, and latent inhibition. 1 Conditioning occurs to specific stimuli only, despite close pairing of other stimuli with the UCS. 10/10/2023 Three Examples of Specificity in CC 10/10/2023 Three Examples of Specificity in CC 3 4 Overshadowing Suppose that you were stung by a wasp during a walk. Do you develop a conditioned fear response to every stimulus associated with that event (e.g., the trees surrounding you, the butterfly fluttering by, and the cloud formation in the sky)? No! Rather, it’s more likely to develop a fear response to stimulus which was most salient at the time of being stung, such as the sight of the wasp or the buzzing sound it makes. 10/10/2023 Overshadowing  the most distinctive stimuli associated with that event, such as the sight of the wasp and perhaps the buzzing sound it makes.  The positive feelings generated by the music of a rock band will be most strongly associated with the most salient member of that band (e.g., the lead singer)  While there’s a more salient stimulus around, the less salient stimulus elicits little or no response. 10/10/2023 1 PSY381-Hande Kaynak 10/10/2023 Three Examples of Specificity in CC Overshadowing 5 6 You once played in an all-star game alongside Antonio, an unknown basketball player just like you. Antonio, however, is a very tall and noticeable player on the court. Although you both played equally well, almost all the credit for the win went to _________, which seems analogous to the __________ effect in classical conditioning. A compound stimulus consists of the simultaneous presentation of two or more stimuli (e.g., the sound of a metronome is presented at the same time as a light). So, it needs several pairings! 10/10/2023 10/10/2023 Three Examples of Specificity in CC Three Examples of Specificity in CC 7 8 Blocking Blocking Suppose that a light is first conditioned as a CS for salivation. If the light is then combined with a NS, metronome to form a compound, and this compound is then paired with food, little or no conditioning occurs to the metronome. The presence of an established CS interferes with conditioning of a new CS.  Blocking is similar to overshadowing, except that the compound consists of a neutral stimulus and a CS rather than two neutral stimuli that differ in salience. 10/10/2023 10/10/2023 2 PSY381-Hande Kaynak 10/10/2023 Three Examples of Specificity in CC Three Examples of Specificity in CC 9 10 Blocking Blocking Imagine that you have to make an unpopular announcement to your employees. Based on blocking, you would do well to make it a joint announcement with another manager who is already disliked by the employees (one who is already an aversive CS). The employees might then attribute most or all of the bad news to the unpopular manager, and you will be left relatively unscathed. Taste aversion. Response is nausea 10/10/2023 Three Examples of Specificity in CC Three Examples of Specificity in CC 11 12 Latent Inhibition  A familiar stimulus is more difficult to condition as a CS than is an unfamiliar (novel) stimulus. So, it means that an unfamiliar stimulus is more readily conditioned than a familiar stimulus. Blocking Based on Taste aversion. Shrimp  Nausea aversive stimulus response Step 1 Shrimp + Vegetables : Nausea aversive+ neutral Step 2 Shrimp Vegetables Step 3   Nausea No nausea 10/10/2023 10/10/2023 10/10/2023 3 PSY381-Hande Kaynak 10/10/2023 Three Examples of Specificity in CC Three Examples of Specificity in CC 13 14 Latent Inhibition  If a rabbit in a grassy field is attacked by a coyote and then escapes, it will be much more adaptive for the rabbit to associate the attack with the novel scent of the coyote than with the familiar scent of grass.  A conditioned fear response to that scent will help the rabbit avoid such attacks in the future. A conditioned fear response to grass, however, will be completely maladaptive because the rabbit is surrounded by grass day in and day out and often feeds on it. (The scent of the coyote is a good predictor of a possible attack, not the scent of grass!)  Latent inhibition (prevents/promotes)_________ the development of conditioned associations to redundant 10/10/2023 stimuli. A familiar stimulus is more difficult to condition as a CS than is an unfamiliar (novel) stimulus 10/10/2023 Three Examples of Specificity in CC Three Examples of Specificity in CC 15 16 Questions:  Q: Because Jez has a history of getting into trouble, he often Answer: Overshadowing. Q: In _______________, the presence of an established CS interferes with conditioning of another stimulus. A: blocking catches most of the blame when something goes wrong, even when others are also responsible for what happened. This is most similar to the phenomenon of _________. A: blocking  Consider the following example:  (Step 1)  Q: In __________ __________, a familiar stimulus is more difficult to condition as a CS than is an unfamiliar stimulus. A: latent inhibition 10/10/2023  John: Rude behavior → Anger John → Anger  (Step 2)  Amir: John → Anger  Amir → Anger  This is an example of ____________ conditioning. 10/10/2023 4 PSY381-Hande Kaynak 10/10/2023 Rescorla-Wagner Theory (1972) 17 18  The Rescorla-Wagner theory proposes that a given UCS can support only so much conditioning, and this amount of conditioning must be distributed among the various CSs available.  Stronger UCSs support more conditioning than do weaker UCSs (highly preferred vs. less preferred food). if tone is fully associated with the food, it gets max value.  V is the number of drops of saliva the tone elicits. 10/10/2023 10/10/2023 Rescorla-Wagner Theory (1972) Rescorla-Wagner Theory (1972) 19 20  If the tone is a bit more salient than the light, then when tested separately, the tone elicits 6 drops of saliva while the light elicits 4. If the tone was even more salient than the light, then overshadowing might occur.  According to the Rescorla-Wagner theory, the amount of conditioning that occurs is limited and must be distributed among the various CSs available.  According to the Rescorla-Wagner theory, overshadowing occurs because the more salient CS picks up (most/little) __________ of the associative value available in that setting. 10/10/2023 10/10/2023 5 PSY381-Hande Kaynak 10/10/2023 Rescorla-Wagner Theory (1972) Rescorla-Wagner Theory (1972) 21 22  Let’s take a blocking procedure.  When the two stimuli are later tested for conditioning, the following occurs:  One stimulus is first conditioned to its maximum associative value.  According to the Rescorla-Wagner theory, blocking occurs  The tone has already acquired that much value. The light because the (CS/NS) _________ in the compound has already picked up all of the available associative value. can therefore acquire no associative value because all of the associative value has already been assigned to the tone. 10/10/2023 Rescorla-Wagner Theory (1972) 10/10/2023 Rescorla-Wagner Theory (1972) 23 24  Suppose we condition a tone to its maximum associative  According to the Rescorla-Wagner theory, after several pairings value, as follows: Tone (V = 0): Food (Max = 10 ) → Salivation Tone (V = 10) → Salivation of the compound stimulus with food, the total associative value of the compound stimulus will be reduced to 10: [Tone + Light] (V = 10) → Salivation and then do the same for the light: Light (V = 0): Food (Max = 10 ) → Salivation Light (V = 10) → Salivation  When each member in the compound is tested separately, its and then we combined them into a compound stimulus for further conditioning. 10/10/2023 value also will have decreased: Tone (V = 5) → Salivation Light (V = 5) → Salivation This is so called ‘overexpectation effect’! We observe a decreament in the conditioned response! Each CS in the compound loses some of its associative value! 10/10/2023 6 PSY381-Hande Kaynak 10/10/2023 Rescorla-Wagner Theory (1972) Rescorla-Wagner Theory (1972) 25 26 According to the _________ effect, if 2 fully conditioned stimuli are combined into a compound stimulus that is then subjected to further pairings with the UCS, the associative value of each member of the compound will (increase/decrease)____ Suppose a compound stimulus has an associative value of 25 following conditioning. According to the Rescorla-Wagner theory, if one CS has acquired 15 units of associative value, the other CS must have acquired __ units of associative value. Suppose a tone and a light are each conditioned with food to a maximum associative value of 8 units. If the tone and light are combined into a compound stimulus for further conditioning trials, the associative value of each stimulus must necessarily (decrease/increase) _____. This is known as the _____ effect. 10/10/2023 When Uncle Bob and Aunt Shirley were separated, they each gave Little Lucas great Christmas presents, with the result that he developed strong positive feelings for both of them. They then resolved their difficulties and moved back together. They now give Little Lucas one great present from the two of them. The Rescorla-Wagner theory predicts that Little Lucas’s positive feelings for each will become (stronger/weaker/unaffected) ______. This is known as the ___________ effect. 10/10/2023 Rescorla-Wagner Theory (1972) 27  A compound stimulus consists of a buzzer and a light flash, each of which has 0 units of associative value. This compound stimulus is then repeatedly paired with a sweet drink that can support a maximum associative value of 15 units. Following these pairings, the buzzer has acquired 14 units of associative value. This means that the light flash has at most acquired ____ units of associative value, which is a demonstration of ____.  1; overshadowing  1; blocking  15; simple conditioning  14; the overexpectation effect 10/10/2023 7