PSYC 311 1st EditionLecture 8February 17 – Learning, Conditioning - Orient Reaction – reflexive orientation to a new stimulus o Threat or reinforcement value of a new stimulus must be investigated o Serves as a function because continued orienting to a meaningless stimulus is counterproductive - Habituation – relatively persistent waning of a response resulting from repeated stimulation without consequences o Stimulus is very specific; can last up to 24 hourso Not due to fatigue (too tired to respond), sensory adaptation (very brief-few seconds) or extinction (waning of a learned response due to lack of reinforcement) Change = dishabituation - Classical conditioning slides skipped during class – you will need them for the test- Lope de Vega – 1616o Spanish playwright who was repeatedly sent to the dungeon for “all his singing” o The cats in the dungeon would try to take his food while he was in the dungeon  Eventually, he put the cats in a bag, and conditioned them to fear his coughing by beating the bag of cats after every cough When they brought his food down, he would cough and the cats would stay away I. Reinforcement (to make something stronger)a. Positive reinforcement – a desirable stimulus that increases probability of a response that occurs shortly before (rewarding)b. Negative reinforcement – response terminates (allows escape from) or allows avoidance of a noxious or painful stimulusi. Probability of escape/avoidance response increases1. Escape/avoidance is instrumental conditioning c. Punishment – response followed by a noxious/painful stimulus i. Probability that response re-occurring decreases 1. Stimulus  respone  pain d. Reinforcement or punishment must occur very close in time to the response if behavior is to be efficiently changed i. Consequences should occur 0.5 seconds after the response II. Operant Conditioning a. Form of instrumental conditioning where the response is not in the animals’ repertoire b. Shaping – reinforcement of successive approximations to a desired response i. Skinner Box and Law of Effect c. Continuous vs. Partial reinforcement i. Continuous1. Needed during initial training, susceptible to satiation, susceptible to extinction, cost of foodii. Partial 1. Works best after initial training 2. Counters satiation/extinction effects a. Can lead to persistenceIII. Learning a. He skipped these slides in class – you will need them for the test b. Preparedness – pre-wired disposition to quickly learn in a specific situation c. Species specific defense reactions (evolutionary stable strategies)i. Readings: Garcia, Taste Aversion ii. Garcia and Taste Aversion 1. Aversion to taste/smell, not visual/auditory stimuli associated with food 2. Learning is best when reinforcement is immediate and usually requires many trialsa. Delay of reinforcement for taste aversion b. Only one trial necessary; result is strong c. Specific aversion to smell/tasted. Delay of effects until long after 3. VERY important for omnivores (they eat anything)IV. Insight and Latent learning a. Insighti. Kohler and chimps – make the rake longer to eventually be able to reach the bananas ii. Taking things that you learned previously and putting them together in new ways b. Latent i. Tolman (reading ii. Reinforcement theories assume that for learning to take place, a reinforcing/punishing stimulus must be present iii. Rats randomly assigned to groups 1. Group 1 – removed, handled, placed in a complex maze daily, no reinforcement 2. Group 2 – removed, handled, never experienced maze3. Both groups allowed to learn to run maze for reinforcement (food)a. Took group 2 much longer to learn to run the maze iv. Extrinsic vs. intrinsic reinforcement 1. Latent learning due to curiosity motive or dissipation of fear v. Learning in social situations (cultural transmission) 1. Observational learning and imitation V. Need to Know a. Metzger i. Two groups of mice; one allowed to experience a room, the other group not ii. When placed in to the room with a hungry owl1. 2/20 of the experienced mice were caught, 11/20 of the inexperienced mice were