PSYCH: Chapter 7 LearningLearning - a relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience.- Learning is more flexible in comparison to the genetically-programmed behaviors of Chinooks (salmon that know the place to reproduce genetically)- Three types of learning include operant, classical, associative How Do We Learn?- We learn by association. Our minds naturally connect events that occur in sequence.- 2000 years ago, Aristotle suggested this law of association. Then 200 years ago Locke and Hume reiterated this lawAssociative Learning- Learning to associate one stimulus with another, our minds naturally connect events that occur in sequence - 2000 years ago, Aristotle suggested this law of association. Then 200 years ago Locke and Hume reiterated this law- Baby Albert, learned to associate loud noises and animals, making him fear animals- If experience fear associated with sound, the sound alone may trigger fear - learned response feeds our habitual behaviors o as we repeat behaviors in a given context, we begin to think of those actions associated with the contexto eating popcorn is associated with the movies- Sea slug Analysiao If the sea slugs gills are squirted, it repeatedly withdraws its gills and then eventually stops reacting. It habituateso If the sea slug gets a shock before the squirt, it does not stop withdrawing because it associates the shock with the squirt of water- Successful adaptation of animals ot the wild requires nature and nuture as in the case of the wolves- Learning to associate one stimulus with another.o Noise with an animalo Squirt with a shock- Learning to associate a response with a consequence.o Sea with a herring if claps or barksClassical Conditioning- Learning the association of two stimuli o See lightning and hear thunder, eventually will see lightning and wince, anticipating thunder- Ideas of classical conditioning originate from old philosophical theories. However, it was the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov who elucidated classical conditioning. His work provided a basis for later behaviorists like John Watson.o Proposed that behavior was not based on “mentalistic” ideaso Humans and animals learn in the same way o These two concepts are behaviorism - Classical conditioning forms associations between stimuli (CS and US). Classical conditioning involves respondent behavior that occurs as an automatic response to a certain stimulus. - Ivan Pavlov’s Experimentso Noticed that dogs would salivate even at the sight of foodo Redirected the dog’s salvia to measuring device, harnessed and isolated the dogo First, slipped the food under the hatch, the dog would then salivateo Then put meat powder (smell) under the dogs noseo Then started classical conditioning with other non-related stimuli The ringing of a bell signaled food, so when heard the bell would salivate These stimuli were termed “neutral events” Later a buzzer, touching on the leg, and sight of a circle would trigger salivatingo Unconditioned response: uncontrollable response For example, the salivation in response to food because cannot control salivationo Unconditioned stimulus This is a stimuli that triggers the unconditioned response uncontrollably The food in the mouth would be an unconditioned response because it triggers salvationo Conditioned response Salivation to the bell was conditional on learning the association between the sound and food o Conditioned stimulus The previously neutral stimulus that when learned now triggered conditional salivationo Acquisition Initial learning of the stimulus-response relationship Conditioning does not happen when the unconditioned stimulus comes before the conditioned stimulus The only reason we learn this association because it helps us prepare for good or bad events Conditioning helps an animal reproduce by responding to clues that can help it mate, avoiddangers, locate mates, etc Higher order functioning: a new neural stimulus that can become a new conditioned stimulus- Needs to become associated with a pre-conditioned stimulus- Ex: female and sexual arousal. Light and female- Tends to be weaker than the first order conditioning- Ex: afraid of dogs because once bit by a pitbull. The barking of a dog reminds you of the pitbull and you become slightly afraido Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery Extinction: the diminished responding when the CS(tone) occurs without the US (food), the result is awaning After a pause, the CS reappears: spontaneous recovery - Proves extinction lessens the response, but doesnot eliminate it The rising curve shows that the CR rapidly growsstronger as the CS and US are repeatedly paired(acquisition), then weakens as the CS is presentedalone (extinction). After a pause, the CR reappears(spontaneous recovery)o Generalization When a tone that the dog never heard before, but was still a tone, the dog would salivate If the dog was conditioned (CS) to be rubbed on the leg, rubbing on another body part would illicit the response This is called generalization Can be adaptive - Toddlers fear moving cars, therefore fear moving truckso Discrimination The dogs learned to respond to the specific tone that was sounded, and not other tones Learning to discriminate between the CS and other irrelevant stimuliExtending Pavlov’s Understanding - In the dismissal of mentalistic processes and behavior, Pavlov and Watson overlooked cognitive processes and biological constraints on learning o Cognitive processes Animals can learn predictability of an event If a rat is shocked when preceded by a tone and a light is sometimes shown the rat will not wince when the light is shown because the tone is a better indicator The more predictable the association, the stronger the conditioned response: expectancy If an alcoholic’s drink is spiked with a nausea inducing drug, the alcoholic will notcompletely blame the sick feeling on the alcohol, but rather the drug that is put in ito Biological Constraints (predispostions) Not all animals associate as well, they are constrainedby their biology because it is what helps them survive. Some animals like rats, can develop associations evenif the US is triggered well after the CS, radiation waterand vomiting - However, cannot develop CR to sounds andsights, mainly only tastes- Because their biology made them learn thattasting it the best way to identify poison Humans are also
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