Psychology Chapter 7: Learning

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Habituation

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A decline in the response to a stimulus once the stimulus has become familiar.

e.g: city dweller

this simple form of learning essentially guarantees that we ignore inputs we're already familiar with and have found to be inconsequential, and focus instead on the novel ones

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Dishabituation

Back 2

An increase in responsiveness when something novel is presented, following a series of pre-sentations of something familiar

e.g: a city dweller, who is seemingly oblivious to traffic noise will notice suddenly if the noise suddenly stops

Dishabituation serves the function of calling attention to newly arriving-and-potential useful information,

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Unconditioned response(UR)

Back 3

A response elicited by an unconditioned stimulus without prior training.

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Unconditioned stimulus(US)

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A stimulus that reliably triggers a particular response without prior training.

Meat Powder in the Pavlov experiment

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Conditioned response(CR)

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A response elicited by an initially neutral stimulus- the conditioned stimulus (CS)- after it has been paired repeatedly with an unconditioned stimulus (US).

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Conditioned stimulus (CS)

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An initially neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a new response due to pairings with the unconditioned stimulus.

e.g: the bell in Pavlov's experiment

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classical conditioning (Pavlovian conditioning)

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A form of learning in which one stimulus is paired with another so that the organism learns a relationship between the stimuli.

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Scientific Method: Can classical conditioning establish an emotional response?

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Method: 1."Little Albert"--- a normal, 9-month-old infant- was presented with a white rat.

2. When Albert reached out to touch the creature, a researcher struck a steel bar with a hammer, producing a loud, startling noise.

3. This paring (rat+ loud noise) was repeated several times

Results: Little Albert showed intense fear the moment the rat came into view. Albert also exhibited fear of other furry animals, like a rabbit.

Conclusion: Classical conditioning can establish strong insight into how some phobias develop

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Second-order conditioning

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A form of learning in which a neutral stimulus is first made meaningful through classical conditioning. Then, that stimulus( the CS ) is paired with a new, neutral stimulus until the new stimulus also elicits the conditioned response.

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Example of second-order conditioning: dog--- meat, light, bell

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Before, conditioning, neither the bell nor the light trigger salivation. During first-order conditioning, the light is paired with meat, and soon presentation of the light can trigger salivation. During second-order conditioning, the bell is paired with the light. As a result, presentation of the bell alone (which has never been paired with meat ) will elicit salivation.

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Extinction

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The weakening of a learned response that is produced if a conditioned stimulus is now repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus.

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Spontaneous recovery

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The reappearance of an extinguished response after a period in which no further conditioning trails have been presented.

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The difference between "extinction" and "forgetting"

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A response can be extinguisehd in just a half-dozen trials over a period of only a few minutes

-Forgetting is far slower.

Even after a substantial delay, the animal is likely to exhibit a full-blown conditioned response.

-The reconditioning takes much less time than the initial conditioning did. "Extinction" doesn't "erase" the original learning and return the animal to its original naive state.

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Stimulus generalization

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The tendency for stimuli similar to those used during learning to elicit a reaction similar to the learned response.

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Discrimination

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An aspect of learning in which the organism learns to respond differently to stimuli that have been associated with a US (or reinforcement), and stimuli that have not.

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Generalization gradient

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The peak of the gradient (The strongest response) is typically found when the test stimulus is identical to the conditioned stimulus used in training. As the stimuli become less like the original CS, the response gets weaker and weaker (so the curve gets lower and lower).

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Inhibitor

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A stimulus signaling that an event is not coming, which elicits a response opposite to the one that the event usually elicits. (CS+, CS-)

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Conditioning happens most efficiently when?

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the CS precedes the US by some optimum interval -- usually a half-second or so, or perhaps a few seconds at most.

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If the interaval between the CS and US is increased beyond this optimum, the effectiveness?

Back 19

The effectiveness of pairing drops sharply.

Front 20

If presenting the CS and US simultaneously.

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Ineffective!

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What about presenting US before the CS?

Back 21

Worse!

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Contingency or contiguity?

Back 22

Contingency(crucial implication for what produces classical conditioning). provides information about the US's arrival.

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The effect of contingency on classical conditioning (The rat and bell experiment)

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Group A: With or without the bell, shock occurs 40% of the time. ----Result: No conditioning to the bell

Group B: The bell is followed by shock 40% of the time. But 20% shock when no bell. ---- Result: Conditioned fear of the bell

An imperfect predictor is better than no predictor at all!

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Distinction between fear and anxiety?

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Fear is triggered by a specific situation or object;

Anxiety, on the other hand, is chronic, has no object, and occurs in many situations. Some authors suggest that such unfocused anxiety is partly caused by unpredictability--- that is, by an absence of safety signals.

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Animals seem keenly sensitive to comparisons among probabilities.

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True.

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Associations can provide a basis for expectations, and learning can then take the form of an?

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An adjustment in expectations whenever a surprise occurs.

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The role of expectations and surprise

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CS----Expectations:
1\Surprise: You get more than your expected-----Increase your expectations

2\You get what you expected--- No change needed

3\Surprise: You get less than you expected--- Decrease your expectations.

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Blocking Effect

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A result showing that an animal learns nothing about a stimulus if the stimulus provides no new information.

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Three stages of the studies of the blocking effect

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Stage 1: The hiss is reliably followed by the availability of a sexually receptive mate. A CR is thus quickly established.

Stage 2: The procedure continues, but now a light turns on at the same time as the hiss. The light is thus reliably followed by the availability of a mate. This seem like a CS(light) followed by a US(available mate), so it should therefor produce conditioning.

Stage 3: Now we see that conditioning has not occurred: The animal doesn't respond (produces no CR) to the light, no sexual arousal.

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The relationship between the CR and the UR

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- animals interpret the CS as a signal indicating that the US is about to arrive. "Get ready!"

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Compensatory response

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A response that offsets the effects of the upcoming unconditioned stimulus.

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The compensatory response to heroin

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Early on, the drug user experiences the full effect of the needle (and other stimuli) function as a CS, triggering a compensatory CR---one that is the opposite of the UR (the body's reaction to herion). The compensatory response "cancels out" the UR, and so helps maintain homeostasis. (drug tolerance)

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What happens if an addict sees an empty hypodermic needle, or visits the place where he ordinarily buys or injects the drug, but no heroin is available?

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Analyse:
There is CS (the signals), but no US(no heroin. ) With CS present, the CR will be produced(depression, the pain sensitivity)--- drug craving.

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Instrumental conditioning (operant conditioning)

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A form of learning in which the participant receives a reinforcer only after performing the desired response, and thereby learns a relationship between the response and the reinforcer.

(concerned with behaviors initiated by--- and presumably under the control of---the organism itself. In other words, while classical conditioning essentially involves the creation of new reflexes, instrumental conditioning involves the learning of new voluntary behaviors.)

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Edward L. Thorndike

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An important early behaviorist, Thorndike was the first to formulate the law of effect. (Cats in a puzzle box)

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Law of effect

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Thorndike's theory that a response followed by a reward will be strengthened, whereas a response followed by no reward( or by punishment) will be weakened.

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Cats in a box

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Trial 1: THe tendency to perform various incorrect responses( biting the bars, jumping up and down) is strong, while the tendency to perform the correct response (pushing the lever) is weak or nonexistent

Later trial: As trials proceed, the strength of the incorrect responses has become weaker and weaker. In contrast, correct response has grown stronger because it has been reliably rewarded.

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B.F.Skinner

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one of the first theorists to insist on a sharp distinction between classical and instrumental conditioning.

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How does skinner improve the procedure for studying learning?

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Skinner sought a procedure in which the instrumental response could be performed repeatedly and rapidly, so that data could be gathered more easily.

lighter key in order to gain a reward.

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Difference between classical conditioning and instrumental conditioning?

Back 40

Classical conditioning: builds on a respons (UR) that's automatically triggered by a stimulus (US); involves learning about the relation between two stimuli (US and CS)

Instrumental conditioning: involves behaviors that appear to be voluntary. involves learning about the relation between a response and a stimulus (the operant and a reward)

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operant

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In Skinner's system, an instrumental response that is defined by its effect (the way it operates) on the environment.

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reinforcer

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A stimulus delivered after a response that makes the response more likely in the future.

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Types of reinforcement

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THe reinforcement often involves the presentation of something good, such as grain to a hungry pigeon. Alternatively, reinforcement may involve the termination or prevention of something bad, such as the cessation of a loud noise.