Chapter 6 Learning

Psychology Textbook Reading & Lecture Notes Chapter 6 Learning Learning: a process by which behavior or knowledge changes as a result of experience (eg: repeated behaviors through any of our senses that can be acquired or obtained. 3 main types of learning (all behavior requires motivation and works) 1) Classical Conditioning (Associative Learning): learning to associate events/stimuli; one event causes another 2) Operant Conditions (Contingency Learning): associating behavior with consequences (positive or negative) 3) Cognitive Learning (Latent): learning without reinforcement; may or may not be directly observable Important People: - Clark Hul l theorized the interrelationship between learning and motivation in generating behavior - Spence stressed the role on incentives in controlling goal-directed behavior - Twitmyer: another researcher similar to Pavlov (except Pavlov got all the credit) but instead did the association with the movement of knee jerking to the sound of the bell. - Mary Cover Jones eliminated a fear response of a child to furry objects by pairing with a positive UCS 6 .1 Classical Conditioning: Learning by Association Pavlov's Dogs: Classical Conditioning of Salivation - Ivan Pavlov, russian physiologist studied digestion used dogs as his model species for experiments - During this research procedure he collected saliva & other gastric secretions from the dogs when presented with meat powder. - Pavlov noticed dogs would start salivating before any meat powder was presented - Observation led Pavlov to consider the possibility that digestive responses were MORE than just simple reflexes elicited by food. - Pavlov used a metronome (a device that produces ticking sounds at intervals) on the dogs then presented meat powder. He discovered that the metronome could elicit salivation by itself. - When a neutral stimulus gains the ability to elicit a response from an organism this is because it was associated with some other stimulus that elicited that response in the past. The neutral stimulus was paired with a stimulus that already had a known motivational significance. - Motivational significance can be: 1) Positive (food reward) 2) Negative (shock) - Classical conditioning/Pavlovian conditions : a form of associative learning in which an organism learns to associate a neural stimulus (eg: a sound) with a biologically relevant stimulus (eg: food), resulting in a change in the response to the previously neutral stimulus (eg: salvation ).

Psychology Textbook Reading & Lecture Notes - Hebb rule: when a weak connection between neurons is stimulated at the same same as a strong connection, the weak connection becomes strengthened. Processes of Classical Conditioning - Refer to this in mechanical terms; one event causes another - A stimulus is an external event of cue that elicits a perceptual response; occurring regardless of the weather the event is important or not. - Acquisition: initial phase of learning where a response is established (where neutral stimulus is paired with the US) - The NS is repeatable paired with the US. Predictability= key. More pairings generally= stronger CR - Extinction: reduction of conditioned response when a conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus no longer occur together. - For example: if the sound of the metronome clicking is presented repeatedly and no food follows, salivation should occur less and less until eventually NOT at all. Therefore if the sound of the metronome is no longer a reliable predictor of food, then salivation in response to this particular stimulus becomes unnecessary. - Spontaneous recovery: recurrence of a previously extinguished conditioned response, typically after some time has passed since extinction. - When an organism goes through an extinction trial where what they were classically conditioned to respond to goes extinct. After the extinction period there's a weird period where suddenly they hear the bell again. If Pavlov went 24 hours without hearing the bell then he rang it again the dogs would salivate. Phenom that occurs in conditioning. - Pavlov's dogs just learned that clicking on a metronome indicates that food will NOT appear. - Reasoning spontaneous recovering happens is UNKNOWN- ASK CLANCY - Stimulus generalization: process where a response that originally occurred for a specific stimulus also occurs for a different (but still similar) stimulus. - For example: dogs salivated for both the metronome/ original sound (CS) but also to very similar sounds. - Discrimination: when an organism learns to respond to one conditioned stimulus but NOT to a new stimulus that may be similar to the original stimulus. Applications of Classical Conditioning - Some stimuli such as food, water, pain or sexual contact elict responses instinctively (WITHOUT any learning being required) all of these are examples of unconditioned stimulus (US) - In Pavlov's experiment, meat powder elicited unconditioned salvation in the dogs (an example of an unconditioned response/UR) - The link between the US & UR are “unlearned”. The dogs parents didn’t need to teach it to salivate when food appeared that response occurred naturally

Psychology Textbook Reading & Lecture Notes Evolutionary Role for Fear Conditioning Before conditioning: Neutral stimulus= tone & mild electric shock During conditioning: Unconditioned stimulus (US)= tone & shock Unconditioned response (UR)= pain After conditioning: Conditioned stimulus (CS)= tone Conditioned response (CR)= fear What is the difference between UR and CR? - The stimulus that elicits them - Salivation is the UR if it occurs in response to US (food) - Salivation is the CR if it occurs in response to a CS (clicking of the metronome). - A CS can have this effect ONLY if it becomes associated with a US - UR= naturally occurring response - CR= must be a learned response - These two responses do NOT have to be identical Summary of Classical Conditioning: Pavlov made an association between the clicking sound of a metronome and food on dogs. Conditioned Taste Aversions Conditioned Taste Aversions: acquired dislike or disgust for a food or drink because it was paired with illness. Latent inhibition: occurs when frequent experience with a stimulus before it is paired with a US makes it less likely that conditioning will occur after a single episode of illness. Scenario #1: At the doctor's office; receiving a needle. What is the UR, US, CS & CR? - The needle (US) that causes the pain (UR) - The office that causes you anxiety is the controlled/ neutral stimulus (CS/ NS)

Psychology Textbook Reading & Lecture Notes - Overtime, the sights and sounds of the doctors office could be the CS because it will trigger fear (CR) Higher Order Conditioning: - Using that conditioned stimulus as a way to pair a new neutral stimulus - Electric can opener already become conditioned because the can opener has been paired so many times with food - Higher order conducted using conditions to create a conditioned stimulus from something that was previously neutral. - Library= paired with coffee (having coffee= unconditioned, neutral stimulus= library) - Paired so many times= library turns into conditioned stimulus - Everytime you go to the library you crave coffee - All before higher order conditioning - Studying= paired with library (neutral to conditioned) - Everytime you study you crave coffee (higher order conditioning) - Library wanted naturally make you crave coffee but because it was paired with coffee you will crave coffee in other scenarios Model 1 Summary: Understand… how responses learned through classical conditioning can be acquired and lost. - Acquisition of a conditioned response occurs with repeated pairings of the CS and the US. Once the response is acquired, it can be extinguished if the CS and the US no longer occur together. - During extinction, the CR decreases but may appear under some conditions. - CR may spontaneously recover when the organism encounters the CS again. Understand… the role of biological and evolutionary factors in classical conditioning - Not all stimuli have the same potential to become strong Application Activity: Read the 3 scenarios and identify all of the stimulus and responses. Scenario #1: Cameron and Tia went to prom together. During their last slow dance, the DJ played the theme song for the event. During the song, the couple kissed. Now, several years later, whenever Cameron and Tia hear the song, they feel a rush of excitement. - Conditioned Stimulus (CS): hearing music / song in general - Unconditioned Stimulus (US): kissing- initiated unconditioned response or being excited - Unconditioned response (UR): feeling excited because they kissed (no one taught them to feel excitement when kissing) - Conditioned Response (CR): rush of excitement - conditioned response to when they hear the song Unconditioned= something happens naturally no taught or learned Conditioned= has to be learned

Psychology Textbook Reading & Lecture Notes Reinforcement increases behavior Punishment decreases behavior Behavior: Try the new cafe on 2nd avenue Behavior: Try listening to the new radio station in town Consequence: The meal and service were fantastic Consequence: The music is terrible Effect: The behavior is reinforced. You’ll be there again. Effect: You won’t listen to that station again. Distinguishing Between Reinforcement and Punishment Consequence Effect on Behavior Example Positive reinforcement Stimulus is added or increased A child gets an allowance for making their bed, so they are likely to do it again in the future Negative reinforcement: Stimulus is removed or decreased The rain no longer falls on you after opening your umbrella, so you are likely to do it again in the future Positive punishment: Stimulus is added or increased A pet owner scolds their dog for jumping up on a house guest and now the dog is less likely to it again Negative punishment: Stimulus is removed or decreased A parent takes away TV privileges to stop children from fighting. Positive and Negative Reinforcement and Punishment - Both factors could be accomplished by removing a stimulus as well - Positive= a stimulus is added to a situation; positive can interfere to reinforcement or punishment - Negative= a stimulus is removed from a situation; negative can interfere to reinforcement or punishment - Produce 4 different types of operant conditioning - Positive reinforcement: the strengthening of behavior after potential reinforcers such as praise, money, or nourishment follow that behavior - If you laugh at your professor's jokes, the praise will serve as a reward so it’s more likely that your prof is going to tell more jokes. - A compliment from a supervisor at work

Psychology Textbook Reading & Lecture Notes - Negative reinforcemen t: the strengthening of a behavior because it removes a stimulus or diminishes a stimulus - For example: studying to avoid nagging from parents, taking aspirin/drinking lots of water to remove a headache, wearing sunscreen to prevent a sunburn - Negative reinforcement can be further subdivided into 2 subcategories → 1) Avoidance learning: a specific type of negative reinforcement that removes the possibility that a stimulus will occur - Leaving a sports game early to avoid traffic/crowds 2) Escape learning: occurs if a responses removes a stimulus that is already present - Covering your ears to avoid loud music - Punishment: consequence that decreases the likelihood of a behavioral response occurring later - Positive punishment: process where a behavior decreases in frequency because it was followed by a particular, usually unpleasant stimulus. - Spaying a cat with a spray bottle of water because they scratch the furniture - Being fined for a speeding ticket - Negative punishment: occurs when a behavior decreases because it removes or diminishes a particular stimulus. - For example: grounding a child. - Using drugs to avoid withdrawal symptoms (trying to remove an obnoxious stimulus by increasing use of drug) - Not allowed outside because you didn’t come home before dark.

Psychology Textbook Reading & Lecture Notes Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)= involves using close observation, prompting and reinforcement to teach behaviors, often to people who experience difficulties and challenges owing to a development condition such as autism Processes of Operant Conditioning Why do some stimuli affect behaviors that others have no influence whatsoever? Primary Reinforcers: consist of reinforcing stimuli that satisfy basic motivational needs- needs that affect an individual's ability to survive (and if possible reproduce) - Increase in response/ behavior because of their very nature - Food, water, shetler, sexual contact, avoidance of pain Secondary Reinforcers: consist of stimuli that acquire their reinforcing effects only after we learn that they have value. - Increase in response because they have in the past been associated with a primary reinforcer. - Money, Facebook likes, car, special location - Don’t DIRECTLY influence survival related behaviors Motivation to seek out these reinforces is complex but mainly due to a specific brain circuit, including a structure called the “nucleus accumbens” - This becomes activated during the processes of all kinds of rewards (eating, having sex) Discriminative Stimulus= a cue or event that indicates that a response, if made, will be reinforced. - Before making coffee, checking if the coffee maker is on, ask to borrow your parents cars if they are in a good mood Discrimination= occurs when an organism learns to respond to one original discriminative stimulus but not to new stimuli that may be similar to the original stimuli. - A cue in our environment indicating a response will be reinforced or punished (helps us decide when to respond) - A response from a specific stimulus also occurs from other similar stimulus Generalization= take place when an operant response occurs in response to a new stimuli that is similar to the stimulus present during original learning - A response from a specific stimulus also occurs for other similar stimuli Extinction: the weakening of an operant response when reinforcement is no longer available - Example stopping to refresh your computer when your itinerant connection is lost since there is no reinforcement for doing so - CR becomes unnecessary if the CS is no longer a reliable predictor Comparing Discrimination, Generalization, and Extinction in Classical and Operant Conditioning Process Classical Conditioning Operant Conditioning Discrimination A CR does not occur in There is no response to a

Psychology Textbook Reading & Lecture Notes response to a different CS that resembles the original CS stimulus that resembles the original discriminative stimulus used during learning Generalization A different CS that resembles the original CS used during acquisition elicit a CR Responding occurs to the stimulus that resembles the original discriminative stimulus used during learning Extinction A CS is presented without a US until the CR no longer occurs Responding gradually ceases if reinforcement is no longer available Example of Generalization: - Someone who has a fear of spiders will generalize this to having a fear of crabs because they have the same body/ legs - Emily (who has a fear of spiders) can discriminate the 2 different stimuli and is NOT scared of crabs because she isn’t generalizing that fear with same stimuli - Seeing someone fall from a tall building and generalizing that fear to being scared to roller coasters because a tall building and heights have same characteristics Reinforcement Schedules and Operant Conditioning Variable= varying every time Fixed= the same Schedules of Reinforcement= rules that determine when reinforcement is available Continuous reinforcement= every response made results in reinforcement - Reward provided for EVERY TIME you make a behavior. - Candy machines: everytime you put money in your are going to get a reward of food Partial intermittent reinforcement= only a certain number of responses are rewarded, or a certain amount of time must pass before reinforcement is available - Based on a schedule/ time interval - Delivery of reward at irregular times. - 4 types of partial reinforcement are available - They each have different effects on rates of responding 1) Ratio schedule: reinforcements are based on the amount of responding 2) Interval schedule: reinforcements are based on the amount of time between reinforcements NOT the number of responses an animal (or human) makes 3) Fixed schedule: schedule of reinforcement remains the same overtime 4) Variable schedule: schedule of reinforcement, along linked to an average, varies from reinforcement to reinforcement 4 INTERMITTENT reinforcement schedules= BASED ON REWARD RATIOS/ NUMBER OF RESPONSES:

Psychology Textbook Reading & Lecture Notes Latent Learning: learning that is not immediately expressed by a response until the organism is reinforced for doing so - HIDDEN LEARNING - Someone sitting in a math class you don’t know if they are retaining and understanding the info but if you give them a test and they do good they have now been reinforced showing a demonstration of their learning - YOU CANNOT SEE THE LEARNING CUZ THERE’S NO REINFORCER BUT IF YOU DO REINFORCER THE LEARNING LATER THAN YOU CAN SEE LEARNING HAPPENING Observational Learning: Definicion: involves changes in behavior and knowledge that result from watching others - 4 keys processes are required to occur 1) Attention: may pay attention to behavior of others and consequences 2) Retention: need to store mental representation in your memory (may not use it right away) to use for later - Watching the way your mom interacts with the doctor and taking note for yourself in the future - Memory/ Reproduction: you need to use what you saw as overt behavior - when we learn a new behavior their is often a delay before the opportunity to perform it aries - To imitate a behavior we must be able to string together the correct pattern of responses. - Observer can actually produce the behavior= when we first observe practice immediately then continue practicing we will be able to acquire the response at a faster rate. 4) Motivation is an important factor to actually wanting to do the task at hand Bandura: purposed humans are neither compelled by inner force nor totally controlled via environment (eg: classical or instrumental conditioning). Rather, result via interactions between particular behaviors and the conditions that control them. Social learning theory: social conditions are most important determinants of behaviour Imination: recreating someone else's motor behavior or expression, often to accomplish a specific goal - Subcategory of observational learning Aversive conditioning: using a punishment to stop a behavior - Behavior technique that involves replacing a positive response to a stimulus with a negative response typically using punishment. - Umbrella term for punishment being applied to stop an unwanted behavior weather it’s through OPERANT OR CLASSICAL CONDITIONING - Aversion= DISLIKE Cognitive Learning Theory: how internal and external factors influence an individual's mental processes to supplement learning

Psychology Textbook Reading & Lecture Notes - 3 aspects - 2 categories 1) Comprehension: why does learning actually matter? 2) Memory: discouraging the cramming of information but rather having a deeper understanding of the general concept will help with pulling info out of memory to retain and code 3) Application= encouraging you to develop problem solving skills & applying that knowledge & skill. - For example the burning questions we do for Clancy, it applies what we talk about in class based on something that interests you. Category #1: Social Cognitive Theory = how people are influenced (eg: observational learning) and how they influence the environment - Factors such as culture/ social structures influence them - Fictional characters also play a role in a person’s behavior → someone we watch on TV might pick up the same manurisions as them. Modeling Process based on that: 1) Attention: must first attend to another’s behavior to use it to our benefit 2) Retention: must store in memory the observation for later use 3) Reproduction: to imitate a behavior we must be able to string together the correct pattern of responses. Category #2: Cognitive Behavioral Theory = refers to mental processes, our thoughts and interpretation of life events - Experienced thoughts, feelings and behavior interact - What influences do the people you surround yourself with have on you? Benefits of Cognitive Learning Theory

Psychology Textbook Reading & Lecture Notes 3) Equilibrium: balancing what we already know with the new information that we are trying to acquire- differentiating theme (new vs old info) Learning Through Discovery - Jerome Butler: discovered information for themselves - 3 stages of cognitive representation 1. Enactive-actions 2. Iconic- Imagery 3. Symbolic-words/ symbolism What Do All Of These Learnings Have In Common? They all… 1) Build from simple to complex (need some preliminary information to build understanding) 2) Integration of what we have already experience with new experiences (more meaningful connections to prior memories can be more easily learned and understood) 3) Learning is interaction of self and environment All of Chapter 6 Definitions Listed: - Learning : a process by which behavior or knowledge changes as a result of experience (cognitive and associative learning) - Unconditioned stimulus (US)= a stimulus that elicits a reflective response without learning. (eg: presenting food to dogs) - Unconditioned response (UR): a reflective, unlearned reaction to an unconditioned stimulus (eg:hunger, drooling/salivation, expressions of pain, sexual responses) - Neutral Stimulus (NS): a stimulus that, with conditioning will begin to elicit a response (it cannot elicit a response but after conditioned stimulus it will be able to- eg: bell before conditioning) - Conditioned stimulus (CS): a once neutral stimulus paired with the US that later elicits a conditioned response because it has a history of being paired with an unconditioned stimulus (bell after conditioning) - Conditioned response (CR): learned response that occurs to the conditional stimulus (salivation response to bell)- THIS CAN SOMETIMES BE THE SAME AS THE US - Classical conditioning/Pavlovian conditions : a form of associative learning in which an organism learns to associate a neural stimulus (eg: a sound) with a biologically relevant stimulus (eg: food), resulting in a change in the response to the previously neutral stimulus (eg: salvation ) - Acquisition: initial phase of learning where a response is established. - Extinction: reduction of conditioned response when a conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus no longer occur together. - Spontaneous recovery: recurrence of a previously extinguished conditioned response, typically after some time has passed since extinction. - Stimulus generalization: process where a response that originally occurred for a specific stimulus also occurs for a different (but still similar) stimulus.

Psychology Textbook Reading & Lecture Notes - Discrimination: when an organism learns to respond to one conditioned stimulus but NOT to a new stimulus that may be similar to the original stimulus. - Conditioned Emotional Responses: consist of emotional or physiological responses that develop to a specific object or situation. - Conditioned Taste Aversions: acquired dislike or disgust for a food or drink because it was paired with illness. - Evaluative Conditioning: you like a stimulus more or less because it was paired with a positive or negative stimulus (eg: something to US- pairing cute puppies works to make us feel happy) - Latent inhibition: occurs when frequent experience with a stimulus before it is paired with a US makes it less likely that conditioning will occur after a single episode of illness. - Emily loves eating sushi, she has encountered it several times, now one day she has a bad day with sushi (you could make an argument that it could make you feel sick every other time you see sushi with classical conditioning) - Operant Conditioning: a type of learning in which behavior is influenced by consequences (learning through reinforcement by appropriate responses) - Reinforcement: a process in which an event or reward that follows a response increases the likelihood of that response occurring again. - Law of effect= the idea that responses followed by satisfaction will occur again in the same situation, whereas those that are not followed by satisfaction become less likely. - Reinforcer= a stimulus that is contingent upon a response and that increases the probability of that response occurring again. - Positive reinforcement: the strengthening of behavior after potential reinforcers such as praise, money, or nourishment follow that behavior - Punisher= a stimulus that is contingent upon a response, resulting in a decrease in behavior - Punishment= a process that decreases the future probability of a response. - Negative reinforcemen t: the strengthening of a behavior because it removes a stimulus or diminishes a stimulus - Avoidance learning: a specific type of negative reinforcement that removes the possibility that a stimulus will occur - Escape learning: occurs if a responses removes a stimulus that is already present - Covering your ears to avoid loud music - Positive punishment: process where a behavior decreases in frequency because it was followed by a particular, usually unpleasant stimulus. - Negative punishment: occurs when a behavior decreases because it removes or diminishes a particular stimulus. - Chaining= linking together two or more shaped behaviors into a more complex action or sequence of actions. - Shaping: reinforcing successive approximations of a specific operant response - Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)= involves using close observation, prompting and reinforcement to teach behaviors, often to people who experience difficulties and challenges owing to a development condition such as autism

Psychology Textbook Reading & Lecture Notes - Involves an involuntary response- dogs have been conditioned/trained and it’s not natural- it’s going to happen whether they want it to or not. Instrumental/ Operant= reward vs punishment & reinforcement- performing behavior for an outcome 3 Major Types of Behavioral Learning: 1) Classical conditioning: a neutral stimulus is associated with a natural response 2) Operant/ Instrumental Conditioning: a response is increased or decreased due to reinforcement or punishment - Reward likely increase behavior while punishment will decrease the likeliness of behaviors 3) Observational learning: learning that occurs through observation and imitation of others Key Terms Summary: - Learning - Unconditioned Stimulus (US) - Unconditioned response (UR) - Conditioned stimulus (CS)/ neutral stimulus - Conditioned response (CR) - Classical conditioning - Acquisition - Extinction - Spontaneous recovery: - Stimulus generalization: - Discrimination: - Conditioned Emotional Responses - Conditioned Taste Aversions - Latent inhibition - Reinforcement - Operant conditioning - Law of effect - Reinforcer - Punisher - Punishment - Positive reinforcement - Negative punishment: - Avoidance learning: - Escape learning: - Positive punishment: - Shaping - Chaining

Psychology Textbook Reading & Lecture Notes - ABA - Discriminative Stimulus - Secondary Reinforcers - Primary Reinforcers - Extinction: - Generalization - Discrimination - Variable schedule - Ratio schedule - Interval schedule - Fixed schedule - Schedules of Reinforcement - Continuous reinforcement - Partial intermittent reinforcement - Fixed-ratio schedule - Variable- ratio schedule - Fixed interval schedule - Variable interval schedule - Latent Learning: - Observational Learning - Imination