Introduction to Psychology of LEARNING Reference: Textbook (Domjan, 2015) Chapter 1.

How does the explanation of these two events differ? INTRODUCTION How does the explanation of these two events differ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzCsDVfPQqk&list=PLDSIR3 O5-PojT52wg52F907vKd7ApcSP-&feature=c4-overview-vl Paste the above link into your browser to watch a rocket launching Man Haron Monis  held hostage ten customers and eight employees of a Lindt chocolate café located at Martin Place in Sydney, Australia. Police treated the event as a terrorist attack at the time but Monis' motives have subsequently been debated

INTRODUCTION When explaining human behaviour we appeal to internal cause e.g. intention. Behaviour is oriented towards its anticipated consequences.

LECTURE OVERVIEW Definition of learning and examples. Scope of enquiry -> how far can it be applied? Assumptions -> form the basis of learning, ->determine the way that its studied. Limitations ->determine how we learn Different types of learning ->from a psychological perspective.

Some questions to guide you… LECTURE OVERVIEW Some questions to guide you… What are the key assumptions that the study of learning is based on? How do these help to determine the way that it is studied? What things limit and define the way that we learn? What are the different types of learning? According to the associationists, how do we learn?

LECTURE OVERVIEW Study Guide Questions Define learning. What is the law of contiguity? Is natural selection a purposeful process, is it universal?

DEFINITION OF LEARNING AND EXAMPLES What are some examples of learning? Spend a few minutes and write down some examples.

DEFINITION OF LEARNING AND EXAMPLES What are some examples of learning? Learning equations from the text. Learning the cause of a disease. Toilet training a toddler Learning to play tennis/drive a car. Learning how to study for exams.

DEFINITION OF LEARNING AND EXAMPLES Definition: Learning In psychology we define learning as a change in behaviour with experience.

SCOPE OF ENQUIRY SCOPE OF ENQUIRY Should we be able to offer an explanation of any of the following? Examples: What is the cause of attention deficit disorder? How can we treat it? Is alcoholism due to our genes? Can it be controlled by environmental strategies? What is “craving” how is it involved in addiction? Do we learn fear? Can we overcome it?

SCOPE OF ENQUIRY SCOPE OF ENQUIRY Should we be able to offer an explanation of any of the following? Examples: Do we have “free will” ? What is consciousness? Can our behaviour be changed without us knowing? What is the relationship between the brain and change in behaviour with experience (i.e., learning)?

SCOPE OF ENQUIRY Scope of enquiry: Learning theorists devise ways to make internal processes (intention, motivation) discoverable via scientific (observable, objective) method. What does this mean?

Can science explain these phenomena? ASSUMPTIONS Can science explain these phenomena? The psychology of learning is based on the idea that through rigorous experimental design and objective procedures (often conducted on rats and pigeons) we can discover general principles which can then be applied to complex issues. These general principles that we discover can challenge our assumptions about learning

Assumptions about learning The regularities in human nature are universal and discoverable by scientific analysis. Assumption 2: How do we learn? How do we acquire knowledge? Assumption 3: Complex learning is made up from the simple association of ideas Assumption 4: There is continuity between species

Assumptions about learning The regularities in human nature are universal and discoverable by scientific analysis.

ASSUMPTIONS Assumption 2: Assumptions about learning Assumption 2: How do we learn? How do we acquire knowledge?

ASSUMPTIONS Two fundamental ideas on this: 1. Cognitive (dualism) Assumptions about learning Assumption 2: How do we learn? How do we acquire knowledge? How do we learn? How do we acquire knowledge? Two fundamental ideas on this: 1. Cognitive (dualism) 2. Behaviourist (materialism)

ASSUMPTIONS Descartes How do we learn? How do we acquire knowledge? Assumptions about learning How do we learn? How do we acquire knowledge? 1. Cognitive (dualism) Descartes 2 routes to knowledge Voluntary Involuntary Unique to humans Shared with animals Mind Matter (Reflex)

ASSUMPTIONS Thomas Hobbes argued that: Assumptions about learning All activities can be explained by natural laws. “MIND” not observable, but none-the-less physical. People are mechanistic: We seek pleasure and avoid pain.

Are we born with knowledge or Do we learn through experience? ASSUMPTIONS Assumptions about learning Assumption 2: How do we learn? How do we acquire knowledge? Are we born with knowledge or Do we learn through experience?

ASSUMPTIONS The associationists: Assumptions about learning How do we learn? How do we acquire knowledge? The associationists: Unlike Descartes, the associationists believed: At birth we have a tabula rasa (a blank slate) We are not born with knowledge – we acquire it with experience. How? The following slides provide some historical ideas on this...

Assumptions about learning David Hume argued: “We have no other notion of cause and effect but that of certain objects that have always been cojoined together”. (Hume, 1739, Book 1, Part 3, Section 3).

Assumptions about learning Hartley (1979) argued: Any sensations A, B, C, etc., by being associated with one another a sufficient number of times, get such a power over the corresponding ideas a, b, c, etc., that any one of the sensations A, when impressed alone, shall be able to excite in the mind b, c, etc., the ideas of the rest. Sensations may be said to be associated together, their impressions are either made precisely at the same instant of time, or in the contiguous successive instants.

Assumptions about learning James (1890) argued: When two elementary brain-processes have been active together or in immediate succession, one of them, on reoccurring, tends to propagate its excitement into the other.

Assumptions about learning Hebb (1949) argued: When the axon of neuron A repeatedly or persistently takes part in firing cell B some growth process or metabolic change takes place in one or both cells that increases the subsequent ability of axon A to excite cell B

Assumptions about learning Grossberg (1979) argued: The LTM mechanism in a given interneuronal pathway is a plastic synaptic strength which has two crucial properties: (a) it is computed from a time average of the products of presynaptic signals and postsynaptic potentials; (b) it multiplicatively gates, or shunts, a presynaptic signal before it can perturb the postsynaptic cell. The LTM mechanism in a given interneuronal pathway is a plastic synaptic strength which has two crucial properties: (a) it is computed from a time average of the products of presynaptic signals and postsynaptic potentials; (b) it multiplicatively gates, or shunts, a presynaptic signal before it can perturb the postsynaptic cell.

What do these ideas mean? ASSUMPTIONS Assumptions about learning What do these ideas mean? Assumption 2: How do we learn? How do we acquire knowledge? Knowledge is acquired by sensory experiences. We learn by forming associations between sensory experiences.

Assumptions about learning The Law of Contiguity Assumption 3 When 2 things occur together in time & space they become associated.

Assumptions about learning The Law of Contiguity Is contiguity necessary and sufficient for learning? Pavlovian conditioning, and operant conditioning, have provided an experimental vehicle for examining this question.

Assumptions about learning Why is this relevant? Because if we trace the study of learning to current day, what we know and have discovered is founded on very basic assumptions. Our knowledge of causality has its roots in a very basic idea -> CONTIGUITY.

Assumptions about learning Fundamental questions for associative learning theory are: To what extent can this principle account for learning ? If it can’t, what adaptations must be made for it to do so?

ASSUMPTIONS Assumption 3: Assumptions about learning Assumption 3: Complex learning is made up from the simple association of ideas

ASSUMPTIONS Assumptions about learning Complex learning is made up from the simple association of ideas Some challenges to this idea: Concepts like causality, time, and motion did not come from simple sensation. We can often infer facts without directly experiencing them. E.g. children understand what a table is before they know what wood is. E.g. language. Learning phenomena. More than contiguity is required in order to form associations. (e.g. Overshadowing)

ASSUMPTIONS Assumption 4: There is continuity between species Assumptions about learning Assumption 4: There is continuity between species

ASSUMPTIONS Assumptions about learning There is continuity between species There is continuity between species; i.e., as mammals we are not fundamentally different from other mammals. This is based on evolutionary biology. Important! This is the rationale for studying Aplysia, rats and pigeons in learning experiments, i.e., we assume that the results generalise.

ASSUMPTIONS Variation Within a species there are differences. Assumptions about learning Assumption 4: There is continuity between species Variation Within a species there are differences. Offspring of two individuals will be a new combination of the parent’s characteristics. Reproduction increases variation.

ASSUMPTIONS 2. Differential Reproduction Assumptions about learning Assumption 4: There is continuity between species 2. Differential Reproduction Some variations will be better suited to a particular environment. (e.g. at uni the ability to read & absorb information quickly). Better suited characteristics increase the probability (p) of survival of those who inherit them. Increased p(survival)= increased p(reproduction)

ASSUMPTIONS 3. Natural Selection Assumptions about learning Assumption 4: There is continuity between species 3. Natural Selection Those who survive will pass on the characteristic that led to their survival to their offspring. Those with less suited characteristics are less likely to survive and therefore breed. In this way characteristics are “selected” by environmental constraints.

ASSUMPTIONS 3. Natural Selection Assumptions about learning Assumption 4: There is continuity between species 3. Natural Selection The environment selects characteristics by enhancing the probability of breeding in individuals. Selected by their ability to survive.

ASSUMPTIONS Two things to note: Assumptions about learning Assumption 4: There is continuity between species Two things to note: Variation within a species happens by chance. Selection does not happen by design. It is not an “intelligent” or “purposeful” process - It just so happens that some characteristics will be better suited to an environment than others.

ASSUMPTIONS Limits of Learning Assumptions about learning There is continuity between species Limits of Learning Important Points: Learning is not one faculty that applies to every situation. Learning evolved within specific systems as a result of specific survival needs. i.e. natural selection itself is not purposeful. It occurs as a result of random variation. Intelligent species evolved by dint of survival – not by intelligent means.

ASSUMPTIONS Limits of Learning Assumptions about learning There is continuity between species Limits of Learning Important Points: The role of evolution impacts upon current learned behaviours. Today these are not necessarily adaptive.

Limits of Learning Important points: Learning is not one faculty that applies to every situation. Learning evolved within specific systems as a result of specific survival needs. i.e. natural selection itself is not purposeful. It occurs as a result of random variation. Intelligent species evolved by dint of survival – not by intelligent means.

Limits of Learning Important points: The role of evolution impacts upon current learned behaviours. Today these are not necessarily adaptive.

Example: Fear and the fight/flight response Limits of Learning Example: Fear and the fight/flight response Mammals have evolved under threat of predation. We have a set of physiological response behaviours called the fight/flight response which allows us to increase the strength and agility needed to combat a predator or run away.

Example: Fear and the fight/flight response Limits of Learning Example: Fear and the fight/flight response These include: Increased heart rate. Decreased blood flow to the periphery. Increase blood flow to muscles, lungs & brain. Increased mobilisation of sugar resources.

Cues associated with threat trigger this response. Limits of Learning Cues associated with threat trigger this response. Why?

Cues associated with threat trigger this response. Limits of Learning Cues associated with threat trigger this response. Today most threats are not from a predator. E.g., public speaking This will still elicit the fear response But there is no adaptive advantage.

Limits of Learning Relevance Treatment of phobias and anxiety attacks If we know that fear is often not rational and once initiated, not under control, how does this influence its clinical treatment?

Overview of Learning 308 will work through the different levels of this tree. 3 types: Non associative: Habituation & sensitisation (single event learning) Associative: Pavlovian (event – event) Operant (action – consequence) Vicarious: learning by watching (not covered)

Habituation E.g., dropping books in library First instance evokes attention Repeated instances lead to a reduction in response, and eventually no response. Most pervasive form of learning (from humans to sea snails).

Purpose? Efficient allocation of resources: Allows us to focus our attention on relevant /salient things. Schizophrenia. What is the mechanism for this learning?

Pavlovian Conditioning Is the association between events. Is predictive learning. US -> UR (reflex) CS + US -> UR CS ->CR (learned response)

Pavlovian Conditioning Vehicle for studying the association of ideas. We learn to associate a reflexive response with a cue or range of cues. E.g. to pull our hand away from the fire is a reflex. To run when someone yells “fire” is a learned response. What about behaviour that is not reflexive? What about “purposeful” behaviour?

Operant Conditioning Law of effect Response -> Consequence also called Reinforcement (rft) Positive rft = increase in response Negative rft = decrease in response

Operant Conditioning Behaviours occur by trial and error. If followed by consequences that are pleasurable, they are more likely to be repeated. The precursors of these ideas were present in Hobbes’ original notions – We seek pleasure and avoid pain.

Do you think that this explains all learned behaviour? Reference: Textbook Chapter 1.