2. AP Psychology Unit 6: Learning

3. Learning: Definition Relatively permanent  to rule out behavioral changes that result from fatigue or motivational changes  Exception: Short-Term Memory recall ability only lasts about 30 seconds without rehearsal – learning happens, but it’s not “relatively permanent Change in behavior or behavior potential  Behavioral potential is included because learning often takes place without immediately being shown in behavior.  learning may create the potential for behavior change when the conditions are right – e.g. when there is an incentive Experience in environment  rule out changes that result from maturation  Complication: maturation usually works together with experience to change behavior. It speeds up the learning process.

4. Learning: Learning vs. Maturation It is hard to separate experience from maturation and say something is purely learned or purely genetic. Maturation is generally seen as preparing a species to learn a skill rapidly

5. Maturation vs. Learning? Do salamanders learn to swim? Classic Experiment by Carmichael Experimental GroupControl Group Salamander eggs were placed in chloretone solution, a chemical that prevents movement but permits normal growth. Salamander eggs were placed in tap water. Did I learn or just mature?

6. Maturation vs. Learning? Do salamanders learn to swim? Classic Experiment by Carmichael Experimental GroupControl Group Do salamanders learn to swim? Classic Experiment by Carmichael Experimental GroupControl Group When salamanders in the Control group reached an age when they were swimming normally, the animals in the Experimental group were tested by placing them in tap water and waiting for the paralyzing chemical to wear off.

7. Maturation vs. Learning? Classic Experiment by Carmichael This experiment has been considered to be a clear example of maturation; it is said that the salamanders immediately started to swim normally. On close examination, the results could be seen as evidence for either maturation or learning. But

8. Maturation vs. Learning? Classic Experiment by Carmichael Carmichael noted that from the first twitch until normal swimming occurred, there was a period of about 45 minutes in which the animals showed increasingly complex swimming movements. This could be seen as evidence for very rapid learning. It could be said the chemical was gradually wearing off and no learning occurred. Or Who knows…

9. Associative Learning A simple form of learning in which we comprehend that certain events occur together We will learn about several types:  Habituation  Sensitization  Classical or Pavlovian Conditioning  Operant or Instrumental or Skinnerian Conditioning

10. Habituation and Sensitization Habituation  Decreased response to a stimulus judged to be of little or no importance  We engage in this type of learning so we can tune out unimportant stimuli and focus on what matters Sensitization  Increased response to a stimulus when we are anticipating an important stimulus  We engage in this type of learning so we are prepared for dangerous situations We sure were annoying! Yep. Annoying.

11. Classical Conditioning I love me some salivating dogskis this guy’s a freak.

12. Classical Conditioning: Definition and History Learning in which a response naturally caused by one stimulus comes to be elicited by a different, formerly neutral stimulus: 1.Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)  Unconditioned Response (UCR) 2.Neutral Stimulus (NS) + UCS  UCR 3.Conditioned Stimulus (CS)  Conditioned Response (CR) Ivan Pavlov  Accidentally discovered classical conditioning  His experiments on digestion in dogs turned into research on learning His experiments on digestion in dogs turned into research on learning  Also worked with conditioning a defensive reflex Also worked with conditioning a defensive reflex I LOVE dogski saliva!

13. Elements of Classical Conditioning Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)  A stimulus that naturally and automatically causes a specific response in an organism  And example of a UCS would be food Unconditioned response (UCR)  The response caused by a UCS  The UCR is automatic and unlearned  An example of a UCR is salivation in response to food

14. Elements of Classical Conditioning Conditioned stimulus (CS)  A formerly neutral stimulus (NS) that is paired with a UCS and eventually causes the desired response all by itself  An example of a CS is the bell in Pavlov’s studies Conditioned response (CR)  The learned response to the CS  An example is salivation in response to the bell

15. Classical Conditioning: Pavlov’s Experiment Before Conditioning Food (UCS) Salivation (UCR) Bell (NS) No Response

16. Classical Conditioning: Pavlov’s Procedure During Conditioning Bell (NS) Food (UCS) Salivation (UCR)

17. Classical Conditioning: Pavlov’s Procedure After Conditioning Bell (CS) Salivation (CR)

18. Classical Conditioning In Humans UCS =  Loud Noise UCR =  Fear of Noise NS =  Rat CS =  Rat CR =  Fear of Rat The “Little Albert” experiment demonstrated a classically conditioned fear of white fluffy things Come hither, rattypants! Stop touching me, creepy baby…

19. Classical Conditioning in Humans: Class Demonstration Lick your finger and dip it into your cup of lemonade powder, but DO NOT EAT IT. When you hear the tone, immediately eat the powder on your finger, and then dip your finger back into the cup to prepare for the next trial. You must eat some of the powder immediately after each tone, but not any other time. After several “learning” trials, you will be instructed to simply listen to the tone without eating the powder. What happens? Label the UCS, UCR, NS, CS and CR in your notes based on the demo. I’d say something, but, sadly, I have no mouth.

20. New Learning Based on Old: Higher Order Conditioning Once a neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus, it may function as an unconditioned stimulus to elicit new learning. For instance, in Pavlov’s experiment, once the bell produced the salivation response in the dogs, it could be paired with a new neutral stimulus, such as a red light, until the dogs learned to salivate to the red light alone.

21. Classical Conditioning: Key Variables In order for Classical Conditioning to work the following variables must exist:  STRENGTH - Stimuli (UCS, NS) must be noticeable enough to provoke a response.  TIMING - UCS and NS must be paired close together so that an association is made between the two. Best case: NS precedes UCS.  FREQUENCY - UCS and NS must be paired together many times so that an association is made between the two and the NS can come to elicit the same response as the UCS.

22. Classical Conditioning: Predictability Blocking – previous learning prevents conditioning to a second stimulus when the two stimuli are presented together  Kamin’s Work – rats that learned to fear a tone which had been followed by a shock. When the tone was simultaneously paired with a light and followed by the shock, the rats failed to fear the light alone. Backward Conditioning – NS may come before OR after UCS, but not before AND after.  Rescorla’s Work – tone could either mean be fearful or relax, depending when it occurred with shock.

23. Classical Conditioning: Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery Extinction –  After a period of time passes when CS is not paired with UCS, CS returns to being an NS  e.g. Baby Albert would eventually cease to be afraid of white fluffy things after they were not paired with a horrible and frightening noise (Mary Cover Jones) Spontaneous Recovery –  Just because extinction occurs, does it mean that the learning is gone?No!  After extinction, it is not unusual to see the recurrence of the conditioned response  This proves the learning never disappeared; it was just obscured by new learning - like interference

24. Classical Conditioning: Generalization and Discrimination Generalization –  An organism may learn to respond not only to the CS, but also to other stimuli that are similar to the CS.  e.g. Baby Albert was conditioned to fear a white rat, but also feared cotton balls, rabbits, white sweaters, etc. Discrimination –  Organisms can also learn to decipher between similar stimuli when only particular stimuli are paired with a UCS. DUDE! Get that white furry evil away from me! Which one yields food?

25. Classical Conditioning in the Real World: Taste Aversion and the Garcia Effect Some learning mechanisms are so powerful they do not require frequency of pairings. Taste Aversion –  Occurs when organism becomes ill following consumption of a particular food.  Organism may never be able to eat the food again.  WHY? Garcia Effect –  Using principles of taste aversion, John Garcia put this phenomenon to good use  Sprinkled carcass of sheep with a chemical that caused illness in coyotes  Coyotes did not attack the livestock following this experience Dude…I’m never eating pumpkin seeds again. No more livestock? Now what?

26. Classical Conditioning in the Real World: Preparedness and Contrapreparedness Some conditioned responses come naturally, others do not. Preparedness  Conditioned behaviors that work well with organism’s instinctive behaviors and are easy to train  e.g. phobia of snakes or spiders Contrapreparedness  Other conditioned behaviors go against the organism’s instinctive behaviors and are difficult or impossible to train.  e.g. phobia of chairs or tables? Scary. Not Scary.

27. Classical Conditioning in the Real World: Treating Phobias Many phobias are learned responses and can be unlearned This can be done gradually or all at once Systematic Desensitization  Therapist and client generate “fear hierarchy” of situations that are increasingly threatening  Client then learns relaxation techniques  Client experiences “in vivo” therapy to directly experience each item on fear hierarchy to gradually unlearn his/her fear Flooding  Client faces worst-case-scenario involving fear Client faces worst-case-scenario involving fear  If they can survive this, they have no reason so be fearful every day

28. Operant Conditioning Skinner Box Skinner “Crib” containing Skinner’s child The Ultimate Skinner Box

29. Operant Conditioning Learning in which an organism engages in a spontaneous behavior which is followed by a consequence - a reward or punishment Organism learns to perform behavior in order to gain a reward or avoid a punishment

30. Law of Effect If a behavior is reinforced, it is MORE likely to occur If a behavior is punished, it is LESS likely to occur

31. History of Operant Conditioning E.L. Thorndike  Researched cats in a puzzle box  Cats learned to escape from box to attain a reinforcement of food B.F. Skinner  Created a device called a Skinner Box to train organisms using operant conditioningSkinner Box  Also did research on superstition (pigeons) and connected it to the principles of operant conditioning

32. Elements of Operant Conditioning Reinforcer  A stimulus or event that follows a behavior and makes that behavior more likely to occur again Punisher  A stimulus or event that follows a behavior and makes that behavior less likely to occur again

33. Types of Reinforcement Positive reinforcer (+)  Adds something rewarding following a behavior, making that behavior more likely to occur again  Giving a dog a treat for fetching a ball is an example Negative reinforcer (-)  Removes something unpleasant from the environment following a behavior, making that behavior more likely to occur again  Taking an aspirin to relieve a headache is an example

34. Types of Reinforcement Primary reinforcer  Adds something intrinsically valuable to the organism  Giving a dog a food for shaking hands Secondary reinforcer  Adds something with assigned value to the organism  Giving a person $100 for each “A” on their report card

35. Types of Punishment Positive Punishment (+)  Adds something undesirable to decrease a behavior  Spanking a child for swearing Negative Punishment (-)  Removes something desirable to decrease a behavior  Taking a child’s toy away for swearing  Also called omission training

36. Types of Punishment Primary Punishment  Method of decreasing behavior is directly threatening to organism’s survival  Beating a prisoner for trying to escape Secondary Punishment  Method of decreasing behavior is undesirable, but not life-threatening  Taking away a prisoner’s recreational privileges for trying to escape

37. Complex Behaviors and Shaping Some behaviors are too complex to occur spontaneously For these behaviors, shaping must be used  Shaping reinforces successive approximations to the desired behavior Shaping reinforces successive approximations to the desired behavior  Organism eventually learns what the desired behavior is in small steps  Similar to playing “hot and cold”  Our class demonstration?

38. Preparedness and Contrapreparedness in Operant Conditioning Some changes in behavior are easily trained Preparedness  Conditioned behaviors that work well with organism’s instinctive behaviors and are easy to train  e.g. Brelands’ “Dancing Chicken”Dancing Chicken Contrapreparedness  Other conditioned behaviors go against the organism’s instinctive behaviors and are difficult or impossible to train.  e.g. Brelands’ raccoon

39. Reinforcement vs. Punishment? Punishment not as effective as reinforcement Does not teach proper behavior, only suppresses undesirable behavior Causes upset that can impede learning May give impression that inflicting pain is acceptable

40. Effective Punishment? Effective punishment must be  SWIFT Should occur as soon as possible after the behavior  CERTAIN Should occur every time the behavior does  SUFFICIENT Should be strong enough to be a deterrent  CONSISTENT Should apply to all individuals the same way

41. Impact of Punishment When punishment is given haphazardly, learned helplessness can result.  Learned Helplessness occurs when NO MATTER WHAT THE ORGANISM DOES, it cannot change the consequences of behavior.  Martin Seligman’s experiment with dogs showed that dogs given a series of inescapable shocks stopped trying to escape the shocks even when given the opportunity to escape later.  Another example would be finding that whether or not you study for your calculus tests, you fail, so you stop trying altogether.

42. Alternatives to Punishment An alternative to punishment if known as AVOIDANCE TRAINING  the organism is given a “warning” before punishment occurs so it may change its behavior in order to avoid an unpleasant consequence like a punishment.  ex/ “Counting to three” before punishment is delivered to provoke a child to stop misbehaving.

43. Behavioral Change Using Biofeedback Biofeedback is an operant technique that teaches people to gain voluntary control over bodily processes like heart rate and blood pressure When used to control brain activity it is called neurofeedback When used to control brain activity it is called neurofeedback

44. Schedules of Reinforcement Continuous reinforcement vs. Intermittent reinforcement? Interval schedules  Reinforcement depends on the passing of time  Fixed-interval schedule Reinforcement follows the first behavior after a fixed amount of time has passed An example would be receiving a paycheck every two weeks  Variable-interval schedule Reinforcement follows the first behavior after a variable amount of time has passed An example would be pop quizzes

45. Schedules of Reinforcement Ratio schedules  Reinforcement depends on the number of responses made  Fixed-ratio schedule Reinforcement follows a fixed number of behaviors For example, being paid on a piecework basis  Variable-ratio schedule Reinforcement follows a variable number of behaviors An example would be playing slot machines Yields the most rapid response rate Subject does not know when reward is coming - works consistently Subject must WORK to get reward

46. Response Patterns to Schedules of Reinforcement Which schedule yields the fastest response rate? What happened in our class demonstration?

47. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Reinforcement can sometimes come from within and be intrinsically motivated  e.g. Playing on a swing set is intrinsically motivated in children Reinforcements can also be extrinsically motivated, or come from an exogenous source  e.g. Adults get paid for going to work – no pay, no work. What happens when we give extrinsic reinforcements for intrinsically motivated behavior? Implications?

48. Compare and Contrast: Classical and Operant Conditioning

49. Cognitive Learning

50. Sometimes learning involves more than simply reacting to stimuli – it involves THINKING! Cognitive Learning  Learning that depends on mental activity that is not directly observable  Involves such processes as attention, expectation, thinking, and memory While behaviorists typically focus on learning that is based on reactions, cognitive psychologists explain learning in terms of additional mental processes.

51. Generative Learning and Insight Generative learning  Using what you know to figure out something you don’t  E.g. realizing a new song is by a favorite group of yours Insight  After thinking about a problem for a bit, you suddenly figure it out  E.g. Kohler’s chimps; “Genius” ChimpKohler’s chimps;“Genius” Chimp

52. Latent Learning and Cognitive Maps Latent learning  Edward Chance Tolman and the “Tolmaniacs”  learning that takes place before the subject realizes it and is not immediately reflected in behavior  Taking a test on material learned over the course of a few weeks Cognitive mapping  latent learning stored as a mental image latent learning stored as a mental image  Slideshow experiment Demonstration of Latent Learning and Cognitive Mapping Demonstration of Latent Learning and Cognitive Mapping

53. Latent Learning Latent Learning: A Classic Experiment (Tolman & Honzik, 1930) Three groups of rats were given practice trials in a maze, 1 trial per day. The maze consisted of a series of components shaped like the letter T. A trial started when the rat was placed in the Start box and ended when he entered the Goal box, after which he was removed from the maze.

54. Latent Learning Latent Learning: A Classic Experiment (Tolman & Honzik, 1930) T START T T T i T T... GOAL When the rat went up the stem of the T, he reached a choice point. If he turned one way, he came to a dead end. If he turned the other way, he came to the entrance of the next component.

55. Latent Learning Latent Learning: A Classic Experiment (Tolman & Honzik, 1930) T START T T T i T T... GOAL Each time the rat turned into the dead end, it was counted as an error. The measure of performance (dependent variable) was the number of errors on a trial. If learning occurred, the number of errors should decrease as more and more trials were given.

56. Latent Learning Latent Learning: A Classic Experiment (Tolman & Honzik, 1930) GROUP 1: On every trial, these rats received food when they reached the goal box. GROUP 2: These rats never received food. They were simply removed from the maze when they got to the goal box. GROUP 3: These rats got no food on Trials 1 to 10. But on Trial 11, and every trial afterwards, they received a food reward.

57. Latent Learning Latent Learning: A Classic Experiment (Tolman & Honzik, 1930) 1 10 11 17 Trials (1 Trial per Day) Average Errors 0 2 4 6 8 10 GR 1 —GR 2 —GR 3 — The day-to-day decrease in errors represented a “relatively permanent change in behavior” that resulted from practice. This was clear evidence for learning.

58. Latent Learning Latent Learning: A Classic Experiment (Tolman & Honzik, 1930) 1 10 11 17 Trials (1 Trial per Day) Average Errors 0 2 4 6 8 10 GR 1 —GR 2 —GR 3 — Group 2 got no food but still improved slightly. Removal from the maze was a small reward. There was little evidence for learning.

59. Latent Learning Latent Learning: A Classic Experiment (Tolman & Honzik, 1930) 1 10 11 17 Trials (1 Trial per Day) Average Errors 0 2 4 6 8 10 GR 1 —GR 2 —GR 3 — Getting no food on Trials 1 – 10, Group 3 performed like Group 2 through Trial 11.

60. Latent Learning Latent Learning: A Classic Experiment (Tolman & Honzik, 1930) 1 10 11 17 Trials (1 Trial per Day) Average Errors 0 2 4 6 8 10 GR 1 —GR 2 —GR 3 — On the next trial, Group 3 matched Group 1, and then did even better!

61. Latent Learning Latent Learning: A Classic Experiment (Tolman & Honzik, 1930) Interpretation Group 3 learned the route to the maze on Trials 1 to 10 but didn’t show it because there was no motivation to perform. They outperformed Group 1 because the shift from no reward to reward made the reward seem larger by comparison. This is called “positive contrast.”

62. Latent Learning Latent Learning: A Classic Experiment (Tolman & Honzik, 1930) Conclusion We must observe a change in behavior to say that learning has occurred, but if no change occurs, we can draw no conclusion. Learning may be present “beneath the surface.” This supports a distinction between learning and performance.

63. Learning Sets and Trial and Error Learning Learning sets/Learning to Learn  refers to increasing effectiveness at problem solving through experience  organisms “learn how to learn”  Figuring out how to study best Trial and Error Learning  Learn by your mistakes  Class demonstration - “Blind Maze” - what happened?

64. Learning by Observing Social Learning Theory or Observational Learning Theory focuses on what we learn from observing other people  Albert Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment Albert Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment  Children imitated adult role model - adult models behavior and child imitates  Non-human animals have even been shown to learn through observation!  Modeling refers to process of observing and imitating a specific behavior Prosocial and Antisocial behavior? Evil Bobo Doll Why, Bandura WHYYYY?

65. Wired for Imitation: Mirror Neurons Mirror neurons are specialized neurons in the frontal lobe that not only fire when we are engaged in certain actions, but ALSO when we watch others perform those actions. These neurons form the basis of imitation, empathy and our social nature.  Yawning, smiling, laughing, etc.  Monkey study?  Impact of Vicarious reinforcement and punishment? What happens to your brain When you watch Cheesy Lifetime movies

66. Learning by Observing