1.
Learning
2. Definitions
a. How does one teach an old dog new tricks?
b. “Learning is the process through which experience modifies preexisting behavior and understanding.”
c. A relatively permanent change in behavior (or mind) resulting
from (reinforced) experience.
3. Classical Conditioning
a. A form of learning (really a set of procedures) in which two
stimuli become associated such that the presentation of one elicits
the other.
4. Ivan Pavlov
5. Terminology
a. Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
b. Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
c. Unconditioned Response (UCR)
d. Conditioned Response (CR)
6. Classical Conditioning
a. A trial is a pairing of CS and UCS
i.
Pair a neutral stimulus (CS) with an unconditioned stimulus
(UCS) that already triggers an unconditioned response (UCR).
(1) CS – UCS
ii. That neutral stimulus will become a conditioned stimulus
(CS), triggering a conditioned response (CR) similar to the
original unconditioned response.
(1) CS  CR
iii. Stimulus contiguity means together in time and space
iv. Acquisition is the initial stage in learning
v. Most classically conditionable responses are involuntary.
vi. B. F. Skinner called it respondent conditioning.
7. Classical Conditioning
8. Processes in Pavlovian Conditioning
a. Acquisition
b. Extinction
c. Spontaneous Recovery
d. Stimulus Generalization
e. Discrimination
9. Acquisition and Extinction of a Conditioned Response
a. After Pavlov, 1927
10. Spontaneous Recovery
11. Generalization
a. Condition an organism respond to a 1200 Hz tone
i. Then test with similar stimuli (other tones) 400 - 2000 hertz.
ii. Generalization declines with similarity
b. Discrimination
i. Involves a narrowing of the gradients.
12. Learning Factors
a. Number of pairings
b. Strength of UCS
c. Reliability of CS in predicting UCS
d. Timing of the CS and UCS
e. Volition
13. Number of Pairings
a. The response strength rises to an asymptote
i. Notive the S-shaped curve.
14. Strength of UCS
a. The response strength rises to an asymptote
i. Notive the S-shaped curve.
15. Reliability of the CS to Predict the UCS
16. Timing
a. Simultaneous conditioning
(1) CS and UCS begin and end together
ii. Short-delayed conditioning
(1) CS begins just before the UCS, end together
iii. Trace conditioning
(1) CS begins and ends before UCS is presented
17. Volition
a. Classical conditioning is involuntary.
i. Classically conditioned responses or feelings are not altered
by reasoning.
18. Classical Conditioning in Humans
a. Phobia
i. Intense, irrational fear of a specific situation or object (e.g.
arachnophobia fear of spiders; see the movie!)
b. Perhaps causing a phobia?
i. Conditioned emotional response
(a) Learned emotional reaction to a previously neutral
stimulus
19. Curing a Phobia
a. Desensitization
i.
Gradually exposing phobic people to feared stimuli while they
stay calm and relaxed
ii. Systematic Desensitization
(1) Teach relaxation
(a) Create a hierarchy ranging from least to most feared
stimulus
(b) Pair the calm with a gradually increasing intensity of
the feared stimulus.
20. Instrumental Conditioning
a. Edward L. Thorndike (1913)
i.
The law of effect
b. Thorndike's cats and the puzzle box.
21. Operant Conditioning
a. B.F. Skinner (1938)
i.
Principle of reinforcement
(1) Emission of response
(2) Reinforcement contingencies
(3) Cumulative recorder
22. Contingencies
a. The impact of an event depends on whether it is presented or
removed after a response.
i.
Each square defines one possibility
(1) Arrows pointing upward show responding increasing
(2) Arrows pointing downward show responding decreasing.
(From Kazdin, 1975.)
23. Processes in Instrumental Conditioning
a. Reinforcement and reinforcers
b. Shaping and acquisition
c. Extinction
d. Spontaneous recovery
e. Superstitious behavior
24. Reinforcement and Reinforcers
a. Positive Reinforcement
i. Bringing good things to an organism
(1) Examples: Money, Praise, Food
b. Negative Reinforcement
i. Taking bad things from an organism
(1) Examples: removing pain, toothache, hunger.
c. Primary reinforcers:
i. Fulfill basic bodily needs for survival
(1) Example: food to a hungry organism
d. Secondary reinforcers
i. Stimuli become reinforcing by being associated with
reinforcers
(1) Example: money
(2) Token Reinforcer
25. Shaping and Acquisition
a. Shaping
i. Reward successively closer approximations of a behavior
(1) Useful for teaching new behaviors
b. Acquisition
(1) There is that asymtote again.
26. Reinforcing Politeness
a. Making a polite request was reinforced.
i. Reinforcement produced similar improvements in saying
“Thank you” and “You're welcome,” and the boy applied
these terms in new situations as well. (From Matson et al.,
1990.)
27. Baseball
i.
The performance of 38 pitchers who signed multi-year
contracts for large salaries is shown.
ii. When salary was no longer contingent on good performance,
there was a rapid decline in innings pitched and in the number
of wins.
iii. During the same 6-year period, the performance of pitchers on
1-year contracts remained fairly steady. (Data from O'Brien et
al., 1981.)
28. Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery
a. Terminate reinforcement
i. Faster when reinforcers came close together and/or were
predictable.
b. The procedure is extinction.
(1) Does not require more reinforcement – only a rest.
29. Token Economy
a. Good behavior was operationally defined as cleaning, bed making,
attending therapy, etc.
i. Tokens earned could be exchanged for goodies such as snacks,
coffee, game-room privileges, or weekend passes.
ii. The graph shows more than 24 hours per day because it
represents the total number of hours of desirable behavior
performed by all patients in the ward. (From Ayllon & Azrin,
1965.)
30. Superstitious Behavior
a. Behavior accidentally reinforced is learned.
31. Other Factors Influencing Operant Conditioning
a. Magnitude of Reinforcement
i. Larger reward leads to faster learning and performance.
b. Immediacy of Reinforcement
c. Reinforcement is most effective when prompt.
d. Delay of Reinforcement
i. Longer delay, slower conditioning
e. Level of Motivation
i. Motivated organisms learn faster and respond more frequently
(1) A valued reward is most effective
32. Reinforcement Schedules
a. Continuous reinforcement (CRF)
b. Intermittent (partial) reinforcement (FI, FR, VI, VR)
c. Ratio schedules
i.
Fixed
ii. Variable
d. Interval schedules
i.
Fixed
ii. Variable
33. Typical Extinction Curves
34. Escape and Avoidance
a. Shuttle Box
i. Warning signals, shock, and the animal's ability to flee from
one box to another are experimenter controlled.
b. Mowrer's two- process theory
i.
Classical cond. creates a fear elicited by the warning signal
ii. Removal of fear reinforces avoidance (negative
reinforcement.)
35. Reinforcement and Punishment
a. Increasing a response
i.
Positive reinforcement
(1) response followed by rewarding stimulus
ii. Negative reinforcement
(1) Response followed by removal of an aversive stimulus
(2) Escape learning
b. Decreasing a response
i.
Extinction
(1) Non-reinforcement
ii. Punishment
(1) Involves bringing bad things to an organism or removing
good things
36. Problems with Punishment
a. Demonstrates what behavior is wrong, BUT
i. It does not give a correct alternative.
ii. Physical punishments can injure or kill.
iii. Children imitate the punisher.
iv. Frequent criticism kills self-esteem and hurts family
relationship
v. The results are unpredictable; punishment has many effects.
b. Alternatives to Punishment
i. Don’t reinforce bad behaviors; reinforce good ones
c. Behavior Modification or Behavior Analysis
i. A combination of learning techniques to alter behavior.
(1) Token Economies
(a) Giving chips that are redeemable for desired things as
rewards.
(b) Effective as long as the rewards continue.
(2) Time Outs
(a) Involve removing a person from the rewarding
situation in response to undesirable behavior.
37. Changes in Our Understanding of Conditioning
a. Biological Constraints on Conditioning
i. Instinctive Drift
ii. Conditioned Taste Aversion
iii. Preparedness and Phobias
b. Cognitive Influences on Conditioning
i. Signal relations
ii. Response-outcome relations
38. Conditioned Taste Aversion
a. In a landmark series of studies, Garcia and Koelling (1966)
demonstrated that some S-R associations are much easier to
condition than others.
i.
Taste aversions seem to be acquired in ways that violate basic
principles of classical conditioning.
39. But, humans are not rats
a. Humans can do more
i. Latent Learning
ii. Social learning theory
(1) Imitation
(2) Expectancy
b. Well, we think of them as human ... sometimes
i. Latent Learning
(1) Many organisms learn without reinforcement, but do not
show the learned response at the time.
(2) Tolman's rats learned the path through a maze even
though they were not rewarded, and thus showed superior
performance when reinforced.
40. Latent Learning
a. The maze used to demonstrate latent learning by rats.
i.
Notice the rapid improvement in performance that occurred
when food was made available to the previously unreinforced
animals.
ii. This indicates that learning had occurred, but that it remained
hidden or unexpressed. (From Tolman & Honzik, 1930.)
41. Social Learning (Cognitive) Theory
a. S—R—Sr
b. Imitation
i.
Processes
(1) Attention
(2) Retention
(3) Reproduction
(4) Bimodal perception
(5) Motivation
(a) The learning performance distinction
42. Social Learning Theory
a. Albert Bandura (1964, 1977, 1986)
i. Observational learning and vicarious conditioning.
43. Imitation
a. Imitation
i.
People tend to imitate:
(1) People “like me”
(2) People who are rewarded
(3) Prestigious people
b. Bandura's Bobo study
i.
Tested kids' spontaneous imitation of filmed aggression that is
rewarded, ignored or punished.
c. Skills demonstrated
(1) attention
(2) memory
(3) motoric ability
(4) bimodal perception
(5) incentive condition