lecture 3 Flashcards
Operant conditioning (Instrumental)
the process whereby organisms learn to make or to refrain from making certain responses in order to **obtain or avoid ** certain outcomes
- therefore is an operator
- law of effect: org. tend to do thing they like to maximize reward and minimize punishment (reduce level of punishment)
Edward Thorndike first tried to systematically explore how animals learn new behaviors
- 1st individual to deiine operant conditioning
- how cats learned to escape from puzzle boxes
Thorndike’s Studies of Animal Learning
father of operant conditioning
conducted expereiment using cat
lever response: door opened and would allow cat to exit and retrieve food (reward)
- the animal is operating this “world”; has direct influence on its world
figure b: the time it took the animal to learn to te press level went down as time went on
as trials progressed, animals required less time to learn to press the lever to get the door to open
time (enters box > presses lever) should decrease over time as cat learns
motivation must stay high for animal to operate
operant condtioning
operant:
Animal operates on the environment
Stimulus evokes a response to produce an outcome (S>R>O)
Animal connects context, behavior, and outcome
- a response is needed
Also, operant conditioning is more powerful/flexible.
classical
classical:
Environment operates on the animal
Stimulus evokes response (S>R)
Animal learns that CS predicts US
- an animal learns (assocaition occurs) with their response
- conditioned > leanred
CR
CS
US
UR
Bell= conditioned stiumuls (cs) trained/ been learned
Food=unconditioned stiumulus (us) not trained to like food
innate
born with it (reflexes)
classical (bell example)
Bell presented (CS), then food (US)
Over time, the animal exposed to this repeatedly will learn that the US will come after the CS, which will elicit a CR (conditioned response) = salivation
Salivation is initially a UR when it occurs in response to food
“Ding” (CS), then food (US)
CS becomes a predictor for the US (food)
extinction
Extinction (of CR):
Repeatedly presenting ding of bell (CS) without food (US)
Result: CR gradually weakens
Important note on extinction:
It is not unlearning! The association is suppressed, not erased
CS no longer reliably predicts US
Original conditioning:
US (food) → causes dog to salivate (UR)
Conditioning process:
Repeatedly pairing ding (CS) before food (US)
Result: CR (salivation) occurs at the ding of the bell
Key distinctions: CR is learned; UR is innate
Cue → another term for stimulus
CS → elicits CR
Crucial timing:
The CS must always come before the US (this allows for learning)
spontanenous recovery
relearning CR when US (food) is reintroduced once after CS is given (this is when going towards exticntion
aversive vs appetitive
appetitive: welike it (example: beep + get food)
aversive: dont like it (example: beep+airpuff in eye) - somethiing nasty and something we want to avoid
