Lectures 10-11 Learning and conditioning

Question 1

What is learning? (definition)

Answer 1

Change in behavior due to experience

Question 2

List the different types of learning. Which are simple?

Answer 2

• Habituation
• Sensitization
• Conditioning
  –> Classical
  –> Operant
• Observational
• Latent
• Insight

Simplest: habituation, sensitization

Question 3

Habituation definition

Answer 3

• reduction in response to stimuli when presented repeatedly / frequently
• ex. your roommate plays video games at night. You can’t sleep the first week. After that, you get used to it, it isn’t as much of a problem, and you can sleep

Question 4

Sensitization definition? Associated with:.

Answer 4

• Increase in response to stimuli
• A small thing that when repeated results in a huge response
• Ex. clearing throat is annoying, the more you hear it the more it pisses you off
• Associated with PTSD and depression
  –> PTSD: explosion had a loud sound. Now, they have an excessive/not appropriate response to a loud sound even if there isn’t danger associated with it
  –> Depression: much more sensitive to stress, raises cortisol, creates a bigger reaction

Question 5

Based on the Aplysia studies, what is the biological basis of habituation?

Answer 5

ex.
1. if you touch the siphon of the aplysia, the gill withdraws/contracts
2. repeated same touch every minute for 10-15 minutes
3. progressively shorter withdrawal/contraction durations
Biology:
- cells release less glutamate
- neurons choose not to interact (prune synapses)

Question 6

Based on the Aplysia studies, what is the biological basis of sensitization?

Answer 6

• interneurons release serotonin, causes motor neurons to release glutamate
• they release more glutamate = stronger response

Question 7

Define classical conditioning

Answer 7

Creating an association between stimuli such that one stimulus results in the same reaction as the other

Question 8

Pavlov?

Answer 8

• developed method for measuring salivation. Won nobel prize in medicine and physiology for research on digestion
• used metronome as a neutral stimulus for food and salivation

Question 9

What are the 4 stages (basic principles) of classical conditioning?

Answer 9

1. aquisition
2. generalization
3. higher order conditioning
4. extinction

Question 10

Acquisition?

Answer 10

• process of associating the neutral stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus and unconditioned response
• creates the conditioned (learned) stimulus with the conditioned response

Question 11

Generalization?

Answer 11

• Organism responds not only to the original CS, but also to similar stimuli
• Response gets smaller the farther away from the original CS
• Generalization vs. discrimination: the point where the animal discriminates between a generalized stimulus and other, similar stimuli

Question 12

Higher order conditioning?

Answer 12

• association of multiple things, further away from the UCS (and UCR)
  ex.
  1st: sound and food
  2nd: shape and sound and food
  3rd: light and shape and sound and food

Phases:
1: association between sound and food
2: association between shape and sound (without food)
Test: association between shape and food

• extremely common with commercials

Question 13

Extinction

Answer 13

• continued presentation of CS without UCS
• conditioned response fades and eventually disappears
• spontaneous recovery: suddenly ‘remember’ and have CR again
• Extinction is NOT forgetting
• rapid reacquisition

Question 14

In Little Albert’s experiment identify UCS, CS, NS, UCR, and CR?

Answer 14

NS - white rat
UCS - loud noise
UCR - fear (of loud noise)
CS - white rat
CR - fear (of animal)

Question 15

How was the principle of generalization shown in little Albert experiment?

Answer 15

he became afraid not just of the white rat, but of other animals, like cats, bunnies, dogs, and even the mask

Question 16

What are the learning sequences?

Answer 16

1. forward learning (normal)
   a. NS/CS is still present when UCS appears
   b. easiest to learn
2. forward trace pairing
   a. CS first, but is not present when UCS appears
   b. longer the gap, the harder it is to learn
   c. example: quack/nerf video from class
3. simultaneous pairing
   a. CS and UCS appear at the same time
   b. still learn, but it takes many many more trials
   c. If dog gets sound and food at the same time,
   they are salivating to the food, not the sound
4. backward pairing
   a. UCS is presented before CS
   b. most difficult to learn
   c. hardest to measure (dog is already salivating)

Question 17

Is it easier to learn an association with forward leaning or backward learning? Explain
your answer

Answer 17

forward learning!
CS is present when UCS appears. They anticipate the UCS when they’re exposed to CS. With backward pairing, the CS is not as important, because they have the response to the UCS first

Question 18

Extinction of a behavior is different from forgetting a behavior. Give an experimental
example showing that extinction is different from forgetting

Answer 18

• pavlov’s dogs had an association between sound and food (therefore salivation)
• if the sound were repeatedly presented without the food, they would eventually stop reacting to the sound
• later, if the sound is followed with the food again, the dog will rapidly reacquire the association and CR

Question 19

What is second order conditioning? Give an example of a practical use of second order
conditioning

Answer 19

• the association between more than 2 stimuli.
• requires an association between the original NS and UCS
• once the NS becomes CS, build a new connection between CS1 and CS2
• then, build connection between CS2 and UCS
• ex. commercials
  –> associate being with friends & music with being happy
  –> associate being with friends & music with drinking White Claws
  –> associate drinking White Claws with being happy

Question 20

Explain how we are conditioned to respond to the notifications from our phones? What
type of conditioning is it?

Answer 20

It is a type of classical conditioning. We’ve been trained to associate the sound/tone from our phone with receiving a message. Because the tone comes before we see the message, it’s forward learning.

Question 21

How can phobias be explained through classical conditioning? Use fear of cats to explain your answer

Answer 21

We learn to associate a neutral stimulus (a cat) with an unconditioned stimulus. For example, if you’ve been bitten or scratched by a cat, you associate the cat (NS) with the scratch (UCS) and the fear (UCR).

Question 22

Describe the cellular mechanism of habituation in the aplysia

Answer 22

• the cells release less glutamate NTs, which makes the response weaker
• the neurons choose not to interact (pruning of the synapses) so there is no transmission and much less glutamate released

Question 23

Imagine a toxin blocking the glutamate receptors, what form of learning would be more affected sensitization or habituation? Explain your answer.

Answer 23

• Sensitization would be more affected.
• With habituation, the glutamate transmission is already being reduced, so the toxin blocking the receptors would not have much affect.
• Sensitization is increased response due to increased release of glutamate
• If the glutamate was not being received due to the toxin, it would be very difficult to learn by sensitization

Question 24

Operant conditioning definition? Who started it?

Answer 24

We learn due to the consequences of our actions
(Originally Thorndike, continued by Skinner)

Question 25

What was Thorndike's experiment? with what animal?

Answer 25

He designed puzzle boxes. He placed cats inside his puzzle boxes, and they had to figure out how to escape to get their reward (food)

Question 26

Based on Thorndike’s experiments, do animals have insight? How did he show it (or not show it)? (hint --> Pay attention to the graph)

Answer 26

No, animals do not have insight. - Insight means learning by an 'aha' moment. NOT trial and error. - Cats learned only by trial and error. The graph shows a single cat and the amount of time it took for it to get out of the puzzle box each round. If it learned by insight, the graph would drop dramatically after the 'aha' moment and stay low. While it did decrease some, it still had to figure it out each time

Question 27

Thorndikes law of effect? Importance? how did skinner modify it?

Answer 27

Thorndike: - A response followed by satisfying consequences will become more likely to occur - A response followed by an annoying consequence will be less likely to occur Skinner: - stopped using 'satisfying' and 'annoying' because there wasn't a good OD - instead, used 'reinforcement' and 'punishment' - says reinforcement always works better than punishment to modify behavior

Question 28

What are the schedules of reinforcement?

Answer 28

- Fixed ratio (FR) - Variable ratio (VR) - Fixed interval (FI) - Variable interval (VI)

Question 29

fixed ratio? Example?

Answer 29

Reinforcement after every X number of responses - most reward/loyalty programs

Question 30

variable ratio? Example?

Answer 30

Reinforcement after an *average number of responses - lottery/slot machines

Question 31

fixed interval? Example?

Answer 31

Reinforcement after X amount of time - salary every 2 weeks - wait until the last minute to study (exams are every 4 weeks)

Question 32

variable interval? Example?

Answer 32

Reinforcement after an average amount of time - pop quiz or attendance sheet - approx. every 2 weeks or approx. every 3 classes

Question 33

Which schedule is the most effective?

Answer 33

Variable ratio

Question 34

What type of schedule of reinforcement is used when you check your phone to see if you have a message? Explain your answer

Answer 34

- variable interval - you can assume that approx. every 5 minutes you'll get a message, but not exactly. - variable ratio would be if you got a message every 5th time you check your phone, which isn't the case

Question 35

What do "positive / negative / reinforcement / punishment" mean in operant conditioning?

Answer 35

Positive: - something is added after response Negative: - something is removed after response Reinforcement: - increase likelihood of repeating behavior Punishment: - decrease likelihood of repeating behavior

Question 36

Explain the difference between negative reinforcement and positive punishment. Give an example of each explaining why is positive or negative, and reinforcement or punishment.

Answer 36

Negative reinforcement: --> something is taken away to encourage behavior --> ex. a hard working employee gets a day off of work (work is removed) to encourage him to keep working hard Positive punishment: --> something is added to discourage behavior --> ex. an athlete is late to practice, coach makes him run 3 laps. (laps are added to discourage being late)

Question 37

How the use of an umbrella when is raining can be described as a positive or as a negative reinforcer?

Answer 37

Positive: added protection from the rain Negative: removed wetness, wet clothes, etc.

Question 38

What type of schedule of reinforcement is used when fishing?

Answer 38

Variable interval You get the reward (a fish) after an approximate amount of time, but the time changes. It has nothing to do with how many times you repeat the behavior (casting the line or net)

Question 39

What type of schedule of reinforcement is used when driving an UBER car?

Answer 39

Fixed ratio FR-1 You get the reward (payment) every time you do a response (complete a trip)

Question 40

Define observational learning

Answer 40

- occurs when a person observes and imitates behavior - extremely common in the real world - ex. teaching a 15 year old to drive cannot be done with conditioning or trial and error - most complex behavior learned by exposure

Question 41

Processes of observational learning?

Answer 41

1. attention 2. retention 3. motor reproduction 4. reward --> vicarious reinforcement --> vicarious punishment --> seeing the consequences for the model

Question 42

What type of learning is shown in Bandura’s experiments? What are the effects of watching/playing violent video games. Explain your answer

Answer 42

Observational learning - watching/playing violent video games leads children to be violent - bandura's experiment involved children watching adults be violent towards a doll. Once the children were left alone, they repeated the violent behavior they witnessed - this suggests that watching/playing violent games will lead children to be violent/aggressive

Question 43

Define latent learning and example

Answer 43

- Learning that is not reinforced and not demonstrated until there is motivation to do so - demonstrated by Tolman's maze 3 groups of rats: 1. got no food 2. got food 3. didn't get food until day 11 Conclusion: - rats did learn, they just didn't have a reason to show it - ultimately were faster than those who got the food from the beginning

Question 44

Define insight learning

Answer 44

- form of problem solving, achieved through cognitive processes - not trial and error - experimented with chimps. they stacked boxes to reach a banana places out of reach

Question 45

What did the experiments of Köhler and Tolman added to the different theories of learning?

Answer 45

- contributed a lot to the ideas of cognitive learning - involves intentional thought on the part of the animal - Kohler --> had to problem solve, cognitive processes - Tolman --> they learned, and retained the knowledge. they were selective on when they applied their knowledge