Overview of animal learning

Question 1

Project Orcon

Answer 1

skinner- aim for pigeons to fly missiles
trained to peak at target then boat then moving image lead to development of touch screens

Question 2

History of animal research

Answer 2

20- Pavlov’s dogs
40- Skinner’s pigeon
50- exotic animals
80- sea slugs and neuroscience of learning
modern day machine learning

Question 3

Learning

Answer 3

relatively permeant change in behaviour as a result of individual experience
difficult to define as over 40 types

Question 4

Reflex

Answer 4

Motor or neural reaction to specific stimulus

Question 5

Instinct

Answer 5

Innate behaviour triggered by a range of events

Question 6

Inherit

Answer 6

behaviours genetically gained from parents

Question 7

Why learn

Answer 7

as reflexes, instinct and inheritance not enough need to be able to adapt to environment

Question 8

example of learning due to environment

learning vs evoloution

Answer 8

climate change make ocean more acidic
Macro scale - looks like nothings changing/ gradual change -evolution boldness
Micro scale constantly rapid changes- learning to be more bold

Question 9

Behavioural change in unison example

Answer 9

not isolated
Physiology
rattlesnake produces new venom and squirrel mechanism to neutralise
Behaviour
snake targets squirrels without antivenom and mother squirrels ingest snake kin and lick offspring to conceal scent

Question 10

How old is learning

Answer 10

Cambrian explosion- new and diverse life from which can learn (540 mil years ago)
now can change behaviour ontogenetically (lifetime) when previously just phylogenetically (evolutionary)

Question 11

against how old is learning

Answer 11

Might just be because hard body fossilizes easier so seems like a boom in creatures

Question 12

Learning in single cells

Answer 12

Gelber- Wire coated in food given to single cells. single cells stuck to wire even without food

Question 13

Alternatives to learning

Answer 13

motivation- internal force that drives behaviour
Maturation

Question 14

Learning and intelligence

Answer 14

Widely debated
speed of learning not associated with relative brain size (EQ)
as smaller brains have less neurons that need to fire so are quicker

Question 15

Spectrum of learning

Answer 15

increase in complexity and sue of cognition compared to pre-cognition but does not mean worse just less complex learning needed for environment
Non-associative -> associative -> contingency and casual learning

Question 16

More knowledge of animal learning comes from which animals

Answer 16

Mostly study rats, pigeons, sea slugs and Rhesus marque
as can use invasive techniques

Question 17

Main weakness of looking at animal learning for humans

Answer 17

definition of learning includes experience and cant ask animals about experience

Question 18

Skinners box

Answer 18

artificial stimuli given with electric current along floor
rat easier to push lever to get food rather then avoid shock as not biologically predisposed to it

Question 19

Contextual variable

Answer 19

a noncognitive factor that accounts for behavioural differences between species. (sensory, perceptual, motivational or morphological)
so train on same task across different conditions

Question 20

Non-associative learning

Answer 20

a change in response towards a stimulus in the absence of any associated event

Question 21

NA learning example

Answer 21

poke snail either snail no longer responds (habituation) or responds more and quicker (sensitization)

Question 22

Real life examples of NA learning

Answer 22

leaves become habituated but anemone tentacles are dangerous so undergo sensitization

Question 23

Habituation

Answer 23

Decrease in behavioural response to a repeatedly presented stimulus

Question 24

Ruling out alternatives to habituation

Answer 24

Fatigue- animal responds to a different stimulus
Sensory adaptation- still responds when change in conditions so sensors still working

Question 25

Sensitization

Answer 25

An increase in behavioural response to a repeatedly presented stimulus not been studied a lot

Question 26

Conditions for NA | what leads to each

Answer 26

weak or non-bio meaningful- Rapid hab/ or slow senz Strong or bio meaningful- rapid senz or slow hab

Question 27

Against NA

Answer 27

Too simple to actually be a form of learning

Question 28

Critical stages of learning development

Answer 28

Before birth, between life phases, after birth and old age

Question 29

Learning in the Utero/ embryonic learning | examples

Answer 29

female fairy wrens sing to unhatched eggs so learn feeding call to avoid cuckoo Cuttlefish perceive predators before they hatch adult frogs prefer odours exposed to as frog spawn

Question 30

Embryonic learning in the lab

Answer 30

Salamander eggs bathed in novel odour. when adult prefer that odour and stimuli generalisation happens and prefer similar odours Chimpanzee in womb associate tone with vibration remember when born

Question 31

Metamorphosis

Answer 31

process of transforming between 4 life stages: egg , larva, pupa and adult

Question 32

Short term explanation of metamorphosis learning

Answer 32

emerging moth is exposed to chemical info from larval environment

Question 33

Long term explanation of metamorphosis learning

Answer 33

learning maintained in the neural system

Question 34

Evidence for long term explanation

Answer 34

caterpillar exposed to smell and shock . After metamorphosis put in maze and avoid arm with odour

Question 35

ruling out short term explanation

Answer 35

apply odour to naïve caterpillar no preference for maze arm or wash odour /shocked exposed caterpillar still avoid arm with odour

Question 36

Learning retained after metamorphism

Answer 36

tadpole trained to avoid side of box with shocks when frog still avoid this side

Question 37

Imprinting

Answer 37

Phase-sensitive which is rapid and independent of the consequence of behaviour

Question 38

Filial

Answer 38

learn stimuli related to parent

Question 39

Sexual (imprinting)

Answer 39

learn stimuli related to an appropriate mate

Question 40

Precocial

Answer 40

born independent close to parents by filial imprinting for safety and food Lorenz- goslings abnormally imprint in bird model, humans, or red ball.

Question 41

Fear learning in early life

Answer 41

Fear adaptative. PTSD- fear persisting long after threat vanished which is exaggerated and inappropriate

Question 42

Fear extinction learning

Answer 42

treatment- expose to stimuli related to threat over time no threat occurs so fear response reduced e.g. rat associates shock with odour repeated odour exposure leads to no fear response

Question 43

Fear peak at adolescents

Answer 43

due to first time going out alone so experience more danger mice - note and shock. adolescent mice require longer before they unlearn fear response

Question 44

Sensitivity to reinforcement changes with age

Answer 44

adults- reward and punishments adolescents- Rewards

Question 45

Difference between learning and memory

Answer 45

learning- process of acquiring knowledge memory- process off recording, storing and retrieving info

Question 46

Mouse models of learning declining with age

Answer 46

reach old age 18 months learning effected differently Complex (spatial) sensitive to ageing simple- only impaired in very old motor- well preserved

Question 47

Reversal learning

Answer 47

Knowledge originally learned is reversed

Question 48

Reversal of contingencies

Answer 48

pull lever when light red to gain food then switches to green for food ability declines with age

Question 49

WCST

Answer 49

Sample card is tasked to match with other cards based on colour, shape or number. after a while then change to one of the other categories. older humans struggle