Cognition

Cognition

1. Attributes of Learning

   • Behaviour
     • Any act that is observable
   • Learning
     • A relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of experience
     • Changes include either an increase/decrease in strength of behaviour
   • Experience
     • Depends on our interaction with the environment. Sometimes experiences lead to lasting changes in behaviour
       • E.g. may not be able to repeat a phone number even though you've called it many time
   • Response
     • Any identifiable behaviour that is elicited by a stimulus, may be observable actions, such as blinking or turning a doorknob

2. Basic Principles of Learning

   • Reinforcement
     • Refers to any event that increases the likelihood that a response will occur again
     • Can be used to teach a dog a trick, could reinforce correct responss by offering a food reward each time the dog performs the trick
     • Could teach a child to be tidy by praising them for picking up their toys
     • Child gets stung by a bee, they learn to fear bees and the child's fear is reinforced by the pain they feel immediately after seeing a bee
   • Antecedents and Consequences
     • Unlocking secrets of learning begins with noting what happens before and after a response
     • Antecedents: events that precede a response
     • Consequence: effect of a response

3. Conditioning

   • Classical Conditioning
     • Pavlov
       • Observed dogs salivated not only at sight of food, but also at sight or sound of lab tech who had been preparing food
       • Pavlov was intrigued by these unintentional observations and he decided to conduct further experiments
       • His experiments provided evidence of a form of learning based on repeated association of 2 different stimuli
       • In Pavlov's experiment, the stimulus of food initially produced the response of salivation, and eventually the sight/sound of the lab tech became the stimulus
     • Response explained by:
       • Controlled by ANS of the PNS
       • Involuntary
       • Salivation became associated with, and conditioned to, a new stimulus - the lab tech
     • What is Classical Conditioning?
       • Also known as respondent conditioning
       • Refers to a form of learning that occurs through the repeated association of 2 or more different stimuli
       • :Learning is only said to have occurred when a particular stimulus consistently produces a response that it did not previously produce
       • A response that is automatically produced by 1 stimulus becomes associated, with another stimulus that would not normally produce this response
     • Elements of Classical Conditioning
       • Unconditional Stimulus (UCS)
         • Any stimulus that consistently produces a particular, naturally occurring, automatic response
         • In Pavlov's this was the food (meat powder)
       • Unconditional Response (UCR)
         • Response that occurs automatically when the UCS is presented
         • UCR is a reflexive, involuntary response that is predictably caused by a UCS
         • In Pavlov's this was the salivation
       • Conditional Stimulus (CS)
         • Stimulus that is neutral at the start of the conditioning process and does not normally produce the UCR
         • Through repeated association with the UCS, the CS triggers a similar response to that caused by the UCS
         • In Pavlov's this was the bell, which was originally a neutral stimulus, but then becomes associated with the meat powder
       • Conditional Response (CR)
         • Learned response that is produced by the CS
         • CR occurs after the CS has been associated with the UCS
         • Behaviour involved in a CR is similar to that of the UCR, but is triggered by the CS alone
         • In Pavlov's the CR, salivation, only began when exposed to the CS
     • Processes in Classical Conditioning
       • Acquisition
         • Overall process during which the organism learns to associate 2 events
         • Each paired presentation of the CS with the UCS is referred to as a trial
         • Rate of learning is often very fast in early stages of phase and a short time between the presentation of 2 stimuli is most effective
         • More rapid rate when CS occurs and remains present until UCS is presented
         • End of acquisition stage occurs when CS alone produces CR
       • Extinction
         • Gradual decrease in the strength/rate of a CR that occurs when the CS is no longer presented
         • Occurs when a CR no longer occurs following a presentation of the CS
         • In Pavlov's dogs, they eventually stopped salivating (CR), in response to the bell (CS) presented alone after a number of trials in which the food (UCS) did not follow the sound of the bell
         • Some variation between individuals in the rate at which extinction of the same CR will occur
       • Spontaneous Recovery
         • Appearance of a CR when the CS is presented, following a rest period after the CR appears to have been extinguished
         • Does not always occur ad when it does, it is often short-lived
         • CR also tends to be weaker than it was originally
       • Stimulus Generalisation
         • Tendency for another stimulus to produce a response that is similar to the CR
         • Greater the similarity between stimuli, greater possibility of generalisation
         • Pavlov observed that his dogs salivated to noises similar to a bell
         • Amount of saliva produce, tended to be less than the amount produced by original bell
       • Stimulus Discrimination
         • Occurs when an organism responds to CS only, but not to any other stimulus that is similar to CS
         • In a CC experiment, stimulus discrimination would be observed when a dog salivated only in response to the bell and not to similar sounds e.g. a door bell
     • 'Little Albert' Experiment