Learning

Learning

1. Any relatively durable change in behaviour

   • or knowledge that is due to experience.
     • Conditioning
       • Involves learning connections between
         • events that occur in an organism's environment.
   • Learning

2. Classical Conditioning

   • Refers to a type of learning in which a stimulus
     • gets the capacity to evoke a response that was
       • originally evoked by a physically natural stimulus
   • Phobias
     • Irrational fears of specific
       • objects or situations.
   • Conditioning
     • Learning connections between
       • events in the environment.

3. Terminology of Classical Conditioning

   • Unconditioned Stimulus
     • A stimulus that automatically leads to an
       • observable response prior to any training.
   • Unconditioned Response
     • The observable response that is produced
       • automatically prior to training on presentation
         • of US
   • Conditioned Stimulus.
     • Neutral stimulus that is paired with the US during
       • classical conditioning.
   • Conditioned Response.
     • The acquired response produced by
       • the conditioned stimulus in anticipation
         • of the US
   • Trial
     • A presentation of a stimulus
       • or pair of stimuli.
   • Evaluative Conditioning.
     • Refers to change in the liking of a
       • stimulus that results from pairing the
         • stimulus with other positive/negative stimuli.

4. Conditioning and Physiological Responces

   • Immunosuppression
     • A decrease in the production
       • of antibodies.

5. Basic Processes in Classical Conditioning.

   • Acquisition
     • Acquiring the new behaviour.
   • Extinction
     • Presenting a CS repeatedly
       • without the US, resulting in no
         • response.
   • Spontaneous Recovery
     • Recovery of an extinguished CR after
       • a period of non exposure to the CS
   • Renewal Effect
     • If a response is extinguished in a
       • different environment from where it was acquired
         • it will reappear once the animal or person is returned
           • to the original environment.
   • Stimulus Generalization
     • Responding to a new stimulus in a way
       • similar to the response produced by an
         • established CS
   • Stimulus Discrimination
     • Responding differently to a new
       • stimulus than one respondes
         • to established CS.
   • Higher Order Conditioning
     • After a conditioned stimulus reliably
       • elicits a response, this conditioned stimulus
         • can be paired with another stimuli
           • which also elicits same response

6. Operant Conditioning

   • A form of learning in which responses
     • come to be controlled by their consequences
       • of their own voluntary actions
         • Resistance to Extinction
           • Sometimes you want resistance.
         • Primary Reinforcers.
           • Events that are inherently reinforcing
             • because they satisfy biological needs.
         • Secondary or Conditioned Reinforcers
           • Associated with primary reinforcers
             • and so acquire reinforcing
               • qualities.
   • Law of effect
     • If a response in a particular situation
       • s followed by a satisfying consequence,
         • it will be strengthened.
   • B.F Skinner
     • He took a perspective on human and
       • animal behaviour that emphasizes explaining
         • behaviour in terms of environmental events.
   • Reinforcement
     • occurs when an event following a responce
       • increases a person or animals tendency
         • to make that response.
   • Operant Chamber
     • 40 sec acquisition in operant conditioning
   • Extinction
     • Response is no longer followed
       • by a reinforcer.

7. Schedules of Reinforcement.

   • Continuous
     • Every response followed rapidly
       • by reinforcement.
   • Intermittent or Partial Reinforcement
     • Reinforcement delivered only some of the time.
   • Ratio
     • Number of responses.
     • Ratio Schedules
       • Fixed Ratio Schedules
         • Number of responses required for
           • reinforcement stays the same
       • Variable Ratio Schedules
         • A certain number of responses required
           • for reinforcement, but the number changes
   • Interval
     • Time on the clock
     • Interval Schedules.
       • Fixed Interval
         • Reinforcement delivered for first
           • response after a fixed allotment of time.
       • Variable Interval.
         • Allotted time before a response will
           • yield reinforcement changes
   • Fixed
     • Always the same variable.
     • Punishment
       • Consequences that decrease the likelihood
         • of responding in a similar way again.
   • Variable
     • Changes around the average
       • amount.
   • Positive Reinforcement
     • Increase in responding is due to giving
       • sometimes good or rewarding.
         • Positive
           • Something good is given
   • Negative Reinforcement
     • Increased responding is due to
       • removing something bad.
         • Negative
           • Something bad is removed
     • Escape Response
       • Learning a response to end or
         • decrease an aversive stimulus.
     • Avoidance Response
       • Acquiring a response that prevents
         • some aversive stimulus form even
           • occurring at all.

8. Side Effects of Physical Punishment of Children

   • Supreme court of Canada ruled that a parent can legally
     • spank their child only for children between ages 2 and
       • 12 and never on the head or with objects
         • Bandura
           • Researcher who studied effects of viewing
             • adult aggressive behaviour on children.
   • Learning from Others
     • Learning that occurs as a result of
       • observing the experiences of others
     • Also called social learning or modelling.
       • Model is viewed positively
         • Model is rewarded for the
           • modeled behaviour.
   • Observational Learning: Practical Applications
     • Particularly relevant to children
   • Mirror Neurons
     • Neurons that are activated by performing
       • an action or by seeing another monkey or
         • person perform the same action.