Learning

Learning

1. Learning is any relatively durable change in behavior or knowledge that is due to experience

2. Phobias are irrational fears of specific objects or situations

   • are often a result of another learning process termed classical conditioning.

3. Agoraphobia, or an intense fear of being in public places where it may be difficult to escape from or in which it might be difficult to obtain help

   • Afflicts about 1% of the population and is more common in women than in men

4. Conditioning involves learning connections between events that occur in an organism's environment

5. Classical Condition

   • Classical condition is a type of learning in which a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus
   • The unconditioned stimulus (UCS) is a stimulus that evokes an unconditioned response without previous conditioning. The UCS is an unlearned reaction to an unconditioned stimulus that occurs without previous conditioning
   • The conditioned stimulus (CS) is a previously neutral stimulus that has, through conditioning, acquired the capacity to evoke a conditioned response. The conditioned response is a learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus that occurs because of previous conditioning
   • Pavlov's "psychic reflex" came to be called the conditioned reflex and are said to be elicited.
   • A trial in classical conditioning consists of any presentation of a stimulus or a pair of stimuli.
   • Operant conditioning is a form f learning in which responses come to be controlled by their consequences
   • Law of effect, if a response in the presence of a stimulus leads to satisfying effects, the association between the stimulus and the response is strentghened
   • Basic Processing in Operant Conditioning
     • Acquisition and shaping
       • shaping, which consists of the reinforcement of closer and closer approximations of a desired response
     • Extinction: Resistance to extinction occurs when an organism continues to make a response after delivery of the reinforce has been terminated
   • Stimulus Generalization and the Mysterious Case of Little Albert
     • Stimulus generalization occurs when an organism that has learned a response to a specific stimulus responds in the same way to new stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus
     • Stimulus Discrimination occurs when an organism that has earned a response to a specific stimulus does not respond in the same way to new stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus
     • Higher order conditioning in which a conditioned stimulus functions as if it were an unconditioned stimulus
   • Conditioning and classical Condition
     • Preparedness and Phobias
       • Preparedness involves a species-specific predisposition to be conditioned in certain ways and not others
   • Evolutionary and Biological Effects on Conditioning
     • Preparedness and Phobias
       • Preparedness involves a specific predisposition to be conditioned in certain ways and not others

6. The Stimulus Control: Generalization and Discrimination

   • Discriminative stimuli are cues that influence operant behavior by indicating the probable consequences (reinforcement or nonreinforcement) of a response.

7. Operant Condition

   • is a form of learning in which responses come to be controlled by their consequences
   • Thorndike's Law of Effect
     • Is instrumental learnin
     • According to law of effect, if a response in the presence of a stimulus leads to satisfying effects, the association between the stimulus and the response is strengthened
   • Sknner's Demonstartion: Its All a Matter of Consequences
     • Reinforcement occurs when an event following a response increases an organization's tendency to make that response
   • Terminology and Procedures
     • An operant chamber or Skinner box, is a small enclosure in which an animal can make a specific responsethat is recorded while the consequences on the response are systematically controlled
     • Reinforcement contingencies are the circumstances or rules that deteriorate whether responses lead to the presentation of reinforcers
     • The cumulative recorder creates a graphic record of responding and reinforcement in a Skinner box as a function of time
       • A rapid response rate produces a steep slope, whereas a slow response rate produces a shallow slope
     • Primary reinforces are events that are inherently reinforcing because they satisfy biological needs
     • Primary reinforcers are events that are inherently reinforcing because they satisfy biological needs
     • Secondary, or conditioned, reinforcers are events that acquire reinforcing qualities by being associated with primary reinforcers
   • Basic Processes in Operant Conditioning
     • Acquisition and Shaping
       • Shaping consists of the reinforcement of closer and closer approximations of a desired response
     • Extinction
       • Resistance to extinction occurs when an organism continue to make a response after delivery of the reinforce has been terminated
       • Discriminative stimuli are cues that are influence operant behavior by indicating the probable consequences( reinforcement of a response)
   • Schedules of Reinforcemt
     • A schedule of reinforcement determines which occurences of a specific response result in the presentation of a reinforce.
     • Continuos reinforcement occurs when every instance of a designated response is reinforced
     • Intermittent, or partial, reinforcement occurs when a designated response is reinforced only some of the time
     • With a fixed-ratio (FR) schedule, the reinforce is given after a mixed number of nonereinforced response.
     • With a variable-ratio (VR) schedule, the reinforce is given after a variable number of nonreinforced responses.
     • With a fixed-interval (FI) schedule, the reinforce is given for the first response that occurs after a fixed time interval has elapsed.
     • With a variable-interval (VI) schedule, the reinforce is given for the first response after a variable time interval has elapsed.
     • Positive Reinforcement versus negative Reinforcement
       • Positive reinforcement occurs when a response is strengthened because it is followed by the presentation of a rewarding stimulus.
       • Positive reinforcement occurs when a response is strengthened because it is followed by the presentation of a rewarding stimulus
       • Negative reinforcement occurs when a response is strengthend because it is followed by the removal of an aversive (unpleasant)
       • In escape learning, an organism acquires a response that decreases or ends some aversive stimulation
       • In avoidance learning, an organism acquires a response that prevents some aversive stimuliation from occuring
       • Punishment: Consequences That Weaken Responses
         • Punishment occurs when a response weakens the tendency to make that response
   • Cognitive Procsses in Conditioning: Latent Learning and Cognitive Maps
     • Learning can take place in the absence of reinforcement  - at a time when learned responses were thought to be stamped in by reinforcement.
     • Latent learning - learning that it is not apparent from behavior when it occurs.
   • Evolutionary and Biological Effects on Conditioning
     • Instinctive drift occurs when an animal's innate response tendencies interfere with conditioning processes

8. Observational Learning

   • Basic Processes
     • Bandura's 4 key processes that re crucial in observational learning.:
       • 1. Attention: To learn through observation, you must pay attention to another person's behavior and its consequences. 2. Retention: You may not have accasion to use as observed response for weeks, months, or ven years. Hence, you must store in your memory a mental representation of what you have witnessed. 3. Motivation: Finally you are unlikely to reproduce an observed response unless you are motivated to do so. Your motivation depends on whether you encounter a situation in which you believe that the response is likely to pay off for you.
   • Observational learving occurs when an organism's responding is influenced by the oberavtion of others, who are called models.
   • Observational learning and the Brain: Mirror neurons
     • Mirror neurons are neurons that are activated by performing an action or by seeing another monkey or person perform the same action