Definition of Learning:

Learning refers to the relatively permanent change in a subject’s

behavior to a given situation brought about by repeated experiences in that situation, provided that the behavior

change cannot be explained by instinct, maturation, or temporary

states.

Are the examples given, examples of learning?1. The cessation of thumb sucking by an infant.

– Due to maturation

2. The acquisition of language in children.– Learning

3. A computer program generates random opening moves for its first 100 chess games and tabulates the outcomes of those games. Starting with the 101st game, the computer uses those tabulations to influence its choice of opening moves.– Learning

4. A worm in places in a T maze. The left arm of the maze is brightly lit and dry; the right arm is dim and moist. On the first 10 trials, the worm turns right 7 times. On the next 10 trials, the worms turns right all 10 times.

- Learning

Are the examples given, examples of learning?5. Ethel stays up late the night before the October GRE administration and consumes

large quantities of licit and illicit pharmacological agents. Her combined score is 410. The night before the December GRE administration, she goes to bed early after a wholesome dinner and a glass of milk. Her score increases to 1210. Is the change in scores due to learning. Is the change in pretest regimen due to learning?– Change in score: Due to temporary state. Change in pretest regimen: Learning

6. A previously psychotic patient is given Dr. K’s patented phrenological surgery and no longer exhibits any psychotic behaviors.- Change in behavior due to surgery, not repeated experiences

7. A lanky zinnia plant is pinched back and begins to grow denser foliage and flowers.

- Due to maturation

Are the examples given, examples of learning?

8. MYCIN is a computer program that does a rather good job of diagnosing human infections by consulting a large database of rules it has been given. If we add another rule to the database, has MYCIN learned something? - Debatable

9. After pondering over a difficult puzzle for hours, Jane finally figures it out. From that point on, she can solve all similar puzzles in the time it takes her to read them.- Learning (if pondering = trial & error and other problems solving techniques)

10.After 30 years of smoking two packs a day, Zeb throws away his cigarettes and never smokes again.- Learning: repeated experiences (smoking) and their negative effects (breathing, cancer, bad breath)

Associations

Pavlov

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

Conditioned Response (CR)

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

Acquisition Extinction

Generalization

DiscriminationSpontaneous Recovery

Classical Conditioning: the process of learning the association between two stimuli.

Classical Conditioning: Pavlov’s Dogs

UCS UCR

UCS

CS

CS CR

Boy, do Iever salivate

a lot!

Boy, do Iever salivate

a lot!

What’s wrong with me? Now I’m salivating at

a bell!

Before

During

After

UCR

An MIT student spent an entire summer going to the Harvard football field every day wearing a black and white striped shirt, walking up and down the field for ten or fifteen minutes throwing birdseed all over the field, blowing a whistle and then walking off the field. At the end of the summer, it came time for the first Harvard home football game, the referee walked onto the field and blew the whistle, and the game had to be delayed for a half hour to wait for the birds to get off of the field. The guy wrote his thesis on this, and graduated.

Unconditioned Stimulus? Birdseed

Unconditioned Response?

Fly to field & eat

Conditioned Stimulus?

Black & White Striped Shirt

Conditioned Response?

Fly to field to eat

The initial learning process. The pairing of the CS with the UCS. Learning takes place when the CS is presented 1/2 second prior to the UCS.

The tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to produce a similar response.

CR produced in response to specific stimuli and not to other stimuli that do not signal an UCS.The ability to distinguish between similar CS.

Bald Gentlemen vs. Skin heads; Pit Bull vs. Poodle

A decrease in the CONDITIONED RESPONSE that occurs when the UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS no longer follows the CONDITIONED STIMULUS.

SPONTANEOUS RECOVERY: the reappearance of the extinct conditioned response in the presence of the conditioned stimulus

Applications of Classical ConditioningIs human behavior nothing more

than a bunch of conditionedbehaviors?

John Watson

Case of “Little Albert”

UCSUCSLoud Noise

CSCSWhite Rat

UCRUCRFear

CRCRFear

Applications of Classical Conditioning

Case of “Little Albert”

Five days later Albert showsgeneralizationgeneralization to other white,

furry objects.e.g. Baby Albert was conditioned to fear a white rat,

but also feared cotton balls, rabbits, white sweaters, etc.

Extinction:After a period of time passes when CS is not paired with

UCS, CS returns to being an NS

e.g. Baby Albert would eventually cease to be afraid of white

fluffy things after they were not paired with

a horrible and frightening noise

Do cognitive processes and biological constraints affect

classical conditioning?

Rescorla and Wagner (1972): animals learn to “expect” an unconditioned stimulus; this shows cognition at work: the animal learns the predictability of a second associated event after the firstConditioning an alcoholic with a nauseating drink might not work because they are “aware” of what causes the nausea---the drink, not alcohol.

Martin Seligman found that dogs given repeated shocks with no opportunity to avoid them developed a passive resignation called learned helplessness. In new situation, animals that escaped the first shocks learned personal control and were able to able to easily escape shocks thereafter.

Cognition

Biology vs. Environment Garcia and Koelling: -Animals can learn to avoid a drink that will make them sick, but not when it’s announced by a noise; so Pavlov was wrong in claiming that any stimulus could serve as a conditioned stimulus.-We are biologically prepared to learn certain associations and not others: we learn to fear snakes, but not flowers-Taste aversions result from biology. The smell and taste of a nauseating food become the CS for sickness.-Secondary disgust: an aversion that reminds a person of something that is considered disgusting in its own right. Ex. You won’t eat a piece of chocolate formed like dog feces.

Ivan Pavlov-His Legacy

• Classical Conditioning principles can be applied to all organisms, from earthworms to people

• Measurable, objective procedures…not a guessing game

Applications of CC

• Health (ex: drug use, alcoholism)

• John Watson’s Little Albert Experiment: Led to the question-Can fears be extinguished?

• Rape-People & Locations serving as Conditioned Stimuli leads to a Conditioned Fear response

• Advertising

Types of Conditioning

ClassicalClassicalProcess of associating

two stimuli

ClassicalClassicalProcess of associating

two stimuli

OperantOperantProcess of associating

a response & itsconsequence

OperantOperantProcess of associating

a response & itsconsequence

Lightening

Thunder

Pulling candy machinelever

Delivery of candy bar

During which type of conditioning does an organism learn associations between events that it doesn’t control?

During which type of conditioning does an organism learn associations between it’s own behavior and resulting events?

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

OPERANT CONDITIONING

Thorndike: Law of Effect-rewarded behavior is likely to reoccur.

Skinner: Skinner Box & “behavioral technology”

Shaping – reinforcers guide behavior toward closer approximations of a desired goal.

Successive Approximations-method used to shape organisms

ShapingDemonstration

Principles of Reinforcement

ReinforcerReinforcer - any event that increases the frequencyof the preceding event

Positive ReinforcersPositive ReinforcersIntroduce (+) stimulus

(e.g., food)

Negative ReinforcersNegative ReinforcersRemove (-) stimulus(e.g., electric shock)

Reinforcers ALWAYS strengthen behavior!Reinforcers ALWAYS strengthen behavior!

More Reinforcement

Primary ReinforcersPrimary ReinforcersInnately satisfying,

Not learned(e.g., getting food)

Secondary ReinforcersSecondary ReinforcersAssociated with primary

reinforcers & learned(e.g., praise)

Reinforcers ALWAYS strengthen behavior!Reinforcers ALWAYS strengthen behavior!

Still More Reinforcement

Immediate ReinforcementImmediate ReinforcementReinforce immediately preceding

behavior (e.g., nicotine)

Delayed ReinforcementDelayed ReinforcementReinforcement at some point

after behavior occurs(e.g., paychecks)

Reinforcers ALWAYS strengthen behavior!Reinforcers ALWAYS strengthen behavior!

STIMULUS RESPONSE REINFORCEMENT/PUNISHMENT

Something thatHappens TO an

organism

Behavior performedBy the person or

Animal.

Types of Reinforcers:

1. Positive-something good happens & strengthens behavior

2. Negative-something bad is taken away & strengthens behavior

3. Primary-pleasant in their own right-food (positive), being relieved of pain (negative)

4. Secondary (also called Conditioned)-is associated with a primary reinforcer (classical conditioning)

5. Immediate –reinforcer that immediately follows the response-ex: drugs

6. Delayed -reinforcer that is postponed to well after the desired behavior-ex: long-term reward (safe sex vs. immediate sex)

Reinforcers ALWAYS strengthen behavior!Reinforcers ALWAYS strengthen behavior!

PUNISHMENT-decreases frequency of preceding behavior

•Effective When? Strong, Immediate, Consistent

•Undesirable When? Increases in aggression, fear (avoidance behavior), low self esteem, depression, performance of behavior in “safe” conditions, no guidance toward desirable behavior.

VARIABLE RATIO - reinforcement after a random # of responses. Greater resistance to extinction, but initial learning is slower than continuous reinforcement. Ex: Gambling.

FIXED RATIO-reinforcement after specific # of responses. Ex: Piece-work

FIXED INTERVAL -reinforcement after a specific amount of time. Ex: Checking the mail.

VARIABLE INTERVAL-reinforcement after random amount of time. Most resistant to extinction. Ex: Pop Quizzes

REINFORCEMENT

SCHEDULES

Latent Learning-learning that is not apparent until a reward is presented to demonstrate the learning.

Rat that is never reinforced continues to make many errors in completing the maze.

Rat that explored the maze for 10 days, then given a reward on Day 11, shows signs of Latent Learning.

Rat that is always reinforced gives evidence of learning throughout trials.

Tang & Hall Study (1995) Hey kids! I’ll pay you to

play with that toy

This toy is great-I’m

going to play with it all the

time!

“If I’m not getting paid, why bother.” OR “If I have to be bribed, then it must not be that great of a toy.”

OVERJUSTIFICATION EFFECT-decreasing intrinsic motivation for a behavior after an extrinsic reward is provided.

Salary

Performance

Biology & Operant Conditioning

• Naturally adaptive behaviors are easier to condition (example: Pigeons avoid shock by flapping wings but slower to learn to flap wings for food.)

• “Instinctive Drift”- animals reverting back to predisposed behavior rather than conditioned behavior.

Skinner’s Legacy

• Give rewards that promote desired behavior

• Personal freedom? Not in Skinner’s world.

Operant Conditioning Applications

School Work HomeComputers &

Immediate Reinforcement

Increase Productivity-Profit Sharing

Parenting-reward good behavior, ignore whining

On-line Testing/Interactive

Software

Rewards work when behavior is well-

defined and obtainable

Goal setting-reward your own desired behaviors

Sports & Incremental Reinforcement

Praise can be an effective managerial

technique

Spending Behavior

Albert Bandura’s Bobo-doll experiment: Aggressive behaviors learned through observation of a model.