Learning and Memory

Classical Conditioning Ivan Pavlov Russia What is learning? Classical Conditioning: A

learning process in which associations are made between a natural stimulus and a neutral stimulus.

Pavlov’s doggy . . .

Classical Conditioning Pavlov began his

experiments by ringing a tuning fork and then immediately placing some meat powder on the dogs tongue. He chose the tuning fork because it was a neutral stimulus.

Neutral Stimulus: A stimulus that does not initially elicit any part of the unconditioned response.

Classical Conditioning Well, after a few times the dog

begins to salivate by merely hearing the sound, even if there was no food within it’s sight.

Pavlov demonstrated that a neutral stimulus (here, the tuning fork) can cause a formerly unrelated response.

This occurs if it is presented regularly just before the stimulus (here, the food) that normally brings about a response (here, salivation.)

Classical Conditioning According to Pavlov, every human or

animal has a set of unconditional or involuntary responses.

Such responses include blushing, shivering, being startled, and salivating.

In this experiment, food was the unconditional stimulus.

Unconditional Stimulus (UCS): An event that elicits a certain predictable response typically without previous training.

Classical Conditioning A few other important things: Unconditioned Response (UCR): An

organism’s automatic (or neutral) reaction to a stimulus. (Example = salivation).

Under normal conditions, the sound of a tuning fork would not cause salivation. The dog had to be taught, or conditioned to associate this sound with food.

An ordinarily neutral event that, after training, leads to a response such as salivation is termed a conditioned stimulus.

Classical Conditioning Conditioned Stimulus (CS): A once-

neutral event that elicits a given response after a period of training in which it has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus.

The salivation that is caused by the tuning fork is called a conditioned response.

Conditioned Response (CR): The learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus.

Classical Conditioning in a nutshell

UCS UCRUCS + NS does the conditioning

NS becomes CSCS CR

Classical Conditioning

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Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery

A classically conditioned response, like any other behavior, is subject to change.

Pavlov discovered that if he stopped presenting food after the sound of the tuning fork, the sound gradually lost its effect on the dog.

After he repeatedly struck the tuning fork without giving food, the dog no longer associated the sound with the arrival of food – the sound of the tuning fork no longer caused the salivation response.

Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery

Pavlov called this effect extinction! Extinction: The gradual disappearance of

a conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus.

Yet, even though the conditioned response has been extinguished, it does not mean that the CR has been completely unlearned.

Whaaaaaaa? Spontaneous Recovery! Yup, you eventually see the object again

and get a response…Ask me if confused, I’ll explain!

Formative Quiz… Can you identify how Classical

Conditioning is being used here: Mountain Dew Ad Audi Ad

Operant Conditioning Ok, so, suppose you have a dinosaur!

Yes a dinosaur! Your dinosaur is wandering around

the neighborhood, sniffing trees, checking garbage cans, and looking for a squirrel to chase.

A kind neighbor sees the dinosaur and tosses a bone out of the kitchen door to it.

The next day the dinosaur is likely to stop at the same door on it’s rounds. Once again your neighbor produces another bone, so the dinosaur becomes a regular visitor!

Why?

Operant Conditioning Well I’ll tell ya why! Hold

your horses! Well, ummm, see, there’s this,

well, ummm, thing called, like, operant conditioning.

Operant Conditioning: Learning in which a certain action is reinforced or punished, resulting in corresponding increases and decreases in occurrence.

Operant = operates due to a change yo.

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There are different ways to do this

Positive Reinforcement Negative Reinforcement Positive Punishment Negative Punishment

Try to frame your thinking like this:

Reinforcement=Desirable Punishment=NOT desirable Positive=to add Negative=to take away

Positive Reinforcement Reinforcement: Stimulus or event

follows a response and increases the likelihood that the response will be repeated.

Examples of reinforcers: Social Approval Money Extra privilages Giving a dog a treat when it shakes your

hand.

Negative Reinforcement In the concept of negative

reinforcement, a painful or unpleasant stimulus is removed. The removal of unpleasant consequences increases the frequency of a behavior.

Negative Reinforcement: Increasing the strength of a given response by removing or preventing a painful stimulus when the response occurs.

Which do you think is the most effective?

Schedules of Reinforcement

Fixed-Ratio Schedule: A pattern of reinforcement in which a specific number of correct responses is required before reinforcement can be obtained.

Variable-Ratio Schedule: A pattern of reinforcement in which an unpredictable number of responses are required before reinforcement can be obtained.

Fixed-Interval Schedule: A pattern of reinforcement in which a specific amount of time must elapse before a response will elicit reinforcement.

Variable-Interval Schedule: A pattern of reinforcement in which changing amounts of time must elapse before a response will obtain reinforcement.

Observational Learning Bandura’s Bobo Doll… Violence in the media?

Cognitive Learning Examples: 1. Latent Learning. Latent learning is

not demonstrated by an immediately observable change in behavior at the time of the learning. Although the learning typically occurs in the absence of a reinforcer, it may not be demonstrated until the reinforcer appears.

Example: Have you ever had to locate a building or a street in a section of Durham that you are unfamiliar with? You may have been through that section of town before and remember details such as an unusual sign or building. Remembering these details may have helped you find the building or street you were looking for. In other words, you learned some details you were not intending to.

Cognitive Learning Examples: 2. Learned Helplessness. Learned

helplessness is a condition in which repeated attempts to control a situation fail, resulting in the belief that the situation is uncontrollable. Example: You do poorly on a math test

the first time you try and decide it was because you had not studied enough. The next test, you do poorly again and decide it was because you did not feel well. On the third test, you once again score poorly…You give up and decide that you “are just dumb,” giving up on math.

Modeling and Behavior Modification

Modeling! Wait….No…The other kind of

modeling! Modeling: Learning by

imitating others; copying behavior!

This is how the majority of people learn how to act in new situations (sports, concerts, etc.)