AP Psychology Chapter 6 Learning

Learning is commonly defined as a long-lasting change in behavior resulting from experience. Classic Conditioning Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, inadvertently discovered a kind of learning while studying digestion in dogs. Pavlov found that dogs learned to pair the sounds in the environment where they were fed with the food that was given to them and began to salivate simply upon hearing the sounds. Consequently, Pavlov deduced the basic principle of classic conditioning. People and animals can learn to associate neutral stimuli with stimuli that produce reflexive, involuntary responses and will learn to respond similarly to the new stimulus as they did to the old one. Key terms in Classic Conditioning: Unconditioned Stimulus (US or UCS): original stimulus that elicits a response. It is the natural, reflexive response. In the Pavlovian paradigm, the US is food. Unconditioned Response (UR or UCR): It caused the involuntary response of salivation. Salivation is the UR.

Through repeated pairings with a neutral stimulus such as a bell, animals with come to associate the two stimuli together. Ultimately, the animals with salivate when hearing the bell alone. Conditional Response (CR): when the neutral stimulus elicits the unconditional response, the UR becomes a CR. Conditional Stimulus (CS): the neutral stimulus becomes the conditional stimulus after it elicits a response.

Learning takes place once the animals respond to the CS without a presentation of the US. This learning is also called acquisition. Factors that affect acquisition: Repeated pairings of CSs and USs yield stronger CRs. The most effective method of conditioning is to present the CS first then introduce the US while the CS is still evident. (DELAYED CONDITIONING) Acquisition will occur the fastest when the bell is rung, and while it is still ringing, the dogs are presented with food. This procedure is called delayed conditioning. *CS (CS +US)+

Less effective methods include: Trace conditioning The presentation of the CS, followed by a short break, followed by the presentation by the presentation of the US. [CS, break, US] Simultaneous conditioning CS and US are presented at the same time. [CS + US] Backward conditioning - US is presented first followed by the CS. This method is very ineffective. *US. CS+ CLASSIC CONDITIONING

Unlearning a behavior is known as extinction. The CS no longer elicits the CR. It occurs when the CS is repeatedly presented without the US, breaking the association with the two. (If one rings the bell over and over again and never feeds the dogs, the dogs will learn not to salivate to the bell) Spontaneous Recovery after a CR has been extinguished and no further training of the animal has taken place, the response briefly reappears upon presentation of the conditioned stimulus.

Classical conditioning can also be used with humans. In John Watsons famous study with Little Albert, Watson got Little Albert to fear a white rat, using classic conditioning.

Second-order conditioning: Once the CS elicits a CR, it is possible to use that CS as a US in order to condition a response to a new stimulus.

Biology and Classical Conditioning Learned Taste Aversions: If you get sick around a time when you eat a new food, you will develop an aversion to the food. (Aversion due to single-pairing)

John Garcia and Robert Koelling performed a famous experiment illustrating how rats more readily learned to make certain associations than others. The rats learned to associate noise with shock and unusual tasting water with nausea. The ease with which animals learn taste aversions is known as the Garcia effect.

Operant Conditioning Operant conditioning is a kind of learning based on the association of consequences with ones behaviors. B.F. Skinner was the father of operant conditioning. o He invented a special contraption, called the Skinner Box, to use in his animal research. A Skinner box usually has a way to deliver food to an animal and a lever to press or disk to peck in order to get the food.

The food is the Reinforcer; the process of giving the food is called reinforcement. Reinforcement is defined by its consequences. Positive reinforcement is a the addition of something pleasant. Negative reinforcement is the removal of something unpleasant. Escape learning - learn to get away from an aversive stimulus by making an action. Avoidance learning - making an action to avoid the aversive stimulus from even starting.

Punishment vs. Reinforcement Shaping - reinforces the steps used to reach the desired behavior. For example, the rat is given a reward for touching the lever, not moving. By rewarding approximations of the desired behavior, we increase the likelihood that the rat will stumble upon the behavior we want. Chaining when a subject is taught to perform a number of responses successively in order to get a reward. The goal of chaining is to link together a number of separate behaviors into a more complex activity, whereas shaping is one behavior. Primary reinforcer are in themselves, rewarding like food and water. Secondary reinforcer- are things that we have learned to value such as praise or chance to play a video game. Money is a special secondary, called generalized reinforcer. Premack Principle - states that the best way to get someone to do an undesired action is to reward them with something they have shown to desire. Continuous Reinforcement - reinforcing every response. Partial-reinforcement - is reinforcing intermittently more difficult to get acquisition of behavior more resistant to extinction.

Reinforcement Schedules Fixed-ratio: (FR) schedule that provides reinforcement after a set number of responses. (FR-5 = a reward after the fifth desired response. Variable-ratio (VR): reinforce after an average number of responses. Fixed- interval (FI): reinforce the first response after a specific amount of time has elapsed. Variable interval (VI): reinforce the first response after an average amount of time has elapsed

Variable schedules are more resistant to extinction than fixed schedules. Instinctive drift: the tendency for animals to forgo rewards to pursue their typical patterns of behavior.

Cognitive Learning Unlike radical behaviorists like Skinner who believe learning occurs without thought, cognitive theorists argue that even classical and operant conditioning have a cognitive component. They believe that in classic conditioning, subjects respond to the CS because they develop the expectation that it will be followed by the US. In operant conditioning, cognitive psychologists suggest that the subject is cognizant that its responses have certain consequences and therefore act to maximize their reinforcement. Pavlovs contiguity model of classical conditioning holds that the strength of an association between two events is closely linked to the number of times they have been paired in time. Rescorlas contingency model of classical conditioning reflects more of a cognitive spin, suggesting that it is necessary for one event to reliably predict another for a strong association between the two to result.

Observational Learning Observational Learning is also known as modeling. Modeling has two basic components: observation and imitation. By watching his brother, the young boy learned how to hit a baseball. First he watches his older brother playing baseball in the neighborhood with friends. Next, the young boy picks up a bat tries to imitate his brothers behavior. Observational learning has a clear cognitive component in that a mental representation of the observed behavior must exist in order to enable the person or animal to imitate it.

Latent Learning Edward Tolman studied Latent Learning extensively. Latent Learning is learning that becomes obvious only once a reinforcement is given for demonstrating it. Behaviorists had asserted that learning is evidenced by gradual changes in behavior, but Tolman conducted a famous experiment illustrating that sometimes learning occurs but is not immediately evidenced. Tolman reasoned that these rats must have learned their way around the maze during the first set of trials. Their performance did not improve because they had no reason to run the maze quickly. Tolman credited their dramatic improvement in time to LATENT LEARNING. He suggested they had made a mental representation, or cognitive map, of the maze during the first half of the trials and evidenced this knowledge once it would earn them a reward.