Learning

Stimulus: Event that activates the behaviour

Response: Observable reaction to a stimuli
Define Learning
Learning is a
relatively permanent
change in behavior as
a result of experience.
Classical Conditioning
In classical
conditioning(Learning),
we learn to associate two
stimuli and anticipate
events.
Cont….
 Respondents: Automatic responses elicited by
specific stimuli.
 Neutral stimulus: stimulus not connected to a
response.
 Unconditioned stimulus: stimulus that
automatically produces an emotional or
physiological response.
 Unconditioned Response: Naturally occurring

emotional or physiological response.

 Cont…..
 Conditioned Stimulus: Stimulus that evokes an
emotional or physiological response after
conditioning.
 Conditioned Response: Learned response to a
previously neutral stimulus.
 Generalisation: Responding in the same way to
similar stimuli.
 Discrimination:Responding differently to similar
but not identical stimuli.
 Extinction: Gradual disappearence of a learned
response.
 For example, we learn that a
flash of lightening signals an
impending crack of thunder, so
we start to brace ourselves when
lightening flashes nearby.
Two related events:

Stimulus 1

Lightning Stimulus 2

Thunder

Result after repetition

Stimulus
We see
lightning
Response

We wince
anticipating
thunder
Operant Conditioning
 In operant conditioning, we
learn to associate a response
and its consequence, and we
repeat acts followed by
rewards, and avoid acts
followed by punishment.
 For example, we learn that when
we get good grades, we get
money, so we continue to get
good grades. Or, if we don’t get
good grades, we lose privileges.
To avoid losing privileges, we
get good grades.
Social/Vicarious/Observational
Learning
In social learning (or
observational learning),
we learn from other’s
experiences and
examples.
 For example, chimpanzees sometimes
learn behaviors merely by observing
others perform them. If one animal
watches another learn to solve a
puzzle that gains a food reward, the
observing animal may perform the
trick as well, and even more quickly.
 Classical
Conditioning
Classical Conditioning
 Ivan Pavlov - Russian;
Medical doctor who spent two
decades studying the digestive
system. Nobel Prize in 1904.
Studied learning for the next
three decades, by “accident”.
Classical Conditioning
 After studying salivary secretion in dogs, he
knew that when he put food in a dog’s mouth
the animal would invariably salivate. He also
began to notice that when he worked with the
same dog repeatedly, the dog began salivating
to stimuli associated with food – the sight of
food, the food dish, the mere presence of the
person bringing the food, even the sound of
oncoming footsteps in anticipation of the food
Classical Conditioning
 Pavlov’s Experiment:
 Through experimentation, Pavlov asked: If
a neutral stimulus (something the dog could
see or hear) regularly signaled the arrival of
food, would the dog associate the two
stimuli (the food and the neutral stimuli)?
If so, would the dog begin to salivate to the
neutral stimulus in anticipation of the food?
From Pavlov’s research:
Classical Conditioning
Unconditioned Stimulus
A stimulus that naturally
and automatically
triggers a response
Classical Conditioning
 Unconditioned Response
 Theunlearned, naturally
occurring response to the
unconditioned stimulus
Classical Conditioning
For example:
 ForPavlov, the UCS was
food and the UCR was
the dog’s salivation
Classical Conditioning
 Pavlov’s Experiment (continued):
 Just before placing food in the dog’s
mouth to produce salivation, Pavlov
sounded a tone. After several pairings
of tone and food, the dog began to
salivate to the tone alone, in
anticipation of the food.
Classical Conditioning
 Conditioned Stimulus
 An originally irrelevant
stimulus that, after association
with and unconditioned
stimulus, comes to trigger a
conditioned response
Classical Conditioning
 Conditioned Response
 The learned response to a
previously neutral
conditioned stimulus
Classical Conditioning
 For example:
 For Pavlov, the previously neutral stimulus was
the tone. During conditioning, the tone was
paired with the food (UCS). After
conditioning, the tone, when presented alone,
produced salivation in the dog. The tone is now
considered the CS, and the dog’s salivation to
the tone alone is now considered the CR.
UCS
(drug)
UCR
(nausea)

CS
(waiting
room)
UCS
(drug)

UCR
(nausea)
CS
(waiting
room)
CR
(nausea)
 1. While George was having a cavity filled by his dentist,
the drill hit a nerve that had not been dulled by
anesthetic, a couple of times. Each time he cringed in
pain. George now gets anxious each time he sees the
dentist.
 What is the:
 Unconditioned stimulus: ____________________
 Unconditioned response: ____________________
 Conditioned stimulus: ____________________
 Conditioned response: ____________________
 You ride a roller coaster
and get sick afterward.
Now, whenever you are
near a roller coaster you
feel queasy.
 Your relationship is going
badly and your significant
other has yelled at you
without warning several
times. You now feel tense
and fearful any time that you
are around him or her.
Four Major Conditioning Processes

 Generalization
 Discrimination

 Extinction

 Spontaneous Recovery
Acquisition
 The initial stage in classical
conditioning
 The phase associating a neutral
stimulus with an unconditioned
stimulus so that the neutral stimulus
comes to elicit a conditioned response
Acquisition
 Findings:
 The time between presenting the neutral
stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus
needs to be short. For most species and
procedures, about ½ second works best.
 Conditioning is more likely to occur if the
conditioned stimulus is presented before
the unconditioned stimulus
Generalization
 The tendency, once a response has been
conditioned, for stimuli similar to the
conditioned stimulus to elicit similar
responses
 IE. A dog responding to a bell tone may
also respond to a similar sounding door
bell.
Discrimination
 The learned ability to distinguish
between a conditioned stimulus and
other stimuli that do not signal an
unconditioned response
 IE. A child is bitten by a dog, and only
fears that dog. Other dogs don’t illicit
an automatic fear response.
Extinction
 The diminishing of a conditioned
response when an unconditioned stimulus
no longer follows a conditioned stimulus
 If the food no longer follows the bell tone,
eventually the dog will no longer associate
the bell tone with food and will stop
salivating.
Spontaneous Recovery
 The reappearance, after a rest period,
of an extinguished conditioned
response.
 The conditioned response continues to
get weaker after less pairings of the CS
and the UCS, and after more and more
rest periods
Classical Conditioning – Extra
 Little Albert Experiment – Fear Conditioning
 An 11-month infant named Albert feared loud
noises, but not white rats. In the experiment,
when Albert was presented with a white rat and
reached out to touch it, a hammer was struck on a
steel beam behind his head. After seven
repetitions of seeing the rat and then hearing the
frightening noise, Albert burst into tears at the
mere sight of the rat.
Classical Conditioning - Extra
 Five days after the testing, Albert
showed generalization of his
conditioned response by reacting
with fear to a rabbit, a dog, and a
sealskin coat.
 The Effect of motives: Motive effects the
conditioned response.The dog was hungry so
associated bell with food.
 Time factor between two stimuli: there should
be less gap in time between two stimuli to
evoke a conditioned response and percieve
the relation between two stimuli.
 Repetition of the stimuli:This is done for
association of neutral stimulus with UCS
 Operant
Conditioning
 Operant: voluntary behaviour emitted by an
organism
 Operant conditioning : learning in which
voluntary behaviour is strenthened or
weakened by antecedents(EVENTS BEFORE
ACTION) or consequences(EVENTS AFTER
ACTION)
Operant Conditioning
 Type of learning in which
behavior is strengthened if
followed by a reinforcer, or
diminished if followed by a
punisher
Operant Conditioning
 B.F. Skinner’s Experiments:
 Based on Edward Thorndike’s LAW OF
EFFECT – states that rewarded behavior is
likely to recur
 Experiments conducted with animals in an
operant chamber (Skinner Box) – a soundproof
box, with a bar or key that an animal presses or
pecks to release a reward of food or water
Operant Conditioning
 Shaping – while conditioning

 
an animal to perform certain
behaviors, reinforcers are
successively given only as the
subject gets closer to the
                                                                                                                                                                                 

                      

ultimate behavior goal

 IE. If the purpose of putting a rat in a
maze is to teach it to get from Point A to
Point B while following a certain path,
then every time the rat makes a turn
towards the right path, a reward should
be given. If it makes a turn towards the
wrong path, NO reward is given.
Operant Conditioning
 Ifwe can shape animals to

 
respond to one stimulus and
not to another, then obviously
they can perceive the
                                                                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                                                 

differences.
                      
                  
 IE. Some pigeons have been trained to be able
to distinguish between Bach and Stravinsky.
 IE. If the goal of a teacher is to get all
students to strive for 100% accuracy on their
spelling tests, then every time a student
improves on successive spelling tests they
should be rewarded. NOT just reward those
that get a 100%.
Operant Conditioning
 Reinforcement – any event
that increases the frequency
of a preceding response, or
strengthens the behavior that it
follows
 IE. Being able to borrow the
car after the dishes are done
will increase the likelihood
that you will do the dishes
again.
Operant Conditioning
 Positive Reinforcement –
strengthens a response by
presenting a typically pleasurable
stimulus after a response.
 IE. Food for a hungry animal.
Attention, approval, money for people.
Operant Conditioning
 Negative Reinforcement –
strengthens a response by
reducing or removing an
aversive stimulus
 IE. Taking aspirin to relieve a headache
will increase the behavior of taking
aspirin because it reduces or eliminates
the pain. Smoking a cigarette to relieve
stress will increase the behavior of
smoking because it reduces or eliminates
anxiety and pressure.
Operant Conditioning
 Positive ADDS a desirable stimulus,
like getting a hug or watching t.v.
 Negative REMOVES an aversive
stimulus, like fastening a seatbelt to
stop the annoying beeping
Operant Conditioning
 Primary Reinforcers –one that
primarily satisfies a biological
need
 Conditioned or Secondary
Reinforcers – a stimulus that is
learned, and/or is associated with a
primary reinforcer
 IE.Primary reinforcers may
be food, or pain relief.
Secondary reinforcers may be
money, praise, good grades, a
pleasant tone of voice.
Operant Conditioning
 Immediate and Delayed Reinforcers –
How quickly does a reinforcement
needed to be given after a desired
behavior has been exhibited in order for
the behavior to be conditioned? How
often does the reinforcement need to be
given to condition proper behavior?
Operant Conditioning
 Continuous Reinforcement –
Reinforcing the desired response
immediately, every time it occurs.
Learning occurs quickly, but as
soon as reinforcement ends,
extinction occurs very quickly also.
 You go to the same soda machine
every day, put your money into it,
and it delivers a soda. On Friday,
you put your money into it and it
doesn’t work. Same thing Saturday.
You stop using the machine, though a
week later you may try again.
Operant Conditioning
 Partial (Intermittent)
Reinforcement – Reinforcing a
response only part of the time.
This results in slower acquisition
of a response, but much greater
resistance to extinction also.
 IE.Slot machines. You may
win only once in long while, but
you’ll keep playing because the
reinforcement is worth it, and
the habit may last a long time.
Operant Conditioning
 Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement
Schedules:
 Fixed-Ratio = a schedule of
reinforcement that reinforces only
after a specified number of
responses.
 IE. Every 10th sale gets a prize.
Operant Conditioning
 Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement
Schedules:
 Variable-Ratio Schedule = a
schedule of reinforcement that
reinforces a response after an
unpredictable number of responses
 IE. Slot machines, fishing.
Operant Conditioning
 Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement
Schedules:
 Fixed-interval schedules = a schedule
of reinforcement that reinforces a
response only after a specified time
has elapsed
 IE. At the end of every 30 minutes a
new batch of cookies will be baked.
Operant Conditioning
 Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement Schedules:
 Variable-Interval Schedules = a schedule
of reinforcement that reinforces a
response at unpredictable time intervals
 IE. “You’ve Got Mail”…you don’t

know when you will get an email, but

you are always checking for it.
Operant Conditioning
 Punishment – An event that
decreases the behavior that it
follows
 May be done by administering an
undesirable consequence, or by
withdrawing a desirable consequence
 IE. Shock treatment and
spanking are added,
undesirable consequences,
while taking away phone or
car privileges withdraws
desirable consequences.
Operant Conditioning
 Issues/Questions regarding punishments
 Physical punishments are not forgotten,
just suppressed
 Physical punishments may increase
aggressiveness by demonstrating that
aggression is a way to cope with problems
 Punishments may create fear
Operant Conditioning
 If punishment isn’t delivered swiftly,
or proportionally with regards to the
crime, those punished may be
confused, depressed, or helpless
 Punishments still do not teach the
proper behavior – it only suppresses
unwanted behaviors
Observational
Learning
Observational Learning
Observational
Learning is learning
by watching and
imitating others
Observational Learning
 Forexample, a child sees
his big sister burn her
fingers on the stove has
thereby learned not to
touch it.
Observational Learning
Modeling is the
process of observing
and imitating a
specific behavior
Observational Learning
 Pro-Social Models exemplify
positive, constructive, helpful
behavior. Anti-Social
Models exemplify negative
and hurtful behavior.
Observational Learning
 Mirror Neurons in the
frontal lobe are partially
responsible for allowing
humans to imitate simple
language and emotions
Observational Learning
 Albert Bandura’s Experiment – The
Bobo Doll
 Children exposed to an adult taking
out their frustrations on a Bobo doll
would imitate their punches and kicks
when presented with a Bobo doll
when they were frustrated.