Psychology of Learning (exam 5)

Nature v Nurture

"v" was retitled via (think about it as all the same thing) - new in environment -> not a lot of genetic intelligence behind it - more time -> more genetic influence - ex: mud wasp protects eggs from predators -- land slide -> still builds same way even though it doesn't protect it anymore - not n OR n but both, more important one is based on environment, learning increase w/ new bx and genes increase w/ old bx

Anorexic activity paradigm: rat in a cage

- free food and water -> reach balance w/ food and running - take food out for a certain amount of time/ day - stop eating completely after a few days and run themselves to death

Three ways to change

- genes: slow (requires death and next generation, dependent on life span) -- problems: death and one directional (parents -> kids) - memes: faster: take awhile for a cultural change -- multidirectional: can teach parents (mamadic transmission: to parents, siblings) -- spread quicker the bigger it gets -- faster bc multigenerational and doesn't require death - bx: fastest: just you, modulant (changing from environment) -- doesn't have to transmit

How does the rat in a cage evolutionarily make sense?

- less food, but running more -> foraging increases -- don't eat the food that was there bc it becomes the conditioned aversive active punisher, why? became associated w/ hunger -- moving to find new food -- keeping running bc they are not getting anywhere

Gene, bx, memes

- stable environment -> more genes - stable environment is the reason for N v. N, says what plays into it - disgust -> get food out of mouth and move away from it -- highly genetic, but what disgusts us is from environment -- culture can affect it -- children are open to new tastes (depending on what the mom ate) until ambitory (walking) -> neophobia (fear of new things), genetic and serves as a protection -- disgust is genetic, but triggers are context (learned based off environmental experiences) -- biological inheritance and demand from environment shapes it -- mailable (basic and make it what you want it to be) - increase variation -> increase in learning, less variation -> more related to genes

Frances puts a hungry rat into an experimental chamber. Whenever the rat presses a lever, food falls into a tray. In about 30 minutes, the rat is pressing the lever steadily. Frances returns the rat to the training cage for one hour a day every day until the rat produces young. Frances then trains one of this rat's offspring in the same manner as its mother and repeats this procedure for several generations. You predict that when the twelfth generation rat is put into the training cage, it will press the lever steadily in about_________.

30 minutes

"The Ape in Our House" was written by ________.

Hayes

Obi Gene

Made mark for the obesity gene In anorexic activity paradigm: - rats bigger that w/o -> increases survival rate, bc more stored up - put weight on faster: do a better job at storing and more efficient in usage - live longer, fewer health problems, increased survival rate The gene isn't the problem, its the environment - bad context: decreases survival - good context: increase survival

How does the rat in a cage relate to depression and hunting and gathering

Person isn't comfortable in a new place (serotonin decreases) - look where the group produces serotonin - but now a lot of groups are similar, so you may never see the serotonin Once you find fats, salts, and sugars do as little as possible (made for hunting and gathering) - the evolutionary rule works if the evolutionary environment is right

Garcia's work on taste aversion

Rats - "flashy" water -> radiation -> never learned how to avoid - distinct taste -> sick -> avoid water - biologically prepared to learn certain associations, taste is the easiest

Keller and Marion Breland are known for their article, _________.

The Misbehavior of Organisms

Allen and Beatrice Gardner taught a chimpanzee to ____.

Use sign language

Selection (diff)

analogous process over genes, bx, and culture BUT also different - learning: my experience w/ world - culture: my life experience and my group (ex: language) -- ex: decimate means destroy to us, but really it means reduce by a tenth --- so it doesn't really mater what it is, but rather just how culture responds to it -- changes from group to grpu -- depends on individual experience and shared group -- words only have meaning in our culture dynamic - evolution: biggest, history of experience of your species w/ the environment -- ex: giraffe's long neck and then culture names it giraffe

If a new behavior appears without reinforcement, it is likely an example of

autoshaping

Learning is of vital importance because so many problems that face society involve

behavior

environment determins...

bx, not organism itself - even food is determined by environment (amount of bacteria)

Efforts to teach chimps to talk probably failed because ____.

chimps lack the biological structures for speech

PIC/NIC Analysis

emotional: Positive/ Negative timing: Immediate/ Future probability: Certain/ Uncertain planning: future, deciding -> PFU, NFU acting: bx, engaging -> PIC, NIC *unless you make a connection b/w reality and dreams, nothing will be accomplished ex: study tonghit - good grade on exam: PFU, tired: NIC

Watson: bio is important, but the context is greater

engineer the world around biology - bio we can't fly -> we can be put in something to help us (airplane) - swimming underwater -> O2 tank - to change bx, change the context

While walking in the woods, Larry happens to stumble across a nest of turkey eggs just as they are hatching. Larry watches the chicks as they emerge from their eggs and begin walking about. As he leaves the nest area, Larry finds the young birds are determined to go with him. Larry's new friends are victims of _________.

imprinting

Skinner's efforts to teach pigeons to play ping pong demonstrate that the inability to learn a skill may sometimes be overcome by

making allowances for physical limitations

Robert Tyron's work demonstrates the role of heredity in

maze learning

Substances that damage the nervous system are called

neurotoxins

How does the rat in a cage get solved?

new place, new food source, change orientation of room - signals to start eating again, because they are in a new context

Armadillos curl up into a ball when attacked. Reginald teaches an armadillo to curl up into a ball when a buzzer sounds. Reginald is making use of the phenomenon known as

preparedness

Selection

replication variability - biological (evolution: what is being selected) -> genes (history of species) - learning -> bx (history of you) - cultural -> meme (any cultural piece of info that is shared and spread) (history of group)

John has difficulty training a raccoon to pick up coins and put them in a bank. It is most likely that

the raccoon was contra prepared to learn this task

Instinctive Drift

training, but tendency for bx to go back to evolutionary - this is why diets are hard -> drift back to set point when you are stressed: food, activity, and attitude changes - biological predisposition

In their study of conditioning, Garcia and Koelling paired water with radiation. They found that the rats later avoided

water with a distinct taste

In their study of conditioning, Garcia and Koelling paired water with radiation. They found that the rats later avoided _______.

water with a distinct taste

Harry and Martha Frank found that on barrier problems dogs did not perform as well as _________.

wolves