Chapter 6: Learning

The behavior of Pavlov's dogs and Tiger illustrates a concept Pavlov called spontaneous recovery:

the return of a previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period

Operant Conditioning

The target behavior is followed by reinforcement or punishment to either strengthen or weaken it, so that the learner is more likely to exhibit the desired behavior in the future. The stimulus (either reinforcement or punishment) occurs soon after the response. According to the law of effect, behaviors that are followed by consequences that are satisfying to the organism are more likely to be repeated, and behaviors that are followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated.

Observationallearningextendstheeffectiverangeofbothclassicalandoperantconditioning.In contrast to classical and operant conditioning,in which learning occurs only through direct experience,observational learning is the process of watching others and then imitating what they do.

A lot of learning among humans and other animals comes from observational learning.

Secondary reinforcer

A secondary reinforcer has no inherent value and only has reinforcing qualities when linked with a primary reinforcer.Praise,linked to affection,is one example of a secondary reinforcer, as when you called out "Great shot!" Tokens a teacher gives to a child.

In classical conditioning, the initial period of learning is known as acquisition, when an organism learns to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus.

During acquisition, the neutral stimulus begins to elicit the conditioned response, and eventually the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus capable of eliciting the conditioned response by itself.

. But unlike instincts and reflexes, learned behaviors involve change and experience: learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that results from experience.

In contrast to the innate behaviors discussed above, learning involves acquiring knowledge and skills through experience. Looking back at our surfing scenario, Julian will have to spend much more time training with his surfboard before he learns how to ride the waves like his father.

Shaping

Instead of rewarding only the target behavior,in shaping,we reward successive approximations of a target behavior.

Positive and Negative Reinforcement and Punishment

Positive Reinforcement: Something is added to increase the likelihood of a behavior. Positive Punishment: Something is added to decrease the likelihood of a behavior. Negative Reinforcement: Something is removed to increase the likelihood of a behavior. Negative Punishment: Something is removed to decrease the likelihood of a behavior.

In contrast, instincts are innate behaviors that are triggered by a broader range of events, such as aging and the change of seasons.

They are more complex patterns of behavior,involve movement of the organismas a whole (e.g., sexual activity and migration), and involve higher brain centers

Continuous reincforcement

When an organism receives a reinforcer each time it displays a behavior. In partial reinforcement, also referred to as intermittent reinforcement, the person or animal does not get reinforced every time they perform the desired behavior.

Extinction

is the decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with the conditioned stimulus. When presented with the conditioned stimulus alone, the dog, cat, or other organism would show a weaker and weaker response, and finally no response. In classical conditioning terms, there is a gradual weakening and disappearance of the conditioned response.

On the other hand,when an organism demonstrates the conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the condition stimulus, it is called stimulus generalization, the opposite of

stimulus discrimination.

the return of a previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period

stimulus discrimination.

Fixed ratio

Reinforcement is delivered after a predictable number of responses (e.g., after 2, 4, 6, and 8 responses).

Cognition and Latent Learning

Tolman placed hungry rats in a maze with no reward for finding their way through it. He also studied a comparison group that was rewarded with food at the end of the maze. As the unreinforced rats explored the maze, they developed a cognitive map: a mental picture of the layout of the maze

In classical conditioning, also known as Pavlovian conditioning, organisms learn to associate events—or stimuli—that repeatedly happen together.

We experience this process throughout our daily lives. For example, you might see a flash of lightning in the sky during a storm and then hear a loud boom of thunder. ?In operant conditioning,organisms learn,again,to associate events—a behavior and its consequence (reinforcement or punishment). A pleasant consequence encourages more of that behavior in the future, whereas a punishment deters the behavior.

Associative learning occurs when an organism makes connections between stimuli or events that occur together in the environment.

You will see that associative learning is central to all three basic learning processes discussed in this chapter; classical conditioning tends to involve unconscious processes, operant conditioning tends to involve conscious processes, and observational learning adds social and cognitive layers to all the basic associative processes, both conscious and unconscious.

Reflexes

are a motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment. They tend to be simpler than instincts,involve the activity of specific body parts and systems (e.g., the knee-jerk reflex and the contraction of the pupil in bright light), and involve more primitive centers of the central nervous system (e.g., the spinal cord and the medulla)

________ occurs when we learn not to respond to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly without change.

habituation

Variable ratio

Reinforcement is delivered after an unpredictable number of responses (e.g., after 1, 4, 5, and 9 responses).

Fixed interval

Reinforcement is delivered at predictable time intervals (e.g., after 5, 10, 15, and 20 minutes).

Variable interval

Reinforcement is delivered at unpredictable time intervals (e.g., after 5, 7, 10, and 20 minutes).

Primary Reinforcer

Reinforces that have innate reinforcing qualities. These kinds of reinforces are not learned. Pleasure, water, food, sleep, shelter, sex touch.

Pavlov's Dogs

Through his experiments,Pavlov realized that an organism has two types of responses to its environment: (1) unconditioned (unlearned) responses, or reflexes, and (2) conditioned (learned) responses The meat powder in this situation was an unconditioned stimulus (UCS): a stimulus that elicits a reflexive response in an organism. The dogs' salivation was an unconditioned response (UCR): a natural (unlearned) reaction to a given stimulus. Before conditioning, think of the dogs' stimulus and response like this: Meat powder (Unconditioned Stimulus) → Salivation (Unconditioned Response) Tone (Neutral Stimulus) + Meat Powder (UCS) → Salivation (UCR) Tone (CS) → Salivation (CR) Pairing a new neutral stimulus ("squeak") with the conditioned stimulus ("zzhzhz") is called higher-order conditioning, or second-order conditioning. In higher-order conditioning, an established conditioned stimulus is paired with a new neutral stimulus (the second-order stimulus), so that eventually the new stimulus also elicits the conditioned response, without the initial conditioned stimulus being presented.