Learning & Adaptation: the role of experience

What is a Conditioned Response (CR)?

- A Conditioned Response (CR) is an automatic response established by training to an ordinarily neutral stimulus. - With enough pairings of the Conditioned Stimulus (CS) with an Unconditioned Stimulus (US), the Conditioned Stimulus (CS) will come to elicit the SAME response as the Unconditioned Stimulus (US) . -Ex, the sound of the bell (conditioned stimulus) makes dogs salivate (conditioned response).

What is an Unconditioned Response?

- An Unconditioned Response (UR) is a response that occurs naturally in reaction to the Unconditioned Stimulus (US). IS NOT LEARNT. -A reflexive, unlearned response to an innately important stimulus. - Ex, if the smell of food is the Unconditioned Stimulus (US), the feeling of hunger in response to the smell of food is the Unconditioned Response (UR). Ex, the sight of your favorite restaurant.

What is Systematic desensitization therapy?

- Create a NEW association with that fear stimulus. - A type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat phobias. - Ex, Muscular relaxation paired with gradual exposure to the stimulus that scares you.

What is Higher Order Conditioning?

- Higher Order Conditioning is when a neutral stimulus becomes a Conditioned Stimulus after being paired with an ALREADY established Conditioned Stimulus. - In Higher-order conditioning, Conditioning can occur WITHOUT an Unconditioned Stimuli. -Ex, after the sound of the bell became an established Conditioned Stimulus, a black square was presented (natural stimulus) just prior to the bell sound but no food was presented. After repeated square-tone pairings, the square will become a Conditioned Stimulus and elicit salvation by itself. -A higher-order conditioned stimulus produces a Conditioned Response that is WEAKER and EXTINGUISHES FASTER than the original Conditioned Stimulus. So, the dog will salivate LESS to the black square than to the tone, and its response to the square will extinguish sooner. -Higher-order conditioning greatly EXPANDS the INFLUENCE of conditioned stimuli and can affect what we value, like, fear or dislike. Ex, a child may value a gold star because that gold star was previously paired by social recognition and praise from the teacher.

What is Acquisition in classical conditioning?

-Acquisition refers to the PERIOD/time during which a response in being learned. -Unconditioned Stimulus (US) is paired with Conditioned Stimulus (CS). - The initial learning of the connection between the Unconditioned Stimulus and the Conditioned Stimulus when the two stimuli are paired (aka learning that the bell means food time)

How do we END an Association?

-By Extinction. -If the Conditioned Stimulus is presented repeatedly in the absence of the Unconditioned Stimulus, the Conditioned Response WEAKENS and eventually disappears. This process is called EXTICTION. Ex, when Pavlov repeatedly presented the bell without the food, the dogs eventually stopped salivating to the bell. Occasional re-parings of the Conditioned Stimulus (bell sound) and the Unconditioned Stimulus (food) are usually required to MAINTIAN a Conditioned Response.

What is a Spontaneous Recovery?

-Even when a Conditioned Response extinguishes, this does NOT mean that all traces of it are gone forever. -Spontaneous Recovery is when a seemingly extinct CR reappears (often in a somewhat weaker form) if the CS is presented again following a delay after extinction. It also EXTINGUISHES more rapidly in the absence of the Unconditioned Stimuli. -For example, the phenomenon of Spontaneous Recovery is why the treatment of phobias and anxiety disorders require multiple treatment sessions. But, with each extinction trails, the Conditioned Response is only weakened further until it is no longer a problem.

What is Exposure Therapy?

-Exposure Therapy exposes the phobic patient to the feared stimulus (Conditioned Stimulus) without any Unconditioned Stimulus, allowing EXTINCTION to occur. -BREAKING the association. -Effective in most cases. - Mental imagery, real-life situations, or both can be used to present the phobic stimulus.

How does Disgust condition us?

-In many cases, disgust reactions are tied to stimuli that are biologically important to us, like animals or objects that are dirty or potentially dangerous -Easily acquired. -For example, apple juice was sitting in a hot car for a long time. When Kim when to drink it, it immediately made her puke. She never drank it again because she was conditioned to avoid it.

What are ways that Acquisition can be enhanced? (best way to create association fast)

-Multiple Conditioned Stimulus-Unconditioned pairings. -Intense, AVERSIVE Unconditioned Stimulus can produce one-trial learning. -Forward (short-delay) pairing. -Time interval between onset of CS & onset of US is SHORT.

How can we Apply Classical Conditioning to treating fears?

-The implication is clear: if a specific phobia was acquired through classical conditioning then exposure to the feared stimulus under neutral or positive circumstances should be an effective form of treatment. That is, if phobias are learned, they can also be "unlearned."

When is Unconditioned Stimulus most effective?

-To be effective, an Unconditioned Stimulus (US) should evoke a strong bodily response. -E.g., brain stimulation, drugs, loud noise, the better the food, the more saliva. -The more intense the Unconditioned Stimulus (US), the easier to produce a Conditioned Response (CR).

What are "The Big Three" learning processes?

1. Event-alone learning Habituation 2. Event-event learning Classical Conditioning 3. Behaviour-event learning Instrumental or Operant Conditioning

What does 2. Event-event learning involve?

2. Event-event learning involves Classical Conditioning. What is Conditioning?: -British Associationists believed that we acquire almost all of our knowledge via conditioning - forming associations between stimuli. -Simple associations provide the mental building blocks for all complex tasks.

Who was Little Albert?

An 11 month old used in an experiment by John Watson to show classical conditioning in action- that fear can be conditioned. He was afraid of loud noises (Unconditioned Stimulus), and when the loud noises were paired with a white rat (conditioned stimulus), it made him develop a fear of rats as well as anything that was furry/white. To examine stimulus discrimination and generalization, Watson exposed Little Albert to other test stimuli. Albert displayed no fear to block toys, but furry white or grey objects made him cry. Highly generalized fear response to "furry things".

What is an Unconditioned Stimulus (US)?

An Unconditioned Stimulus (US) is a stimulus that NATURALLRY, biologically already produces an unconditioned response without prior learning. Ex, Food, Pain.

What is an Association in classical conditioning?

An association is the relationship between two stimuli.

What is Aversive Conditioning?

Aversive Conditioning: -decreased arousal and attraction to stimuli. -associates an unpleasant outcome with an unwanted behavior to stop the behaviour. Ex: If you want to stop Britney from drinking alcohol, you give her something to induce vomiting every time she drinks.

What is VR Exposure therapy?

Effective for phobias.

Difference between Habituation and Sensitization?

Habituation vs Sensitization - Habituation is highly specific (has to be the same stimuli). - Sensitization is not often specific (you can become sensitive to all loud sounds which all give you a headache). - You can become habituated or sensitized to the SAME stimuli.

What learning process did Ivan Pavlov discover?

He discovered Classical Conditioning. -Dogs started salivating when the student entered and the bell rang (before food even presented). -Sound of the bell elicited salivation. -

What is a Conditioned Stimulus (CS)?

In classical conditioning, a Conditioned Stimulus is an originally IRREVELANT/Neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response (CR). Ex, the sound of the bell, footsteps.

What is Flooding therapy?

Involves exposing/FLOODING the patient to a great deal of an undesirable stimulus in the attempt to turn off the anxiety response.

What is Stimulus Discrimination?

Stimulus Discrimination: - Process where we exhibit less pronounced CR to CSs that differ from the original CS. - CR occurs to one stimulus but not to another. - Ex, an animal that becomes alarmed at every sound would exhaust itself. It must learn to distinguish irrelevant sounds from those that may signal danger.

What is Stimulus Generalization? ("rustle, rustle")

Stimulus Generalization: - Stimulus Generalization: stimuli similar to the initial CS elicit a CR. - Once a CR is acquired, the organism often responds not only to the original CS, but also to stimulus that are SIMILAR to it. - The greater the stimulus similarity, the greater the chance that a CR will occur. - Stimulus Generalization serves as a critical adaptive function. Ex, there is a rustling in the bush, and an animal is attacked right after. Next time, when the animal hears something that even remotely resembles the sound of the rustling bush- it will be better prepared to defend itself.

The Unconditioned Stimulus can be classified as either?

The Unconditioned Stimulus (US) can be classified as: ■ Appetitive - a stimulus the animal finds pleasant. E.g., food, play, etc. ■ Aversive - a stimulus the animal finds unpleasant. E.g., loud sound, darkness, etc.

The Unconditioned Stimulus MUST be paired with a Conditioned Stimulus at the same time in order to?

The Unconditioned Stimulus (food) MUST be paired with a Conditioned Stimulus (bell) at the same time in order for the organism to make an ASSOCIATION so that after a while, just the sound of the bell alone will elicit a response.

Unconditioned Stimuli and Conditioned Stimuli will come to produce the same?

Unconditioned Stimulus (food) and Conditioned Response (bell sound) will come to elicit the SAME BEHAVIOUR (salivation). The only difference is the CAUSE of the behaviour (one food, one bell)

What is 1) Forward short-delay paring? What is 2) Forward trace pairing? How do they have adaptive value?

■ 1) Forward short-delay pairing: -DESPITE the name, no breaks between the two. -Conditioned Stimulus is still present when Unconditioned Stimulus is presented. -Bell appears first and is still present when food arrives. -Learning occurs FASTEST with Forward short-delay paring. ■ 2) Forward trace pairing: -Conditioned Stimulus (tone) would come ON AND OFF, and afterward the food would be presented. -Best if delay is no more than 2-3 seconds before the Unconditioned Stimulus to give the animal a chance to make that association. ■ Forward pairing has adaptive value because the Conditioned Stimulus signals the impending arrival of the Unconditioned Stimulus.

What does 1. Event-alone learning involve?

■ 1. Event-alone learning involves Habituation and Sensitization. ■ In Event-Alone learning, Habituation and Sensitization involve a change in behavior that results from repeated exposure to a single stimulus.

What is 3) Simultaneous pairing? What is 4) Backward pairing?

■ 3) Simultaneous pairing: -CS and US are presented at same time. -Learning is SLOWER, less rapid conditioning ■ 4) Backward pairing: -CS is presented AFTER the US. -bell rings after the food arrives. -Learning is THE SLOWEST, or DOES NOT OCCUR AT ALL.

What is Appetitive Conditioning?

■ Appetitive Conditioning: -increases attraction/arousal. -To calm your easily agitated dog, you decide to use classical conditioning. -Want to associate the command "calm" with feelings of relaxation. Unconditioned Stimulus: Petting Unconditioned Response: Calming feeling / physiological calming response Conditioned Stimulus: Command Word: "CALM" Conditioned Response: Calming feeling / physiological calming response

What is Classical Conditioning?

■ Classical Conditioning is a learning process in which an organism learns to associate two stimuli (eg, a song and a pleasant event), such that one stimulus (just the song) comes to produce a response (feeling happy) that was originally produced only by the other stimulus (the pleasant event). ■ Classical Learning, therefore, involves LEARNING AN ASSOCAITION between stimuli. ■ Also known as classical (or Pavlovian) conditioning (CC). ■ Classical Conditioning is a form of learning in which a NEUTRAL STIMULUS comes to SINGAL the occurrence of a SECOND STIMULUS.

What is Habituation?

■ Habituation is a decrease in the strength of response to a repeated stimulus. Simplest and most basic form of learning. ■ Habituation serves as a key adaptive function. For example, you don't need to constantly respond to the pressure of clothing on your skin or the sound of the clock ticking, or else you would become rapidly overwhelmed. It is better to conserve that energy to potentially dangerous stimuli that deserves your attention. ■ Habituation is DIFFERENT from sensory adaptation. Habituation = simple form of learning that allows one to attend to more important stimuli. Sensory adaptation = decreased sensory response to a continuously present stimulus. Information is still available if it becomes relevant. The sensory cells themselves becomes less responsive. Example, fire alarm goes off in building. First couple times it scares you but after a while, you don't even notice it.

What is Learning?

■ Learning is a process by which experience produces a relatively enduring change in an organism's behaviour or capabilities. ■ For example, telling time, getting dressed, reading, using money, driving, learning sports. Through experience, we learn to think, act, and feel.

Does Learning = Doing?

■ No. Learning ≠ Doing. ■ Capabilities highlights a distinction made by many theorists: "knowing how," or learning, versus "doing," or performance. ■ For example, experience may provide us with immediate knowledge (receiving instructions on how to perform a Math question), but in science, we MEASURE learning by actual changes in performance.

What is Sensitization?

■ Sensitization is an increase in the strength of response to a stimulus. ■ Can result from repeated presentations of a stimulus or by arousal from extraneous stimuli ■ Example, every time a fire alarm goes off, you get a headache. Or, any loud sound produces a headache. ■ Sensitization tends to occur to strong or noxious stimuli, and its purpose is to increase responses to a potentially dangerous stimuli.

What are the 4 Types of Conditioned Stimulus - Unconditioned Stimulus Pairings?

■ The sequence and time interval of the Conditioned Stimulus (CS) and Unconditioned Stimulus (US) pairing also affect conditioning. There are 4 types of Conditioned Stimulus- Unconditioned Stimulus Pairings: 1) Forward short-delay pairing 2) Forward trace pairing 3) Simultaneous pairing 4) Backward pairing

How do we measure learning?

■ We MEASURE learning by examining the actual changes in performance. ■ For example, the teacher shows you how to do a math problem (experience). She then gives you a quiz on it. That quiz MEASURES is you actually LEARNED something and over time, if your performance improved.