Learning/Behavior First quiz

sensitization

(poking person in same spot with needle, hurts more and more because the needle damaged tissue-physical)

Key points

- Adoption and twin studies are the most commonly used methods in studying the degree of genetic contribution. - Genes can only work by building amino acids. It is a long way from building an amino acid to a complex behavior, allowing many points of environmental influence. - Nature-nurture interactions are the norm, not the exception.

Key Points

- Learning is necessary because our innate reflexes don't always account for all the adaptive behaviors that we will need within our lifetimes. - Learning can be defined as a relatively permanent change in potential behavior that results from experience. - Learning can not be directly seen. Rather, it has to be inferred from observable behavior. - Learning can be isolated from the behavioral stream in that it is a process of change, or a transition state. - There are several major different classes of learning. These include non-associative and associative processes.

Key points

- Natural selection works through two main processes: variation and selection. - Individual organisms are born with a fairly unique constellation of traits, allowing for variation in a species. Many of these traits are coded for by genes. - Individuals who are well adapted to their environments tend to be more likely to be successful. This success often results in a greater probability of reproducing. - It is the environment, not the individual, that selects what is adaptive and what is not.

Key Points

- The amount of stimulation is too overwhelming for our attentional resources. - Attention is most likely to be directed towards stimuli that emphasize change or already established relevance. Such stimuli elicit orienting responses. - Habituation occurs when orienting responses diminish following repeated presentation of a stimulus. - Habituation occurs more quickly when stimuli are presented fairly closely in time (rate sensitivity). Habituation is typically specific to individual stimuli (stimulus specificity). - Habituation is more than semsorimotor accomodation. It is also a form of learning. This can be seen by the rapidity by which subsequent habituations occur, as well as the overlearning effect. Facilitation Repeated presentation of a stimulus does not always result in habituation. Picture this: You are taking an exam, and the student in the seat next to you has a nervous habit of clicking his pen. As this nuisance continues over time, do you get more and more annoyed? In contrast to to habituation, facilitation (or potentiation) occurs when repeated presentation of a stimulus produces increased orientation or attentional responses. Further examples of facilitation include increased feelings of fear with each successive creaking sound in an old abandoned house, and the increasing annoyance level elicited by the sound of a mosquito buzzing in your ear or of sarcastic comments from your significant other. Facilitation shows some of the same properties as habituation. First, organisms show stimulus sensitivity in that facilitation does not easily generalize to other stimuli (Peeke, 1982; Petrinovich & Patterson, 1982). Facilitation also shows spontaneous recovery. Just as habituation is diminished by passage of time, facilitation is usually temporary. If you go camping a year from now, the level of annoyance elicited by the mosquito buzzing in your ear will be diminished from the preceding year's level.

Lamarck and Darwin's theory of natural selection

- notion of evolution mistakenly attributed to Darwin. - Lamarck had reported that animals change through geologic time, and proposed the notion of acquired characteristics. The course of an animal's life, its experiences that they would acquire, would pass onto the next generation. Cultures evolve, and it will pass to the other generation, and the next generation will be varied -Giraffes: they stretched their necks furthest to get to the best leaves on the tree-tops, according to Lamark, they pass on this acquired trait to their offspring. -Darwin provided an alternative mechanism through which evolution could proceed, the process called Natural Selection

Sex example for Exaptation

- sex was used as a reproductive strategy primarily for variation (adaptation), but its also used for the intimacy and for feeling good, for reinforcement (exaptation)

What is the net result of Natural Selection?

- we are born either already having or possessing the potential to develop behaviors, traits or habits which make us well suited for the world as it existed at the time of our conception. - Some of these abilities are well specified in the form of unlearned reflexes. Example: our pupils constrict in response to bright light, we shiver in response to cold, we grasp objects put in our hands, we suck objects placed in our mouths, we sneeze when our nose is irritated, etc. ^These 'pre-wired' behaviors have been labeled unconditioned reflexes.

Habituation as a form of Learning

-According to our definition of learning, changes in behavior must be due to experience. -First, habituating to a particular stimulus proceed more and more rapidly each time it occurs. -A second argument supporting a role for learning in habituation comes from a phenomenon called over-learning. Even after habituation to a stimulus occurs, the passage of time can re-establish an orienting response towards it. The size and strength of that subsequent orienting response depends upon how extensively habituation occurred -

Adaptations and Extapations

-Adaptation: can be defined as physical or anatomical structures, biological processes, or behavior patterns that, historically, contributed to the ability to reproduce or survive. Example: long neck of a giraffe. -Exaptation: trait that has been co-opted for a use other than the one for which natural selection has built it

Who needs to learn?

-Animals that limit their lives to fairly constant environments can afford to have much of their responses pre-programmed (e.g., reptiles and amphibians). Thus, their need for adaptation to environmental changes is minimized, at least compared to humans and they can therefore have many pre-programmed behavioral reflexes.

the environment probably has a much a larger role in altering human neural development than it does for other species.

-Being out in the world during developmental stages when other animals are in utero makes our brain development more susceptible to environmental and cultural influences.

How do genes come to influence behavior? Is there really a gene 'for' sexual orientation, risk taking, alcoholism, etc.?

-Caution must be exercised when claiming that there is a gene 'for' a specific behavior or disposition. -Example: Consider smoking. Nicotine is associated with the release of a neurotransmitter called dopamine. Dopamine, in turn, is believed to be a key player in the brain mechanisms involving reward and motivation. When you smoke, dopamine is released in the so called 'reward centers' of your brain. This is believed to result in a pleasurable feeling. Now, suppose you were born with a gene that coded for your having more receptors for nicotine in that region. Since there are even more places for dopamine to bind, smoking a cigarette should produce an even greater feeling of pleasure. Voila! A genetic predisposition to smoke. Note that this gene does not make you a smoker. What it does do, however, is make smoking relatively more enjoyable for you than for other people. Whether or not you become an addict depends upon a whole host of factors including your upbringing, friends, income, cost, and ease of acquiring cigarettes. Thus, before attributing a personality or behavioral trait to a specific gene, keep in mind that human behavior is extremely complex, and dependent upon a whole host of factors involving past experiences and current environmental conditions.

Even so-called instinctive behaviors are heavily influenced by experience.

-Consider the often-cited maternal instincts of other animals. -Mothers-to-be often build a nest just before delivery (indeed, many women report a need to clean their homes shortly before labor commences). -Many species exhibit "maternal aggression", in which they will attack any perceived threat to their offspring.

Whether habituation or facilitation occurs depends in large part to whether or not an environmental stimulus is perceived to be important for our survival. What factors are considered in such a determination?

-First, the regularity of a stimulus' presentation will play a role in whether facilitation or sensitization will occur. Consistent stimuli tend to produce habituation and changing stimuli tend to produce facilitation. -Whether habituation or facilitation occurs is also dependent upon stimulus intensity. Weak stimuli tend to produce habituation, and the weaker the stimulus, the more rapidly habituation develops. Moderately intense stimuli tend to produce facilitation -The rate at which intensity changes can also effect whether habitation or facilitation occurs. If intensity is increased slowly and steadily, habituation might occur, even following highly intense stimuli. -One's level of arousal can also influence whether or not habituation or facilitation occurs

How do the two processes of Variation and Selection demonstrate how intertwined Nature and Nurture are?

-Genes can only exert their effects when expressed in the environment. Given different environments, the same set of genes might produce different outcomes. -

Habituation: An example of non-associative learning

-Habituation can be defined as a decrease in orientation and attentional responses due to the repeated presentation of a stimulus. -Habituation to a stimulus is not necessarily permanent. -

Rate Sensitivity

-Habituation develops more rapidly and is more complete when stimuli are presented within short time intervals rather than long intervals -Example: people who live near very busy airports will come to 'tune out' passing airplanes faster than people who live near smaller, less used airports.

Properties of Habituation

-Habituation shows two main properties: 1. stimulus sensitivity and 2. rate sensitivity. -

what can be inherited?

-How do genes come to influence behavior? -Interactions between nature and nurture (does not mean pre and post natal)

Can one "see" learning directly?

-Inferences that link operations to observable effects are called intervening variables. -

Learning is important...

-Innate adaptive behaviors supplied by evolution were selected for by past environments. If the environment changes during one's lifetime, the ability to adapt on an individual level is accomplished through learning. -Moreover, the ability to learn to buffer us from sudden environmental changes may be more crucial for humans relative to other species.

What is learning and how is it studied?

-Our innate reflexes provide us with fixed responses to specific environmental stimuli. Bright lights invariably dilate our pupils - Sudden, loud noises invariably make us jump. However, our ever-changing environment results in our being confronted with stimuli for which we do not have preprogrammed reflexes -None of our pre-programmed reflexes provide us with set responses to such environmental events. -To function adaptively we need the ability to modify our actions as a result of experience. In other words, we need to learn.

Does Natural Selection work on genotypes or phenotypes?

-Selection can only work on the "actual you" (Phenotypes), not the "possible you" (Genotypes). -However, only your genotype gets passed on to future generations

Good working definition of "Learning"

-So far, we've seen that learning is a way of coping with a changing world -Kimble (1962) provides a formal definition, writing that "Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior potentiality resulting from reinforced practice."

The environment also plays a large role in the expression of otherwise strongly genetically determined traits.

-Take emotional expression for example. -Charles Darwin suggested that human emotional expressions are innate. His rationale was two-fold: expressions in other animals are frequently similar to those in humans (think of a snarling dog and an angry person), and emotional expressions seem to be universal across cultures.

Are there nature-nurture interactions for behavior?

-The answer is an unequivocal yes, from the very foundation of the brain (that in turn controls behavior) to the contexts in which innate behaviors are expressed. -

What underlies habituation and sensitization? (Groves and Thompson)

-The most influential theory explaining habituation and sensitization is the dual-process theory proposed by Groves and Thompson (1970).

Nature and Nurture do not mean Pre- and Post-natal

-This distinction is inaccurate -The environment can affect an organism prenatally, vividly demonstrated by the children born with phocomelia following in utero exposure to thalidomide. -ntelligence and IQ are influenced by a whole host of prenatal factors including nutrition, exposure to various drugs, and maternal health and illness - Conversely, some instinctive behaviors turn on automatically at various stages of life

Habituation or Facilitation?

-Type of stimulus? -Intensity of stimulus? -Interval of stimuli? -Rate of change of intensity? -Background level of arousal?

What is learning and how is it studied?

-Who needs to learn? -What is a good working definition of learning? -3 broad types of learning/behavior?

Non-associative learning: Habituation and Sensitization

-Why is Habituation necessary? -Properties of Habituation (stimulus sensitivity and rate sensitivity) -Facilitation?

How is learning inferred?

-by either increases or decreases in intensity or rate of behavior. For example, experience has taught me that to be heard in a crowded room, I must speak loudly. On the other hand, experience has taught me that when in the library, I must speak softly. Learning has occurred in both cases, with the behavioral intensity increasing in the crowd and decreasing in the library. -One does not have to be demonstrating a behavior as evidence of learning.. One can not know for sure something is learned without a measure of performance, but just because something isn't currently being performed does not know that it isn't learned. -This problem is well illustrated in assessment and grading. Teachers try to give students opportunities to perform certain tasks (e.g., write papers, give presentations, take exams) from which we can infer learning, but there are always students claiming that their performance vastly underestimates their level of learning. -For learning to have occurred, all that is necessary is the potential to exhibit the behavior. A good teacher will look for the means by which a student can demonstrate that potentiality. -Reinforced practice: The changes in behavior should be the direct effect of the experiences, and not due to side effects such as illness, fatigue, or maturation of the organism. For example, as a person grows from toddler to child to adult, they can lift heavier and heavier loads. However, this relatively permanent change in the strength of their response is not due to learning, but due to physical maturation.

Nature vs Nurture

-entirely artificial -neither nature nor nurture have any independent effects -they both constantly interact with each other -the interaction results in observed traits and behaviors -both work together for the exact same purpose: so that we are best adapted for the world in which we live in.

Habituation or facilitation?

-facilitation and habituation are both possible outcomes of repeated presentation of a stimulus. -Both are adaptive mechanisms. -Habituation occurs so that we don't focus our limited attentional resources on irrelevant stimuli -But what if a stimulus was important? Painful and dangerous events should be attended to! -Facilitation magnifies our attention to relevant or potentially relevant stimuli.

-maladaptive/adaptive Example

-maladaptive/adaptive: skin color (we evolved in africa, skin color is dark, more melanon so that there was more protection from the sun, but when people have less melanon and are lighter, the sun hurts), blubber (people have more and more for warmth, unless global warming gets worse and then we will have less and less and the people who have more wont be as "strong"). -culture's evolve, depending on the environment, certain systems will work in some places but not in others.

Stimulus sensitivity

-refers to the fact that habituation to one stimulus does not necessarily extend to others. -Example: , I have noticed that when driving, I often tune out songs being played on the radio, yet I always notice when a new song comes on. - Moreover, stimulus sensitivity also shows a generalization gradient—the more similar a novel stimulus is to the habituated stimulus, the more likely habituation will transfer Example: after habituating to sound of a metronome you will be more likely to show an orienting response to the sound of a blow-drier than to a grandfather clock. -Habituation develops more rapidly and is more complete when stimuli are presented within short time intervals rather than long intervals

adaptation

-things evolve for one reason and are used for that one reason.

-try to come up with an example of an exaptation (something that 'evolved' for one purpose, but was retasked for another)

-wings evolved not for flying but for reaching, looking bigger for predators, balance, gliding, etc.gliding using wings: exaptation (wings being used for something else) --adaptation: internet was first created just for communication. Now, internet is used for porn, streaming videos, video games, social media etc (exaptation) ---sex evolved as a reproductive strategy, but its also used for intimacy and for feeling good etc- exaptation- sex was used as a reproductive strategy primarily for variation (adaptation), but its also used for the intimacy and for feeling good, for reinforcement (exaptation)

Darwin's girrafes: the reason there is a limit on how tall a girraffe is because...

-you want them to be tall enough to get the food but when they are taller than the food, its no longer a benefit

Common Dependent Variables used to infer learning

1. Change in response topography You can tell that somebody has learned to skate because their ankles wobble less, or they fall down less often. You can tell than somebody has learned to drive a golf-ball by their follow through. 2. Change in response strength You can tell that somebody has learned to play tennis by a more forceful service game (increase in strength), as well as softer hit lobs (decrease in the strength). Similarly, an infant might learn that to attract attention at night it has to cry louder (increase), but when you snuggle up with a partner, you shouldn't yell "I love you" into their ear (decrease). 3. Change in response latency You can infer that somebody has learned self-control when they wait until the appropriate time to tell a joke (increase in latency). You can infer that somebody has learned to be selfless by how quickly they volunteer to participate in a charitable activity (decrease in latency). 4. Change in response rate When learning to type, you emit more words/minute as you improve. (increase in rate). Conversely, you can infer that a runner has learned to pace herself during a marathon by their running somewhat slower for the first 13 miles (decrease in rate) while preserving their strength for the second half. 5. Improved discrimination Learning to tell identical twins from each other by subtle behavioral or physical cues. Similarly, a rat shows that it learned a maze by choosing to go down fewer blind alleys. 6. Changed activational threshold Not losing one's temper after a mild insult (increase in threshold). Being able to tell when a lawn has been chemically treated through olfactory cues.

Three Broad types of learning and behavior

1. Non-associative learning: The simple repetition of a stimulus (constant rain) alters our response towards it (i.e., diminished attention). 2. conditioned reflexes, a class of behavior in which an environmental event (termed a stimulus) elicits a behavioral reaction (termed a response). 3. Through our experiences we have come to associate (hence associative learning) the visual and tactile cues of approaching storms with the actual event, thus eliciting our reaction. In describing reflexes, we use the term elicit to underscore the involuntary nature of the relationship

Non-associative learning: Habituation and Sensitization... What determines which stimuli grab our attention, and which stimuli are ignored?

1. stimuli that carry some known relevance will elicit attention. 2. we tend to orient our attention to stimuli that indicate change. 3. Attention can also be elicited by a change in the presence or absence of a stimulus.

-Why do you get habituation and why do you get facilitation?

Depends on the type of stimulus (intensity of stimulus and interval/predictability of stimulus-like the alarm clock example) intensity stimulus: (if it isn't dangerous or its not going to harm you, it will most likely be habituation) -Example: coughing, if the cough isn't gross or phlemy, then people will probably tune it out (habituation), but if the cough is gross/phlemy and could potentially get someone sick (harm), then it is facilitation (they get more and more annoyed). --if you have control over something, and you can predict it, you tend to habituate to it --rate of change of stimulus: something getting worse slowly and slowly, so not worse all at once- this is something you can habituate (tune out), because its slow change. -Your background level of activation plays a role: Example: if you take a calm mouse and give it a mild shock, it will habituate to it, but when you put the calm mouse in a room that smells bad and then give it the same mild shock, it will faciliate and react to it. Example: Your sitting in the library studying and you habituate to the sound of somebody clicking their pen, but then your taking an exam and there is somebody clicking their pen, you will faciliate to it and react to it because you are nervous and it will bother you more because you aren't just studying, it is the exam and it matters!

Common errors in people's conception of how Evolution works?

Error: Many people conceptualize evolution as a ladder, with bacteria and fish on the lower rungs, amphibians and reptiles on higher rungs, mammals higher up, and humans perched upon the top. However, if it is true that we evolved from monkeys who in turn evolved from rats, why are there still monkeys and rats? Explanation: At the risk of displacing ourselves from the top of creation, we must be aware that evolution does not work towards any specific goal. Traits that are adaptive for an organism in a particular environmental get selected for, and those that are maladaptive get selected out. Environmental change is often independent of anything an organism does, and can often be the result of pure chance Why are there still apes? Most of our shared ancestors continued to live in the same habitat that they always did, so there was no selective pressure to change. Some, however, found themselves at the edge of the great African plains. This different environment selected for many of the morphological changes that laid the foundation for the explosion of the central nervous system seen in humans. Rather than thinking of humans as being 'one rung on the ladder of evolution above the apes', we are better thought of as being a twig which went a different direction off a common branch. That branch is still there, growing in its own direction. One should not expect that if they came back to Earth in one million years that current days apes will evolve into humans.

Lamarck's theory, examples

Example: trauma is passed through generations, parent goes through trauma, therefore the next generation is effected by that drama and could have anxiety/depression. Example: mice and licking- mom was a low-licking mom, the kids dont handle stress well, high-licking mom, kids handle stress and theres a gene that determines if a mom is high-licking and low-licking. If there were mice that were fostered (adopted), and their biological moms were high licking but the adopted mom is low licking, the child will be low lickign and their children will be low licking etc etc. There is a scale, there is a licking gene that leans more to high licking or low licking. Another example: Stress and resiliance, somebody who is more resiliant than stressed, but put into a high-stress environment, they will be more stressed.

example of natural selection, which illustrates both variations of a trait and selection by the environment

For example, treefrogs are sometimes eaten by snakes and birds. Gray Treefrogs blend well in dark wooded areas on tree bark and Green Treefrogs blend in well with green vegetation found in marshes and swamps. A Green Treefrog on the bark of a tree is easier for a predator to find, compared to a Green Treefrog on a green leaf. So, Green Treefrogs that go into habitats where they are not camouflaged are more likely to be eaten by predators. Since Treefrogs that have been eaten do not live to have any more baby Treefrogs, natural selection has favored Treefrogs that live in habitats in which they are more camouflaged. This explains the distribution of Gray and Green Treefrogs. The wooded habitat of the Grey Treefrog is larger and extends farther North, while the Green Treefrog's swamp and marsh habitat is concentrated in the South. In the area in which Gray and Green Treefrogs overlap, both habitats occur but in different places.

Examples of Animals: natural selection and adaptation

Moles: huge claws and underdeveloped eyes, physical traits that seem perfect for a life spent digging underground Anteaters: long sticky tongues to catch ants

Reason why Lamarck is wrong- Plasticity genes

Plasticity genes: there isnt a high licking gene and low licking gene, there is a licking gene and there is a "scale" and it depends on which "side" the scale is at more. Example: girraffes. When they would eat, they would stretch it's neck, so when they would have babies, its neck would be longer, and the next generaiton would be longer, etc etc. The taller ones will be able to eat more, and they will be stronger, so they will be healthier and live, so they will have more babies and etc etc. However, if the environment changed and the food (leaves) were on shrubs, not trees, then the shorter girraffes will be stronger and there will be shorter and shorter ones.

Key Points

Repeated presentation of stimuli perceived to be important can produce facilitation, a phenomenon in which orienting responses successively increase. - Whether or not facilitation or habituation occurs depends upon several factors. These include stimulus regularity, intensity, and an organism's background level of arousal. Different neural systems are believed to underlie habituation and facilitation. The Opponent Process model accounts for habituation by suggesting that your body gets better able at countering stimuli which move it out of homeostatic balance.

-think of a trait that could be adaptive (well-fit for the evironment) in one environment, but maladaptive (that can be more harmful than helpful) in another.

The tree frogs' ability to camoflouge is adaptive, but maladaptive when they are in wooded areas, seen by predators easily.

2 essential components of Darwin's Natural Selection

Variation: 2 possible sources...Mutations and Combination- Faulty gene copies (mutations) occasionally happens, resulting in an altered genetic code (variation). Selection: an organism inheriting characteristics that result in its being better able to survive in its environment will likely be able to reproduce and pass on copies of its genetic recipe. Conversely, if the inherited trait results in the organism being less able to survive in its environment, it is less likely to reproduce and pass its genes on to its future generations.

Increased attention is frequently accompanied with...

bodily and physiological changes such as brief decreases in heart-rate, and changes in brain-wave activity, galvanic skin response, and increased overall arousal. These have been termed orienting responses by Pavlov.

facilitation is the opposite of habituation

when a repeated stimulus makes your response stronger and stronger. Example: the orange saying knock knock over and over again and fred saying whose there stronger and stronger because he was getting annoyed

Stimulus Sensitivity

you habituate to a certain stimulus, and then the stimulus changes and you dis-habituate. Example: a steady beeping sound for your alarm you would usually habituate it (tune it out), but if the beeping changes (not steady beeping) then you dis-habituate it and do not tune it out anymore. Example: Baby experiment- when they hear ba ba ba, they suck really hard on their pacifier until 30 seconds of it and they start to tune it out and they slow their sucking, and then when the sound changes to pa pa pa, they suck really hard again