Cognition and Biological Predispositions: Does Conditioning change what the animal knows as well as its behavior? The role of thoughts, perceptions & expectations on Conditioning

Learning & Personal Control We cope with problems/stressors in our lives using emotional, cognitive & behavioral methods. Problem-Focused Coping – We think we can control the situation and or ourselves to effect the outcome. Optimists often believe this Pessimists usually feel they don’t have control and luck plays a role in their ability to effect outcomes Emotion-Focused Coping – believing we cannot change a situation so we search for emotional support from friends and family.

Learned Helplessness The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated bad events Dogs in electrified cage at first not able to escape the impending shock. Later, all they had to do was cross to the other side but they didn’t even try. The dogs had learned they were “helpless” to avoid the shock and just sat there and took it without trying to escape.

Learned Helplessness Exposure to inescapable and uncontrollable aversive (bad) events produces passive behavior. If an animal believes or expects it cannot escape a certain result, it will give up trying to do a behavior that could result in it escaping from the bad result. When faced with traumatic events or repeated failure, people will “give up” Prolonged exposure to this “loss of control” leads to higher levels of stress hormones that overtime break down one’s immune system and raise blood pressure which lead to health problems. To overcome this, one must establish a sense of control over one’s environment and see some success.

Internal Locus of Control The perception that we control our own fate External Locus of Control The perception that chance, or forces beyond a person’s control, control one’s fate – leads to learned helplessness

Self-Control Ability to control impulses and delay short-term gratification for long-term rewards. Willpower requires mental energy that you may later need to for other self- control tasks Those that resisted chocolate chip cookies later gave up more quickly on a tedious task than those that did not resist eating the cookies. Improved Self-Control requires attention and energy. Exercise and time-management practice can help one improve

Biological Constraints on Conditioning Pavlov & Watson felt learning was the same in all animals Later it is discovered that an animal’s capacity for conditioning was constrained by its biology. Biological Preparedness & Phobias Martin Seligman We are biologically predisposed to learn things that affect our survival. We are predisposed to avoid threats our ancestors faced--food that made us sick, storms, heights, snakes, etc. People more easily acquire conditioned fear responses to pictures of snakes & spiders when paired with electric shocks than they do with flowers and mushrooms. Monkeys will learn a fear response to snakes & crocodiles but not to flowers and toy rabbits. But not modern-day threats—knives, stoves, cars, water pollution, etc. Recent studies showed that children like Little Albert could NOT be classically conditioned to fear things like wooden blocks & curtains.

Taste Aversion **Differs from other Classical Conditioning in that: Rats drank flavored water (NS) and hours later were given a shot with a drug or radiation (UCS) that made them sick (UCR). The rats refused to drink the flavored water again. Subjects become classically conditioned to avoid specific tastes, because the tastes are associated with nausea. Animals that hunt by sight learn to avoid prey items that look like the prey item that made them sick. Birds will avoid butterflies that look like Monarchs. John Garcia (1917- 2012) **Differs from other Classical Conditioning in that: It did NOT require repeated pairings of a NS and UCS. The time span between the two was a few hours. Rats were conditioned to taste and not anything else that occurred in the hours between when they drank the flavored water and got sick.

How Taste Aversion Works: BEFORE NS = No Response UCS = UCR DURING: NS + UCS = UCR AFTER: CS = CR Flavored Water Drug/Radiation Nausea Flavored Water Drug Nausea Flavored Water Fear leading to Avoidance

Biological Limits on Operant Conditioning Nature sets limits on what an animal can learn Behaviors that are tied to our biological predispositions are most easily learned and retained.

Biological Predispositions Animal training issues – easier to train behaviors that are closer to natural behaviors using a natural reinforcer (food). Instinctive drift—naturally occurring behaviors that interfere with operant responses. What happens when a trained tiger shows instinctive drift?

Cognition’s Influence on Conditioning

Robert Rescorla & Allen Wagner Cognition’s Role in Classical Conditioning Pavlov & Watson felt CC involved no thought. The linking of the CS (bell) to the US (food) would happen automatically. Developed a theory emphasizing the importance of cognitive/mental processes in classical conditioning Pointed out that subjects had to determine (think) whether the NS/CS was a reliable predictor of the UCS The Bell was a reliable predictor that Food would follow.

Rescorla’s Experiment Group 1 found the tone to be a reliable predictor of the shock and as a result their heart rates increased each time they heard it. Group 2 experienced 20 random shocks with no tone in addition to the original 20 shocks with a tone. They had a much smaller fear response to the tone because it was not a reliable predictor of the shock.

Skinner & Thorndike Believed that cognitions (thoughts), perceptions and expectations have no place in psychology. This is because they cannot be studied through observation and therefore were seen as not being objective.

Cognitive Aspects of Operant Conditioning Insight Learning – A solution to a problem comes to us suddenly seemingly out of nowhere. (Proves mental processes occur without our awareness) Latent learning—learning that occurs in the absence of reinforcement, but is not demonstrated until a reinforcer is available Cognitive map—term for a mental representation of the layout of a familiar environment Learned helplessness—phenomenon where exposure to inescapable and uncontrollable aversive events produces passive behavior

Latent Learning E.C. Tolman’s Rat Maze Experiment Learning that takes place in absence of an apparent reward & then appears when there is an incentive/reason to demonstrate it Tolman’s Experiment: Three groups of rats were trained to run a maze. The control group, Group 1, was fed upon reaching the goal. The first experimental group, Group 2, was not rewarded for the first six days of training, but found food in the goal on day seven and everyday thereafter. The second experimental group, Group 3, was not rewarded for the first two days, but found food in the goal on day three and everyday thereafter.

Tolman’s Rat Maze Experiment (continued) Both of the experimental groups demonstrated fewer errors when running the maze the day after the transition from no reward to reward conditions. The marked performance continued throughout the rest of the experiment. This suggested that the rats had learned during the initial trials of no reward and were able to use a "cognitive map" of the maze when the rewards were introduced. The initial learning that occurred during the no reward trials was what Tolman referred to as latent learning. He argued that humans engage in this type of learning everyday as we drive or walk the same route daily and learn the locations of various buildings and objects. Only when we need to find a building or object does learning become obvious.

Cognitive Map A mental representation of a place Experiments showed rats could learn a maze without any reinforcements See a modern day example of Tollman’s experiment where they change the maze on the rat (2 min) If time, Play “Cognitive Processes in Learning” (6:25) Segment #12 from Psychology: The Human Experience.

Intrinsic Motivation A desire to perform a behavior for its own sake and to be effective I do an activity for an internal reward or satisfaction. What things are you intrinsically motivated to do?

Extrinsic Motivation A desire to perform a behavior because of promised rewards or threats of punishment I do the activity for a good consequence. What things are you extrinsically motivated to do?

Overjustification Effect What happens when we offer an external reward (extrinsic motivation) for doing what someone already likes to do? The reward may lessen and replace the person’s original, natural motivation, so that the behavior stops if the reward is eliminated The person may now see the reward, rather than intrinsic interest, as the motivation for performing the task. “If I have to be bribed into doing this, then it’s not worth doing for its own sake.” Rewards do help increase interest when used to indicate a job well done

Other evidence that we do think! Animals on a fixed-interval reinforcement schedule though respond more frequently as the time approaches for their reinforcer as if they expect that the response will produce the reward