Learning and Motivation

I learned how to play tennis I learned Jim’s name. The scientists are trying to learn the cause of SARS You will need to learn better manners! My dog learned to sit.

OED I. To acquire knowledge. 1. a. trans. To acquire knowledge of (a subject) or skill in (an art, etc.) as a result of study, experience, or teaching. Const. from, of (arch.), at (a person). Also, to commit to memory (passages of prose or verse), esp. in phrases to learn by heart, by rote, for which see the ns.

Learning An experience-dependent change in behavior? –Hunger, thirst? –“Latent” learning?

Domjan on learning: “An enduring change in the mechanisms of behavior involving specific stimuli and/or responses that results from prior experience with those or similar stimuli and responses.” Yikes!

Not learning: Maturation Changes in motivation Fatigue Also: –Learning not always evident behaviorally (learning/performance distinction)

Types of learning Explicit –Episodic –Semantic Implicit –Procedural –Conditioning –More… *

Aristotle ( BC) Mind should be interpreted, not as a thing, but as a process. Perhaps he would prefer to say “to mind" as a verb rather than "mind" as a noun. Believed that Mind was in the heart.

Suggested basic principles of memory, as laws of association: – Contiguity in space or time – Similarity – Contrast (associations of opposites) Aristotle ( BC) “There’s nothing in the intellect that wasn’t previously in the senses”

Socrates (470?-399 BC)) and Plato ( BC)) Ideas do not belong to the actual world: They are too perfect (e.g., one’s conception of triangles or circles) and thus belong to the REAL world, in which ideas are eternal and flawless.

Ancient Greeks and the limits of human knowledge Plato’s Allegory of the Cave – Prisoners in a cave, sitting around a fire – Everything away from the fire is shadowy – Experience around the fire = evidence from the senses – Only by reason (i.e., introspection), and not blind trust in senses, can one know the world

Socrates pointing to the Real world, moments before his death by hemlock in 399 BC.

Galileo ( ) Law of falling bodies Evidence for Copernicus’ heliocentric system (jailed for this) No, planets don’t have volition – they are moved by external forces

Locke ( ) British associationist Natural rights of life, liberty, etc. Urged by friends to write on the limitations of human judgment… 20 years later: “Essay Concerning Human Understanding”: –Empiricism; knowledge thru senses – the mind is a tabula rasa –And yet, he used introspection

Descartes ( ) All human knowledge innate Humans and animals are machines …but humans also have a soul –Mind/body dualism

Rene Descartes ( ) The Reflex Arc

The Reflex

Darwin ( ) Evolution by natural selection Life is a battle for limited resources; the most fit survive. Crucial elements of theory: –Variation among members of species –Natural selection –Mechanism of transmission to offspring

Charles Darwin Mental continuity between humans and animals Descent of Man “Nevertheless the difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind.”

Herbert Spencer ( ) Applied ideas of evolution to behavior Behavior is initially random, and acts that produce pleasurable consequences are “selected” and continue.

Georges Romanes Darwin’s intellectual heir Animal Intelligence (1888) Relied heavily on anecdotes to build his uncritical views on animal intelligence.

Excerpted from George Romanes' book Animal Intelligence (1888) But that some species of ants display marked signs of what we may call sympathy even towards healthy companions in distress, is proved by the following observation of Mr. Belt. He writes: - One day, watching a small column of these ants (Eciton hamata), I placed a little stone on one of them to secure it. The next that approached, as soon as it discovered its situation, ran backwards in an agitated manner, and soon communicated the intelligence to the others. They rushed to the rescue; some bit at the stone and tried to move it, others seized the prisoner by the legs and tugged with such force that I thought the legs would be pulled off, but they persevered until they got the captive free. I next covered one up with a piece of clay, leaving only the ends of its antennae projecting. It was soon discovered by its fellows, which set to work immediately, and by biting off pieces of the clay soon liberated it. Another time I found a very few of them passing along at intervals. I confined one of these under a piece of clay at a little distance from the line, with his head projecting. Several ants passed it, but at least one discovered it and tried to pull it out, but could not. It immediately set off at a great rate, and I thought it had deserted its comrade, but it had only gone for assistance, for in a short time about a dozen ants come hurrying up, evidently fully informed of the circumstances of the case, for they made directly for their imprisoned comrade and soon set him free. I do not see how this action could be instinctive. It was sympathetic help, such as man only among the higher mammalia shows. The excitement and ardour with which they carried on their unflagging exertions for the rescue of their comrade could not have been greater if they had been human beings. This observation seems unequivocal as proving fellow- feeling and sympathy, so far as we can trace any analogy between the emotions of the higher animals and those of insects.

Occam’s Razor The simplest explanation is the best Morgan’s Canon of Parsimony “In no case may we interpret an action as the outcome of the exercise of a higher psychical faculty, if it can be interpreted as the outcome of the exercise of one which stands lower in the psychological scale.”

Common Evolutionary Fallacies Everything that exists is adaptive –“spandrels” Everything is the best possible –Pagloss :“...that things cannot be other than they are, for since everything was made for a purpose, it follows that everything is made for the best purpose…. Observe: our noses were made to carry spectacles, so we have spectacles. Legs were clearly intended for breeches, and we wear them.”

The spandrels of San Marco The dome of the cathedral of San Marco in Venice has beautiful mosaics in the triangular spaces that occur where the round dome meets two rounded arches that meet at right angles.

Testing evolutionary hypotheses: three approaches Model-based Observational/experimental Comparative

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov ( ) In studying the digestive system, Pavlov came across an important discovery about the nervous system--classical conditioning.

Pavlov’s Experimental Set-Up

Classical Conditioning

Pavlov’s Dogs ValietTungusBarbos

Edward Thorndike Criticized Romanes’ views as unscientific Do not know history of the animal Problems with anecdotes: 1.Only a single case is studied. Does it apply to whole species? 2. Observations are often not repeated or repeatable 3. Conditions under which observations are made are not well regulated

Thorndike ( ) The Puzzle Box

Law of Effect Some randomness to behavior (variability) Behaviors that lead to pleasurable consequences are “stamped in” Those that have noxious consequences are weakened.

At about the same time… Freud ( ) Father of psychoanalysis Case studies Mind composed of ID, EGO, SUPEREGO

John Watson ( ) Founder of behaviorism Published Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist in 1919 Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning can explain much, if not all, behavior. Inferring internal states is redundant and unecessary Cognitive explanations are not scientific

Watson’s famous quote: Give me a dozen healthy infants, well- formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select -- doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggarman and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. (Watson, 1930, p. 104)

B.F. Skinner: The rise of behaviorism Feelings don’t cause behavior Often not aware of environmental causes of our behavior Used behaviorist principles to explain complex psychological phenomena E.g., language Advocated use of behavioral technology to improve society.

“Learning Theory” or “Behavior Theory” Many types of learning can be explained by a small number of mechanisms –Namely, the association Examine how environmental factors affect behavior Cognitive Psychology Focus on changes inside the learner – I.e., the mind. Figure out what’s inside the black box Discern different learning processes/mechanisms

EnvironmentBehavior Environment Behavior The Mind Memory, attention, goals, mental representations Learning/Behavioral Psychology Cognitive Psychology

Arguments against cognitive approach Philosophical: –Positing internal processes doesn’t add information –Infinite # of cognitive models for any one phenomenon –Purpose is to predict and control; what good do cognitive models do? Empirical (testable): –All behavior can be explained in terms of stimulus- response learning

An Assumption of Scientific Psychology Determinism (… no free will) People mostly aren’t happy about this: –“Out of sheer ingratitude man will play you a dirty trick, just to prove that men are still men and not the keys of a piano…. And even if you could prove that a man is only a piano key, he would still do something out of sheer perversity– he would create destruction and chaos– just to gain his point….” –Dostoevsky Some unflattering evidence: –Phineas Gage –Research by Jonathan Pincus –Illusion of free will

Why use animals? General process approach Control Continuity between species Today: Animal models of disease. Utility of studying many species

Numbers of animals used annually

What does it mean to “explain” learning? David Marr (xx-xx): 3 levels of explanation in psychology: –Computational 12 x 3 = 36 v. 10/2 = 5 –Algorithmic = 36 v. “fingers” method –Implementational Calculator v. Abacus

Aristotle’s causes Efficient: Sight of needle Material: Activation of amygdala… Formal: Pair CS with US several times and then… Final: Fear conditioning helps organisms to avoid dangerous situations (Darwin) + Pain of Injection