Learning HSP3M

Conditioned Learning  Definition: Acquiring patterns of behaviour in the presence of an environmental stimulus  i.e. learning to respond to a particular stimulus in a particular way  Two types:  Classical Conditioning  Operant Conditioning

Classical Conditioning  Key figure: Ivan Pavlov  Pavlov’s dog  Involves learning to transfer a natural response from one stimulus to another  Sounded bell right before giving the dog food  Initially, the food caused the dogs to salivate  Eventually the dogs salivated at the sound of the bell alone

Classic Conditioning another Example Telephone RingingConversation with Friend Happiness (CS)(UCS) (UCR) Telephone RingingHappiness (CS) (CR) (CS) – Conditioned Stimulus (UCS) – Unconditioned Stimulus (UCR) – Unconditioned Response (CR) – Conditoned Response

Classical Conditioning  An unconditioned stimulus (UCS) is paired with a conditioned stimulus (CS) to turn an unconditioned response (UCR) to a conditioned response (CR) 1.UCS  UCR 2.UCS + CS  UCR 3.CS  CR

Stimulus or Response?  A flashing light  Answering this practice exercise  A stop sign  An ant crawling on your arm  Vomiting  Coughing  Seeing and then smelling a piece of chocolate cake  Laughing  Screaming  A feather tickling your arm

Identify the US, UR, CS, and CR in the following examples.   The overhead in Ms. D’s lab has a short circuit and gives her a shock every time she touches it. After a while Ms. D hesitates every time she is about to touch the overhead.   John gets hungry every time he goes into the kitchen.   Tom hates the sight of cats, because he is allergic to them   Your dog comes running every time he hears the can opener

Operant Conditioning  Key figure: BF Skinner   Wondered if Pavlov’s idea of stimulus response could explain more complex human behaviour  Skinner realized that most behaviour is not the result of the pairing of unrelated stimuli  Skinner put a rat in a cage that had a bar that, when pushed, would drop a food pellet into the cage  The rat randomly pushed the bar and got food  The next time it pushed the bar, it got more food  Eventually it pushed the bar constantly, knowing it would get food

Operant Conditioning  Using rewards to reinforce behaviours, and punishments to discourage them – the process of changing behaviour by following a response with reinforcement  Positive reinforcement: an event/condition that increases the likelihood that a certain behaviour will reoccur  Negative reinforcement: an event/condition that decreases the likelihood that a certain behaviour will reoccur

Operant Conditioning  Which do you think is more effective, rewards, or punishment?

Observational Learning  Key Figure: Albert Bandura  Believes strongly in NURTURE  Studied MODELING and IMITATING  Behaviour that is not conditioned, but repeated based on seeing someone else do it  Think about playing sports, driving a car etc.  Most of our early skills are learned through observation

Observational Learning 1.Attention: Paying attention to the behaviour of others 2.Retention: Remembering what you’ve observed (how they did it, the result) 3.Reproduction: Trying it yourself (practicing) 4.Motivation: Believing that the skill is useful enough to practice (can be internal or external)

Memory

See if you can remember this:......

Draw the image on a loonie from memory

Can you remember the names of all your teachers from grade school?

Memory  The capacity to acquire, retain, and recall knowledge and skills  Episodic memory: remembering things from the past  Semantic memory: knowledge of how the world works  Procedural memory: knowing how to do things

3 Levels of Memory  Sensory Memory  Based on 5 senses  Only recorded for a few seconds – once you’ve recorded the necessary information, the sensory memory fades  Examples:  Taste of sandwich in your mouth  Sight of a squirrel crossing the road  Feel of chair against your back

3 Levels of Memory  Short-term memory  What’s going on in your conscious mind right now  Holds information for seconds  Most people can remember about 7 separate, unorganized items in short term memory  Can work with more if you organize it into groups  Example: someone tells you their phone number and you punch it into your cell phone

3 Levels of Memory  Long-term Memory  Which is easier to remember, the name of a friend, or the name of the waiter at the last restaurant you dined at?  If it’s important to you, you’ll remember it  Long-term memory is unlimited, but we not always be able to recall the information

3 Levels of Memory  Tricks to improving your long term memory?  Ascribe personal meaning  Mnemonic device  Recall items regularly  Organization