1. Learning Processes Behaviorism Classical conditioning
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Learning Processes
Behaviorism
Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning

2. Adaptation to the Environment
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Adaptation to the Environment
Learning - any process through which experience at one time can alter an individual’s behavior at a future time
What is experience: environmental effects filtered through the individual’s perceptions.
Behavior at a future time.
What is behavior?

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Behaviorism
The attempt to understand observable activity in terms of observable stimuli and observable responses
John B. Watson (1913)
B.F. Skinner (1938)
This paradigm pretty much ignored anything that could not be seen.
Perception, schema, concepts, processing--all of these were not considered because they were thought to be unobservable scientifically.
John B. Watson was one of the earliest behaviorists.
“Give me a dozen healthy infants and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and produce…..
B. F. Skinner - Watson’s successor--the inventor of the Skinner box and the proponent of operant conditioneing.

4. Classical Conditioning
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What’s this about
LEARNING?
Classical Conditioning
S-R units can explain all human behavior according to this theory
Classical conditioning- training procedure or learning experience in which a neutral stimulus (the conditioned stimulus) comes to elicit a reflexive response through being paired with another stimulus(usually an unconditioned stimulus) that already elicits that reflexive response.
Classical conditioning has a lot to do with the learning of reflexes. A reflex
is a simple, relatively automatic, stimulus-response sequence mediated by the nervous system.
Stimulus response- the action which automatically follows a certain event;
ex: tapping on you knee elicits a jerk
Habituation- decline in the magnitude of a reflexive response when the stimulus is repeated several times in succession

5. Pavlov’s Dogs Digestive reflexes and salivation Psychic secretion
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Pavlov’s Dogs
Digestive reflexes and salivation
Psychic secretion
Russian physiologist who may have first studied classical conditioning in animals.
most famous research on classical conditioning
received a Nobel Prize for his studies of the reflexes involved in digestion
initial discovery of what is now called classical conditioning emerged from his earlier studies of digestive reflexes of dogs.
Using permanently implanted tubes to collect salivary and stomach juices from dogs he found that a dog salivates differently when different kinds of food are placed in his mouth. Encountered a problem: dogs that had been given food of previous occasions in his experiments would begin to salivate before receiving food. Apparently , signals that regularly preceded food, such as sight of the food or the sound associated with its delivery, alerted the dogs to the upcoming stimulation and caused them to salivate. He called this psychic secretions and at first thought it was simply a source of experimental error but later decided to study it physiologically.

6. Classical Conditioning
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UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS
REFLEX ACTION
will
elicit a
NEUTRAL STIMULUS
CONDITIONED STIMULUS
CONDITIONED
RESPONSE
elicit
NO REACTION
A neutral stimulus, a bell did not elicit the unconditioned response--salivating.
An unconditioned stimulus, food, did elicit the unconditioned response--salivating.
By pairing the neutral stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus a number of times, the dog became conditioned to elicit a conditioned response with only the presentation of the now conditioned stimulus--the bell.

7. Neutral Stimulus--Bell
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Neutral Stimulus--Bell
Does not normally elicit a response or reflex action by itself
A bell ringing
A color
A furry object

8. Unconditioned Stimulus--Food
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Unconditioned Stimulus--Food
Always elicits a reflex action: an unconditioned response
Food
Blast of air
Noise

9. Unconditioned Response--Salivation
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Unconditioned Response--Salivation
A response to an unconditioned stimulus--naturally occurring
Salivation at smell of food
Eye blinks at blast of air
Startle reaction in babies

10. Conditioned Stimulus--Bell
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Conditioned Stimulus--Bell
The stimulus that was originally neutral becomes conditioned after it has been paired with the unconditioned stimulus
Will eventually elicit the unconditioned response by itself

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Conditioned Response
The original unconditioned response becomes conditioned after it has been elicited by the neutral stimulus

12. Classical Conditioning vs. Association by Contiguity
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Classical Conditioning vs. Association by Contiguity
Stimulus A
(The word ball)
Thought of B
(Mental image of a ball)
Learning Experience
After Learning
Neutral stimulus
(Bell)
Unconditioned response
(Salivation)
Conditioned response
Conditioning Procedure
After Conditioning
Unconditioned stimulus
(Food)
Conditioned stimulus
Stimulus B
(Sight of a ball)
The work of Pavlov gave a scientific basis to a philosophy of learning called the law of association by contiguity, or closeness. This phenomenon had been witnessed at least since Aristotle, but had not been explained scientifically until Pavlov.
The main difference in these two theories is that the law of association predicts that a thought will will be elicited, while CC states that a behavior will be elicited. Something observable.

13. Classical Conditioning Phenomenon
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Classical Conditioning Phenomenon
Extinction
Spontaneous recovery
Generalization
Discrimination training
Extinction- lack of reinforcement of the response and the resulting decline in response rate
-an operantly conditioned response declines in rate and eventually disappears if it no longer results in a reinforcer
ex: rats quit pressing levers if food pellets no longer appear
Extinction is not true “unlearning” of the response but rather a learned inhibition of responding
The mere passage of time following extinction can partially renew the conditioned reflex; called spontaneous recovery
Generalization-phenomenon in which , after conditioning, stimuli that resemble the conditioned stimulus will elicit the conditioned response even though they themselves were never paired with
the unconditioned response.
Discrimination training can abolish generalization between two stimuli. By not linking the unconditioned stimulus to the neutral stimulus that has been generalized to, the animal will discriminate.

14. John B. Watson and Little Albert
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John B. Watson and Little Albert
Conditioned emotional responses
Generalization
Extinction
11 month old baby.
Loud sounds--fear
loud sounds & Rat--fear
Rat--fear

15. Conditioned Drug Reactions
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Conditioned Drug Reactions
Opposite the drug effect
The opponent processing approach states that for every action there is a natural opponent process that creates a naturally occuring, though opposite of that expected, response.
A direct effect is elicited by the drug, then a second lesser but opposite effect follows.
Being pushed into from the front makes you lean forward in response.
Taking a drug makes the body start the opposing processes to counteract the drug effect.

16. Early Operant Conditioning
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Early Operant Conditioning
E.L. Thorndike (1898)
Puzzle boxes and cats
Scratch at bars
Push at ceiling
Dig at floor
Situation:
stimuli
inside of
puzzle box
Howl
Etc.
Press lever
First Trial
in Box
After Many
Trials in Box
Thorndike put cats into puzzle boxes and made them find the solution to their quandary.
Thorndike did not elicit a response as Pavlov had, he had to wait for the animal to emit the proper response, learn from it and do it again.
The trial and error process through hixch the animals learned the way to trip the latch was what Thorndike called his law of effect. Responses that produce a satisfying effect in a particular situation become more likely to occur again in that situation, and responses that produce a discomforting effect become less likely to occur again in that situation.
Instrumental responses- actions which function as tools to work some change
in the environment; also called operant responses.
Ex: flipping a switch to light a room; rats pushing a lever to
receive food
Operant conditioning- learning process by which the consequence of an
operant response affects the likelihood that the response will
occur in the future.

17. B.F. Skinner’s Operant Conditioning
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B.F. Skinner’s Operant Conditioning
Did not like the term “satisfying”
Invented a better appartus--the Skinner box
Skinner insisted on describing all behavior in purely observational terms.
Skinner used the term reinforcer rather than satisfaction or reward
The skinner box...

18. Operant Conditioning Terms
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Operant Conditioning Terms
Shaping
Consequences
positive and negative reinforcement
positive and negative punishment
We are pulled as well as pushed by events in our environment. We do not just react to stimuli; we also behave in ways to produce or obtain certain environmental changes or stimuli.
Shaping- process in which successively closer approximations to the desired
response are reinforced until the response finally occurs
Consequences- what happens after a response
positive reinforcement- the arrival of some stimulus following a response
which makes the response more likely to occur; stimulus called
a positive reinforcer
negative reinforcement- the removal of some stimulus following a response
a negative reinforcer
punishment- opposite of reinforcement; the consequence of a response decreases the likelihood that the response will occur

19. Reinforcement Schedules
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Reinforcement Schedules
Continuous: 1 to 1 ratio, a prize every time
Ratio
fixed: 1 to ?, a prize every ? time
variable: ? to ?, maybe a prize, maybe not!
Interval
fixed: announced examination
variable: pop quiz

20. Classical vs. Operant Conditioning
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Classical vs. Operant Conditioning
CLASSICAL
Stimulus precedes the response and elicits it
Elicited responses
Learning as a result of association
Pavlov
OPERANT
Stimulus follows the response and strengthens it
Emitted responses
Learning as a result of consequences
Skinner

21. The Basic Concepts of Learning Theory
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The Basic Concepts of Learning Theory
Classical conditioning
elicits response as a result of associating
unconditioned stimulus
neutral stimulus
Operant conditioning
emitted response
learning is a result of consequences
reinforcers
punishment

22. Observational Learning
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Observational Learning
Specific skills and general behavioral styles
Bandura’s cognitive theory
Observational learning- learning by watching others
-the skills and rituals acquired by each generation are passed on this way, not through deliberate training;
Observational learning of specific skills and general behavioral styles:
Bandura has emphasized that people observe others to learn
specific skills as well as general styles of behavior
-he demonstrated this with his experiments with kindergarten
children
-Bobo doll; after observing an adult assault the doll, not only did they do the same actions but improvised new ones
with the same general theme
Bandura’s cognitive theory of observational learning:
His theory of observational learning is explicitly cognitive. He believes that people observe the behavior of others to gain knowledge about the kinds of things people do. Proposes four interacting mental processes: 1) attention-the learner must perceive the model and find it interesting 2) memory- the learner must encode the info obtained from observing to use at a later time
3) motor control- learner must be able to use the coded info to guide his own actions 4) motivation- learner must have reason or desire to perform modeled actions

23. The Ecological Perspective
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The Ecological Perspective
Alternative to general-process perspective
Learning what to eat

24. Alternative Perspective
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Alternative Perspective
Role of environment
Components of learning
The behavioral and cognitive approaches both emphasize processes that are assumed to operate across a wide range of learning situations and thus are considered part of a general-process perspective. The alternative is called the specific-process perspective of the ecological perspective.
According to the ecological perspective, learning must be understood in relation to the natural environment, or ecology, in which the species evolved.
Through natural selection, different species of animals acquired different instinctive species-typical behavior patterns that help them survive and reproduce in their natural environments. Not necessarily rigid, can be modified in response to specific aspects of the animal’s experience.
An animal’s ability to find food, avoid predators, etc. depends on inherited behavioral tendencies and inherited means of modifying or refining those tendencies.
Learning is the collection of mechanisms involved in the inherited means of modifying or refining those tendencies.

25. Learning What to Eat Food-aversion learning Food-preference learning
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Learning What to Eat
Food-aversion learning
Food-preference learning
Food-selection experiment with human infants
Social learning and food selection
Summary of rules
Koalas eat only eucalyptus leaves because through natural selection they evolved a food identifying mechanism which tells them that eucalyptus leaves are food and everything else is not.
Most animal’s diets are more flexible, especially omnivorous creatures, such as rats and humans, which see almost everything as potential food and must learn what is safe to eat. Such animals have acquired, through natural selection, special mechanisms for learning to identify safe foods and avoid potential poisons.

26. Food-Aversion Learning
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Food-Aversion Learning
Classical conditioning or not?
When animals, including humans, become ill after eating some new or unusual food, they will avoid that food thereafter. This occurs even if the food was not the cause of illness. Ex: one eats mushrooms for the first time and later that day develops a stomach flu.
Many psychologist describe this food-aversion learning in terms of classical conditioning. But John Garcia, a researcher who pioneered the study of food-aversion, states that such learning is quite different than standard cases of classical learning. He believes this for several reasons:
1) delay between the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli; rather than the unconditioned stimulus immediately following the conditioned stimulus; with food aversion the delay can be as long as 24 hrs
2) sorts of stimuli; in typical classical conditioning cases almost any detectable stimulus can serve but in food-aversion cases the stimulus must be a distinctive taste or smell.

27. Food-Preference Learning
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Food-Preference Learning
Experiments with rats and thiamin
As well as avoiding harmful foods, animals also specifically choose foods which satisfy nutritional needs.
Experiment: rats deprived of thiamine for a long period of time and then offered a choice of foods (only one contained thiamine). Each
food had a different flavor, and thiamine which is flavorless was added to a different food for different rats. Result: most rats came to strongly prefer the thiamine containing foods
How did they “figure out” which foods contained the thiamine?
-their eating patterns
when first offered food, rat would eat one or two rather than
all of them; then a couple of hours latereat a different one or two
*this pattern enabled the rat to determine which food contained the needed nutrient

28. Food Selection Experiment
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Food Selection Experiment
Infants’ ability to choose a nutritionally balanced meal
Clara Davis in the 1920’s performed experiment
-would probably not pass ethics review today
Subjects: newly weaned baby boys, 35 weeks old
-for 6 mths or longer beginning at 35 wks of age they lived in a hospital on the children’s ward. At each meal they were presented with a tray containing dozens of different foods, all natural and wholesome such as fruits, cereal, fish, eggs, but no single food contained all of the needed nutrients.
Results: babies all developed clear food preferences, but the preferences varied from time to time; in the long run, each child did indeed eat a nutritionally balanced meal
-must be cautious in interpreting results; changes in food preferences could have been due to boredom with foods they had eaten for several days rather than that they associated it with their health. Also, the experiment probably would not have worked if sweet and unhealthy foods such as fudge bars had been included on the tray

29. Summary of Rules When possible, eat what your elders eat.
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Summary of Rules
When possible, eat what your elders eat.
When you eat a new food, remember its taste and smell
1) such food is probably safe since your elders have been eating it for some time and haven’t died yet
2) if you don’t feel sick within a few hours it is probably safe; if you do, don’t eat it again