AP Psychology Unit 6:

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AP Psychology Unit 6

• Learning

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Learning Definition

• Relatively permanent
• to rule out behavioral changes that result from
  fatigue or motivational changes
• Exception Short-Term Memory recall ability only
  lasts about 30 seconds without rehearsal
  learning happens, but its not relatively
  permanent
• Change in behavior or behavior potential
• Behavioral potential is included because
  learning often takes place without immediately
  being shown in behavior.
• learning may create the potential for behavior
  change when the conditions are right e.g. when
  there is an incentive
• Experience in environment
• rule out changes that result from maturation
• Complication maturation usually works together
  with experience to change behavior. It speeds up
  the learning process.

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Learning Learning vs. Maturation

• It is hard to separate experience from maturation
  and say something is purely learned or purely
  genetic.
• Maturation is generally seen as preparing a
  species to learn a skill rapidly

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Maturation vs. Learning?
Did I learn or just mature?
Classic Experiment by Carmichael
Do salamanders learn to swim?
Experimental Group
Control Group
Salamander eggs were placed in chloretone
solution, a chemical that prevents movement but
permits normal growth.
Salamander eggs were placed in tap water.
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Maturation vs. Learning?
Classic Experiment by Carmichael
Classic Experiment by Carmichael
Do salamanders learn to swim?
Do salamanders learn to swim?
Experimental Group
Control Group
Experimental Group
Control Group
When salamanders in the Control group reached an
age when they were swimming normally, the animals
in the Experimental group were tested by placing
them in tap water and waiting for the paralyzing
chemical to wear off.
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Maturation vs. Learning?
Classic Experiment by Carmichael
This experiment has been considered to be a clear
example of maturation it is said that the
salamanders immediately started to swim normally.
But
On close examination, the results could be seen
as evidence for either maturation or learning.
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Maturation vs. Learning?
Who knows
Classic Experiment by Carmichael
Carmichael noted that from the first twitch until
normal swimming occurred, there was a period of
about 45 minutes in which the animals showed
increasingly complex swimming movements.
This could be seen as evidence for very rapid
learning.
Or
It could be said the chemical was gradually
wearing off and no learning occurred.
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Associative Learning

• A simple form of learning in which we comprehend
  that certain events occur together
• We will learn about several types
• Habituation
• Sensitization
• Classical or Pavlovian Conditioning
• Operant or Instrumental or Skinnerian Conditioning

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Habituation and Sensitization
We sure were annoying!

• Habituation
• Decreased response to a stimulus judged to be of
  little or no importance
• We engage in this type of learning so we can tune
  out unimportant stimuli and focus on what matters
• Sensitization
• Increased response to a stimulus when we are
  anticipating an important stimulus
• We engage in this type of learning so we are
  prepared for dangerous situations

Yep. Annoying.
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Classical Conditioning
this guys a freak.
I love me some salivating dogskis
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Classical Conditioning Definition and History

• Learning in which a response naturally caused by
  one stimulus comes to be elicited by a different,
  formerly neutral stimulus
• Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) ? Unconditioned
  Response (UCR)
• Neutral Stimulus (NS) UCS ? UCR
• Conditioned Stimulus (CS) ? Conditioned Response
  (CR)
• Ivan Pavlov
• Accidentally discovered classical conditioning
• His experiments on digestion in dogs turned into
  research on learning
• Also worked with conditioning a defensive reflex

I LOVE dogski saliva!
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Elements of Classical Conditioning

• Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
• A stimulus that naturally and automatically
  causes a specific response in an organism
• And example of a UCS would be food
• Unconditioned response (UCR)
• The response caused by a UCS
• The UCR is automatic and unlearned
• An example of a UCR is salivation in response to
  food

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Elements of Classical Conditioning

• Conditioned stimulus (CS)
• A formerly neutral stimulus (NS) that is paired
  with a UCS and eventually causes the desired
  response all by itself
• An example of a CS is the bell in Pavlovs
  studies
• Conditioned response (CR)
• The learned response to the CS
• An example is salivation in response to the bell

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Classical Conditioning Pavlovs Experiment
Before Conditioning
Bell (NS)
No Response
Food (UCS)
Salivation (UCR)
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Classical Conditioning Pavlovs Procedure
During Conditioning
Food (UCS)
Bell (NS)
Salivation (UCR)
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Classical Conditioning Pavlovs Procedure
After Conditioning
Bell (CS)
Salivation (CR)
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Classical Conditioning In Humans
The Little Albert experiment demonstrated a
classically conditioned fear of white fluffy
things

• CS
• Rat
• CR
• Fear of Rat

• UCS
• Loud Noise
• UCR
• Fear of Noise
• NS
• Rat

Come hither, rattypants!
Stop touching me, creepy baby
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New Learning Based on OldHigher Order
Conditioning

• Once a neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned
  stimulus, it may function as an unconditioned
  stimulus to elicit new learning.
• For instance, in Pavlovs experiment, once the
  bell produced the salivation response in the
  dogs, it could be paired with a new neutral
  stimulus, such as a red light, until the dogs
  learned to salivate to the red light alone.

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Classical Conditioning Key Variables

• In order for Classical Conditioning to work the
  following variables must exist
• STRENGTH - Stimuli (UCS, NS) must be noticeable
  enough to provoke a response.
• TIMING - UCS and NS must be paired close together
  so that an association is made between the two.
  Best case NS precedes UCS.
• FREQUENCY - UCS and NS must be paired together
  many times so that an association is made between
  the two and the NS can come to elicit the same
  response as the UCS.

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Classical Conditioning in HumansClass
Demonstrations
Id say something, but, sadly, I have no mouth.

• Demo 1 A Day at the Beach
• How does this demonstrate classical conditioning?
• UCS, UCR, NS, CS, CR?
• Demo 2
• Lick your finger and dip it into your cup of
  lemonade powder, but DO NOT EAT IT.
• When you hear the tone, immediately eat the
  powder on your finger, and then dip your finger
  back into the cup to prepare for the next trial.
• You must eat some of the powder immediately after
  each tone, but not any other time.
• After several learning trials, you will be
  instructed to simply listen to the tone without
  eating the powder.
• What happens? Label the UCS, UCR, NS, CS and CR
  in your notes based on the demo.

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Classical Conditioning in HumansClass
Demonstrations

• Day at the Beach
• UCS
• Shark Attack (in Jaws)
• UCR
• Fear
• NS
• Music
• CS
• Music
• CR
• Fear of Music

• Salivating Students
• UCS
• Eating Powder
• UCR
• Salivation
• NS
• Tone
• CS
• Tone
• CR
• Salivation to tone

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Classical Conditioning Predictability

• Blocking previous learning prevents
  conditioning to a second stimulus when the two
  stimuli are presented together
• Kamins Work rats that learned to fear a tone
  which had been followed by a shock. When the
  tone was simultaneously paired with a light and
  followed by the shock, the rats failed to fear
  the light alone.
• How is this different from Higher Order
  Conditioning?
• Backward Conditioning NS may come before OR
  after UCS, but not before AND after.
• Rescorlas Work tone could either mean be
  fearful or relax, depending when it occurred with
  shock.

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Classical ConditioningExtinction and
Spontaneous Recovery

• Extinction
• After a period of time passes when CS is not
  paired with UCS, CS returns to being an NS
• e.g. Baby Albert would eventually cease to be
  afraid of white fluffy things after they were not
  paired with a horrible and frightening noise
  (Mary Cover Jones)
• Spontaneous Recovery
• Just because extinction occurs, does it mean that
  the learning is gone?No!
• After extinction, it is not unusual to see the
  recurrence of the conditioned response
• This proves the learning never disappeared it
  was just obscured by new learning - like
  interference

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Classical ConditioningGeneralization and
Discrimination
DUDE! Get that white furry evil away from me!

• Generalization
• An organism may learn to respond not only to the
  CS, but also to other stimuli that are similar to
  the CS.
• e.g. Baby Albert was conditioned to fear a white
  rat, but also feared cotton balls, rabbits, white
  sweaters, Santas beard, etc.
• Discrimination
• Organisms can also learn to decipher between
  similar stimuli when only particular stimuli are
  paired with a UCS.

Which one yields food?
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Classical Conditioning in the Real WorldTaste
Aversion and the Garcia Effect

• Some learning mechanisms are so powerful they do
  not require frequency of pairings.
• Taste Aversion
• Occurs when organism becomes ill following
  consumption of a particular food.
• Organism may never be able to eat the food again.
• WHY?
• Garcia Effect
• Using principles of taste aversion, John Garcia
  put this phenomenon to good use
• Sprinkled carcass of sheep with a chemical that
  caused illness in coyotes
• Coyotes did not attack the livestock following
  this experience

DudeIm never eating pumpkin seeds again.
No more livestock? Now what?
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Classical Conditioning in the Real
WorldPreparedness and Contrapreparedness

• Some conditioned responses come naturally, others
  do not.
• Preparedness
• Conditioned behaviors that work well with
  organisms instinctive behaviors and are easy to
  train
• e.g. phobia of snakes or spiders
• Contrapreparedness
• Other conditioned behaviors go against the
  organisms instinctive behaviors and are
  difficult or impossible to train.
• e.g. phobia of chairs or tables?

Scary.
Not Scary.
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Classical Conditioning in the Real
WorldTreating Phobias

• Many phobias are learned responses and can be
  unlearned
• This can be done gradually or all at once
• Systematic Desensitization
• Therapist and client generate fear hierarchy of
  situations that are increasingly threatening
• Client then learns relaxation techniques
• Client experiences in vivo therapy to directly
  experience each item on fear hierarchy to
  gradually unlearn his/her fear
• Flooding
• Client faces worst-case-scenario involving fear
• If they can survive this, they have no reason so
  be fearful every day

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Operant Conditioning
The Ultimate Skinner Box
Skinner Crib containing Skinners child
Skinner and his Box
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Operant Conditioning

• Learning in which an organism engages in a
  spontaneous behavior which is followed by a
  consequence - a reward or punishment
• Organism learns to perform behavior in order to
  gain a reward or avoid a punishment

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Law of Effect

• If a behavior is reinforced, it is MORE likely to
  occur
• If a behavior is punished, it is LESS likely to
  occur

Ill punish you
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History of Operant Conditioning

• E.L. Thorndike
• Researched cats in a puzzle box
• Cats learned to escape from box to attain a
  reinforcement of food
• B.F. Skinner
• Created a device called a Skinner Box to train
  organisms using operant conditioning
• Also did research on superstition (pigeons) and
  connected it to the principles of operant
  conditioning

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Elements of Operant Conditioning

• Reinforcer
• A stimulus or event that follows a behavior and
  makes that behavior more likely to occur again
• Punisher
• A stimulus or event that follows a behavior and
  makes that behavior less likely to occur again

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Types of Reinforcement

• Positive reinforcer ()
• Adds something rewarding following a behavior,
  making that behavior more likely to occur again
• Giving a dog a treat for fetching a ball is an
  example

• Negative reinforcer (-)
• Removes something unpleasant from the environment
  following a behavior, making that behavior more
  likely to occur again
• Taking an aspirin to relieve a headache is an
  example

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Types of Reinforcement

• Primary reinforcer
• Adds something intrinsically valuable to the
  organism
• Giving a dog a food for shaking hands

• Secondary reinforcer
• Adds something with assigned value to the
  organism
• Giving a person 100 for each A on their report
  card

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Types of Punishment

• Negative Punishment (-)
• Removes something desirable to decrease a
  behavior
• Taking a childs toy away for swearing
• Also called omission training

• Positive Punishment ()
• Adds something undesirable to decrease a behavior
• Spanking a child for swearing

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Types of Punishment

• Secondary Punishment
• Method of decreasing behavior is undesirable, but
  not life-threatening
• Taking away a prisoners recreational privileges
  for trying to escape

• Primary Punishment
• Method of decreasing behavior is directly
  threatening to organisms survival
• Beating a prisoner for trying to escape

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Complex Behaviors and Shaping

• Some behaviors are too complex to occur
  spontaneously
• For these behaviors, shaping must be used
• Shaping reinforces successive approximations to
  the desired behavior
• Organism eventually learns what the desired
  behavior is in small steps
• Similar to playing hot and cold
• Our class demonstration?

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Preparedness and Contrapreparedness in Operant
Conditioning

• Some changes in behavior are easily trained
• Preparedness
• Conditioned behaviors that work well with
  organisms instinctive behaviors and are easy to
  train
• e.g. Brelands Dancing Chicken
• Contrapreparedness
• Other conditioned behaviors go against the
  organisms instinctive behaviors and are
  difficult or impossible to train.
• e.g. Brelands raccoon

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Reinforcement vs. Punishment?

• Punishment not as effective as reinforcement
• Does not teach proper behavior, only suppresses
  undesirable behavior
• Causes upset that can impede learning
• May give impression that inflicting pain is
  acceptable

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Effective Punishment?

• Effective punishment must be
• SWIFT
• Should occur as soon as possible after the
  behavior
• CERTAIN
• Should occur every time the behavior does
• SUFFICIENT
• Should be strong enough to be a deterrent
• CONSISTENT
• Should apply to all individuals the same way

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Impact of Punishment

• When punishment is given haphazardly, learned
  helplessness can result.
• Learned Helplessness occurs when NO MATTER WHAT
  THE ORGANISM DOES, it cannot change the
  consequences of behavior.
• Martin Seligmans experiment with dogs showed
  that dogs given a series of inescapable shocks
  stopped trying to escape the shocks even when
  given the opportunity to escape later.
• Another example would be finding that whether or
  not you study for your calculus tests, you fail,
  so you stop trying altogether.

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Alternatives to Punishment

• An alternative to punishment if known as
  AVOIDANCE TRAINING
• the organism is given a warning before
  punishment occurs so it may change its behavior
  in order to avoid an unpleasant consequence like
  a punishment.
• ex/ Counting to three before punishment is
  delivered to provoke a child to stop misbehaving.

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Behavioral Change Using Biofeedback

• Biofeedback is an operant technique that teaches
  people to gain voluntary control over bodily
  processes like heart rate and blood pressure
• When used to control brain activity it is called
  neurofeedback

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Demonstration Word Generation

• Sit with your assigned partner
• Clear off your work space all you need is a pen
  and a sheet of blank white lined paper
• Decide who is 1 and 2
• Wait for further instructions

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Schedules of Reinforcement

• Continuous reinforcement vs. Intermittent
  reinforcement?
• Interval schedules
• Reinforcement depends on the passing of time
• Fixed-interval schedule
• Reinforcement follows the first behavior after a
  fixed amount of time has passed
• An example would be receiving a paycheck every
  two weeks
• Variable-interval schedule
• Reinforcement follows the first behavior after a
  variable amount of time has passed
• An example would be pop quizzes

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Schedules of Reinforcement

• Ratio schedules
• Reinforcement depends on the number of responses
  made
• Fixed-ratio schedule
• Reinforcement follows a fixed number of behaviors
• For example, being paid on a piecework basis
• Variable-ratio schedule
• Reinforcement follows a variable number of
  behaviors
• An example would be playing slot machines
• Yields the most rapid response rate
• Subject does not know when reward is coming -
  works consistently
• Subject must WORK to get reward

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Response Patterns to Schedules of Reinforcement

• Which schedule yields the fastest response rate?
• What happened in our class demonstration?

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Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

• Reinforcement can sometimes come from within and
  be intrinsically motivated
• e.g. Playing on a swing set is intrinsically
  motivated in children
• Reinforcements can also be extrinsically
  motivated, or come from an exogenous source
• e.g. Adults get paid for going to work no pay,
  no work.
• What happens when we give extrinsic
  reinforcements for intrinsically motivated
  behavior? Overjustification Effect!
• Giving an extrinsic reinforcement for
  intrinsically motivated activity decreases
  intrinsic motivation!
• Marshmallow study

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Compare and ContrastClassical and Operant
Conditioning
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Cognitive Learning
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Cognitive Learning

• Sometimes learning involves more than simply
  reacting to stimuli it involves THINKING!
• Cognitive Learning
• Learning that depends on mental activity that is
  not directly observable
• Involves such processes as attention,
  expectation, thinking, and memory
• While behaviorists typically focus on learning
  that is based on reactions, cognitive
  psychologists explain learning in terms of
  additional mental processes.

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Generative Learning and Insight

• Generative learning
• Using what you know to figure out something you
  dont
• E.g. realizing a new song is by a favorite group
  of yours
• Insight
• After thinking about a problem for a bit, you
  suddenly figure it out
• E.g. Kohlers chimps Genius Chimp

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Latent Learning and Cognitive Maps

• Latent learning
• Edward Chance Tolman and the Tolmaniacs
• learning that takes place before the subject
  realizes it and is not immediately reflected in
  behavior
• Taking a test on material learned over the course
  of a few weeks
• Cognitive mapping
• latent learning stored as a mental image
• Slideshow experiment
• Demonstration of Latent Learning and Cognitive
  Mapping

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Latent Learning
Latent Learning A Classic Experiment
(Tolman Honzik, 1930)
Three groups of rats were given practice trials
in a maze, 1 trial per day.
A trial started when the rat was placed in the
Start box and ended when he entered the Goal box,
after which he was removed from the maze.
The maze consisted of a series of components
shaped like the letter T.
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Latent Learning
Latent Learning A Classic Experiment
(Tolman Honzik, 1930)
When the rat went up the stem of the T, he
reached a choice point.
GOAL
i
...
If he turned one way, he came to a dead end.
T
T
T
If he turned the other way, he came to the
entrance of the next component.
T
T
T
START
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Latent Learning
Latent Learning A Classic Experiment
(Tolman Honzik, 1930)
Each time the rat turned into the dead end, it
was counted as an error.
GOAL
i
The measure of performance (dependent variable)
was the number of errors on a trial.
...
T
T
T
T
If learning occurred, the number of errors should
decrease as more and more trials were given.
T
T
START
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Latent Learning
Latent Learning A Classic Experiment
(Tolman Honzik, 1930)
GROUP 1 On every trial, these rats received
food when they reached the goal box.
GROUP 2 These rats never received food. They
were simply removed from the maze when they got
to the goal box.
GROUP 3 These rats got no food on Trials 1 to
10. But on Trial 11, and every trial afterwards,
they received a food reward.
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Latent Learning
Latent Learning A Classic Experiment
(Tolman Honzik, 1930)
GR 1
GR 2
GR 3
The day-to-day decrease in errors represented a
relatively permanent change in behavior that
resulted from practice.
0 2 4 6 8 10
Average Errors
This was clear evidence for learning.
1 10 11
17
Trials (1 Trial per Day)
59
Latent Learning
Latent Learning A Classic Experiment
(Tolman Honzik, 1930)
GR 1
GR 2
GR 3
0 2 4 6 8 10
Average Errors
Group 2 got no food but still improved slightly.
Removal from the maze was a small reward.
There was little evidence for learning.
1 10 11
17
Trials (1 Trial per Day)
60
Latent Learning
Latent Learning A Classic Experiment
(Tolman Honzik, 1930)
GR 1
GR 2
GR 3
Getting no food on Trials 1 10, Group 3
performed like Group 2 through Trial 11.
0 2 4 6 8 10
Average Errors
1 10 11
17
Trials (1 Trial per Day)
61
Latent Learning
Latent Learning A Classic Experiment
(Tolman Honzik, 1930)
GR 1
GR 2
GR 3
0 2 4 6 8 10
Average Errors
On the next trial, Group 3 matched Group 1, and
then did even better!
1 10 11
17
Trials (1 Trial per Day)
62
Latent Learning
Latent Learning A Classic Experiment
(Tolman Honzik, 1930)
Interpretation
Group 3 learned the route to the maze on Trials 1
to 10 but didnt show it because there was no
motivation to perform.
They outperformed Group 1 because the shift from
no reward to reward made the reward seem larger
by comparison. This is called positive
contrast.
63
Latent Learning
Latent Learning A Classic Experiment
(Tolman Honzik, 1930)
Conclusion
We must observe a change in behavior to say that
learning has occurred, but if no change occurs,
we can draw no conclusion. Learning may be
present beneath the surface.
This supports a distinction between learning and
performance.
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Learning Sets and Trial and Error Learning

• Learning sets/Learning to Learn
• refers to increasing effectiveness at problem
  solving through experience
• organisms learn how to learn
• Figuring out how to study best
• Trial and Error Learning
• Learn by your mistakes
• Class demonstration - Blind Maze - what
  happened?

65
Wired for Imitation Mirror Neurons

• Mirror neurons are specialized neurons in the
  frontal lobe that not only fire when we are
  engaged in certain actions, but ALSO when we
  watch others perform those actions.
• These neurons form the basis of imitation,
  empathy and our social nature.
• Yawning, smiling, laughing, etc.
• Monkey study? Same neural activity doing and
  watching!
• Impact of Vicarious reinforcement and punishment?

What happens to your brain When you watch
Cheesy Lifetime movies
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Learning by Observing
Why, Bandura WHYYYY?

• Social Learning Theory or Observational Learning
  Theory focuses on what we learn from observing
  other people
• Albert Banduras Bobo Doll experiment
• Children imitated adult role model - adult models
  behavior and child imitates
• Non-human animals have even been shown to learn
  through observation!
• Modeling refers to process of observing and
  imitating a specific behavior
• Prosocial and Antisocial behavior?

Evil Bobo Doll
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Learning by Observing