Simple Mechanisms of Learning

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Chapter 3

• Simple Mechanisms of Learning

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Appetitive and Aversive Conditioning

• Appetitive the US is an event that the organism
  considers pleasant and seeks out
• Aversive the US is an event that the organism
  considers unpleasant and avoids
• Which do you think occurs most rapidly? Why?

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Applications of Aversive Conditioning

• Fears may be learned this way
• How might they be treated?
• Masochistic tendencies, too!
• How do you think sexual perversions such as
  masochism and sadism could develop through
  Classical Conditioning?
• Do you have any ideas of how these aberrant
  behaviors could be treated?

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Excitatory and Inhibitory Conditioning

• The examples we have looked at so far are of
  excitatory conditioning (the NS is associated
  with a powerful US after a while, the NS
  becomes the CS and elicits the response on its
  own)
• Another type of classical conditioning is called
  inhibitory conditioning
• The CS becomes associated with the absence of the
  US (e.g. a dog bites only in the absence of its
  owner, so the owner gets to be a signal of safety)

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Practical Applications of Classical Conditioning

• Interpersonal attraction
• Changes in relationships from dating to marriage
• Can you think of others?

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Temporal Arrangement of Stimuli

• In other words, what effect does the timing of
  presentation of the NS, CS, and US have on the
  effectiveness of conditioning?
• Delayed Conditioning NS before US AND they
  overlap
• Trace Conditioning NS before US AND with NO
  overlap
• Simultaneous Conditioning NS and US occur at
  the same time
• Backward Conditioning US is presented before
  the NS

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Why the difference in effectiveness for these 4
time relationships?

• See if you can figure it out
• The reason has to do with the fact that the NS
  must begin to serve as a signal that the US is
  coming
• The less clear it is to the organism that the NS
  is a signal that something important is coming,
  the less powerful the conditioning

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Other terms and concepts

• Classical Conditioning

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Elicited Behaviors

• Building blocks for Classical Conditioning
• Natural S-R relationships between environmental
  stimuli and physiological responses to them
• Reflexes simple involuntary responses
• Orienting response
• Jerking hand away from hot stove
• Fixed action patterns
• Squirrel vs. chipmunk in front of car ex.

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Simple Mechanisms of Learning

• Strength of an elicited behavior can change
  following repeated presentation of the elicited
  stimulus
• Habituation decrease in strength (usually a low
  intensity stimulus)
• Ex. dripping faucet
• Dishabituation - habituated responses can reoccur
  suddenly in the presence of a seemingly
  irrelevant novel stimulus
• Ex. Romance rekindled on vacations
• Sensitization increase in strength (usually a
  high intensity stimulus)
• Ex. Soldiers in battle situation

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Opponent Process Theory of Emotion

• When a strong emotional reaction occurs (a
  process) to a stimulus, a second, opposite
  process (b process) gradually kicks in and begins
  to counter the original reaction
• May help us balance our emotions

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Factors Affecting Opponent Processes

• The a-process correlates closely with the
  b-process
• The b-process is slow to increase and slow to
  decrease
• Ex. Mild depression after an exciting event like
  graduation, a wedding, etc.
• With repeated presentation of the emotional
  event, the b-process increases in both strength
  and duration
• Ex. Thrill seeking behaviors as fear wears off
  and excitement increases