LEARNING

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LEARNING
MECHANISMS OF LEARNING
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DEFINING LEARNING

• Humans are born very poorly equipped for
  independent survival and must spend most of the
  first 10 to 15 years of their lives learning to
  survive.
• The word learning refers to the relatively
  permanent changes in behaviour and cognition as a
  result of experience.
• It is ongoing, adaptive, can be intentional or
  unintentional, active or passive.

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Learning is relatively permanent

• Learning is defined as being relatively permanent
  because it cannot be something that is present
  one moment and gone the next, or here today and
  gone tomorrow.

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Learning can be intentional or unintentional

• Learning can occur intentionally such as when
  someone makes the choice to learn how to play the
  piano and takes lessons.
• Learning can be unintentional such as while
  watching or hearing someone else playing the
  piano.

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Learning can be active or passive

• Learning can be active, such as reciting your
  times tables in order to remember them.
• Learning can be passive, such as when hearing
  about an important event on the news or reading
  something in the newspaper.

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Learning is a change in behaviour

• The notion of change is an important part of the
  definition of learning, because something must be
  different about the organism after learning has
  taken place.
• This change may be immediate, or it may be
  delayed and occur over a period of time after the
  learning.

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BEHAVIOUR NOT DEPENDENT ON LEARNING

• Learning accounts for most of the behaviours that
  are observed in humans and animals, however not
  all behaviour has to be learned.
• What are some behaviours you can think of that
  are not learned?

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BEHAVIOUR NOT DEPENDENT ON LEARNING

• Reflexes
• Fixed-action patterns
• Maturation

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REFLEX ACTIONS

• Automatic, involuntary behaviours that do not
  require prior experience and occur in the same
  way each time are known as reflexes.
• - Blinking when wind blows in your face
• - Moving your hand from a hot object
• Reflexes allow people to deal with specific
  stimuli that are important for their protection
  or survival through rigid, automatic responses.

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• We are born with a large number of reflexes, most
  of which disappear or are incorporated into other
  behaviours within the months after birth.

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FIXED-ACTION PATTERNS

• A fixed-action pattern of behaviour occurs when
  all members of a species produce an identical
  response to the same specific environmental
  stimuli.
• The mechanisms that control the behaviours are
  fixed, in that they are genetically programmed
  into the animals nervous system and appear to be
  unable to be changed as a result of learning.

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• A fixed-action pattern of behaviour is a
  behaviour inherited by every individual member of
  a species, or if the behaviour is sex-specific,
  by all members of one sex in the species.
• Fixed-action patterns differ from reflexes in
  that a reflex, although inborn, usually consists
  of a single or simple response, whereas a
  fixed-action pattern is more complex, usually
  consisting of a sequence of responses.
• Eg. Salmon migrate thousands of kilometres
  through ocean waters to spawn in the rivers in
  which there were born.

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• A behaviour is considered a fixed-action pattern
  when
• All members of the species demonstrate the
  behaviour
• The behaviour is similar whenever it is executed
• When the organism reaches a certain maturity it
  will produce the behaviour the first time it is
  required, without having learnt it
• The behaviour is difficult to change
• The behaviour is complex, it follows a sequence
  and appears without the organism having an
  opportunity to learn it.

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Examples

• Courtship of a Teminck Tragopan
• The mating dance- A must see!!!!
• Blue footed booby mating dance.

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BEHAVIOUR DEPENDENT ON MATURATION

• Maturation is a developmental process leading
  towards maturity, based on the orderly sequence
  of changes that occur in the nervous system and
  other bodily structures controlled by genetic
  inheritance.
• These behaviours generally appear at predictable
  times in development.
• Crawling at 8-10 months of age.
• During puberty, the change in a boys
  voice-becoming deeper.

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Learned, reflex, FAP, maturation or mixture?

• Emotional attachment by an infant to a caregiver
• Speaking in a high-pitched baby voice to an
  infant
• Being scared of snakes
• Scratching an itch
• Nodding in agreement
• Smoking cigarettes
• Perceiving an illusion
• Whistling
• Walking
• Playing
• Curiosity
• Sleeping
• Loving
• Roller-skating

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Learning curve experiment

• Write operational hypothesis
• Page 427

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Learning and changes in the brain

• The ability to learn and retain what is learnt in
  memory distinguishes organisms with greater brain
  capacity.
• When higher order animals learn, different parts
  of their brains become active, depending on the
  type of learning that is taking place. Eg skill
  vs factual information.

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• The nervous system, and therefore the brain, is a
  living organ that grows and changes continuously.
• The brain is made up of approximately 100 billion
  neurons and each neuron is linked to as many as
  15,000 others.
• Millions of neurons send messages at the same
  time.
• The research by Kandel with aplysia was
  pioneering in this area.

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Brain areas involved in learning

• Some key areas of the brain that are more
  responsible for learning include
• the hippocampus
• the amygdala
• the cerebellum
• lobes of the cerebral cortex.

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Brain structure Role in learning Effect of damage on ability to learn
The cerebellum
Hippocampus
Amygdala
Frontal lobes
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The Cerebellum

• The cerebellum is a structure attached to the
  rear of the brain stem that helps coordinate
  voluntary movement and balance.
• It primarily regulates posture, muscle tone and
  muscular coordination.
• It also stores memories related to skills and
  habits (procedural memories)
• Eg. Rats reared in a stimulating environment that
  encouraged exercise had a larger cerebellum on
  average than rats that were raised in small
  cages.

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• Damage to this structure results in difficulty in
  motor learning and disorders in fine movement.
• It also leads to difficulty learning new
  procedural skills.

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The Hippocampus

• Earlier we discovered that the hippocampus is
  involved in formulating new memories of facts and
  episodes.
• The hippocampus is also critical to spatial
  learning and awareness because it plays a role in
  monitoring locations in space. It is the brains
  geographer.
• When damaged these functions can be severely
  effected.

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The Amygdala

• The amygdala is a bundle of neurons connected to
  the brain stem and the cortex.
• Its main function is to aid survival, and it is
  involved in the memory and learning of emotional
  responses, particularly aggression and fear
  (fight-flight response)
• It can also assist in the storage of declarative
  memories when they are associated with emotion.

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• Humans with damage to this area experience
  abnormal fear responses.
• They will not display the physical signs of fear.

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The frontal lobes

• Frontal lobe functioning is crucial for learning,
  memory, planning, problem-solving, speech
  production and the execution of daily activities.
  
• It is also heavily involved in motor functions.
• When damaged a persons ability to plan and their
  motivation may be effected.

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Phases of neural development in learning

• Most researchers agree that when learning takes
  place a physical change occurs in the synapse
  between neurons.
• These changes result in the laying down of new
  neural circuits, or neural pathways, through
  which information can travel around the brain.
• If we are to process information and learn from
  it, the first thing that must happen in our brain
  is that the neurons must be able to communicate.

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Neuron formation Laying the groundwork

• Life begins with a single cell. This cell divides
  to form to other cells which then divide again
  and start to multiply.
• This process continues until an organism is
  formed.
• The cell, whilst multiplying, must also
  differentiate. This means some will become muscle
  cells, some will become support cells for neurons
  and so on.

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• These different types of cells must then make
  their way to the appropriate sites in the
  organism and line up with other cells to form
  particular structures.
• They then create relationships with the cells
  around them.
• In other words they must form synapses with one
  another in a process called synaptogenesis.

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Synapse formation Synaptogenesis and its link to
learning

• As we know, different parts of the brain have
  different functions and the links (neural
  pathways) between them need to be built and
  maintained.
• During learning, nerve cells grow new connections
  and form new synapses, or existing synapses are
  strengthened.
• Information is then able to pass from one neuron
  to the next.

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• Not all brain neurons have synaptic connections
  with other neurons when we are born- the synapses
  (connections) must form as our brain continues to
  develop.
• Once the neurons have migrated to the appropriate
  part of the body they will grow axons (fibers
  that carry information away from the cell body)
  and dendrites (fibers that receive incoming
  messages).
• Synaptogenesis is the term used to describe the
  formation of synapses between neurons.

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• Synaptogenesis then occurs when the axons and
  dendrites reach out and link with a target cell.
• This process occurs throughout a healthy persons
  lifespan, but it occurs most rapidly during early
  brain development, beginning about two months
  before birth until about two years after birth.
• It allows us to form new connections between
  neurons to establish the pathways that allow
  different brain areas to communicate.

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• The synaptic changes that take place within a
  neural pathway during learning are believed to
  have long-term potentiation.
• Long-term potentiation refers to the long-lasting
  strengthening of the synaptic connections of
  neurons, resulting in the more effective
  functioning of the neurons whenever they are
  activated.
• Neurons that fire together, wire together

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Effects of experience on neural development

• Genetically, a cell may be programmed to find its
  target cell and establish a synapse.
• Even so, many potential synaptic connections are
  lost and up to 50 of neurons die during the time
  of synaptogenesis.
• This means that it is not genetics alone that
  determines neural development- the external
  environment is also an important part.

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• Use it or lose it.
• The main principle that guides environmental
  neural development is that by making use of a
  function we strengthen neural connections,
  however those neurons that are not activated by
  experience will not survive.
• Eg. Animals reared in the dark have fewer
  synapses and dendrites in their primary visual
  cortex than animals reared in their natural
  environment.
• This shows that learning through experience can
  play a big role in how our synapses form.

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The role of neurotransmitters in learning

• Learning involves the introduction of experience
  or new information, which produces changes in
  neurons and neural networks.
• Through learning, new synapses grow and existing
  synapses form closer links.
• Neurons must communicate over the synapse because
  neurons are not joined to one another.
• How does a message travel across the synapse to
  another neuron?

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• The nerve impulse within a neuron is primarily
  electrical. That is why behaviour is effected
  when the brain is electrically stimulated (ESB).
• Communication between neurons is chemical so
  messages are sent between neurons chemically.
• The sending neuron is known as the pre-synaptic
  neuron (before the synapse).
• The receiving neuron is known as the
  post-synaptic neuron (after the synapse).

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• When an electrical charge in the form of a nerve
  impulse, or action potential, sweeps down the
  axon, neurotransmitters are released into the
  synapse.
• Neurotransmitters are chemicals released at the
  axon terminal of the pre-synaptic neuron.
• They carry the chemical messages across the
  synapse (synaptic gap) to the dendrite on the
  post synaptic neuron.

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• Neurotransmitters may act in one of two ways when
  they arrive at the post-synaptic neuron.
• Transmitters may excite the post-synaptic neuron
  or inhibit it.
• At any instant, a single neuron may receive
  hundreds or thousands of messages from adjacent
  neurons. However, whether the result of
  transmission will be excitory or inhibitory
  depends on the neurotransmitter used.

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• If the neurotransmitter has an excitory effect it
  will stimulate or activate a neural impulse in
  another neuron.
• If it has an inhibitory effect it will block or
  prevent the receiving neuron from firing.

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Neurotransmitters

• NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) is a neurotransmitter
  receptor found on the dendrites of neurons,
  particularly neurons in the hippocampal area.
• It is specialised to receive the neurotransmitter
  glutamate. Together with NMDA, glutamate is
  important for long-term potentiation.

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• Dopamine- is a neurotransmitter thought to
  contribute to attention, learning and motor
  movement. Reduced dopamine levels can lead to ADD
  and Parkinsons disease. Excess dopamine has been
  linked to schizophrenia.
• Norepinephrine- is secreted by the neurons of the
  sympathetic nervous system. It influences the
  amount of alertness in the brain, controls hunger
  and is involved in learning and memory. Lower
  levels have been associated with depression.

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Plasticity Rewiring the brain

• Research suggests that the human brain can be
  moulded and changed throughout the lifespan.
• This is known as plasticity.
• Plasticity is the ability of the brain to change
  its structure and relocate functions to different
  areas and/or neuronal networks.

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• There are three examples of when plasticity can
  occur
• At the beginning of life, when the immature brain
  organises itself.
• In case of brain injury, to compensate for lost
  functions or maximise remaining functions.
• Throughout life, whenever something new is learnt
  or memorised.
• - Research example pg 435

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Developmental plasticity

• Developmental plasticity refers to changes in
  neurons and synaptic connections that occur as a
  specific consequence of developmental processes.
• When the brain is developing, dramatic changes
  occur in the number of neurons in the brain.

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• Remember
• During development of the nervous system cells
  divide, differentiate, extend axons and
  dendrites, and form synapses.
• Synaptic connectivity (synaptogenesis) will grow
  and develop.
• Synaptic responses can also change, and the
  post-synaptic response to the release of
  neurotransmitters can become stronger or weaker.

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Adaptive plasticity

• The brain is not only capable of plasticity
  during development but also throughout adult
  life.
• The major structures in the brain are similar for
  everyone but subtle differences between the
  brains of individuals results from the fact that
  it is adaptable and able to modify its circuits
  throughout life.
• This is what makes us individual, flexible and
  efficient.

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• The brain is capable of re-wiring itself after
  some types of damage.
• It also forms new connections in response to
  changing environmental conditions as well as
  neural changes influenced by learning.
• This is called adaptive plasticity.

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• Adaptive plasticity is a term referring to the
  ability of neurons to alter the connections
  between the synapses in accordance to best suit
  the environmental conditions, when learning
  something new, or when re-learning something
  after brain injury.

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• Learning a new skill such as playing the piano,
  requires many changes in the brain. Some
  dendrites grow longer and stronger while others
  are pruned away.
• By doing this parts of the cortex are rewired
  and tuned to carry out tasks more efficiently.
• The brain of a musician is distinctly different
  to the brain of a person with no musical
  training.
• Over the course of a lifetime, our experiences
  literally shape, mould and remodel details of the
  brain.

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• When damaged the brain has a remarkable ability
  to adapt and change to compensate for damage.
• Eg. Stroke victim.
• It appears that the functions effected by damage
  transfer themselves to regions of the brain that
  are unaffected by the stroke.

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Implications of brain plasticity

• How do we use this to our advantage?
• Using your brain in novel or stimulating ways
  actually increases its size and the number of
  dendrite branches it contains.
• The more you challenge and engage your brain, the
  healthier it will be and the better it will
  function.

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Timing of experience and critical periods

• Why do some experiences have more lasting effects
  than others?
• Part of the answer lies in the concept of
  critical periods.
• A critical period is a time of increased
  sensitivity to environmental influences when the
  conditions are optimal for certain capacities to
  emerge in an organism.

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• Events that occur in the critical period can
  permanently alter the course of development.
• Eg. If a pregnant woman contracts German measles
  in early pregnancy the child may be born with
  heart defects, cataracts or hearing loss. If the
  measles were contracted in the later stages of
  pregnancy the baby would not be damaged.
• Often certain events must occur during a critical
  period for a person to develop normally.

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• Research conducted by Weisel and Hubel in the
  1960s showed that if a newborn kitten has its
  eye stitched shut early in its development the
  kitten will become permanently blind in that eye.
  If the eye is sewn shut later in development the
  kitten will not become blind in that eye.
• This shows that there must be a critical period
  for the development of vision in kittens and if
  this does not occur the result will be blindness.

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• Children have far more plasticity than adults
  which would imply that critical periods are
  important in development.
• Draw timeline.

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Evidence in support of plasticity

• Evidence supports the theory that when you become
  an expert in a specific skill, the areas in your
  brain that deal with that type of skill will
  grow.
• Eg.
• The left parietal lobe is larger in people who
  are bilingual than people who speak only one
  language.

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• Eg.
• Professional musicians (who practise at least one
  hour per day) have a higher volume of grey matter
  (cortex) than amateur musicians or people who
  play no instruments at all.
• There have been observed changes in the brains of
  students studying for exams. When compared with
  students not studying for exams those who were
  studying showed learning induced changes in
  regions of the brain associated with memory and
  learning.

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• Over the past decade there has been progress in
  research that has demonstrated evidence of
  adaptive plasticity.
• It has shown that functional and structural
  changes take place in the cerebral cortex after
  injury.
• This means that the structure and function of
  undamaged parts of the brain can take over the
  functions of the injured part.
• This process takes place during recovery and is
  often influenced by rehabilitation.
• Taxi drivers experiment.

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Imaging the learning brain

• Brain imaging technologies show that during
  learning, changes occur in neurons that can
  result in permanent structural and functional
  changes in the brain.
• They also show how specific areas of the brain
  are involved in different types of activities.

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• Functional brain imaging techniques allow us to
  evaluate brain changes in response to learning,
  development, disease and also recovery following
  injury.

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THEORIES OF LEARNING

• There are many different ways to learn that are
  not necessarily different from one another.
• An individual can shift from one type of learning
  to another in many real-life situations.
• The form of learning that we will be looking at
  is called conditioning.
• Conditioning is the process of learning
  associations between a stimulus in the
  environment and the behavioural response.
• Conditioning is to do with how learning occurs.

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• It is the process of linking events that occur
  together.
• The two main types of conditioning are classical
  conditioning and operant conditioning.
• In classical conditioning we learn that two
  events go together after we experience them
  occurring together on a number of occasions.
• In operant conditioning we learn by forming a
  three-way association between a stimulus, a
  response and the consequence of the response.

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• Other types of learning that we will be studying
• Trial and error learning
• One trial learning
• Insight learning
• Latent learning
• Observational learning

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• CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

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Ivan Pavlov

• Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov was the first to
  describe classical conditioning as a learning
  process when he was investigating the digestive
  system of dogs.
• He was particularly interested in the role of
  salivary secretions in the digestion of food.
• Today he is better remembered for his work on
  classical conditioning.

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• Pavlov surgically moved the salivary gland of a
  dog into its cheek, and put a tube into the gland
  which was attached to a test tube.
• The dog was placed into a harness to prevent any
  sudden attempts to escape during the test period.
• Pavlov knew that dogs would salivate if food was
  placed in their mouths, but he noticed that they
  would also salivate before they were given food.
• At the time he believed that digestion involved a
  series of reflexes, so he set out to discover
  what stimulus caused this response of salivation
  even before the dogs received food.

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• Various stimuli were presented to the dog, and
  the effects on its rates of salivation were
  measured.
• Pavlov noticed that the dogs began to salivate to
  other stimulus other than the food. For example
  when the lab technician entered the room to give
  the dogs the food they began to salivate.
  Salivation was caused by the lab technician and
  not the food.
• Pavlov began to test this using other stimulus
  such as a bell, a musical tone, clapping, a
  light
• The dogs had learnt to associate different
  stimuli with food which caused them to salivate,
  rather than the food being the cause.

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• Pavlovs experiments then provided clear evidence
  of a type of learning that was based on the
  repeated association of two different stimuli.
• A stimulus is any event that elicits (produces) a
  response from an organism.
• A response is a reaction by an organism to a
  stimulus.
• In Pavlovs experiment the stimulus of food
  initially produced the response of salivation.
  Eventually though the sight or sound of the
  technician became the stimulus that produced the
  salivation response.

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• Classical conditioning refers to a form of
  learning that occurs through the repeated
  association of two (or more) different stimuli.
• The salivation response is caused by the
  autonomic nervous system which means it is an
  involuntary reflexive response.
• The salivation has become associated with, and
  conditioned to, a new stimulus.
• Learning is said to have occurred only when a
  particular stimulus consistently produces a
  response that it did not previously produce.

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Key elements of classical conditioning

• There are four key elements of classical
  conditioning
• The unconditioned stimulus (UCS) is any stimulus
  that consistently produces a particular,
  naturally occurring, automatic response. (Food).
• The unconditioned response (UCR) is the response
  that occurs automatically when the UCS is
  presented.
• It is reflexive, involuntary response that is
  predictably caused by a UCS. (Salivation).

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• The conditioned stimulus (CS) is the stimulus
  that is neutral at the start of the conditioning
  process and does not normally produce the
  unconditioned response. (Lab technician).
• Through repeated association with the UCS, the CS
  triggers a very similar response to that caused
  by the UCS.
• Association refers to the pairing or linking of
  one stimulus with another stimulus- Lab
  technician and food.
• The conditioned response (CR) is the learned
  response that is produced by the CS. (Salivation).

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Classical conditioning example

• Flora has a cat name Tiger. Tiger loves eating
  FishDelish, a brand of cat food, which Flora
  feeds to Tiger every night. Flora is curious
  about Tigers behaviour, and she wants to
  understand how Tiger has come to behave and
  respond in a particular way.
• Floras routine when she comes home from work is
  as follows she puts her keys on the kitchen sink
  (which makes a clanging noise each time), then
  she prepares Tigers dinner.
• After several days of this routine, Flora noticed
  that Tiger would run up to her and salivate
  whenever she put her keys on the sink.

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BEFORE CONDITIONING DURING CONDITIONING AFTER CONDITIONING
Neutral stimulus (NS)
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
Unconditioned response (UCR)
Neutral stimulus (NS) Conditioned stimulus (CS)
Conditioned stimulus(CS) Conditioned response (CR)
Learning Activity 3 Identifying elements of
classical conditioning.
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KEY PROCESSES IN CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

• The key processes in classical conditioning are
• Acquisition
• Extinction
• Stimulus generalisation
• Stimulus discrimination
• Spontaneous recovery

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ACQUISITION

• In classical conditioning, each paired
  presentation of the CS with the UCS is referred
  to as a trial.
• Acquisition is the overall process during which
  the organism learns to associate two events (the
  CS and the UCS).
• During acquisition, the presentations of the NS
  (becomes CS) and the UCS occur close together and
  always in the same sequence.

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• The duration of the acquisition phase is
  determined by how many trials is takes for the CR
  to be learned.
• The shorter the period of time between the
  presentation of the UCS and the CS the faster the
  acquisition.
• Pavlov discovered in his experiments that it was
  best for the pairing of the CS and the UCS to be
  very close together.
• The end of the acquisition phase is said to occur
  when the CS alone produces the CR. At this point,
  conditioning is said to have taken place.

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EXTINCTION

• A conditioned stimulus-response association is
  not necessarily permanent.
• The strength of the association may fade over
  time or disappear altogether.
• Extinction is the gradual decrease in the
  strength or rate of a CR that occurs when the UCS
  is no longer presented.
• Some behaviours are extinguished quickly, others
  take longer to extinguish.

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SPONTANEOUS RECOVERY

• Extinction of a conditioned response is not
  always permanent.
• Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of a CR
  when the CS is presented, following a rest
  period, after the CR appears to have been
  extinguished.
• Spontaneous recovery does not always occur, and
  when it does it is short lived.

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• The CR tends to be weaker than it was originally
  (during acquisition).
• If the extinction procedure is repeated several
  times, eventually the CR will disappear
  altogether and spontaneous recovery will not
  occur at all.

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STIMULUS GENERALISATION

• Once an organism has learned to respond to a
  conditioned stimulus, other stimuli that are
  similar to the CS may also trigger the CR, but
  usually at a reduced level.
• Stimulus generalisation is the tendency for
  another stimulus- one that is similar to the
  original CS- to produce a response that is
  similar (but not necessarily identical) to the CR.

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• The greater the similarity between stimuli, the
  greater the possibility that a generalisation
  will occur.
• Eg. Instead of salivating to the sound of a
  ringing bell the dogs would salivate to the sound
  of a door bell.
• The response is usually reduced if this occurs.
• Stimulus generalisation has a valuable adaptive
  role (avoiding an open fire place when having
  experienced a burn from a gas stove top), but can
  also be detrimental in some situations (a dog may
  snap at flies and then accidentally snap at a
  wasp).

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STIMULUS DISCRIMINATION

• In classical conditioning, stimulus
  discrimination occurs when a person or animal
  responds to the CS only, but not to any other
  stimulus that is similar to the CS.
• Eg. If someone is afraid of a particular dog, but
  is not bothered by any other breed of dog in a
  similar situation.

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CLASSICAL CONDITIONING OF BEHAVIOUR

• Classical conditioning is one of the simplest
  forms of learning.
• Classically conditioned behaviours are like
  reflexes in that they occur involuntarily,
  however they are unlike reflexes in that they are
  learned.
• A conditioned reflex is an automatic response
  that occurs as a result of previous experience.
• A conditioned reflex requires little conscious
  thought or awareness on the part of the learner.

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• By learning to associate stimuli in our everyday
  experience, we gain information about our
  environment, some of which we take for granted
  but which is nevertheless valuable.
• Eg.
• Packing up your books at the sound of the bell
  for the end of the lesson
• Answering the door bell or phone when it rings
• Listening for thunder after a flash of lightening

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• Conditioned reflexes include a range of
  behaviours, one of the most researched is the
  emotional response.
• Sometimes an emotional response such as fear or
  anger to a specific stimulus is learned through
  classical conditioning.
• A conditioned emotional response is an emotional
  reaction that usually occurs when the autonomic
  nervous system produces a response to a stimulus
  that did not previously trigger that response.
• Eg. Cringing at a dentist drill.

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• While it might be beneficial to form a fear of
  something that could harm you, it may be
  psychologically harmful to form a fear about
  something that does not normally harm you.
• Read Little Albert.

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ETHICAL ISSUES IN CONDITIONING BEHAVIOUR

• Confidentiality- a participants right to privacy,
  meaning that in a study details about the
  participants identity cannot be revealed unless
  their written consent is obtained.
• In Little Alberts case, his details were
  published along with his photos in a research
  article without the written permission from his
  mother.

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• Voluntary participation- the researcher must try
  to ensure that participants involvement in the
  research is voluntary. Participants must not be
  put under any pressure to take part in the study.
  
• Although Little Alberts mother did volunteer her
  son to participate in the experiment on
  conditioning, it is questionable whether she was
  informed as to what was actually going to happen
  to her son in the experiment.

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• Informed consent- wherever possible participants
  must be appropriately informed of the nature and
  purpose of the investigation. This must be
  appropriately documented.
• It is unlikely that Little Alberts mum was
  properly informed about what was going to occur
  throughout the experiment and the conditions that
  she was agreeing to. There is no documented
  paperwork to indicate otherwise.

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• Withdrawal rights- The researcher must inform
  participants of the nature of the research and
  that they are free to participate or to decline
  to participate or to withdraw from the research.
• Little Alberts mother was not with her child when
  he was being conditioned and Little Albert was
  too young to make the decision himself. Meaning
  that even if he should have been withdrawn he
  could not have. Related to the lack of informed
  consent.

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• Deception- when it is necessary for scientific
  reasons to conduct a study without fully
  informing participants of its true purpose prior
  to commencement, the researcher must ensure that
  participants do not suffer distress from the
  research procedure.
• If Little Alberts mother was not informed about
  the exact procedure for the conditioning
  experiment there is an element of deception
  involved. This is unethical as the experiment did
  cause distress for Little Albert and his mother
  was presumably not informed about this.

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• Debriefing- The researcher must provide an
  opportunity for participants to obtain
  appropriate information about the nature, results
  and conclusion of the experiment.
• According to the experimenters Little Alberts
  mother moved away before the experimenters had a
  chance to debrief her and reverse Alberts
  conditioned behaviour. Other reports suggest that
  although the experimenters knew well in advance
  the mother was leaving, they did not attempt to
  follow the debriefing guidelines.

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APPLICATIONS OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

• Classical conditioning is used in many
  therapeutic settings, which aim to rid people of
  undesirable behaviours.
• Graduated exposure / systematic desensitisation
• Flooding
• Aversion therapy

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Graduated exposure

• In most cases, a classically conditioned response
  will become extinguished if the UCS is not paired
  with the CS at least occasionally.
• Graduated exposure is a kind of behaviour therapy
  that attempts to replace an anxiety or fear
  response with a relaxation response through a
  classical conditioning procedure.
• This means the client must associate being
  relaxed with the anxiety or fear stimulus by a
  series of graded steps.

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• The procedure is as follows
• Teach the person to relax.
• Break down the fear arousing stimulus into a
  series of graded steps.
• Steps are graded from most fear arousing to least
  fear arousing.
• Eg. Consider a person with a fear of flying.

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Most frightening

• Experiencing mid-air turbulence
• Taking off
• Taxiing down the runway
• Boarding the plane
• Waiting to get on the plane
• Travelling to the airport in a car
• Buying a plane ticket

Least frightening
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• The therapist would then ask the patient to
  visualise (imaginal exposure) the least
  frightening scene on the list. When they can
  imagine doing this they would be asked to imagine
  the next step and so on.
• In the end the patient should be able to imagine
  the most fearful stimulus without becoming
  afraid.
• Real life exposure (in vivo exposure) is the most
  successful or virtual reality technology could
  also be used.
• This eventually leads to the fear of flying being
  eventually overcome.

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Flooding

• Flooding is another type of exposure therapy.
• Flooding involves bringing clients into direct
  contact with the anxiety or fear producing
  stimulus and keeping them in contact with it
  until the conditioned response is extinguished.
• It is believed that people will stop fearing the
  stimulus during the exposure when they discover
  it is quite harmless.

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• Like graduated exposure, flooding can be visual,
  real-life or virtual reality.
• A major criticism of flooding is that it causes
  extreme anxiety for the individual.

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AVERSION THERAPY

• When people develop unwanted behaviours (that are
  harmful) such as substance abuse, gambling
  addiction or inappropriate sexual behaviours, it
  is often difficult to help them permanently stop
  the unwanted behaviour.
• It is especially hard when the behaviour is
  followed by a sense of pleasure or relief.

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• Aversion therapy is a form of behaviour therapy
  that applies classical conditioning principles to
  inhibit (block) or discourage undesirable
  behaviour by associating it with an aversive
  (unpleasant) stimulus.
• This may be a feeling of disgust, pain or nausea.
  
• The aim is to suppress or weaken the undesirable
  behaviour.
• Eg. To stop nail biting- painting nails with a
  foul tasting substance.

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• The association between the unpleasant stimulus
  and the unwanted behaviour is learned very
  quickly.
• Aversion therapy was first used in the 1930s to
  treat alcoholism, by giving alcoholics an
  electric shock whenever they could see, taste or
  smell alcohol.
• Today instead of using electric shocks,
  alcoholics are given nausea inducing drugs paired
  with alcohol consumption to make the patient feel
  ill.
• UCS- NAUSEA DRUGS CS- ALCOHOL
• UCR- FEELING ILL CR- FEELING ILL

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• The limitation to this is that some alcoholics
  will avoid alcohol while taking the drugs but
  return to it once therapy is finished.
• This means that the learned aversion often fails
  to generalise to situations other than those
  under which the learning takes place. Therefore
  at times the results of aversion therapy are
  often short lived.

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TRIAL AND ERROR LEARNING
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TRIAL AND ERROR LEARNING

• There are many types of learned behaviours that
  cannot be explained by classical conditioning.
• Classical conditioning is based on learnt
  behaviours that are involuntary or reflexive.
• Other learning theories describe the acquisition
  of learnt behaviour that is voluntary.

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• We all adjust our behaviour according to the
  consequences it produces.
• If the consequence is positive we continue the
  behaviour, if it is negative we are likely to
  decrease the behaviour.
• In order to learn these behaviours we are
  practicing trial and error learning.

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TRIAL AND ERROR LEARNING

• Trial and error learning describes an organisms
  attempts to learn, or to solve a problem, by
  trying alternate possibilities until a correct
  solution or desired outcome is achieved.
• It involves a number of attempts (trials) and a
  number of incorrect choices (errors) before the
  correct behaviour is learned.
• Once learned, the behaviour will usually be
  performed quickly and with few errors.

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TRIAL AND ERROR LEARNING

• Trial and error learning involves motivation,
  exploration, incorrect and correct responses, and
  reward.
• Receiving a reward of some kind leads to the
  repeated performance of the correct responses,
  strengthening the association between the
  behaviour and its outcome.

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The number maze and the learning curve

• Negotiate the maze by drawing a line between each
  consecutive number starting at number 1.
• You will be given a 1 minute interval for each
  maze.
• Repeat the procedure for each maze.
• Record the number you reached in each maze in the
  time allowed.
• Plot a graph of these numbers showing your
  improvement throughout the trials.

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The number maze and the learning curve

1. What is the shape of the graph?
2. Is this what you would expect to see? Why?
3. What was the reinforcement that caused learning
   to occur in this case?

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THORNDIKES EXPERIMENT WITH CATS.

• In the early years of the twentieth century,
  about the same time Pavlov was investigating the
  digestive system of dogs, Edward Thorndike was
  performing experiments that would form the basis
  of operant conditioning.
• In Thorndikes puzzle box experiment, he would
  place a cat inside a puzzle box and put a fish
  outside the box. The idea was to observe and time
  the cats attempts to escape the box and get to
  the fish.

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• At first the cat showed a wide range of random
  behaviours in attempting to escape the box, until
  it accidentally stepped on a leaver in the middle
  of the box which released the door.
• The cats behaviour gradually became less random.
• Each time it was put in the box the cat would
  escape a little more quickly, until eventually it
  escaped as soon as it was put back in the box.
• Because the cat had started with random behaviour
  and had gradually learned the solution to the
  puzzle box, Thorndike believed that learning was
  a trial and error process.

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• Thorndike found that the animal learned those
  behaviours that were followed by pleasant
  consequences, while other behaviours were not
  repeated. This became known as the law of effect.
  
• The law of effect suggests that behaviours that
  lead to positive consequences are repeated and
  behaviours that do not lead to positive
  consequences are not repeated.
• The conditioning process became known as
  instrumental conditioning, because behaviour is
  instrumental in obtaining rewards.

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• Although it was formulated to explain
  goal-directed behaviour, operant conditioning
  attempts to explain such behaviour in terms of
  what has happened in the past.

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OPERANT CONDITIONING
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OPERANT CONDITIONING

• The term operant conditioning was not
  introduced until years after Thorndikes
  experiments with cats.
• This term was coined by a man named Burrhus
  Skinner.
• He suggested that an operant is a response (or
  set of responses) that occurs and acts on the
  environment to produce some kind of effect.

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• Essentially an operant is a response of behaviour
  that generates consequences.
• Before conditioning, an organism might make many
  operant responses. (The cat clawing and biting).
• Operant conditioning is based on the principle
  that an organism will tend to repeat behaviours
  that have desirable consequences, or that will
  enable it to avoid undesirable consequences.
• Furthermore, organisms will tend not to repeat
  behaviours which have undesirable consequences.

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Three-phase model of operant conditioning

• The theory of operant conditioning has been
  expressed as a three-phase model based on
  Thorndikes law of effect.
• The three-phase model of operant conditioning
  (S-R-C) has three components 1) the stimulus (S)
  that precedes the operant response, 2) the
  operant response (R) the response to the stimulus
  and 3) the consequence (C).

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• The can be described as stimulusgtresponsegtconseque
  nce.

Stimulus (S) Operant response (R) Consequence (C)
Definition The action that can have an effect on the environment The event that follows the operant response
Examples Puzzle box
Soft-drink vending machine
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SKINNERS EXPERIMENTS WITH RATS

• In order to study operant conditioning Skinner
  wanted to test how behaviour can be explained by
  the relationships between the behaviour, its
  antecedents (the events that come before it), and
  its consequences.
• To do this he created an apparatus called the
  Skinner Box.

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SKINNERS EXPERIMENTS WITH RATS

• A Skinner Box is a small chamber in which an
  experimental animal learns to make a particular
  response for which the consequences can be
  controlled by the researcher.
• It has a leaver which delivers a reward (food)
  when pushed.

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• Some boxes have lights, buzzers and grid floors
  which provide mild electric shocks.
• The lever is also attached to a cumulative
  recorder which tracks the desired responses,
  their frequency and speed.
• Rats and pigeons were used for these experiments.
  
• Skinner 1938, classic experiment to demonstrate
  operant conditioning.

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• When a hungry rat was placed in the box, it would
  scurry around, randomly touching the floor and
  walls.
• Eventually it would accidentally press the leaver
  on the wall in which case a pellet of rat food
  would drop into the food dish and the rat would
  eat it.
• With additional repetitions of leaver pressing
  followed by food, the rats random movements
  began to disappear and were replaced by more
  consistent lever pressing.

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• Eventually the rat was pressing the lever as fast
  as it could eat the pellets.
• The pellet was a reward for making the correct
  response.
• Skinner referred to different kinds of rewards as
  reinforcers.
• Skinner wanted to demonstrate the impact of
  reinforcement according to different types of
  schedules of reinforcement. Eg. Every time a
  correct response is made compared with every
  second time the response is made.

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• Thorndikes cats could see their reinforcement
  from the box they were placed in, so although it
  took them many trials to make the correct
  response, their motivation was clear.
• Skinners lab animals came across their
  reinforcement by chance.
• Skinner had to use hungry rats in order for them
  to act erratically and hit the leaver by chance.

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ELEMENTS OF OPERANT CONDITIONING

• Central to operant conditioning is reinforcement
  because learning through operant conditioning
  occurs as a result of consequences of behaviour.
• A response that is rewarded is strengthened,
  whereas one that is punished is weakened.
• Reinforcement and punishment can be delivered in
  a number of ways.

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REINFORCEMENT

• How do you train a dog?
• How do you ensure that you dont get wet when
  walking in the rain?
• Reinforcement may involve receiving a pleasant
  stimulus (pat/food) or escaping an unpleasant
  stimulus (rain).
• In either case the outcome is one that is desired
  by the organism performing the behaviour.

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• Reinforcement is applying a positive stimulus or
  removing a negative stimulus to subsequently
  strengthen or increase the likelihood of a
  particular response that it follows.
• A reinforcer is a stimulus that strengthens or
  increases the frequency or likelihood of a
  response occurring and being repeated.
• The term reinforcer is often used
  interchangeably with the term reward.
• The only difference is that reward suggests an
  outcome that is positive, such as satisfaction or
  pleasure.
• A stimulus is a reinforcer if it strengthens the
  preceding behaviour.

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SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT.

• The way reinforcement is delivered is referred to
  as a schedule of reinforcement.
• A schedule of reinforcement is a program for
  giving reinforcement, in terms of how frequently
  it is given and the way the response is
  reinforced.
• Reinforcement may be provided on a continuous
  schedule (after every correct response) or on a
  partial reinforcement schedule (that is only on
  some occasions).
• The difference between the two is the speed with
  which the response is conditioned and the
  strength of the conditioned response.

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• In the early stages of conditioning, learning is
  most rapid if the correct response is reinforced
  every time it occurs.
• This is known as continuous reinforcement.
• Once a correct response consistently occurs, a
  different reinforcement schedule can be used to
  maintain, increase or strengthen the response.
• Responses maintained through a program of
  intermittent reinforcement are stronger and are
  less likely to weaken or cease than those
  maintained by continuous reinforcement.

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• Partial reinforcement is the process of
  reinforcing some correct responses but not all of
  them.
• Reinforcement can be given after a certain number
  of correct responses have been made (ratio) or as
  a certain amount of time has passed (interval).

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• Reinforcement may be given on a regular basis
  (fixed) or it may be unpredictable (variable).
• Behaviour that is conditioned on a schedule of
  partial reinforcement is generally the most
  difficult to change.
• Each schedule produces a different effect on the
  rate and pattern of a response.

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• Partial reinforcement can be given in one of four
  patterns
• Fixed ratio
• Variable ratio
• Fixed interval
• Variable interval

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Fixed ratio

• A set number of correct responses must be made
  before obtaining reinforcement for example, a
  newspaper delivery person is paid 5 for every
  100 papers delivered.
• This produces a very high response rate.

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Variable ratio

• A varied number of correct responses must be made
  before receiving reinforcement when playing a
  poker machine, players keep playing even though
  they do not know how many dollars they will have
  to put in before receiving reinforcement.
• This also produces a very strong response rate.
• This is less predicable which effects extinction.

143
Fixed interval

• After a correct response is made, a reinforcer is
  given after a fixed amount of time has passed
  you press the button at the traffic lights to
  cross but the signal only changes after a certain
  amount of time has passed.
• This schedule produces moderate response rates
  with spurts of activity mixed with inactivity.

144
Variable interval

• A reinforcer is only given for the first correct
  response after a varied amount of time when you
  go fishing you continue to throw your line in the
  water not knowing how long it will take for the
  fish to bite.
• This produces a slow steady rate of response and
  tremendous resistance to extinction.

145

• In general, ratio schedules tend to produce more
  rapid responding than interval schedules.

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POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT

• A positive reinforcer is a stimulus that
  strengthens or increases the likelihood of a
  desired response by providing a satisfying
  consequence (reward).
• Positive reinforcement occurs from giving or
  applying a positive reinforcer after the desired
  response has been made.
• The food pellet in the Skinner box.
• Receiving a good mark if you have studied hard.

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NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT

• A negative reinforcer is any unpleasant or
  aversive stimulus, that when removed or avoided,
  strengthens or increases the likelihood of a
  desired response.
• Skinner Box and electric current.
• Negative reinforcement is the removal or
  avoidance of an unpleasant stimulus. It has the
  effect of increasing the likelihood of a response
  being repeated.

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• The important distinction between positive and
  negative reinforcement is that positive
  reinforcers are given and negative reinforcers
  are removed or avoided.
• Both procedures lead to desirable consequences.
• Examples of negative reinforcers are
• -turning off a scary video
• -driving slowly to avoid a speeding fine

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• If you take a panadol when you have a headache
  and the headache goes away, the behaviour of
  taking the panadol has been negatively
  reinforced, and it is likely you will repeat that
  behaviour next time you have a headache.
• TO REMEMBER
• -positive () reinforcer adding something
  pleasant
• -negative (-) reinforcer subtracting something
  unpleasant (which results in a pleasant or
  desirable outcome.

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PUNISHMENT

• Punishment is the delivery of an unpleasant
  stimulus following a response, or the removal of
  a pleasant stimulus following a response.
• It has the same unpleasant quality as a negative
  reinforcer, but unlike a negative reinforcer, the
  punishment is given or applied, whereas the
  negative reinforcer is prevented or avoided.
• Punishment is designed to weaken a response, or
  decrease the probability of that response
  occurring again over time.

151

• The distinction between negative reinforcement
  and punishment is that negative reinforcement
  encourages a response whereas punishment
  discourages it.

152

• Lets say that your bedroom is next to your
  brother or sisters and they like to play really
  loud music. You pound on the wall and the volume
  of the music decreases. This is negative
  reinforcement as the next time the music is too
  loud you will again pound on the wall and expect
  the same response. If your brother or sister
  turns the music up louder or comes in and yells
  at you (punishment) you are less likely to pound
  on the wall next time!!

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Response cost

• It is also punishing to take away something that
  an individual perceives to be positive such as
  privileges or money.
• Punishment also occurs when a reinforcer or
  positive state of affairs is removed.
• This is call response cost.
• Response cost is when a reinforcer or something
  positive is removed following a response, and
  this decreases the likelihood that this response
  will occur again.

154
Factors that influence the effectiveness of
reinforcement and punishment.

• Reinforcement is intended to increase the
  likelihood of a behaviour being repeated and
  punishment is intended to decrease the likelihood
  of behaviour being repeated.
• -Order of presentation
• -Timing
• -Appropriateness

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ORDER OF PRESENTATION

• To use reinforcement and punishment effectively
  it is important that it is presented after a
  desired response, never before.
• Learning consequences of certain responses.

156
TIMING

• Reinforcement are most effective when they are
  given immediately after the response has
  occurred.
• This helps the organism to make the association
  between the response and the reinforcer/punishment
  .
• If there is a delay learning will take longer.
• Sometimes, in real life, it is not possible for
  consequences to be given immediately.

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APPROPRIATENESS

• For any stimulus to be a reinforcer, it must be
  pleasing or satisfying in some way.
• It is not known if something is going to be a
  reinforcer until after it has been used.
• It cannot be assumed that a reinforcer that works
  in one situation will work in other situations.
• Characteristics of the individual need to be
  taken into account.

158

• A stimulus must be appropriate as a punishment,
  as in it must provide a consequence that is
  unpleasant, and therefore likely to decrease the
  unwanted behaviour.

159
KEY PROCESSES IN OPERANT CONDITIONING

• The same key processes are involved in both
  classical and operant conditioning, however the
  way in which these processes occur is slightly
  different in each.
• -Acquisition
• -Extinction
• -Stimulus generalisation
• -Stimulus discrimination
• -Spontaneous recovery

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ACQUISITION

• Acquisition refers to the overall learning
  process, during which a specific response, or set
  of responses is established.
• The types of behaviours acquired during operant
  conditioning in comparison to classical
  conditioning are generally more complex.
• In operant conditioning, acquisition is the
  establishment of a response through
  reinforcement.

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• Some behaviours that are operantly conditioned
  are too complex to be performed completely in the
  beginning of the acquisition process.
• Instead behaviours that are a simpler version of
  the desired behaviour, or a step towards the
  desired behaviour are rewarded instead.
• This is known as shaping.

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EXTINCTION

• In operant conditioning, extinction may also
  occur, and the process is similar to its
  occurrence in classical conditioning.
• Extinction is the gradual decrease in the
  strength or rate of a conditioned response
  following consistent non-reinforcement of the
  response .
• Extinction is less likely to occur when partial
  reinforcement is used.

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SPONTANEOUS RECOVERY

• After the apparent extinction of a response,
  spontaneous recovery can occur and the organism
  will once again show the response in the absence
  of any reinforcement.
• The response is likely to be weaker.
• A spontaneously recovered response is often
  stronger when it occurs after a lengthy period
  followin