Learning Processes

• Behaviorism

• Classical conditioning

• Operant conditioning

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Adaptation to the Environment

• Learning - “any process through which experience at one time can alter an individual’s behavior at a future time” (Gray)

• Hilgard and Bower (1975) add: “provided that the behavior change cannot be explained on the basis of native response tendencies, maturation or temporary states of the subject (e.g. fatigue, drugs, etc)

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Behaviorism

• The attempt to understand observable activity in terms of observable stimuli and observable responses

• John B. Watson (1913)• B.F. Skinner (1938)

What’s this about

LEARNING?

Classical Conditioning

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Pavlov’s Dogs

• Digestive reflexes and salivation

• Psychic secretion

Classical Conditioning

UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS REFLEX ACTIONwill

elicit a

UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS

NEUTRAL STIMULUSREFLEX ACTIONwill

elicit a

CONDITIONED STIMULUSCONDITIONED STIMULUSwill

elicit aCONDITIONED

RESPONSE

NEUTRAL STIMULUSwill

elicit NO REACTION

Neutral Stimulus--Bell

• Does not normally elicit a response or reflex action by itself– A bell ringing

– A color

– A furry object

Unconditioned Stimulus--Food

• Always elicits a reflex action: an unconditioned response– Food

– Blast of air

– Noise

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Unconditioned Response--Salivation

• A response to an unconditioned stimulus--naturally occurring– Salivation at smell of food

– Eye blinks at blast of air

– Startle reaction in babies

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Conditioned Stimulus--Bell

• The stimulus that was originally neutral becomes conditioned after it has been paired with the unconditioned stimulus

• Will eventually elicit the unconditioned response by itself

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Conditioned Response

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

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Classical Conditioning vs. Association by Contiguity

Stimulus A(The word ball)

Thought of B(Mental image of a ball)

Thought of B(Mental image of a ball)

Learning Experience

After Learning

Neutral stimulus(Bell)

Unconditioned response(Salivation)

Conditioned response(Salivation)

Conditioning Procedure

After Conditioning

Unconditioned stimulus(Food)

Conditioned stimulus(Bell)

Stimulus A(The word ball)

Stimulus B(Sight of a ball)

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Classical Conditioning Phenomena

• Extinction

• Spontaneous recovery

• Generalization

• Discrimination training

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John B. Watson and Little Albert

• Conditioned emotional responses

• Generalization

• Extinction

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Conditioned Drug Reactions

• Opposite the drug effect• How does this explain deaths by

OD in unfamiliar places?

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Early Operant Conditioning

• E.L. Thorndike (1898)

• Puzzle boxes and catsScratch at bars

Push at ceiling

Dig at floorSituation:stimuliinside ofpuzzle box

Howl

Etc.

Etc.

Press lever

First Trialin Box

Scratch at bars

Push at ceiling

Dig at floorSituation:stimuliinside ofpuzzle box

Howl

Etc.

Etc.

Press lever

After ManyTrials in Box

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B.F. Skinner’s Operant Conditioning

• Did not like the term “satisfying”

• Invented a better appartus--the Skinner box

Operant Conditioning Terms

• Shaping

• Consequences– positive and negative reinforcement

– positive and negative punishment

Reinforcement Schedules

• Continuous: 1 to 1 ratio, a prize every time

• Ratio– fixed: 1 to ?, a prize every ? time– variable: ? to ?, maybe a prize, maybe not!

• Interval– fixed: announced examination– variable: pop quiz

Classical vs. Operant Conditioning

CLASSICAL• Stimulus precedes

the response and elicits it

• Elicited responses

• Learning as a result of association

• Pavlov

OPERANT• Stimulus follows

the response and strengthens it

• Emitted responses

• Learning as a result of consequences

• Skinner

The Basic Concepts of Learning Theory

• Classical conditioning– elicits response as a result of associating

• unconditioned stimulus• neutral stimulus

• Operant conditioning– emitted response – learning is a result of consequences

• reinforcers• punishment

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Observational Learning

• Specific skills and general behavioral styles

• Bandura’s cognitive theory

The Ecological Perspective

• Alternative to general-process perspective

• Learning what to eat

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Alternative Perspective

• Role of environment

• Components of learning

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Learning What to Eat

• Food-aversion learning

• Food-preference learning

• Food-selection experiment with human infants

• Social learning and food selection

• Summary of rules

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Food-Aversion Learning

• Classical conditioning or not?

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Food-Preference Learning

• Experiments with rats and thiamin

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Food Selection Experiment

• Infants’ ability to choose a nutritionally balanced meal

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Summary of Rules

• When possible, eat what your elders eat.

• When you eat a new food, remember its taste and smell