Download Chapter 7 — Learning

Chapter Summary/Lecture Organizer
Chapter 7 — Learning
I.
A.
What is Learning?
Learning is a lasting change caused by experience.
1. Learning is influenced by task difficulty, attention, emotions, and biology.
2. The learning curve graph reveals how easy or difficult a task was to learn.
B.
Learning is divided into two major categories—non-associative and associative learning.
1. Non-associative learning is a lasting change that happens as a result of experience
with a single sensory cue. Types of non-associative learning include
a.
habituation—occurs when the organism displays decreased responses to
familiar stimuli
b.
sensitization—occurs when the organism displays increased responses to stimuli
of normal strength after being exposed to an unusually strong stimulus
c.
Researchers have used sea slugs, an animal with a simple nervous system, to
study the biological basis of nonassociative learning.
d.
Habituation is explained by a depletion of neurotransmitters that reduces the
motor neuron’s response to additional stimuli, and sensitization is explained by
interneurons increasing input to the motor neuron.
2. Associative learning is a lasting change that happens as a result of associating two or
more stimuli. Types of associative learning include classical and operant
conditioning.
II.
Classical Conditioning
A. Ivan Pavlov is credited with the discovery of classical conditioning.
1.
Classical conditioning occurs when a previously neutral stimulus comes to elicit
a response by being paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US) that already
generates the response, known as an unconditioned response (UR).
2.
The neutral stimulus is called a conditioned stimulus (CS) when it elicits the
same response as did the US previously.
3.
The response to the CS is known as a conditioned response (CR).
B.
Classical conditioning involves permanent changes in the nervous system.
1.
Removing the pairing of US and CS can lead to extinction, or suppression of the
CR. Extinction is a process by which the previously learned CR is inhibited. It
does not mean the CS is unlearned or forgotten.
2.
The CR can be spontaneously recovered by representing the US and CS
together.
3.
We may sometimes display a stimulus generalization, giving the same
conditioned response to stimuli similar, but not identical, to the CS.
4.
Eyeblink conditioning shows that classical conditioning leads to changes in
neurons in the cerebellum area of the brain.
C.
Phobias and conditioned taste aversions can result from classical conditioning.
1.
John Watson demonstrated fear conditioning with a child, little Albert.
2.
Systematic desensitization uses classical conditioning to extinguish phobia
responses. In this therapeutic process, people who suffer phobias are repeatedly
exposed to the feared object or situation in the absence of pairing with a US.
3.
Phobias involve abnormal activity in the amygdala. Extinction training involves
the prefrontal cortex.
4.
Conditioned taste aversions suggest that we are biologically prepared to quickly
learn responses important to our survival.
III. Operant Conditioning
A. Operant conditioning is a learned association between stimuli in the environment and
the consequences of our own behavior. The law of effect states that we learn to repeat
behaviors that will increase our rewards and help us avoid punishment.
B.
Reinforcers are rewarding stimuli from the environment.
1.
Reinforcers are categorized as primary or secondary.
a.
Primary reinforcers are reinforcing in and of themselves.
b.
Secondary reinforcers become reinforcing because of their association
with primary reinforcers.
2.
There are two types of reinforcement—positive and negative—and both
increase the chances a behavior will be repeated.
a.
Positive reinforcement is a consequence that provides a desired stimulus
following an operant behavior.
b.
Negative reinforcement is a consequence that takes away an unpleasant
stimulus following an operant behavior.
C.
Punishments are unpleasant stimuli from the environment.
1.
There are two types of punishment—positive and negative
a.
Positive punishment is a consequence that provides an unpleasant stimulus
following an operant behavior.
b.
Negative punishment is a consequence that takes away a rewarding
stimulus following an operant behavior.
2.
Both types of punishment lower the chances that a behavior will be repeated.
D.
Schedules of intermittent reinforcement provide reinforcements after either fixed or
variable number of responses (a ratio schedule), or afer fixed or variable intervals of
time (an interval schedule).
1.
fixed ratio schedule—a person or animal is rewarded every time they make a
predetermined number of responses
2.
variable ratio schedule—a person or animal is rewarded after a predetermined
average number of responses
3.
fixed interval schedule—a person or animal is reinforced every time a certain
period of time passes
4.
variable interval schedule—a person or animal is reinforced after varying
lengths of time have passed
5.
Any intermittent reinforcement modifies behavior more effectively than
continuous reinforcement.
6.
Behavior modification is the application of operant conditioning reinforcement
principles in attempt to change behavior.
E.
Shaping, or rewarding successive approximations of a behavior, uses operant
conditioning principles to teach new behaviors. People and animals are limited in the
behaviors they can learn, however, by their biological endowments.
F.
Learned helplessness occurs when previous learning that punishment is inescapable
interferes with the later ability to learn how to avoid escapable punishment. It may be
related to depression or the behavior of abuse victims.
G.
Latent learning, including insight learning and spatial navigation learning, seems to
take place in the absence of any reinforcement.
IV. Observational Learning
A. Observational learning is learning by watching the behavior of others. We are likely
to model, or imitate, others’ behavior that we see rewarded.
B.
V.
Many people are concerned that high levels of violence in media encourage viewers
to model such aggression. Albert Bandura’s “Bobo doll” study demonstrated that
children engage in aggressive behavior after watching a model demonstrate
aggression.
Factors that Aid Learning
A. Repeated, spaced practice aids learning of semantic material, such as classroom
information.
B.
We can learn without paying attention and some tasks are easier to learn that way, but
focused attention aids semantic learning.
VI. When We Learn What Happens In the Brain?
A. Many regions of the brain are involved in different types of learning.
B.
Long-term potentiation is a change in the ability of networks of neurons, in which the
postsynaptic neuron becomes more active in response to certain neurotransmitter
signals.
C.
Learning may also be linked to the addition of more synapses in the brain, either
through growing new neurons or by adding dendrites to existing ones.
VII. Prenatal and Postnatal Learning How We Develop
A. We are capable of nonassociative learning, both habituation and sensitization, before
birth, as well as basic associative learning.
B.
We become capable of increasingly complex forms of learning as relevant areas of
our brains mature after we are born.
VIII. Learning and Gender How We Differ
A. Studies show small, but consistent average differences between males and females in
learning, with males performing better at mental-rotation tasks and females better at
verbal learning. Boys also tend to average higher mathematics scores on standardized
tests.
B.
Environmental factors, such as stereotype threat, may contribute these gender
differences. Stereotype threat is an awareness of negative stereotypes about oneself
that may interfere with performance in a variety of situations. Biological differences
in stress reactions may also play a role in test-score differences.
IX. Learning Disabilities When Things Go Wrong
A. A learning disability is a specific deficiency in one area of learning, while learning in
other areas takes place normally. Dyslexia is a common disability in learning to read.
Dyscalculia is a disability to learn mathematics.
B.
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD) affect concentration and can impair learning. Both are commonly treated
with stimulant drugs. The use and misuse of these drugs raises many ethical concerns.