Download Module 20 Basic Learning Concepts and Classical

Learning
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Adaptability is our capacity to learn new behaviors that
help us cope with changing circumstances.
Learning is the process of acquiring new and relatively
enduring information or behaviors.
We learn by association: we connect events that occur in
sequence.
Classical conditioning: we associate two stimuli and thus
anticipate events, such as Fig. 20.1
Operant conditioning: we associate a response (our
behavior) and its consequence. Thus we learn to repeat
acts followed by good results, and avoid acts followed by
bad results, such as Fig. 20.2
Observational learning: we learn behaviors by watching
others perform them.
Classical Conditioning
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Respondent behavior occurs as an automatic response to
a stimulus. You don't have to teach puppies how to drool.
Neutral stimulus elicits no response to a stimulus before
conditioning.
Unconditioned response, an unlearned naturally occurring
response (such as salivation) to an unconditioned
stimulus such as food in the mouth.
Unconditioned stimulus a stimulus that naturally and
automatically triggers a response.
Conditioned response: a learned to previously neutral but
now conditioned stimulus.
Conditioned stimulus: an originally irrelevant stimulus,
that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus,
comes to trigger a conditioned response.
Classical Conditioning
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Memorize Fig. 20.3 for the next exam.
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Note the acronyms!
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Acquisition: the initial stage, when one links a neutral
stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the
neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned
response.
Higher-order conditioning: a procedure in which the
conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is
paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second
(often weaker) conditioned stimulus.
For example, an animal that has learned that a tone
predicts food might then learn that a light predicts the
tone, and begins responding to the light alone.
Timing is crucial! Conditioning will not occur if the neutral
stimulus follows the unconditioned stimulus.
Classical Conditioning
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Extinction: the diminishing of a conditioned response.
Occurs when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a
conditioned stimulus.
See Fig. 20.5: The rising curve shows that the CR rapidly
grows stronger as the NS becomes a CS as it is
repeatedly paired with the US (acquisition), then weakens
as the CS is presented alone (extinction). After a pause,
the CR reappears (spontaneous recovery).
Only with the advent of neuroscience could we explain
why spontaneous recovery occurs. This is reason for Web
Article Three.
We now know that once a behavior is strongly learned,
there is a permanent and difficult to remove restructuring
in our neural networks.
Classical Conditioning
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Generalization: Pavlov noticed that a dog conditioned to
the sound of one tone also responded somewhat to the
sound of a new and different tone.
Generalization is adaptive, but also non-adaptive.
See Fig. 20.7 Abused children's sensitized brains react
more strongly to angry faces. This generalized anxiety
response may help to explain their greater risk of
psychological disorders.
Verosky & Todorov, 2010: We like unfamiliar people more
if they look somewhat like someone we already like.
Classical Conditioning
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Discrimination: the ability to distinguish between a
conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an
unconditioned stimulus.
The ability to recognize differences is adaptive.
Pavlov's legacy: Many other response to many other
stimuli can be classically conditioned in many other
organisms.
Learning can be studied objectively; that is, by applying
the scientific method of hypothesis testing.
For Web Article Three: Siegel, 2005: Former drug users
often feel a craving when they are again in the drug-using
context.
Drug counselors advise addicts to steer clear of people
and settings that may trigger these cravings.