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Chapter 11
Observational
Learning:
Watching, Listening,
and Remembering
Slides prepared by
Mary Waterstreet, St. Ambrose University
11.1
Behavioral
Processes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
A2syxXPR7xY
11.1 Behavioral Processes
•
Learning by Copying
•
Learning and Memory in Everyday Life—
What Can a Child Learn from a Teletubby?
•
Alternatives to Imitation
•
Social Transmission of Information
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Learning by Copying
•
Observational learning—learning new
behavior from watching another demonstrate
the action (also, social learning).
Copying = doing what one observes another doing.
Facebook memory
•
In observational learning researchers cannot
reliably predict learning outcome.
Difficult to predict what is perceived.
Nothing compels observer to copy.
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Learning by Copying
•
True imitation—copying that reproduces
motor actions.
•
Emulation—copying that replicates an
outcome (goal) without reproducing the
specific motor actions used to achieve the
outcome.
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Bandura and
Observational Learning
•
Bandura and colleagues (1961): Will
preschool children become more aggressive
after observing aggressive adults?
Adult acted aggressively toward Bobo doll.
Children imitated (modeled) what they saw.
Children were not rewarded for their actions or for
their interactions with the Bobo doll.
Thus, similarities in actions did NOT result from
instrumental conditioning.
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Scenes from Bandura’s Bobo
Doll Experiment
Bandura, A., Ross, D., & Ross, S. A. (1961) Transmission of aggression through imitation
of aggressive models, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63, 575–582.
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Bandura and
Observational Learning
•
In Bandura study, children were provoked;
denied toy immediately before test.
Children who were NOT provoked (but observed
adult aggression) were less likely to copy.
Meaning, in some cases viewing can inhibit, rather
than increase, aggressive behavior.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDtBz_1dkuk
•
Findings:
Viewing adult aggression strongly influences child
behavior, even without reward or punishment.
Leaning occurs during observation NOT imitation.
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True Imitation: Copying Actions
•
Two-action test—technique to demonstrate
imitation abilities by exposing naive animals
to demonstrators who use different actions to
achieve a single goal.
Can identify true imitation.
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True Imitation: Copying Actions
•
Experiments with quail:
Naive quail observed a demonstrator quail earn
food for lever pressing with its head (pecking) or
feet (stepping).
Quail tended to imitate the specific actions they
observed, illustrating true imitation.
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Two-Action Test of True Imitation in Quail
Adapted from Akins & Zentall, 1996.
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True Imitation: Copying Actions
•
Experiments with children and chimpanzees:
Children and chimpanzees observed adult humans
use one of two techniques (poke or twist) to open a
plastic box containing a reward.
Both children and chimpanzees tended to use the
observed box-opening technique.
But children more likely to copy non-essential details;
details not part of opening box.
Illustrates both chimps and children can truly
imitate.
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Two-Action Test of True Imitation in
Children and Chimpanzees
Adapted from Whiten et al., 1996.
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Emulation: Copying Goals
•
Most evidence of emulation is seen through
the two-action test.
In box-opening task children more likely to replicate
precise actions.
Chimps more likely to emulate using their own
opening methods.
•
In experiments that replicated box-opening
task with adult humans:
Adults more likely to emulate than truly imitate
opening box to get reward (similar to chimps).
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Stimulus Matching: Copying
Outcomes of Specific Actions
•
Stimulus matching—imitation in which
generated stimuli can be directly compared
with observed stimuli.
•
In vocal learning, use memory of sound to
imitate sound with own vocal organs (e.g.,
speech or song learning).
Many birds learn songs by imitation.
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Stimulus Matching: Copying
Outcomes of Specific Actions
•
Template model of song learning—
young birds easily
learn songs
similar to their
species innate
“template.”
Three basic phases:
Memorization
Practice
Appropriate utilization
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Stimulus Matching: Copying
Outcomes of Specific Actions
Some birds constrained to specific sound
sequences; others (mynah birds, parrots) can
precisely reproduce sounds of other species.
•
Other examples of mammal
vocal learning:
Kelvin Aitken/Peter Arnold, Inc.
•
Some dolphins can imitate
sounds.
Some humpback whales imitate
whale songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6KWQYaaOJI
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Social Learning Theory
•
Social learning theory—an individual’s
past reinforcements will determine how that
individual will act in any given situation.
Explains learning through observation.
Imitation reveals such learning.
Basic premise = behavior learned without direct
reinforcement or punishment.
Acquisition is not the same as performance.
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Social Learning Theory
•
Bandura has identified four basic processes
for observational learning:
Attention to model.
Retention (memory of observation).
Ability to reproduce.
Motivation (imitation from vicarious reinforcement).
Status of model
Similarity to model
Desirability of outcome or goal
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Learning and Memory in Everyday Life—
What Can a Child Learn from a Teletubby?
Advantages: children might
model peaceful, happy actions.
e.g., hugging, sharing
•
Disadvantages: children might
model infantile actions.
e.g., nonsensical speech
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC1tikkotVU&feature=related
•
A child’s previous behavior may best predict
actions learned.
Amy Sussman/Getty Images
•
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Alternatives to Imitation
•
Laughing is contagious!
•
So is laughing a contagion?
Contagion = innate tendency to react emotionally
to visual or acoustic stimuli that elicit similar
response in other members of one’s species.
•
Contagion may contribute to observational
conditioning.
Learning an emotional response after observing
similar responses.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkB9uoBFbZY
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Donna Day/Riser/Getty Images
Classical
Conditioning
through Contagion
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Observational Conditioning in
Blackbirds
Adapted from Shettleworth, 1998.
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Stimulus Enhancement
•
Stimulus enhancement—one organism
directs another’s attention to specific
objects, events, or locations in
an environment.
May result in similar
actions that are not
necessarily imitated
actions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ddJc9a1aGQ
Getty Images/Imageworks
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Social Transmission of
Information
•
Social transmission of information—
process by which an observer learns from
others’ experiences.
Books, videos, television, phones, computers,
etc., facilitate transmission of knowledge and
culture in complex ways.
Simple forms of information transfer in animals
(e.g., rats) provide a model for the basic
processes involved.
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Learning through Social
Conformity
•
Social Conformity = tendency to adopt the
behavior of the group.
For example, rats learn food preferences from
smelling a demonstrator rat’s breath.
Fire alarm
•
How might your family or friends influence
your preferences?
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Adapted from Shettleworth, 1998.
Social Transmission of Rats’ Food Preferences
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Active Instruction and Culture
•
Active instruction or explanation is a
powerful means to disseminate information
to be learned.
•
Examples:
Humans teach about culture through explanation
(active instruction through speech).
Animals teach survival skills to their young.
Non-human animal examples = rare.
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Effects of Violent Entertainment
on Behavior
•
There are no simple answers, as Bandura
has been pointing out for many years.
•
Models do not control others’ actions; there
is choice, especially for adults.
•
Nevertheless, a culture that values
aggression provides aggressive models for
imitation or emulation.
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Correlation between Television and
Homicides in the United States
Adapted from Centerwall, 1992.
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11.1 Interim Summary
•
Psychologists use “observational learning”
to identify situations in which:
Learner actively monitors events.
Later, learner chooses actions based on
observations.
•
Observational learning differs from classical
and instrumental conditioning.
No way to reliably predict what individuals
exposed to the actions of others will learn.
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11.1 Interim Summary
•
True imitation = copying that involves
reproducing motor acts.
Can be demonstrated using a two-action test.
Single operation can be performed in at least two ways.
•
Seeing two organisms sequentially
performing similar actions does not constitute
evidence of imitation.
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11.1 Interim Summary
•
Emulation = copying that involves
replicating an outcome without replicating
specific motor acts.
Involves using observation to acquire information
about the environment and about consequences
of events within that environment.
Outcomes can be replicated independently of the
specific actions that a model may have used to
achieve those outcomes.
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11.1 Interim Summary
•
Seeing- and hearing-based imitation involve
translation of sensory representations into
motor acts that replicate observed events.
•
The ability to either imitate or emulate
ultimately depends on the availability of
memories for facts or events.
•
Many bird species learn songs, but among
mammals, only humans and a few species of
whales show similar abilities.
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11.1 Interim Summary
•
For social learning theorists, imitative
learning = a special case of instrumental
conditioning.
Act of copying is either directly or indirectly
reinforced.
Similarity between model and observer increases
the likelihood of copying.
Copying is more likely to be attempted if the
observed outcome is desirable.
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11.1 Interim Summary
•
In contagion, observation of response
reflexively evokes that same response.
•
Stimulus enhancement increases the
likelihood that an animal will be repeatedly
exposed to particular stimuli (and
associated consequences).
Provides more opportunities for habituation,
latent learning, classical conditioning, or
instrumental conditioning.
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11.2
Brain
Substrates
11.2 Brain Substrates
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Mirror Neurons in the Cortex
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Song Learning in Bird Brains: Replicating
Observed Events
•
Unsolved Mysteries—Why Can’t Most
Mammals Imitate Sounds?
•
Hippocampal Encoding of Socially
Transmitted Food Preferences
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How does the Brain Translate
Observational Learning?
•
Basic Problem: How to map observed
events onto motor commands needed to
generate same events?
Visual hypothesis—memories for perceived acts
stored in visual cortical regions.
Direct-matching hypothesis—observing action
automatically activates neural system required to
perform the same act; also, stores memories for
the act.
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Mirror Neurons in the Cortex
•
Mirror neurons = neurons that respond
during both visual observation and
performance of the same action.
Specific mirror neurons in monkeys (seeing/doing).
•
Possible role in:
Imitation and emulation
Perceptual-motor skill
learning
Interpretation of actions
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Mirror Neurons in the Cortex
•
Indirect (non-invasive) measures show
activity in human (and monkey) cortexes;
they behave as if mirror neurons are present.
Activity corresponds to motor activity for the original
specific event.
Human cortical networks respond similarly to either
human OR monkey models; likewise for monkey
networks.
Mirror neuron systems = basic system for imitation; no
higher-level cognition required.
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Mirror Neurons in Human Cortex?
Adapted from Rizzolatti et al., 1996.
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Mirror Neurons in the Cortex
•
Cortical mirror systems may connect to our
other neural systems.
•
Might explain our cortical size and learning
advantages we have over most other
animals.
43
•
Birds use the high vocal
center (HVC) and robust
nucleus of the archistriatum
(RA) to produce songs.
Neurons in the RA act like
mirror neurons.
•
Adapted from Brainard & Doupe, 2000.
Song Learning in Bird Brains:
Replicating Observed Events
Use Area X and lateral magnocellular
nucleus of the anterior neostriatum (LMAN)
to form song skill memories.
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Song Learning in Bird Brains:
Replicating Observed Events
•
Songbirds’ vocal learning is limited to the
songs of their own species.
•
Clarifying the neural
mechanisms for
bird song learning
facilitates
understanding of
both vocal and
behavioral imitation.
Adapted from Brainard & Doupe, 2000.
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Unsolved Mysteries—Why Can’t
Most Mammals Imitate Sounds?
•
Humans and marine mammals, such as
dolphins and humpback whales, can
vocally imitate.
•
Large cortices and cerebella may provide
underlying neural substrates.
•
Voluntary control of respiratory systems
may be a key factor in vocal imitation.
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Hippocampal Encoding of Socially
Transmitted Food Preferences
•
In studies, observer rats exposed to food
odor on demonstrator rat’s breath.
With hippocampal damage, observer rats show
retrograde amnesia for socially-transmitted food
preferences.
•
Studies of observer rats with damaged
basal forebrain neurons (modulate
hippocampus) show similar amnesia.
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Hippocampal Encoding of Socially
Transmitted Food Preferences
• Studies
of observer rats with damage to
their basal forebrain cholinergic neurons
(modulate cortical activity) have
anterograde amnesia.
• Thus,
studies show that (in rats)
hippocampus and basal forebrain are
necessary for socially transmitted food
preferences.
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11.2 Interim Summary
•
Before any action can be imitated, it must be
recognized.
Mirror neurons fire the same way when a monkey
performs an action and when it sees another
monkey performing that action.
•
Neuroimaging studies correlate activation in
cortical areas where mirror neurons are
likely to be found with performance or
observation of particular actions.
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11.2 Interim Summary
•
Many of the systems involved in performing
a skill may also be involved in learning that
skill through observation.
•
Most neural-firing changes observed in birds’
song-learning circuit occur during practice.
•
Genetic predispositions suggest that birds’
vocal imitation is more constrained than
mammals’ behavioral imitation.
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11.2 Interim Summary
•
Memories that rats form based on socially
transmitted information about foods depend
on the hippocampus and basal forebrain.
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11.3
Clinical
Perspectives
11.3 Clinical Perspectives
•
Imitation in Autistic Individuals
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Effects of Frontal Lobe Lesions on
Imitation
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Autism and
Asperger’s Syndrome
•
Autism—developmental disorder, affects
behavior and communication, such as:
Language delay
Self-stimulation
Echolalia ( immediate vocal imitation of words or
phrases)
Can imitate sound; difficulty imitating actions.
•
Asperger’s syndrome = mild form of autism,
with intact intellect and language ability, but
social deficits. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAfWfsop1e0
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Imitation in Autistic Individuals
•
Autistic children show impairments in action
imitation from early age.
Especially deficits perspective-taking (they recreate
what is seen, not action that produced outcome).
•
In studies with two-action (box-opening) task:
Younger autistic children had abnormal imitative
responses.
Were compared to older autistic children (who
imitated model’s actions normally).
Suggests a neuro-developmental delay.
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Imitation in Autistic Individuals
•
In studies with do-as-I-do task:
Autistic children successfully imitated simple
actions (e.g., drinking).
Impaired imitation for sequences of actions.
Problem linking observed actions to those that can be
performed.
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Brain Impairment in
Autistic Individuals
•
Anatomical differences in brain structures
may affect subset of mirror neuron circuits.
Differences in size.
Decrease in activity-related blood circulation in
temporal lobes.
Abnormal patterns of cortical activation.
•
Abnormal processing in cerebellum and
hippocampus may contribute to imitative
deficits.
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Imitation Studies and Asperger’s
•
Circuits near mirror neuron system, as well
as patterns of activation, abnormal in
individuals with Asperger’s.
•
In studies with do-as-I-do task:
Magnetoencephalograph (MEG) readings
showed delayed and slowed cortical activation,
compared to control group.
Asperger’s patients imitated facial expressions.
But, imitation started later, took longer.
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Asperger’s
Patients
Show Slower
Responses
When
Imitating
Facial
Expressions
Adapted from Nishitani, Avikainen, & Hari, 2004; Nishitani, N., Avikainen, S., & Hari, R. (2004). Abnormal imitation-related
cortical activation sequences in Asperger’s syndrome. Annals of Neurology, 55(4), 558–562.
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Effects of Frontal-Lobe Lesions
on Imitation
•
Are the neural mechanisms involved in
distinguishing self-generated actions from
externally-triggered actions impaired in
patients with frontal lobe lesions?
•
Voluntary control of imitation may require
more circuitry than most mammals
possess.
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Effects of Frontal-Lobe Lesions
on Imitation
•
Patients with frontal lobe lesions may
imitate observed responses unintentionally.
Also, difficulty imitating intentional responses.
•
In studies with finger-movement task,
patients more likely to mistakenly imitate a
finger movement inconsistent with a
movement instructed by a number.
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Spontaneous Imitation Induced by
Frontal Lobe Damage
Adapted from Brass, Derrfuss, Matthes-von Cramon, & von Cramon, 2003; Brass, M., Derrfuss, J.,
Matthes-von Cramon, G., & von Cramon, D. Y. (2003). Imitative response tendencies in patients with
frontal brain lesions. Neuropsychology, 17(2), 265–271.
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11.3 Interim Summary
•
Autistic individuals may repeat words or
phrases immediately after hearing them
spoken (echolalia).
Requires vocal imitation abilities.
•
However, autistic children actually seem
less able to learn from imitation than
children without autism.
63
11.3 Interim Summary
•
Patients with frontal lobe lesions tend to
imitate observed actions automatically.
But, have difficulty imitating actions when
instructed to do so.
Similar to individuals with autism.
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