Download Myers Module Twenty

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 mp 277 Fig. 20.1,c p267 f7.1
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 m
p277 Fig. 20.2, cp 267 f7.2
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 m p279Fig. 20.3, cp269 f7.3 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 m p 281 Fig. 20.5, m271 f7.5: 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.
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Generalization is adaptive, but also non-adaptive.
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See m p282 Fig. 20.7, c p 273 f 7.7
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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.
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.