Learning and Cognitive

Function
Unit 3

What is Learning?
How do we learn?

By Definition:
The acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by
being taught.

Classical Conditioning
A learning procedure in which associations are made between a neutral
stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus
- Pavlovs Dog Experiment (1902)
- Neutral Stimulus: Has nothing to do with the conditioning (tuning fork)
- Unconditioned Stimulus: Event that leads to untrained response (food)
- Unconditioned Response: A natural reaction to the US; relex (salivating)
- Conditioned Stimulus: A previously normal reaction that leads to a trained
response (tuning fork)
- Conditioned Response: Learned response to CS (salivation)

Little Albert
John B. Watson (1919-1920)

What is the purpose of Classical

Conditioning?
Helps us adapt to environment and avoid danger

Generally happens slowly over time; each pairing makes it strong

Eventually Conditioned Responses become extinct; but can reappear

randomly through a process called spontaneous recovery

Taste Aversion
Have you ever eaten something you have either never tried before or
something questionable to its freshness?
After that experience did you get physically sick afterwards (sometimes
hours afterwards)?
Did you then blame what you ate as the reason for getting sick?
That is called Taste Aversion

Operant Conditioning
Definition:
Is a form of learning. In it, an individual changes its behaviour because
of the consequences (results) of the behaviour.
Common form of learning.

Skinners Box Experiment

B.F. Skinner (1948)
In a specially designed box Skinner would reward hungry lab rats food
for pressing a button or lever.
After the pleasurable experience of eating the rats would continuously
press the level to get food.
The more the rats pushed the level, the more food they got.

Reinforcement
Positive Reinforcement: Every time a dog sits when commanded you
give them a treat.
Negative Reinforcement: Every time a dog refuses to sit you blow a dog
whistle until they sit.
Primary Reinforcer: Satisfied a biological need (food)
Secondary Reinforcer: Has been paired with a primary reinforcer to
condition it (money)

Social Learning
This is a theory based on how people make decisions and act upon the
information available to them.
Two types:
Cognitive Learning
Modeling

Cognitive Learning
Concerned with the mental processes involved in learning
-

Cognitive = Knowledge or knowing

Cognitive Map: A mental picture

-

Edward Tolman (1930s): Rats in a maze take the shortest available route to their
reward

Latent Learning: Learning details without a reinforcer and unaware of

the process
-

Have you ever been lost driving and had to find a location without GPS?

Learned Helplessness: Conditioned that attempts to control a situation

fail, thus resulting in a feeling that the situation is uncontrollable.

Modeling
Learning by imitating others; copying behavior
-

Standard modeling, no learning (or acquiring new responses) occurs

Observational Learning: Watches a behavior and tried to reproduce that

behavior
-

Albert Bandura: Bobo Doll Experiment (1961)

Disinhibition: Observe someone perform a dangerous, threatening, or

forbidden act and receive no punishment or negative consequences.
-

Teach others to repeat act and lessen phobias

Using Conditioning and Learning Theory to

Improve your Study Habits
- Find a new place to study, read, or do homework
- STOP as soon as you start to lose interest (daydream, fidget,
doodle, etc.)
- Once you realize you are losing interest set a specific number of pages to read or
problems to complete before stopping (read 1 more page or do one more problem)

- Next time you study do the same process only add a page or
problem to your total and so on until you can focus read longer or
complete more math
- Why will this work?

Memory
Input, storage, and retrieval of what has been learned or experienced.
Encoding: 1st process in memory
- Use sense codes to to help you remember experiences from your
senses
Storage: 2nd process in memory
- Maintaining of encoded information over periods of time
Retrieval: 3rd process in memory
- Bringing encoded information back to the mind for use

Stages of Memory: Sensory Memory

Your senses create short, fraction of a second memories before they
disappear
Iconic Memory: Hold short term visual memory for up to one second
Echo Memory: Holds auditory memories for up to two seconds
Purposes of of Sensory Memory:
1.Keep from being overwhelmed
2.Time to make decisions
3.Continuity and stability

Stages of Memory: Short-Term Memory

Any information be stored in your conscious mind (Working Memory)
Maintenance Rehearsal: Repeating information to maintain its place in
short term memory
- Speaking a phone number out loud
Chunking: Grouping related items together to expand our memory
capabilities
- Able to remember roughly 7 chunks
Primacy-Recency Effect: Better at remembering information at the
beginning and end of a set

Stages of Memory: Long-Term Memory

Semantic Memory: Knowledge of language and its rules
Episodic Memory: Memories of our own life
Declarative Memory: Combination of both Episodic and Semantic
memories
Procedural Memory: Learned skills that can be nonconsciously used

Memory and the Brain

Retrieval
Recognition: Memory retrieval in which a person identifies an object,
idea, or situation as one he or she has or has not experienced before
- Seeing a friend in a crowd unexpectedly
Recall: Memory retrieval in which a person constructs previously learned
material
- Bringing specific knowledge to the forefront of your consciousness
on command

Recall
Aspects of Recall:
Constructive Processes: Memories can be distorted because of
perception, emotion, attitude, etc. at time of intake
Confabulation: Filling in gaps in memory with our own thoughts on what
was missing; often times it could be incorrect
Schemas: The conceptual framework in which we use to make sense of
the world around us. Based on various schemas perception can be
distorted.

Relearning
The ability to refresh ones own memory about something that was
previously known.
- The ability to recite the words to a song you knew as a child after
only listening to it once or twice.

Forgetting
Decay: Short term memories fade quickly, but many long term
memories either never fade or can be recalled with the assistance of
meditation, hypnosis, or stimulation.
Interference: The blocking of a memory from recall (2 forms)
- Proactive interference: A new memory blocks an older memory
- Retroactive interference: An older memory blocks a newer memory

Amnesia
Memory loss due to a head trauma or negative drug reaction
Infant Amnesia: Lack of long term memories from early childhood
- Freud: Emotional repression
- Lack of language skills to create connections
- Underdeveloped hippocampus
- Lack of a sense of self

Memory Tricks
Elaborative Rehearsal: Relating new information to information
previously known
- Linking names and faces with actions or events
Mnemonic Devices: Techniques of memory association
- PAO (Place, Action, Object)
- Method of Loci (location association)
- Acronym rhymes: R.I.C.E (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation)

Thinking
Changing or reorganizing of information to create new information
Units of Thought:
Images:

Creating a mental representation of something in order to examine it

Symbols:

Anything that stands for something else; representative, no direct meaning

Concepts:

A label given to a group of objects in common

Prototypes:
Rules:

A representative description of a concept

A statement of relation between concepts

Kinds of Thinking
Directed or Convergent Thinking: Logical attempt to reach a goal (Math)
- Deliberate and purposeful
- Solve problems, follow rules, and work towards goals
Nondirected or Divergent Thinking: Free flow of thoughts with no true
direction
- Full of imagery, fantasies, and daydreams
- Occurs when bored or worried, can lead to great ideas
Metacognition: Thinking about thinking

Problem Solving
Strategies: Break a problem into subgroups
- Algorithms
- Heuristics
Mental Sets: A habitual way of attempting to solve a problem
- Functional Fixedness: Inability to think of new uses for common
objects
- MacGyver

Creativity
Flexibility: Ability to remain open to alternative strategies
Recombination: Rearranging something to create an original solution
Insight: The apparent sudden realization of the solution to a problem

What kind of creative brain are you?

- Complete Schoology survey

Language
Elements of Language:
Phonemes - Smallest unit of sound in language
Morphemes - Smallest unit of meaning in language
Syntax - Rules for combining words into meaningful phrases
Semantics - The study of meaning of language

Gender, Culture and Language

Do people who speak different languages think different than each
other? Benjamin Whorf (1956)
Linguistic Relativity: Words or lack of words can show importance in a
culture

Language has influenced gender through titles and pronouns.

- Chairman, businessman, etc.
- Pronouns culturally identify gender roles

Motivation
Both Psychological and Physiological factors that cause us to act a
certain way
What drives us? It can not be directly observed or identified, only
inferred
- Why does someone study on a Friday and Saturday night?
- Why does someone run a marathon?
- Why does someone work the night shift?
- Why does a single mother of two go back to school?
We are all motivated in different ways

Instinct Theory
William McDougall (1908) - Humans are motivated by innate instincts.
Humans have many instincts such as cleanliness, curiosity, parental
love, hunger, sociability, and sympathy to name a few.
Theory proposes human are driven by a need to fulfill their instincts

Biological Motives
- Hunger (food and water)
- Shelter
- Safety
- Fear (survival)
- Sleep
Your bodies systems are wired to avoid drastic changes to their
systems. Because of this you are conditioned to return to homeostasis
- If you are too cold you shiver to create energy or warmth, if you are
too hot you sweat to cool off

Social Motives
- Fear of failure, drive for success
- Approval from loved ones
Maslows Hierarchy of Needs

Drive-Reduction Theory
Humans have both Psychological and Physiological needs (Food or
Affection)
Needs create a drive
When deprived of a need, you are driven to act and obtain your goal of
returning oneself to homeostasis.
Harry Harlow - Surrogate monkey mothers

Incentive Theory
Drive is internal and causes an action, but the action is directed towards
a goal
Drive strong = Incentive weak
- Super hungry, eat something blah
Drive weak = Incentive strong
- Dont like to do chores, but want to hang out with friends

Cognitive Theory
Internal and external forces cause os to act in certain ways towards
certain goals
Extrinsic Motivation: Doing something to reduce a biological need,
obtain incentives, avoid punishment, or obtain external rewards.
- Clean out your car so you dont get grounded
Intrinsic Motivation: Doing something because it is personally rewarding
or fulfilling
- Clean out your car because you enjoy a nice, clean car

Emotion
Set of complex reactions to stimuli involving subjective feelings,
physiological arousal, and observable behavior.
Why do feel emotions?
1.Interpret a stimulus
2.Subjective feeling
3.Physiological response
4.Displaying observable behavior

Parts of Emotions
Physical: Inward arousal that directs the body how to respond
Behavioral: Observable, outward expressions
Cognitive: Mental interpretation of an event

James-Lange Theory
William James and Carl Lang (1922)
What we call emotions are the physical reactions that happen to us
- Feel sad because we cry
- Feel angry because we fight
Emotion sequence:
1.Bodily change occurs
2.Outward emotion (directly following)

Cannon-Bard Theory
Walter Cannon and Philip Bard (1934)
Thalamus controls emotional signals; Brain sends a simultaneous bust
to the body in the form of arousal and experience
- Later experiments showed the hypothalamus is involved in emotion,
not the thalamus
- Fight or Flight

Schachter-Singer Experiment
Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer (1962)
Experience a physiological arousal, interpret it, then feel the emotion,
and finally demonstrate the observable behavior
Adrenaline Experiment

Opponent-Process Theory
A classically conditioned state in which your emotions push and pull one
another based on experience and homeostasis.
- You hear a creepy noise downstairs at night (fear)
- Realize it is your dog getting into the pantry (relief)
The deeper the thought and experience with a situation the stronger
the emotion