Chapter 5: Learning

Learning – relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
 Learning to make an involuntary (reflex) response to a stimulus other than the original, natural
stimulus that normally produces the reflex
 Reflex – an involuntary response, one that is not under personal control or choice

 Ivan Pavlov
 1849-1936
 Russian psychologist
 Discovered classical conditioning

 Elements of Classical Conditioning

1) Unconditioned (Unlearned) Stimulus -> Food
 A natural occurring stimulus that leads to an involuntary response
2) Unconditioned Response -> Salivate
 Involuntary reflex to a naturally occurring stimulus
3) Conditioned (Learned) Stimulus -> Bell
 Stimulus that becomes able to produce a learned reflex response by being paired with the
original unconditioned stimulus
4) Conditioned Response -> Salivate
 Learned reflex response to a conditioned stimulus

Neutral Stimulus -> Unconditioned Stimulus -> Unconditioned Response

Neutral Stimulus (Bell) – Stimulus that has no effect on the desired response

 Stimulus Generalization and Discrimination

 Stimulus Generalization – tendency to respond to a stimulus that is only similar to the
original conditioned stimulus with the conditioned response

Higher similarity to original stimulus = Higher intensity of response

 Stimulus Discrimination – tendency to stop making a generalized response to a stimulus that

is similar to the original conditioned stimulus because the similar stimulus is never paired
with the unconditioned stimulus

 Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery

 Spontaneous Recovery – the reappearance of a learned response after extinction has
occurred
 Extinction – the disappearance or weakening of a learned response following the
removal/absence of the unconditioned stimulus (classical conditioning) or the removal of a
reinforce (operant conditioning)

 Higher Order Conditioning

 Occurs when a strong conditioned stimulus is paired with a neutral stimulus, causing the
neutral stimulus to become a second conditioned stimulus

 Types of Classical Conditioning

1) Conditioned Emotional Response
 Emotional response that has become classically conditioned to occur to learned stimuli
o Little Albert
 o Vicarious Conditioning
 When you learn something simply by watching people react
 Ex: Injections, Sharks, Zombies

2) Conditioned Taste Aversion

 Development of a nausea or aversive response to a particular taste because that taste was
followed by a nausea reaction, occurring after only one association

3) Biological Preparedness
 Referring to the tendency of animals to learn certain associations, such as taste and nausea,
with only one or few pairings due to the survival value of learning

Stimulus Substitution – Original theory in which Pavlov states that classical conditioning occurred because
the conditioned stimulus became a substitute for the unconditioned stimulus by being paired closely together

Cognitive Perspective - Modern theory in which classical conditioning is seen to occur because the
conditioned stimulus provides information or expectancy about the coming of the unconditioned stimulus

OPERANT CONDITIONING
 The learning of voluntary behavior through the effects of pleasant and unpleasant
consequences to responses

 Thorndike’s Law of Effect

 Responses followed by pleasurable consequences are repeated

 Skinner’s Contribution
 B. F. Skinner
o 1904 – 1990
o Studied observable, measurable behavior
 Operant: voluntary behavior
 Learning depends on consequences

Classical Conditioning – what’s important is what happens BEFORE the action

Operant Conditioning - what’s important is what happens AFTER the action

 Reinforcement
 Any consequence that makes a response more likely
 Types of Reinforcers:
o Primary Reinforcer
 Reinforcer meeting a basic biological need or drive
o Secondary Reinforcer
 Reinforcing via pairing with a primary reinforce (ex. Money)
 Types of Reinforcement:
o Positive
 Addition of a pleasurable stimulus
o Negative
 Removal, escape or avoidance of an aversive stimulus

Partial Reinforcement Effect – Tendency for a response that is reinforced after some, but not
all, correct responses to be very resistant to extinction

Continuous Reinforcement – Reinforcement of each and every correct response

 Schedules of Reinforcement
 Fixed Ratio
o Same number of desired responses required
o Rapid response rate with short pauses
o Ex. Starbucks Planner
 Variable Ratio
o Number of responses required varies for each event
o Rapid rate without pauses
 Fixed Interval
o Always same time before reinforcement opportunity
o Long pauses after reinforcement
o Ex. Salary
 Variable Interval
o Reinforcement possibilities after carrying amounts of time
o Slower, steady rate without pauses

 Punishment
 Any consequence
 4 ways to modify behavior

Pleasant Unpleasant
Add Positive Reinforcement Punishment by Application
Remove Punishment by Removal Negative Reinforcement

 Different Types of Punishment:

o Application – Addition of unpleasant stimulus
o Removal – Removal of pleasurable stimulus
 Negative Reinforcement vs. Punishment by Removal
o Negative Reinforcement
 Removal of unpleasant things
 You’ll end up feeling better
o Punishment by Removal
 Removal of pleasant things
 You’ll feel worse
 Punishment Problems
o Drawbacks to severe punishment:
1. Fear and Anxiety
2. Lying
3. Avoidance
4. Modeling of Aggression
 Making Punishment More Effective
o Punishment should be:
 Immediate
 Consistent
 Paired with reinforcement for correct behaviors

 Stimulus Control
 Discriminative Stimulus
o Cue to specific response for reinforcement (sign)
o Ex. Flashing light on police care, door that says “open”
 Shaping
o Small steps (successive approximations)
o Effective reinforcement
 o Heavy early reinforcement
o Reinforce less and less
o Incorporate harder steps
o Successive Approximations – Small steps in behavior, one after the other, that lead
to a particular goal behavior
 Extinction
 Generalization and Discrimination
 Spontaneous Recovery

Biological Constraints:
 Instinctive Drift
o Animal’s conditioned behavior reverts to genetic patterns

 Behavior Modification
 The use of operant conditioning to bring about desired changes in behavior
 Behavior Modification Techniques:
1. Token Economy – Type of behavior modification in which desired behavior is rewarded
with tokens
2. Applied Behavior Analysis – Modern term for a form of functional analysis
3. Biofeedback – Controlling involuntary responses (e.g. Blood pressure) via biological
feedback
4. Neurofeedback – Modifying behavior via brain scanning and feedback about brain
activity

COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORY

 Early days of learning: Focus on behavior
 1950s and 1960s: Increased focus on mental events (cognition)
 Edward Tolman: Early cognitive scientist
 Learning vs. Performance

1. Latent Learning
o Learning that stays hidden until its application becomes useful
2. Insight Learning
o Köhler found evidence of insight, the sudden perception of the relationships among
elements of a problem, in chimpanzees
3. Learned Helplessness
o Tendency to fail to act to escape from a situation because of a history of repeated failures

OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING
 Learning new behavior
 Bobo doll experiment
 Two Conditions:
o Aggression and Non-aggressive Model

 Steps in Observational Learning:

1. Attention
2. Memory
3. Imitation
4. Motivation

Chapter 6: Memory
Memory – System that senses, organizes, alters, stores, and retrieves information
 Three Major Processes
1) Encoding – Converting environmental and mental stimuli into memorable brain codes
2) Storage – “Holding on” to encoded information
3) Retrieval – Pulling information from storage
 Models of Memory
1) Information-Processing Model
 Assumes processing of information for memory storage is similar to the way a computer
processes memory in a series of three stages
 Three Memory Systems: (Check book for diagram)
a) Sensory
 All information lost within a second or so
 Main process: Pattern Recognition
o Icons (Iconic) – visual sensory memory
 Eidetic Imagery – photographic memory
 George Sperling
o Echos (Echoic) – auditory memory
 Capacity: Large but not unlimited
 Duration of sensory codes: Very brief
 Ex. Jumbled letter reading
b) Short-term
 Memory system in which information is held for brief periods of time while being
used
 Unrehearsed information is lost in about 15 to 30 second
 Working Memory – an active system that processes the information in short-term
memory
o George Miller – digit span test
 Encoding: Primarily in auditory form
 Limited Capacity: About 3 to 5 items
o Chunking – if bits of information are combined into meaningful units, more
info can be held in STM
o Selective Attention - The ability to focus on only one stimulus from among
all sensory input (Cocktail Party Effect – when you hear your name)
o Duration: 12 to 30 seconds without rehearsal
 Maintenance Rehearsal: process of repeating the information over
and over again to retain it
c) Long-term
 System of memory into which all the information is placed to be kept more of less
permanently
 Information is retained indefinitely although some information may be difficult to
retrieve
 Capacity: Seemingly unlimited
 Duration: Relatively permanent
 Elaborative Rehearsal: A method of transferring information from STM into
LTM
 LTM by making that information meaningful in some way
 LTM Semantic Network
 Types of LTM:
1) Procedural Memory (Implicit)
 Motor skills, habits, classically conditioned reflexes
2) Declarative Memory (Explicit)
 Sematic Memory: facts, general knowledge
 Episodic Memory: events experienced by a person
 2) Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) Model
 Memory processes are proposed to take place at the same time over a large network of
neural connections
3) Level of Processing Model
 Assumes information that is more “deeply processed,” or processed according to its
meaning rather than just the sound or physical characteristic of the word or words, will be
remembered more efficiently and for a longer period of time
 Shallow -> Deep

RETRIEVAL OF LONG TERM MEMORIES

 Retrieval Cues: a stimulus for remembering
 The more cues stored with a price of information, the easier the retrieval
 Application of Retrieval Cues:
1) Encoding Specificity
 Tendency for memory of any kind of information to be improved if the
physical surroundings available when the memory is first formed are also
available when the memory is retrieved
2) State-Dependent Learning
 Memories formed during a particular physiological state will be easier to
remember while in a similar state
 Recall – memories are retrieved with few or no external cues, such as filling in the blanks
on an application form
 Serial Positioning Effect – most likely to remember first and last thing
 Primacy Effect – easier to remember the first information you encounter,
because you rehears it more frequently that the others
 Recency Effect – remember the last piece of information more easily
compared to the rest, except for the first one
 Recognition – involves looking at or hearing information and matching it to what is
already in memory
 Automatic Encoding
o Flashbulb Effect – Automatic encoding due to unexpected, highly emotional
event

RECONSTRUCTIVE NATURE OF LONG TERM MEMORY RETRIEVAL

Constructive Memory Processes:
 Constructive Processing – Retrieval/ content of memories altered by newer information
 Hindsight Bias
o The tendency to falsely believe, through revision of older memories to include
newer information, that one could have correctly predicted the outcome of an
event
 Tip of the Tongue
o One feels as though one knows information but can only generate bits and pieces
(e.g. Recalling a name)
 False Positive
o Occurs when one thinks that one recognizes someone or something in fact does
not
o Father Bernard – Falsely identified for a series of robberies that were eventually
confessed to by another man
 Misinformation Effect
o Misleading information presented after an event can affect memory accuracy for
event
 False-Memory Syndrome
o Creation of inaccurate or false memories via others’ suggestions, often while the
person is under hypnosis
FORGETTING
Forgetting - Failure to properly store information for future use

 Curve of Forgetting
 a graph showing a distinct pattern in which forgetting is very fast within the first hour
after learning a list and then tapers off gradually
 (SAMPLE OF GRAPH IN BOOK)

1. Distributed Practice
o Spacing the study of material to be remembered by including breaks between study
periods
2. Encoding Failure
o Failure to proves information into memory
o Some things never get conceded in the first place
3. Memory Trace
o Memory Trace Decay Theory
o Physical change in the brain that occurs when a memory is formed
o Decay: Loss of memory due to the passage of time, during which the memory trace is
not used
o Disuse – Another name for
4. Interference Theory
a. Proactive Interference – Information learned EARLIER interferes with information
learned LATER
b. Retroactive Interference – Information learned LATER interferes with information
learned EARLIER

NEUROSCIENCE OF MEMORY
 Brain areas associated with types of memory:
 Procedural memories: Cerebellum
 Short term memories: Prefrontal cortex and temporal lobes
 Semantic and episodic memories: Frontal and temporal lobes (different locations that for
STM)
 Fear of Objects: Amygdala
 Many physical changes in memory formation
o Number of receptor sites
o Sensitivity of the synapse through repeated stimulation (called long-term potentiation)
o Dendrites (proteins within the neurons)
 4R-BP2
o Specific protein in mammals which seems to control the production of new nervous-
system proteins
 Hippocampus
o Plays a vital role in the formation of new declarative memories
 Consolidation
o Alteration and the other changes that take place as a memory is forming

 When memory fails: Organic Amnesia

 Retrograde
o Loss of memory from the point of some injury or trauma backwards, or loss of
memory for the past
 Anterograde
o When memory for anything new becomes impossible, although old memories may
still be retrievable
  Infantile Amnesia
 The inability to retrieve memories form much before age 3
 Most likely due to the implicit nature of infant memory

 Autobiographical Memory
 Memory for events and facts related to one’s personal life story

 Alzheimer’s Disease
 Primary memory difficulty is anterograde amnesia, although retrograde amnesia can also
occur as disease progresses
 Has multiple causes, many of which are not yet identified
 Various drugs in use or in development for use in slowing or stopping the progression of
Alzheimer’s disease
 Exercising brain, tending to cardiovascular health can help put off or prevent various forms of
dementia

HYPNOSIS CLASS: SECA-117 6PM TTH