LEARNING:Motor Learning, Problem Solving, Basic Terminology, Conditioning

<< ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS:Electroencephalogram, Hypnosis

OPERANT CONDITIONING:Negative Rein forcer, Punishment, No reinforcement >>

Introduction to Psychology PSY101

Lesson 20

LEARNING

Learning is commonly understood as the act, process, or experience of gaining knowledge or skill.

For a layperson it is knowledge or skill gained through schooling or study. With reference to Psychology;

it is the behavioral modification especially through experience or conditioning

· The best definition of learning is that: Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior,

and the frequency of its occurrence; this change is not automatic and results from practice

or experience

· Learning usually refers to improved performance, acquisition of skills, and a positive change in

behavior; however the change may also be negative in nature

· Learning is distinguished from behavioral changes arising from such processes as maturation and

illness, but does apply to motor skills, such as driving a car, to intellectual skills, such as reading, and

to attitudes and values, such as prejudice.

· There is evidence that neurotic symptoms and patterns of mental illness are also learned behaviors.

Learning occurs throughout the life span in humans and animals, and learned behavior accounts for a

large proportion of all behavior in the higher animals, especially in humans.

Types/ Forms of Learning: In Terms of the Content

Considering the content of what has been learnt, there are varieties of learning:

I. Verbal learning

ii. Motor learning

iii. Problem solving

Verbal Learning

Basically man is a verbal learner who learns about the environment through experiences.

· Verbal learning involves the person's own association, experiences and relations with the

phenomenon that has been learned.

ii. Motor Learning

· It involves the practical application of the learned phenomena.

· There are various tasks/ activities in which motor skills are of primary importance as

compared to the ones requiring verbally learned material; e.g. learning the skills like playing

football, tennis, cricket etc; or the training of technicians whose motor skills need to be

highly efficient.

· In learning motor skills two things are important; quickness of movements and the results

that are achieved through it.

iii. Problem Solving

· Problem solving tasks usually involves trial and error and primarily include verbal processes.

· While doing the problem-solving task, individual learns many responses that can be helpful for him

in different situations

How Do We Learn?

Three main explanations of learning are:

· Classical conditioning

· Operant conditioning

· Cognitive approaches to learning.

Basic Terminology

Stimulus

A physical energy source that has an effect on a sense organ, thus producing a response.

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Response

· The action, behavior, or reaction triggered by a stimulus.

Environment

· External factors, variables, conditions, influences, or circumstance affecting one's development or

behavior.

Variable

· A behavior, factor, setting, or event that can change/ vary in amount or kind.Classical

Conditioning

· Why are children scared of darkness?

· Why some children jump with joy at the sight of a cat and some start screaming in fright?

· Why does one coming from office start feeling relaxed at the very sight of his home?

· Why does one start feeling bad at the thought of going to a dentist?

· Why does one starts feeling hungry at the sight of one's favorite fast food joint?

Classical conditioning provides answers to all these questions

Classical conditioning forms an association between two stimuli.

Classical Conditioning is when a stimulus acquires the ability to cause a response that was previously

caused by another stimulus. This learning process essentially allows us to predict what is going to

happen.

Historical background

· In 1879 Ivan Pavlov, the Russian physiologist and pioneer

of classical conditioning, began his research work on

the digestive process, primarily that of dogs.

· He won Nobel Prize for that in 1904.

· The focal point of his investigation was the salivation reflex

in dogs.

· It was already known that the dogs would salivate if food powder

were led into their mouths, as it was a `reflex.'

· The dogs would salivate every time the food powder was presented.

· Pavlov observed that after some time, the dogs at times salivated just before food was put into their

mouths. They also salivated at the sight of the food, and even at the sight of the lab assistant who

brought food for them.

· This is where the concept of classical

conditioning emerged.

Classical Conditioning: The Theory

· A type of learning in which a previously

neutral stimulus starts eliciting a response

that was originally the response to a

natural stimulus i.e., a stimulus that was

meant to produce that response; it so

happens because the neutral stimulus had

been closely associated with the natural

stimulus.

Basic Terminology in Classical Conditioning:

i.Reflex

An automatic, unlearned response

resulting from a specific stimulus.

ii. Un Conditioned Stimulus (UCS)

A stimulus that elicits a response reflexively, naturally, and reliably.

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iii. Un Conditioned Response (UCR)

· A natural, reflexive, reliable, response of the UCS.

iv. Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

· A primarily neutral stimulus which, when paired with the UCS, starts evoking a

response (different from its own natural response) and the same as UCR.

v. Conditioned Response (CR)

· After conditioning, the CS begins to elicit a new, learned

response i.e., CR.

Pavlovian Classical Conditioning

Before Conditioning

Neutral Stimulus

Orientation to sound

(Tone)

no response)

UCS

UCR

(Food powder in

(Salivation)

mouth)

Neutral Stimulus

(Salivation)

UCS

(Food power)

(Tone)

(Salivation)

John.B.Watson: (1878- 1958)

· American psychologist initially trained in introspection at the University of Chicago but found it

extremely vague and mentalistic.

· He became interested in experimental research with animals.

· Gave a revolutionary, pragmatic approach often known as `radical behaviorism'.

· For Watson, observable behavior is all that psychology should be looking at.

· Environment and external world (environmental stimuli) is what shapes and determines behavior.

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Learning is what matters in what a person is, and not the inborn instincts, impulses, drive, id, or

unconscious motivation. An understanding of learning will encompass all aspects of personality

Impact of Learning Experience

"Give me a dozen healthy infants, well formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in, and

I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select__

doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant- chief, and yes, even beggar- man and thief, regardless of his talents,

penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and race of his ancestors" (Watson, 1924).

Little Albert's Case

Learned Fear

· 1920: Developing Fear: Watson and Rosalie Rayner's experimen

· Eleven- month old Albert who enjoyed playing with a cute white rat was made afraid of it by

linking a loud frightening sound with the appearance of the rat.

· The experiment was further expanded and Watson and Rayner demonstrated that the fear of the rat

could be generalized to all sorts of stimuli: a dog, a cotton ball and a Santa Clause. In Albert's case,

the same sequence of events i.e., presenting the rat with the gong was repeated three times; on all

repetitions he began crying, showing that a classical association had been established.

· Seven conditioning trials were repeated on two occasions and then the rat was presented without

the gong; Albert still cried.

· Watson called this `conditioned emotional response'.

· Watson and Rayner worked with Albert once again after about a week.

· He was presented with the same objects.

· This time he showed the same fear response towards other objects similar to the rat i.e., cotton

balls, white fur, and a Santa Clause mask having a white beard.

This indicated that `stimulus generalization' had taken place

· The researchers had plans to experiment on unlearning the emotional response

· For three weeks they worked on extinguishing the response using Pavlov's `extinction' procedure:

presenting the rat without gong. But could not achieve success.

· Watson and Rayner could not get a chance to undo the learning as the child's mother removed him

from the hospital.

Before Conditioning:

Neutral Stimulus

(Liking)

(Rat)

UCS

UCR

(Loud noise)

(Fear)

Neutral Stimulus

Rat CS

(Fear)

UCS

(Loud noise)

(Rat)

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Stages and Extensions of Classical ConditioningAcquisition

· Extinction

· Spontaneous recovery

· Stimulus generalization

· Stimulus discrimination

· Higher Order Conditioning

Acquisition

The stage when the stimulus in question generates a conditioned response; The stage of initial learning

when responses are established and then gradually strengthened as a result of repeated pairing and

presentation.

· This is when classical conditioning can be said to have taken place.Extinction

· The unlearning of the conditioned response by weakening it, leading to its disappearance; using the

same principles as those for learning the response.

· The state when the conditioned stimulus i.e. bell, buzzer, gong etc does not accompany the

unconditioned stimulus e.g. food.

· The response gradually diminishes, extinguishes, or declines, as the UCS repeatedly does not appear

with the CS.

Spontaneous Recovery

· Does the response disappear permanently, once extinction has taken place? Not always!

· Pavlovian experiments showed that some days after extinction, the dog salivated again on hearing

the bell/ buzzer.

Consider the case of someone who left smoking but the very sight of someone else who is

smoking makes him feel like smoking.

The same may happen with a child whose fear of dogs had been treated.

The re occurring responses are comparatively weaker in nature than they initially were; similarly their

extinction takes place sooner and easily.

Generalization

· Stimuli similar to the original CS may elicit the same response as to the CS or UCS e.g. a buzzer

responded to as a bell.

· Pavlovian experiments showed that the dogs also salivated on the tones that were similar to the

original tone but were never used while presenting the food.

· Such responses are not as strong as the original ones.

· Consider the case of Albert's fear of all white- furry objects

Discrimination

·The process whereby the organism learns to restrict its response to one specific stimulus;

differentiating between similar stimuli.

· Pavlov's dogs salivated only at the tones, which were similar in nature.

· Consider the case of a child who is scared of the neighbor's dog alone (that barks every

time the child passes by), and not all dogs.

Higher Order Conditioning

· A process when an already conditioned stimulus is repeatedly paired with a neutral stimulus, and

ultimately the neutral stimulus begins to evoke the same response as to the original stimulus.

· Consider the case of a child who was scared of the neighbor's dog, became scared of all

dogs, and finally started screaming at the mere name of a dog.

Applications of Classical Conditioning in Everyday Life

· Negative emotional responses: fears, phobias-----fear of reptiles, dark places, and school phobia.

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Positive emotional responses: Feelings of relaxation, and happiness----thinking of going on a

holiday.

Advertising: Associating model with the product.

Psychotherapy; Systematic desensitization, aversive therapy.

Conditioned Drug Response

·Vomiting inducing drugs were repeatedly paired with the sound of a tone; eventually the mere sound of

that tone could produce the same vomiting response. Consider the children who vomit at the name of

cough syrup, or who faint at the name of a clinic.

Smoking, Coffee, and Tea

·People who are addicted to caffeine and nicotine start feeling relaxed and stimulated even before the

intake.

Over Eating

·Most obese people start feeling hungry at the sight of a restaurant or at the smell of food.

Classical Conditioning and the Immune System

·Studies on rats have shown that a neutral stimulus like saccharin sweetened water when repeatedly paired

with an immuno-suppressant drug, started eliciting the same response; the very taste of saccharin had the

same effect on immune system. functioning.

·Objects associated with a state of low immunity may lead to a low immunity state in future.

Classical Conditioning and the School Psychology

An overly strict school atmosphere may lead to school phobia, or test fear

The same rule can be applied to develop a positive feeling for school by making the school environment

pleasant.

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