Introduction to Learning

Chapter 1
A Definition of Learning
 Learning is:
 An experiential process
 Resulting in a relatively permanent change
 Not explained by temporary states, maturation, or
innate response tendencies.
Three Limits on the Definition
 The change that occurs during learning is a
potential for behavior that depends on other
conditions.
 Learning is not always a permanent change.
 What can be learned can be unlearned.
 Changes also occur for other reasons –
maturation, motivation.
Roots of Behavior Theory
 Functionalism – behavior promotes survival,
study behavior to understand its adaptive
function.
 Dewey – lower animals have reflexes, humans
have a flexible mind
 James – people have instincts
 Brucke – internal biochemical forces motivate
behavior in all species.
Criticisms of Functionalism
 The variety of behavior across cultures is
inconsistent with universal human instincts.
 Infants seem to have few innate instincts
(only fear, rage, love?).
 Labeling everything an instinct doesn’t aid
understanding much.
 Bernard cataloged 2000+ instincts
Behaviorism
 A search for the laws governing learning –
across species.
 Emphasis on experience.
 Avoidance of mentalistic concepts.
 Based on Aristotle’s idea of the association of
ideas.
 In order for two ideas to become associated, they
must be paired together in time (temporally).
British Associationists
 Locke (1690) – thinking consists of:
 Simple ideas – passive impressions received by
the senses.
 Complex ideas – the combination (association) of
simple ideas (a rose).
 Hume (1748) – associations are based on:
 Resemblance (similarity)
 Contiguity in time or place
 Cause and effect
Thorndike’s Puzzle Box
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKvNqe8c
KU4&feature=player_embedded

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDujDOL
re-8
Thorndike’s Puzzle Box
Learning Curve for Cats in Box
Thorndike’s Laws (1898)
 Also called S-R learning.
 Law of effect – A chance act becomes a
learned behavior when a connection is formed
between a stimulus (S) and a response (R) that
is rewarded.
 Law of exercise – the S-R connection is
strengthened by use and weakened with
disuse.
Thorndike’s Laws (Cont.)
 Law of readiness – motivation is needed to
develop an association or display changed
behavior.
 Associative shifting – a learned behavior
(response) can be shifted from one stimulus to
another.
 Once a behavior is learned, the stimulus is
gradually changed.
 Fish + “stand up”, then “stand up” alone.
Pavlov’s Studies (1927)
Pavlov’s Conditioned Reflex
 Conditioning -- a stimulus that initially
produces no response can acquire the ability
to produce one.
 Learning occurs through pairing in time and
place of one stimulus with another stimulus
that produces a response.
 This is a kind of associative shifting, but the
response is involuntary.
Terminology of Conditioning
 Unconditioned stimulus (US or UCS)
 Produces a reflexive response without learning.
 Unconditioned response (UR or UCR)
 The response that occurs, typically a reflex,
involuntary and automatic.
More Terminology
 Neutral stimulus
 A stimulus not capable of producing an
unconditioned response.
 Conditioned stimulus (CS)
 A previously neutral stimulus that has acquired
the ability to evoke a response.
 Conditioned response (CR)
 The learned response, similar to the UCR, an
involuntary reflex.
Example of Classical Conditioning
 Jim & Dwight – The Office
Prior to conditioning
Neutral stimulus (Orientation to sound
(tone) but no response)

UCS UCR
(food powder in mouth) (salivation)

Conditioning
Neutral stimulus
CS (tone)
CR
+
(salivation)
UCS
(food powder)

After conditioning
CS CR
(tone) (salivation)
Conditioning Processes
 Stimulus generalization – stimuli like the CS
become able to evoke the conditioned
response.
 Extinction – if the UCS and CS are not paired,
the CS loses its ability to produce a
conditioned response.
 Spontaneous recovery – an extinguished CS
briefly returns but quickly goes away again.
Acquisition, Extinction, and
Spontaneous Recovery
Little Albert (1920)
Watson & Raynor
 Human fears can be acquired through
Pavlovian conditioning.
 Rat paired with loud noise
 Stimulus generalized to other white objects
(white rabbit, white fur coat)
 Mary Cover Jones developed
counterconditioning -- a technique for
eliminating conditioned fears.
 Acquisition of fear-inhibiting response
Ethics of Learning Research
 Animals and humans are now protected by
oversight and ethical guidelines.
 Pain or injury to animals and humans must be
weighed against and justified by the
knowledge to be gained.
 Electric shock typically is uncomfortable and
upsetting but not physically harmful.
Why Use Animals in Research?
 People are more complex in their behavior.
 It is difficult to control prior learning,
environment and experiences in people.
 Some types of research cannot be done with
humans:
 Case histories cannot be used to infer causality.
 Animals can be lesioned to show which brain
areas control behaviors, showing causality.