Chapter 6: Learning

6.1 What Is Learning?

Both instincts and reflexes are innate (unlearned) behaviors that organisms are born with.
Reflexes are a motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment. They tend
to be simpler than instincts, involve the activity of specific body parts and systems (e.g., the
knee-jerk reflex and the contraction of the pupil in bright light), and involve more primitive
centers of the central nervous system (e.g., the spinal cord and the medulla).
In contrast, instincts are innate behaviors that are triggered by a broader range of events,
such as maturation and the change of seasons. They are more complex patterns of
behavior, involve movement of the organism as a whole (e.g., sexual activity and migration),
and involve higher brain centers.
In contrast to the innate behaviors discussed above, learning involves acquiring knowledge
and skills through experience.
Associative learning: when an organism makes connections between stimuli or events that
occur together in the environment. It is central to all three basic learning processes: classical
conditioning, operant conditioning and observational learning.
Classical conditioning: organisms learn to associate events that repeatedly happen
together.
Ex. Sound of thunder makes you jump, so if you see lightning, you associate it with thunder
and you jump.
Operant conditioning: organisms learn to associate a behavior and its consequence.
Ex. You learn your dog to sit by giving it a treat each time it sits. Your dog begins to
associate the act of sitting (behavior) with receiving a treat (consequence).
Observational learning: the process of watching others and then imitating what they do.
Ex. If you see how someone does a dance move, you try and do the same by imitating
them.
All of these approaches on learning are part of the particular tradition in psychology:
behaviorism.

6.2 Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning is a process by which we learn to associate stimuli and,
consequently, to anticipate events. Ivan Pavlov’s research on the digestive system of dogs
unexpectedly led to his discovery of the learning process now known as classical
conditioning.
In his studies with dogs, Pavlov measured the amount of saliva produced in response to
various foods. Over time, Pavlov observed that the dogs began to salivate not only at the
taste of food, but also at the sight of food, at the sight of an empty food bowl, and even at
the sound of the laboratory assistants' footsteps. Salivating to food in the mouth is reflexive,
so no learning is involved. However, dogs don’t naturally salivate at the sight of an empty
bowl or the sound of footsteps. So, this is a clear example of classical conditioning. The sight
of food or the sound of footsteps is paired with salivating through learning by classical
conditioning.
In Pavlov’s experiments, the dogs salivated each time meat powder was presented to them.
The meat powder in this situation was an unconditioned stimulus (UCS): a stimulus that
elicits a reflexive response in an organism. The dogs’ salivation was an unconditioned
response (UCR): a natural (unlearned) reaction to a given stimulus.
Classical conditioning steps:
1. Neutral stimulus (NS), which is a stimulus that does not naturally elicit a response,
is presented immediately before an unconditioned stimulus.
The sound of a tone (NS) before giving the dogs meat powder (UCS).
2. Neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus (CS), which is a stimulus that
elicits a response after repeatedly being paired with an unconditioned stimulus.
Tone was paired with meat powder over and over again  tone begins to elicit
salivation, the conditioned response (CR).

General Processes in Classical Conditioning

In classical conditioning, the initial period of learning is known as acquisition, when an
organism learns to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus. During
acquisition, the neutral stimulus begins to elicit the conditioned response, and eventually the
neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus capable of eliciting the conditioned
response by itself. Timing is important for conditioning to occur. Typically, there should only
be a brief interval between presentation of the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned
stimulus.
Taste aversion is a type of conditioning in which an interval of several hours may pass
between the conditioned stimulus (something ingested) and the unconditioned stimulus
(nausea or illness). While the chicken dish is not what made you sick, you are experiencing
taste aversion: you’ve been conditioned to be averse to a food after a single, bad
experience. Research into taste aversion suggests that this response may be an
evolutionary adaptation designed to help organisms quickly learn to avoid harmful foods.
Once we have established the connection between the unconditioned stimulus and the
conditioned stimulus, how do we break that connection and get the dog to stop responding?
Pavlov explored this scenario in his experiments with dogs: sounding the tone without giving
the dogs the meat powder. Soon the dogs stopped responding to the tone. Extinction is the
decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer
presented with the conditioned stimulus. When presented with the conditioned stimulus
alone, the dog, cat, or other organism would show a weaker and weaker response, and
finally no response. In classical conditioning terms, there is a gradual weakening and
disappearance of the conditioned response.
As we just discussed, Pavlov found that when he repeatedly presented the bell (conditioned
stimulus) without the meat powder (unconditioned stimulus), extinction occurred; the dogs
stopped salivating to the bell. However, after a couple of hours of resting from this extinction
training, the dogs again began to salivate when Pavlov rang the bell. The behavior of
Pavlov’s dogs illustrates a concept Pavlov called spontaneous recovery: the return of a
previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period.
So, the process of classical conditioning in humans:
1. Neutral stimulus is paired with unconditioned stimulus  unconditioned response.
This is acquisition.
Music of ice cream truck + chocolate flavour  salivation.
2. Neutral stimulus becomes conditioned stimulus  conditioned response.
This is caused by the process of acquisition.
Music of ice cream truck  salivation.
3. Conditioned stimulus is presented without the unconditioned stimulus a couple of
times in a row  extinction.
Only music of ice cream truck is presented without being followed by the taste of
chocolate ice cream  no salivation anymore.
4. After a break from conditioning, the conditioned response reappears, and the
conditioned response reappears too. This indicates spontaneous recovery.
After a break from passing the ice cream truck at all, the music of the truck causes
salivation again.
Stimulus discrimination: the organism demonstrates the conditioned response only to the
conditioned stimulus. An organism learns to respond differently to various stimuli that are
similar.
Tiger, the cat, discriminated between the sound of the can opener and the sound of the
electric mixer. When the electric mixer is going, Tiger is not about to be fed, so she does not
come running to the kitchen looking for food.
Stimulus generalization: The more similar a stimulus is to the condition stimulus, the more
likely the organism is to give the conditioned response.
For instance, if the electric mixer sounds very similar to the electric can opener, Tiger may
come running after hearing its sound.

Behaviorism
John B. Watson is considered the founder of behaviorism. In stark contrast with Freud,
who considered the reasons for behavior to be hidden in the unconscious, Watson
championed the idea that all behavior can be studied as a simple stimulusresponse reaction,
without regard for internal processes. Watson argued that in order for psychology to become
a legitimate science, it must shift its concern away from internal mental processes because
mental processes cannot be seen or measured. Instead, he asserted that psychology must
focus on outward observable behavior that can be measured.
Watson’s ideas were influenced by Pavlov’s work. According to Watson, human behavior,
just like animal behavior, is primarily the result of conditioned responses. Whereas Pavlov’s
work with dogs involved the conditioning of reflexes, Watson believed the same principles
could be extended to the conditioning of human emotions.
His experiment: Little Albert was not afraid of rats, rabbits and other furry things (neutral
stimulus). In the experiment, Little Albert touching a rat was paired with a loud noise of
banging a hammer against a metal bar behind him (unconditioned stimulus), each time Little
Albert touched the rat, so that he started crying (unconditioned response). Albert now began
to cry (conditioned response) when any furry thing (conditioned stimulus) was presented to
him (stimulus generalization).

6.3 Operant Conditioning

In operant conditioning, organisms learn to associate a behavior and its consequence.

Psychologist B. F. Skinner saw that classical conditioning is limited to existing behaviors that
are reflexively elicited, and it doesn’t account for new behaviors such as riding a bike. He
proposed a theory about how such behaviors come about. Skinner believed that behavior is
motivated by the consequences we receive for the behavior: the reinforcements and
punishments. His idea that learning is the result of consequences is based on the law of
effect, which was first proposed by psychologist Edward Thorndike. According to the law of
effect, behaviors that are followed by consequences that are satisfying to the organism are
more likely to be repeated, and behaviors that are followed by unpleasant consequences are
less likely to be repeated.

In positive reinforcement, a desirable stimulus is added to increase a behavior (most

effective).
You tell your five-year-old son, Jerome, that if he cleans his room, he will get a toy. Jerome
quickly cleans his room because he wants a new art set.
In negative reinforcement, an undesirable stimulus is removed to increase a behavior.
Car manufacturers use the principles of negative reinforcement in their seatbelt systems,
which go “beep, beep, beep” until you fasten your seatbelt. The annoying sound stops when
you exhibit the desired behavior increasing the likelihood that you will buckle up in the
future.
In positive punishment, you add an undesirable stimulus to decrease a behavior.
Taking a students phone to get the student to stop texting in class. In this case, a stimulus
(removing the phone) is added in order to decrease the behavior (texting in class).
In negative punishment, you remove a pleasant stimulus to decrease behavior.
When a child misbehaves, a parent can take away a favorite toy. In this case, a stimulus (the
toy) is removed in order to decrease the behavior (misbehaving).

Shaping
1. Reinforce any response that resembles the desired behavior.
2. Then reinforce the response that more closely resembles the desired behavior. You
will no longer reinforce the previously reinforced response.
3. Next, begin to reinforce the response that even more closely resembles the desired
behavior.
4. Continue to reinforce closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.
5. Finally, only reinforce the desired behavior.
Shaping is often used in teaching a complex behavior or chain of behaviors. An important
part of shaping is stimulus discrimination. Recall Pavlov’s dogs—he trained them to respond
to the tone of a bell, and not to similar tones or sounds. This discrimination is also important
in operant conditioning and in shaping behavior.
Ex. Remember the lecturers dog… teaching the dog to turn around was an example of
shaping.

Reinforcements
Primary reinforcers are reinforcers that have innate reinforcing qualities. These kinds of
reinforcers are not learned. Water, food, sleep, shelter, sex, and touch, among others, are
primary reinforcers. Pleasure is also a primary reinforcer. Organisms do not lose their drive
for these things. For most people, jumping in a cool lake on a very hot day would be
reinforcing and the cool lake would be innately reinforcing—the water would cool the person
off (a physical need), as well as provide pleasure.
A secondary reinforcer has no inherent value and only has reinforcing qualities when
linked with a primary reinforcer. Another example, money, is only worth something when you
can use it to buy other things—either things that satisfy basic needs (food, water, shelter—all
primary reinforcers) or other secondary reinforcers. If you were on a remote island and you
had stacks of money, the money would not be useful if you could not spend it.

Reinforcement Schedules
When an organism receives a reinforcer each time it displays a behavior, it is called
continuous reinforcement. This reinforcement schedule is the quickest way to teach
someone a behavior, and it is especially effective in training a new behavior. Timing is
important when teaching a dog to sit: you will be most successful if you present the
reinforcer immediately after he sits, so that he can make an association between the target
behavior (sitting) and the consequence (getting a treat).
In partial reinforcement, also referred to as intermittent reinforcement, the person or
animal does not get reinforced every time they perform the desired behavior.
A fixed interval reinforcement schedule is when behavior is rewarded after a set amount
of time.
Only receiving painkillers once per hour, when behavior is exhibited. Since the reward (pain
relief) only occurs on a fixed interval, there is no point in exhibiting the behavior when it will
not be rewarded.
With a variable interval reinforcement schedule, the person or animal gets the
reinforcement based on varying amounts of time, which are unpredictable.
A restaurant gets checked on its hygiene every once in a while, but the restaurant never
knows when the check is coming. Staff must keep the restaurant clean at all times, so that
they keep their job when the check comes up.
With a fixed ratio reinforcement schedule, there are a set number of responses that must
occur before the behavior is rewarded.
Earning a bonus every time you sell the costumer something. The quality of what you sell
does not matter, as long as you sell something, you receive a reward.
Fixed ratios are better suited to optimize the quantity of output, whereas a fixed interval, in
which the reward is not quantity based, can lead to a higher quality of output.
In a variable ratio reinforcement schedule, the number of responses needed for a reward
varies. This is the most powerful partial reinforcement schedule.
Gambling. You never know when you receive your reward, so you keep on going until you
finally get it. Because the reinforcement schedule in most types of gambling has a variable
ratio schedule, people keep trying and hoping that the next time they will win big. This is one
of the reasons that gambling is so addictive—and so resistant to extinction.
In operant conditioning, extinction of a reinforced behavior occurs at some point after
reinforcement stops, and the speed at which this happens depends on the reinforcement
schedule. Fixed interval is the least productive and the easiest to extinguish.
Cognition and Latent Learning
Skinner was such a staunch believer that cognition didn't matter that his ideas were
considered radical behaviorism. Skinner considered the mind a "black box"—something
completely unknowable—and, therefore, something not to be studied. However, another
behaviorist, Edward C. Tolman, had a different opinion. Tolman’s experiments with rats
demonstrated that organisms can learn even if they do not receive immediate reinforcement.
This finding was in conflict with the prevailing idea at the time that reinforcement must be
immediate in order for learning to occur, thus suggesting a cognitive aspect to learning.
In the experiments, Tolman placed hungry rats in a maze with no reward for finding their way
through it. He also studied a comparison group that was rewarded with food at the end of the
maze. As the unreinforced rats explored the maze, they developed a cognitive map: a
mental picture of the layout of the maze. After 10 sessions in the maze without
reinforcement, food was placed in a goal box at the end of the maze. As soon as the rats
became aware of the food, they were able to find their way through the maze quickly, just as
quickly as the comparison group, which had been rewarded with food all along. This is
known as latent learning: learning that is not observable until there is a reason to
demonstrate it.

6.4 Observational Learning (Modeling)

In observational learning, we learn by watching others and then imitating, or modeling,
what they do or say. The individuals performing the imitated behavior are called models.
Research suggests that this imitative learning involves a specific type of neuron, called a
mirror neuron.
According to Bandura, pure behaviorism could not explain why learning can take place in the
absence of external reinforcement. He felt that internal mental states must also have a role
in learning and that observational learning involves much more than imitation. In imitation, a
person simply copies what the model does. Observational learning is much more complex.
According to Lefrançois there are several ways that observational learning can occur:
1. You learn a new response. After watching your coworker get chewed out by your boss for
coming in late, you start leaving home 10 minutes earlier so that you won’t be late.
2. You choose whether or not to imitate the model depending on what you saw happen to
the model. When learning to surf, Julian might watch how his father pops up successfully on
his surfboard and then attempt to do the same thing. On the other hand, Julian might learn
not to touch a hot stove after watching his father get burned on a stove.
3. You learn a general rule that you can apply to other situations.
Bandura identified three kinds of models: live, verbal, and symbolic.
Live model: demonstrates a behavior in person, as when Ben stood up on his surfboard so
that Julian could see how he did it.
Verbal instructional model: does not perform the behavior, but instead explains or
describes the behavior, as when a soccer coach tells his young players to kick the ball with
the side of the foot, not with the toe.
Symbolic model: fictional characters or real people who demonstrate behaviors in books,
movies, television shows, video games, or Internet sources.

Steps in the Modeling Process

1. Attention: be focused on the model
2. Retention: be able to retain or remember what you observed
 3. Reproduction: be able to perform the behavior that you observed and committed to
memory
4. Motivation: you need to want to copy the behavior, and whether or not you are
motivated depends on what happened to the model.
If you saw that the model was reinforced for their behavior, you will be more motivated to
copy them. This is known as vicarious reinforcement. On the other hand, if you observed
the model being punished, you would be less motivated to copy them. This is called
vicarious punishment.
Prosocial (positive) models can be used to encourage socially acceptable behavior. Parents
in particular should take note of this finding. If you want your children to read, then read to
them. Let them see you reading. Keep books in your home. The same holds true for qualities
like kindness, courtesy, and honesty.
The antisocial effects of observational learning are also worth mentioning. Some studies
suggest that violent television shows, movies, and video games may also have antisocial
effect although further research needs to be done to understand the correlational and
causational aspects of media violence and behavior.

The Lecture
Learning and conditioning
Non-associative learning
A snail has very big neurons, so it’s an easy animal to study. They use sea slugs, very big
slugs, so that everything is easy to see. It can learn, for example, that if you keep pressing
on its skin, it’s not a danger and therefore it will stop responding.
Habituation: An organism decreases or ceases to respond to a stimulus after repeated
presentation.
Sensory habituation: Stimulus in for example vision or audio ‘disappears’ after a while,
when it is shown for a long time.
Habituation isn’t the same as learning though. Habituation in learning means a decrease in
response to a stimulus that stays the same over time, due to changes in neurons in the
central nervous system.
Sensitization: opposite of habituation. Process likely to be cellular receptors becoming more
likely to respond to a certain stimulus.
Strengthening of synaptic signals: Long-term potentiation
For example, PTSD. You become scared to intense noises, because you had negative
experiences in the past with these noises.
Non-associative learning can occur very early on in life, even in the womb.
Babies show a systematic preference for things that smell like their mother, then things that
smell like their father, and then to other things.

Associative learning
Two types of associative learning (they often appear together):
Classical conditioning: there is a stimulus and a response, and you associate them with
each other. Learning process in which previously neutral stimulus becomes associated with
another stimulus through repeated pairing with that stimulus.
Operant or Instrumental conditioning: you do something, which appears to lead to
something else. So you learn the consequences of your actions. Involves learning the
relationship between voluntary responses and their outcomes.

Classical conditioning
Extinction: when you stop reinforcing
associations, eg. Stop giving your dog treats,
the conditioning will go extinct. Conditioned
Response (CR) gradually diminishes if
Unconditioned Stimulus (US) omitted.
After extinction, there is spontaneous
recovery. They won’t forget about the behavior,
but they will still be expecting some
reward/consequence they’ve seen before.
Stimulus discrimination – adaptive ability to
react to differences if negative association with
aspect of stimulus, such as differentiating
between a high and low tone.
Stimulus generalisation – adaptive ability to
react to new stimulus which is similar to the
familiar one by generalising the response.
Instead of having to learn behavior for every
stimulus, you can generalize stimuli. If you like
strawberries, every other red berry is probably
tasty too.

Advertisements often use classical conditioning: if you see a funny advertisement, you will
associate this positivity to the brand.
One form of unconscious learning that appears to be due to classical conditioning is drug
tolerance. Drug-taking behavior (such as using a needle or even opening a bottle of beer)
functions as a signal or CS that predicts the introduction of the drug into the body. Eventually
the act of drug taking triggers an anticipatory response: the secretion of drug antagonists
that help eliminate the drug from the body.
(Note that drug tolerance is also an example of habituation – a physiological tolerance to a
drug resulting from repeated use. Thus, multiple types of learning can co-occur.)
Second-order conditioning – possibility to condition participant to produce CR to novel
stimulus by pairing novel stimulus to CS repeatedly even though novel stimulus never paired
with US Conditioning and fear – CS leads to CR because it predicts occurrence of certain
US – also true for emotional reactions.
You can condition someone out of their phobia. If you are afraid of spiders, you can be
exposed to a spider. You can become desensitized if you are exposed to the stimulus for a
longer time and you find out there’s no danger.

Operant (Instrumental) Conditioning

See positive as ‘adding’ a consequence and negative as ‘taking away’ something from you.
Positive reinforcement: if you do this exercise, we will give you money.
Negative reinforcement: if you are kind to your parents, you won’t have to do any chores.
Positive punishment: if you spray graffiti around the city, you will have to clean all graffiti in
the city (a chore is added).
Negative punishment: if you drive too quickly on the highway, we will take away some of
your money by giving you a fine/take away your freedom by putting you in jail.
Schedules of reinforcement
• Ratio schedules
– reinforcement depends on the number of responses an organism makes:
fixed ratio schedule (FR) – number of responses needed fixed at particular value
variable ratio schedule (VR) – value for responses needed varies unpredictably
• Interval schedules
– reinforcement is available only after certain time interval elapsed (& animal makes a
response):
fixed interval schedule (FI) – organism reinforced for first response after time interval
elapsed since last reinforcement
variable interval schedule (FR) – interval duration varies unpredictably.

Learning and motivation

Biological predisposition: language, you just learn it when you are younger, because we
are programmed to do this. Language is so useful that everyone just learn it automatically.
Biological constraints: As with classical conditioning, biology imposes constraints on what
may be learned through instrumental conditioning – organisms find it easier and faster to
learn response if the behavior required makes sense on an ethological level
Observational learning (vicarious): Humans often learn without behavior being reinforced
immediately through imitation & observational learning – copying behavior of others you
deem successful
‘Neurons firing together become neurons wired together’: the activity of two neurons gets
associated when they happen at the same time, so they become ‘wired’.
• Habituation and sensitization arise from changes in the sensory neurons.
• Fear conditioning involves the amygdala.
• Reward learning relies on the midbrain dopamine system.
• Spatial navigation and episodic memory involve the hippocampus.
Repetition improves semantic learning.
Spaced learning is more efficient than mass learning
• Spaced learning allows for more context relevant retrieval cues when each chapter is
learned seperately.
• You will retrieve some related information when learning subsequent chapters. Retrieval
improves memory.
Lack of sleep
• Sleep deprivation impairs with learning and memory, and can prevent information being
stored in long term memory.