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20 views45 pages

Topic 3 - Slides

Uploaded by

Selam Dawit
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Topic 3

Basic Kinds of Behaviour and Learning

Dr. Kimberley Campbell


Outline
• Unlearned behaviours

• Learned behaviours
• Event-alone
• Event-event
• Behaviour-event
• Social
Learning
• Learning: an enduring or durable change in
behaviour or mental processes due to experience
• Relatively permanent
• Causes a change in behaviour
• Occurs due to interactions with the environment
Unlearned Behaviours
That can be connected to other stimuli via learning
Unlearned Behaviours
• Innate: something inborn or naturally occurring

• Reflex: stimulus-response relationship which is


either learned* or innate and indicates that
behavior that happens automatically
• Reflex arc = unlearned
Reflex Arc
Elicited Behaviour
• Occurs in response to environmental stimuli

• Examples:
• Pupils constrict when exposed to bright light
• Withdrawal response to touching something hot
• Food in mouth elicits salivation
• Sneeze if particle of dust enters your nose
Elicited Behaviour
Eliciting Stimulus Behavioural Response

• Reflex Arcs
• Modal Action Patterns
• Behavioural Sequences
Adaptive Value of Elicited Behaviour?
• Can contribute to survival and well-being
• Examples:
• Eye blink reflex
• Withdrawal reflex
• Gag reflex
• Orientation toward stimulation in infants
• Respiratory-occlusion reflex in infants
Modal Action Patterns (MAP)
• Species-typical response patterns or “instincts”;
genetically programmed

• Rather than single actions, a sequence of


behaviours

• Often associated with fitness-related tasks/events


Egg-Rolling Response in Geese

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUNZv-ByPkU&playnext=1&list=PLF9CD787EE7D98EC0
Eliciting Stimuli
• Which stimulus initiates the modal action pattern?

• Sign Stimulus (aka releasing stimulus):


features necessary to elicit the response

• Supernormal Stimulus: exaggerated sign


stimulus that elicits more vigorous response
Pecking Response in Gulls

Alcock, 2005
Aggression in Sticklebacks

stickleback
Exploiting MAPs
Learned Behaviours
Starting simple and increasing in complexity
Types of Learning
• Event-alone learning
• Habituation and sensitization
• Event-event learning
• Classical (Pavlovian) conditioning
• Behaviour-event learning
• Instrumental (operant) conditioning
• Social learning
• Observational learning
Event-Alone Learning
Habituation and Sensitization
Learning for Reflexes?
• Descartes said that reflex responses occur the
same way every time
• Not the case – repeated stimulation can alter the
magnitude of the behavioural response
Habituation
• Habituation: process by which we respond less
strongly over time to repeated stimuli
• Highly specific to the stimulus producing it
• Not habituation:
• Sensory adaptation: Reduction in sensitivity of the
sense organs caused by repeated stimulation
• Fatigue: Decrease in behaviour due to repeated or
excessive use of muscles
Habituation
• Biological mechanism of
habituation discovered by Eric
Kandel in the sea slug, Aplysia
Sensitization
• Sensitization: increase in the strength of a
response to a repeated stimulus

• Not specific to one stimulus


• Can result from repeated presentations of a stimulus
or by arousal from extraneous stimuli
Salivation and Taste Ratings (Humans)

Flavour B Flavour B

Measured Measured
saliva output hedonic ratings
over trials over trials

Flavour A Flavour A

Epstein et al. (1992) gave subjects lemon or lime juice


Visual Attention in Infants
• Human infant visual fixation
• Infants fixated longer to complex rather than
simple stimuli across trials

(Bashinski et al., 1985)


(Bashinski et al., 1985)
Adaptive Value?
• Habituation:
• Reduced responding to things constant in your
environment
• Attention drawn to new things
• Sensitization:
• Increased responsiveness to things in distracting
environments (e.g., loud, visually busy)
• Ready for danger
Event-Event Learning
Classical, Respondent, or Pavlovian Conditioning
Ivan Pavlov
Classical Conditioning
• Classical, Respondent, or Pavlovian
conditioning: Form of learning in which a neutral
stimulus comes to signal the occurrence of a
second stimulus
• Behaviours are elicited (brought about by)
antecedent stimuli
• Conditioning process involves manipulation of
antecedent stimuli
Useful Terminology
• Elicits: brings about
• Stimulus: anything in the environment that (a)
we can detect, (b) is measurable, and (c) can
evoke a response or behavior
• Association: a relationship between two stimuli
• Acquisition: time while an association is being
learned
Classical Conditioning Terms
• Unconditioned Stimulus (US)
• Biologically significant stimulus that already has a
response associated with it
• Food; Pain
• Unconditioned Response (UR)
• Response naturally associated with the
unconditioned stimulus
• Salivation; Startle
Classical Conditioning Terms
• Neutral Stimulus (NS)
• A stimulus that does not naturally elicit a response
• Tone; chime; bell
Classical Conditioning Terms
• Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
• Previously neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a
conditioned response
• Tone; chime; bell
• Conditioned Response (CR)
• Learned response to an environmental stimulus (CS)
• Salivation; Startle
Behaviour-Event Learning
Instrumental (Operant) Conditioning
E. L. Thorndike’s Law of Effect
• “If a response, in the presence of a stimulus, is
followed by a satisfying state of affairs, the bond
between stimulus and response will be
strengthened.”
• Satisfaction = stamping in
• Discomfort = stamping out
Operant Conditioning
• Operant (Instrumental) Conditioning: learning
that is controlled by the consequences of the
organisms behaviour

Antecedent Behaviour Consequence

Stimulus Response Outcome


Stimuli, Responses, & Outcomes
• Antecedent: something detectable in the
environment that set the occasion to respond
• Behaviour: activity that can be repeated,
measured, and has an impact on the environment
• Consequences: stimuli that can increase or
decrease the probability of future behavior
Reinforcement Contingencies
Operant vs. Classical
• Operant Behaviours • Classical Behaviours
• Controlled by their • Controlled (elicited) by
consequences antecedent stimuli
• Operant Conditioning • Classical Conditioning
• Involves the manipulation • Involves the manipulation
of consequences of antecedent stimuli
Social Learning
Bandura and Social Learning
• A. Bandura – studied kindergarten students to
establish observational learning
• Social (observational) learning: we understand
what to do by watching others
• Vicarious conditioning occurs by an organism
watching another organism (a model) be conditioned
A Classic Observational Learning Study
Social Learning and Cognition
• Many models rely on cognitive explanations
• Less of a focus in this course

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