Types of Learning.

[Camo]

Just going to add a few notes for you guys to use.

Classical Conditioning.
Classical conditioning is a form of learning in which a new, neutral stimulus is paired with a stimulus that produces a reflexive, involuntary response. After a number of trials the new stimulus alone will produce that response.
The Classical Conditioning Model.

   Before Conditioning.
o   Neutral Stimulus → No Relevant Response.
o   Unconditioned Stimulus → Unconditioned Response.

   During Conditioning.
o   Neutral Stimulus + Unconditioned Stimulus → Unconditioned Stimulus.

   After Conditioning.
o   Conditioned Stimulus → Conditioned Response.
Components of the Model.
•   The neutral stimulus is any stimulus that produces no relevant responses prior to classical conditioning.
•   The unconditioned stimulus is any stimulus that consistently leads to a reflexive response, without learning taking place.
•   Unconditioned responses are an unlearned, reflexive and involuntary response to a stimulus.
•   A conditioned stimulus is a previously neutral stimulus that has become associated during classical conditioning so that it now produces a reflexive response for which it was previously not responsible.
•   Conditioned responses are a reflexive and involuntary response that has become associated with a stimulus by which were not previously caused through classical conditioning.

An Example of the Model.
Ivan Pavlov who originally studied classical conditioning tested his theory by using dogs to associate salvation away from food to that of a bell. The bell originally produced no salvation from the dog but once paired with food; the dog associated the food to the bell and learned to salivate at the bell.

   Before Conditioning.
o   Neutral Stimulus (Bell) → No Relevant Response.
o   Unconditioned Stimulus (Food) → Unconditioned Response (Salivation to Food).

   During Conditioning.
o   Neutral Stimulus (Bell) + Unconditioned Stimulus (Food) → Unconditioned Stimulus (Salvation to Food).

   After Conditioning.
o   Conditioned Stimulus (Bell) → Conditioned Response (Salvation to Bell).


Principles in Classical Conditioning.
•   Acquisition is the process during classical conditioning of pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus over a number of trials to produce a conditioned response.
•   Extinction follows classical conditioning when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus which weakens the conditioned response until it is extinguished.
•   Spontaneous recovery is the reoccurrence of a conditioned response that has previously been extinguished. 
•   Stimulus generalization is when a neutral stimulus similar to the conditioned stimulus causes a conditioned response to occur, despite having never been paired with the unconditioned stimulus. The more similar the stimuli the more likely the conditioned response is.
•   Stimulus discrimination is when the conditioned response is not elicited by a neutral stimulus despite its similarity to the conditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Responses.
Conditioned responses occur as a learned reaction to a range of stimuli and can relate to any sense in creating a response that is equally effective to that of Pavlov’s bell (The Conditioned Stimulus). Just as the conditioned response can take on a variety of forms so too can conditioned responses.

•   Conditioned reflexes are types of conditioned responses that is so familiar that they occur rather quickly without much thought. In most cases these reflexes are inborn and involuntary.
•   Conditioned emotional responses are learned reactions where a previously neutral stimulus that has become paired with an unconditioned stimulus consistently produces an emotion, and behavior that is consistent with that connection.
•   Conditioned taste aversion is where a neutral taste stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus that results in an unconditioned response of nausea or illness and generally occurs after a single pairing. The previous neutral taste stimuli will then produce the conditioned response of nausea, otherwise known as the Garcia effect.

Applications of Classical Conditioning.
Classical conditioning can be used as a practice in psychology to reduce or eliminate a behavior that may be considered undesirable. Three applications of classical conditioning are graduated exposure, flooding and aversion therapy.

•   Graduated exposure is applied where in a series of situations to invoke feelings of anxiety in an order of events that range from least distressing to most distressing in order to reduce this anxiety. Each stage is passed and anxiety in treated in a more distressing situation. Treatments will vary due to some situations needing more stages and support.
o   E.g. Mysophobia, fear of germs.
•   Flooding is applied when the learner confronts the most distressing aspect of a phobia in the form of imagination or being exposed to it, until the distress is eliminated. This has the risk of invoking a stronger fear after a short exposure.
o   E.g. Exposure to an angry dog when having cynophobia, fear of dogs.
•   Aversion therapy is used to eliminate undesirable behaviors by pairing a stimulus that leads to a bad habit with an undesirable stimulus that leads to the behavior avoiding the bad behavior in the future.
o   E.g. Biting fingernails being paired with bitter tasting nail polish.

[Camo]

Notes on operant conditioning.

Operant Conditioning.

Operant conditioning is based on the assumption that an organism will tend to repeat behavior that has a desirable consequence (positive behavior such as receiving a treat) or negative reinforcement (such as avoiding unpleasant events). Behaviors with negative consequences tend not to be repeated due to punishment.

The Operant Conditioning Model.

The three phases of operant conditioning are:

   Antecedents are stimuli that are present before a behavior occurs.
   Behaviors are what the organism elicits.
   Consequences follow the behaviors.

The relationship between the behavior and the consequence is called the contingency.

Therefore there are three components to the model.

   The stimulus.
   The operant response to the stimulus.
   The consequence to the operant response.

Stimulus → Operant Response → Consequence.

Based on the law of effect, i.e. the probability of an operant response to a stimulus depends on the consequences that have followed in the past.

An Example of the Model.

An example of operant conditioning is Thorndike’s puzzle box experiment where he places.

Stimulus (Puzzle Box) → Operant Response (Pushing on Lever to Open Door) → Consequence. (Escape and Reward of Food)

Reinforcement.
Reinforcement is applying a positive stimulus or removing a negative stimulus to strengthen or increase likelihood of a particular response.

•   Positive reinforcement is the presentation of a stimulus that strengthens or increases the likelihood of a desired response by providing a satisfying consequence (reward).
•   Negative reinforcement is the removal of an unpleasant stimulus to strengthen or increase the likelihood of a desired response.

Punishment.
Punishment is when a response is followed by an unpleasant stimulus, or followed by a positive stimulus being taken away.

•   Positive punishment involves presentation of an unpleasant stimulus that decreases/weakens the likelihood of a response occurring again.
•   Negative punishment involves the removal of a pleasant stimulus that decreases/weakens the chances of a response occurring again.
•   Response cost is a form of negative punishment involving removal of any valued stimulus.
A program for giving reinforcement for a correct/desired response may involve:
•   Continuous reinforcement after every correct/desired response.
•   Partial intermittent reinforcement after some correct/desired responses (but only when a desired response is made).
There are four common programs for delivering reinforcement:
•   Fixed ratio: a reinforcer is given after a set (fixed) number (ratio) of correct response
•   Varialbe ratio: a reinforcer is given after an unpredictable number of correct response but using a constant mean number of correct responses.
•   Fixed interval: a reinforcer is given after a specific time period has elapsed since the previous reinforcer, provided the correct response is made.
•   Variable interval: a reinforcer is given after an irregular time period, provided the correct response is made, but using a constant mean time for availability of reinforcement.

Principles in Operant Conditioning.
•   Acquisition in operant conditioning is the process of a particular behavior being reinforced or weakened by a stimulus over a number of trials.
•   Extinction in operant conditioning is the gradual decrease in the rate of a response until it eventually seizes to occur.  This occurs when reinforcement is no longer delivered following the response that had previously reinforced.
•   Spontaneous recovery in operant conditioning is the reoccurrence of a conditioned response that had been extinguished.
•   Stimulus generalization in operant condition is when the leaner produces a behavior in a similar situation to that which normally results in the reinforcement occurring.
•   Stimulus discrimination in operant conditioning is the learner producing a behavior that only occurs in a situation similar to the reinforcement occurs and not in other situations.
Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of Reinforcement and Punishment.
•   Order of presentation is important in operant conditioning as the consequence must follow the behavior. Delivering the consequence beforehand will not be effective.
•   Timing is best presented immediately after the behavior for the most significant chance of operant conditioning to take place. If there is a delay the association between the two may not take place.
•   Appropriateness of the reinforcer or punisher must be suitable for the leaner as the reinfocer must be considered desirable and pleasant by the learner and the punisher must be considered undesirable or unpleasant.

Applications of Operant Conditioning.
Operant conditioning can be used as a practice in psychology to treat positive behavior. With reinforcement and negative behavior with punishment. Two applications of operant conditioning are shaping and a token economy.

•   Shaping is when reinforcement is given for any response that successfully approximates and ultimately moves towards the desired behavior.
•   Token economy is a setting in which an individual who displays desired behavior receives tokens which can be collected and exchanged for other reinforcers in the form of actual rewards.

Edited for mistakes.

[Camo]

There is no one single structure where learning takes place. Different regions are responsible for different learning.
•   Learning to recognize stimuli occurs in the association areas of the brain associated with the relevant sense (excluding smell).
•   Learning to produce simple behavioral responses requires the activation of neural pathways between the sensory association areas of the cerebral cortex and the motor cortex of the frontal lobe.
•   The limbic system is located deep within the cerebral cortex and includes structures such as the amygdala and hippocampus. Emotional responses such as fear or pleasure are associated with the amygdala and learning that involves an association between environment and behaviour involves the hippocampus.
•   The amygdala also has a role in the dopamine reward system as it deals with learning between association of behaviour and a consequence.
•   The basil ganglia is involved with learning that has been repeated to such an extent that it involves little thought to be able to be performed.

[nemolala]

wow awesome must taken ages. thanks though

[Camo]

Haha, but its psych. <3

I'll get you guys some more in my double spare tomorrow.

[Camo]

The general adaption syndrome is a 3 stage sequence of bodily actions to a prolonged stressor.
•   The Alarm Phase.
o   The alarm phase consists of shock and countershock.
o   Shock: is when the body’s resistance to the stressor falls.
o   Countershock: defensive reaction to stressor.
•   The Resistance Phase.
o   The body’s resistance to an individual stressor.
o   Resistance to other stressor’s decrease.
•   The Exhaustion Phase.
o   Resistance falls below normal and the reaction responds (alarms).
o   Body’s ability to reverse effects decreases as resources are depleted.
o   Prolonged stress can cause disease or death.
 
Strengths
•   There are a number of stages to a stressor.
•   If the stressor is prolonged the organism can no longer adapt and is exhausted.
•   It can be tested in labs.
Limitations
•   The definition of stress.
•   Different types of disorders are linked with high stress levels.
•   The importance of the adrenal cortex has been disproven due to recent experimental work. Multiple brain and hormonal systems interact and regulate each other to produce or suppress the stress response.

[ReganM]

Thanks for these notes!

[Moe112]

Wow they're awesome, thanks Camo.