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PSYC1010 H Lecture Notes-November 8th, 2013 **These notes are not to be used as a substitute for attending the lecture.

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Classical Conditioning continued. -4 identifiable elements

Stimulus Generalization -when a S that is similar to the original CS elicits a CR Food-salivation Bell+food Bell-salivation -if you were to change the condition stimulus slightly would the dog still salivate to the slightly different condition stimulus? Ex. A different tone/pitch but the dog still salivated then we would say that stimulus generalization has occurred (US) gong-fear (UR) Mouse+gong (CS) mouse-fear (CR) -in Little Albert case, Albert showed fear response to other white fluffy things not just the mouse, which is an example of stimulus generalization -ex. If bit by German Shepherd and became scared of other dogs -the greater the similarity the more likely you are to have this response -the opposite can also happen

Stimulus discrimination -when only the original CS elicits the CR -only bell that elicits salivation was the original bell that was paired with food and other bells do not elicit that salivation this indicates that stimulus discrimination has occurred

-ex. If bit by German Shepherd but do not become scared of other kinds of dogs

Extinction -to extinguish or to put an end to something -when the CS is no longer paired with the US and the CR gradually weakens and disappears -ex. Presenting the bell without the food, the dog will eventually stop salivating -how do you get rid of a phobia? (phobias do not go away on their own) -if you have the chance to pet dogs numerous times without being bit then eventually your fear of dogs would gradually diminish and disappear but people try to avoid phobic stimulus at all costs and therefore the phobia will persist

Spontaneous Recovery -an extinguished CR spontaneously reappears when it is once again exposed to the CS -dog no longer salivates when hears bell but then one day hears bell and starts salivating -fear of dogs has disappeared but one day see dog and that fear comes back -usually spontaneous recovery results in a lesser response -no one knows why spontaneous recovery occurs

-learning/acquisition phase-when the bell and food are paired together -extinction-when bell is presented without food and salivation stops 24 hour rest -spontaneous recovery-ring bell and dog salivates even though previously extinguished yet weaker than before 24 hour rest -second spontaneous recovery-ring bell and dog salivates ****short answer question on test on identifying these types of terms****

Contiguity -when 2 stimuli occur together in time (close together), they become associated

-Pavlov believed 2 things about contiguity: 1. For CC to occur, the US and CS MUST be contiguous (occur at the same time) -if gong and mouse presented with too much time in between then conditioning will NOT occur 2. If ANY US and CS are contiguous, CC will occur -doesnt matter what the natural of the stimuli are, as long as they occur together close in time they were cause classical conditioning BUT-this was proven to be not 100% correct!!

Example: Rat and Nausea (US) Xrays>nausea(UR) Solution + xrays (CS) solution-nausea (CR) -exposed rats to xrays which caused nausea -took water solution and paired it with xrays which made the solution to elicit nausea response on its own -BUT found this response to happen even after 7 hours (after 7 hours no longer contiguous) but nausea response still elicited -prepared learning -maybe we pair nausea with food without conditioning (from evolutionary perspective it promotes survival by preventing you from eating poisoned food) Compound conditioned stimulus (US) Xrays>nausea(UR) Water/light/noise + xrays Water- nausea Light- X Noise- X -presented mice separately with water, light and noise -Theoretically each and all of these things should cause nausea because they were paired with the xrays but what was actually found was the water produced CR nausea but NOT the light or noise---goes against Pavlov!

-provided evidence that we are more prepared to associate nausea with something that we actually consume

STUDY 2 (US) shock- fear (UR) Water/light/noise + shock Water- X Light- fear Noise- fear -shows that you cant just throw any two stimuli together for classical conditioning

Early behaviourists underestimated the importance of: 1. Biological constraints on behaviour-some species more likely to become classically conditioned with certain stimuli compared to others because of biological tendencies (cant make a bird salivate to something if its not in their nature to salivate) 2. Cognitive processes mental processes, actively thinking, interpreting environment -thought when organisms reacted to stimuli it had to do with hard wiring in the brain, physical connections formed in the brain, organism didnt have to think about anything but more recent researchers argue that cognitive processes occur -animals create expectations and do have a degree of cognition

OPERANT CONDITIONING (Skinner) -learning through consequences, consequences to your response will influence your behaviour in the future S-anything that triggers a R (response) R-a voluntary response Consequence-4 types of consequences -positive reinforcer/reinforcement -negative reinforcer -positive punishment

-negative punishment Whats the difference from CC?-if it is an involuntary response, one you cant control then that means classical condition but if it is under VOLUNTARY control then it is operant condition

Positive Reinforcer (Sr+) -when something pleasant is added to the situation and this increases the probability of the R (response) reoccurring -the chances of that response reoccurring in the future will increase -ex. if you study hard and do well on the first test, you are more likely to study hard in the future -ex. If the kid cries and the parent buys the toy, the kid will be more likely to cry in the future -positive does not always mean a good thing and negative as a bad thing!!!!! -positive as in adding something to the situation and negative as removing something from the situation Factors that influenced the effectiveness of a Sr+ 1. Magnitude of the Sr+ (size of something) -greater magnitude will probably be more effective -ex. Mowing lawns for summer, one neighbour gives $5 and other $20, more likely to go back to mow neighbours lawn who gave you $20 2. Immediacy of the Sr+ (how soon the reward is delivered) -the faster the reward, the stronger the connection -humans use language to bridge time gap, tell little Johnny in the morning that if hes good he can watch another 30min of TV that night 3. Scheduling on Pattern of the Sr+ -what kind of general predictable pattern is created

Skinner Box -when rat presses lever, the food pellet is released which is a positive reinforcer -before box, used mazes to see how long the rat would get to the food but it was a hassle -for box, the experimenter could set the reinforcer as automatic

Continuous Reinforcement -a R is reinforced EVERY single time it occurs

Partial Reinforcement -a R is reinforced only SOME of the time -tend to generally produce more persistent behaviour

Example: Joe and Tom get $1 every time they make their bed. Joes mom says to Joe that he gets $1 every time he makes his bed but Toms mom gives Tom $1 only sometimes even though he makes his bed every day -then both moms say no more money! They should make their beds without being paid. Tom is more likely to continue making his bed, Joe will say no way! Tom will say its just one of those days that he doesnt get $1

Ratio Schedule -the reinforcement (Sr+) depends upon the number of times a R occurs -fixed ratio and variable ratio 1. Fixed Ratio (FR)-where a R is reinforced after a FIXED number of responses -rat has to press bar 120 times before he gets a food pellet FR-120 -the number of times that the bar is pressed is fixed at 120 times before reward, it does not change Ex. Salesman gets a bonus for every 10 cars that he sells Pattern of Responding -a high rate of responding -responding is consistent/steady-dont get ups and downs -theres a post-reinforcement pause-after response is delivered there is a pause/little break which increases if they have to work really hard to get that reward FR-10

2. Variable ratio (VR) -the Sr+ is given for an AVERAGE number of responses -word AVERAGE is clue were talking about a variable ratio -it reinforces a R after an unpredictable number of Rs -reward is given NOT for a fixed number of responses but for a variable number of responses -ex. Reward for salesman is getting attention from customers which is unpredictable, if the VR10 then on average salesman would encounter somehow who is interested in car every 10 people -ex. Unpredictability of gambling makes that behaviour so persistent Pattern of Responding -will get a high rate of responding -responding is consistent -theres NO post-reinforcement pause, tend not to take a break because dont want to miss opportunity

Interval Schedule -determines whether you get a reward or not is how much time has passed not how many times you do something 1. Fixed Interval Schedule (FI) -Sr+ is given after a FIXED time interval has elapsed FI-2mins -ex. Rat presses bar constantly but no food! Doesnt matter how often he presses it, it depends whether 2 minutes have passed. Do have to press bar to get food but food is only released after a certain fixed time interval has elapsed. Pattern of Responding -rate of responding increases as the Sr+ approaches -activity stops for a while after Sr+ is delivered and gradually increases again -rat learns to get food roughly every 2 minutes, so after estimating around 2 minutes will press the bar consistently (up and down) 2.Variable Interval Schedule -there is an AVERAGE interval of time between Sr+ -have unpredictable time intervals

Ex. Work in a factory and supervisor comes by every so often, the reinforcer is praise from supervisor FI-20min (every 20min the supervisor comes by and praises the employee), but in real life situation the supervisor wants to catch worker not doing work so there is more likely to be variable interval schedule VI-20mins comes by on average every 20 minutes (could vary lesser or greater) to check up on worker, supervisor praises worker when he sees them doing work Pattern of Responding -a high rate of responding -responding is consistent -theres NO post-reinforcement pause

EXAMPLES 1.A rat pressing a lever is given a pellet of food every 6min FI-6min 2.get paid every two weeks at your job FI-2weeks 3.Every time you rent five movies you get one free FR-5 4.Dog gets a treat every time it catches a Frisbee CR

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