Learning (2140) ~ 1

Faculty of Science Course Syllabus

Department of Psychology and Neuroscience

Learning: Conditioning and Motivation (NESC & PSYO 2140)

Winter 2024 edition

• Dalhousie University is located in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq. We
are all Treaty people.
• All students are required to comply with health and safety requirements on campus, and should be
considerate of others' health concerns. Non-compliance may be reported under the Code of Student
Conduct.
• Please note that, as far as Dr. Gadbois is concerned, this class is a safe space. We can all contribute to a
tolerant and discrimination-free atmosphere (for race, ethnicity, gender, sexual preference, language,
religion, age, disability, etc.).

Instructor: Simon Gadbois [email protected]

Office hours: Monday, 3:00 to 4:00 and Wednesday 12:00 to 1:00 in LSC 3326
Office hours include midterm viewing except the week before an exam when I will be
focussing on answering questions pertaining to the upcoming exam.
Lectures: Tuesday & Thursday, 2:30 to 4:00, LSC Common Area 242
Office hours
Laboratories: N/A
Tutorials: N/A
Course delivery: In-person only
Course Description Lectures focus on several goals: (1) providing general principles of learning; (2)
(official, calendar) understanding the behaviour of particular species; (3) direct application to human
problems. Emphasis is on understanding why researchers in animal learning do what
they are currently doing (given the goals and the historical context).
FORMAT: Lecture
LECTURE HOURS PER WEEK: 3
Course PSYO 1011.03 (or PSYO 1021.03 or PSYO 1031.03) and PSYO 1012.03 (or PSYO
Prerequisites 1022.03 or PSYO 1032.03); OR SCIE 1506.09/1507.09 (or SCIE1505X/Y.18). All
prerequisite courses must have a grade of B- or better.
CROSS-LISTED: PSYO and NESC 2140.03
Animal Behaviour This course is one of the Animal Behaviour Certificate available courses:
Certificate https://www.dal.ca/faculty/science/psychology_neuroscience/programs/certificate-
programs/animal_behaviour.html
Emails: When sending an email to Simon Gadbois, please add “2140” to the subject line.

Overview

This course will cover the modern theories of learning and motivation, starting with the basics of conditioning
principles and exploring the cognitive and conative (motivational) underpinnings of learning. The course covers
both human and non-human processes of learning. A neurobiological perspective is also taken throughout the
course. The course prepares you for:
 Learning (2140) ~ 2

• PSYO/NESC 3043: Neurobiology of Learning

• PSYO/NESC 4140: Animal Learning Topics (Honours Seminar)
• PSYO/NESC 4740: Topics in the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (Honours Seminar)
• Any psychology or neuroscience laboratory relying on operant (instrumental) responses from animals,
including research in sensory and perceptual processes with mice, rats, cats, dogs, etc.
• Various courses in developmental, social, and clinical psychology.
• Any CPA or APA certification for clinical psychologists, both requiring a learning class and necessary
for understanding some of the main evidence-based therapies used in North America:
◦ CBT: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
◦ ABA: Applied Behaviour Analysis
◦ ACT: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (based on RFT: Relational Frame Theory)

What this course is NOT:

• It is not a course on animal training (e.g., dog training). But Learning Theory uses animal models (in
both psychology and neuroscience), so expect many examples with animals (rats and pigeons mostly, but
also with dogs, as an intuitive example).
• It is not a course in school psychology or educational psychology.

Learning Objectives and learning outcomes

We favour an integrative and synthetic approach to learning theory (conditioning) and motivation:
• Understand and explain the contribution of all the main behavioural sciences and neurosciences of
learning, memory, and motivation: Psychology, neuroscience, neurobiology, and behavioural biology.
• Grasp the basic and more advanced processes and theories of learning, with an emphasis on
conditioning principles (i.e., classical and instrumental conditioning).
• Understand and explain the principles of learning and motivation in the main models used in
psychology and neuroscience (birds and mammals) and applications to human behaviour (education,
therapy, addictions, gambling, psychopathologies, parenting, marketing, and consumer psychology, etc).
• Understand the link between learning (acquisition of new information) and memory (retention and
retrieval of information) in both animal and human models.

Course Materials

• Scientific papers on specific topics may be suggested at any time during the term.
• The course is on Brightspace where the lecture notes (PDF) and grades will be posted.
• Note that:

◦ Lecture notes are only an outline, Dr. Gadbois does not use “slides” like a teleprompter. This means
that missing material translates into missing crucial information for an exam. You should be
annotating the lecture notes provided (outline), or taking your own to supplement the material
presented.
 Learning (2140) ~ 3

◦ Lecture notes are organized by theme, i.e., the sections are more like chapters, and not organized by
lecture. Lecture notes are organised by theme, i.e., the sections are more like chapters, and not
organised by lecture. This is because some years the course is offered in the 60mins slot, and other
years, in the 90 mins slot.
◦ You should be annotating the lecture notes provided (outline), or taking your own to supplement the
material presented. Dr. Gadbois does not use “slides” as if they were a teleprompter. This means that
missing lecture material translates into missing crucial information for an exam. You should be
annotating the outline provided, or taking your own notes to supplement the material presented. For
copyright reasons, some material will not be showing on the uploaded slides.
◦ A note taker is required to assist one of your peers. If you are interested, please contact the Student
Accessibility Centre, [email protected].

Textbook(s):

• Mandatory: Bouton, Mark E. (2016). Learning and Behavior: A Contemporary Synthesis, 2nd Edition.
Originally Sinauer / Now Oxford University Press; https://learninglink.oup.com/access/bouton-learning-
and-behavior-2e
• Facultative: Gluck, M. A., Mercado, E., & Myers, C. E. (2020). Learning and Memory: From Brain to
Behaviour, 4th edition. Worth Publishing; https://store.macmillanlearning.com/ca/product/Learning-and-
Memory/p/1319107389
• Other material: Scientific papers on specific topics may be suggested at any time during the term.

Course Assessments

Assessment % of final grade Date Location, time, duration

Midterm 1 30% February 1 Regular class time and location, 80 min
Midterm 2 30% March 7 Regular class time and location, 80 min
Final exam: 40% Scheduled exam period TBD by the Registrar later this term. Do not
Cumulative make travel plans until the schedule has been
published by the RO.
Bonus point for + 1% See the SONA system https://www.dal.ca/faculty/science/
participation in psychology_neuroscience/research/credit-
experiments point-information.html

The exams (both midterms and the final) have a mixed format and will contain multiple choice questions,
true/false questions, and short answers questions. Material is fully cumulative for the final exam.
Note that you will be tested on:
• Material from available lecture notes.
• Material presented in class not fully developed in the lecture notes: Your personal notes will matter.
• Remember: Lecture notes are only an outline. Your own notes will be important here as well.

In order to pass this course you need to:

• Obtain a final grade of 50% or more (minimum D)
 Learning (2140) ~ 4

• Write the two midterms and the final exam*. Please refer to the course policy on missed tests/exams in
the section below.
• Note: Any missed exams that are not resolved according to course policy will result in an INC final
grade for the course. An INC (incomplete) that is not addressed within a month of the end of a class will
result in an F for the course.

* Academic Calendar regulation 16.1 “In order to complete a course satisfactorily, a student must fulfill all the
requirements as set down in the course outline [Syllabus].”

Other course requirements

Although not a course requirement per se, attendance may be taken intermittently, and randomly.

Conversion of numerical grades to Final Letter Grades follows the Dalhousie Common Grade Scale

F D C- C C+ B- B B+ A- A A+
<50 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-72 73-76 77-79 80-84 85-89 90-100

Course Policies on Missed or Late Academic Requirements

Missed lectures:
Although there is no direct penalty for missing lectures, it is particularly important that you realize you will be
accountable for material covered during the lectures. As noted above, the slides decks provided are only an
outline of what is discussed in class.
Missed tests/exams:
• No need for a SDA (student declaration of absence) in this class.
• Since SDA’s are not valid for Final Exams, and finals cannot be missed like midterms, if you miss the
final, only students with a valid and documented excuse will have the following option (following
consultation with the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs): You write an essay question exam.
• There are no make-ups for a missed midterm in this course: Your final exam adds the value of the
missed midterm. In other words, your final will weigh more (value of the final + the value of the missed
midterm).
• If you miss both midterms, you will need a special permission from the Assistance Dean of Student
Affairs (see above), and your final, if the absence is justified and approved, will be worth 100% of your
grade.
• For long-term or chronic absences please speak with either:
◦ An advisor at the Student Advising and Access Services if you have accommodations.
◦ The Assistant Dean of Student Affairs (at the Faculty of Science): Patricia Laws, [email protected].
• Remember that the final exam is fully cumulative, and therefore will be covering the material of the full
term.

Cancelled midterms
If a midterm is cancelled due to weather or other force majeure events, the new date and time for the midterm
will be announced on Brightspace, otherwise, by default, the exam is re-scheduled to the next planned (regular)
class.
 Learning (2140) ~ 5

Course Policies related to Academic Integrity

Please see the Dalhousie regulations: Last page of this document. A plagiarism detection system may be used in
this course if relevant or appropriate.

Course Content

The course will present the following topics: The numbers in the columns on the right are the chapters in Bouton
(2016) [your textbook] and Gluck et al. (2020) [facultative reading] respectively.
Note: Many of the themes below will have a “brain substrates” and/or “clinical perspectives” section that are not
shown in this overview.

THEMES Bouton Gluck et al.

Some introductory comments on learning, memory and motivation in the context of 1+ 1+
psychology, neuroscience and behavioural biology/neurobiology.
Defining the basic concepts:
How the Ancient Greek saw the mind, and how neuroscience agrees: Cognition,
Emotion and Conation (Motivation)
History and schools of thought in animal and human learning. Learning Theory or
learning theories?
General applications of learning theory
Learning Theory at Dalhousie University

Basic neuroscience of learning: Systems-level 2

Learning as adaptation: 2, 8 3
The biological bases of learning
The debate with ethology (behavioural biology): Nature vs. Nurture.
Basic principles of learning.
Simple (non-associative learning): Habituation and sensitization
Familiarization: Perceptual learning, Priming, Spatial learning
Respondent or classical conditioning (aka Pavlovian conditioning) 3-4 4
Operant or instrumental conditioning (aka Skinnerian conditioning) 7 5
Discrimination, Generalization, Categorization, Stimulus control 8 6
The role of memory, modulation of behaviour, and the concept of behaviour systems. 5 7, 8, 9
Short term and long term memory
Episodic and semantic memory
Skill memory
Working memory (and attention) and executive function (cognitive control)
Motivation: Drive theory, incentive theory, incentive motivation and incentive 9 5
learning.
 Learning (2140) ~ 6

Advanced issues in learning: if time allows 10 10, 11

Habit learning
Avoidance learning and learned helplessness
Issues: Misbehaviour of organisms, superstitious behaviours, punishment
Emotions, learning, and memory
Social learning and memory
 Learning (2140) ~ 7

University Policies and Statements

This course is governed by the academic rules and regulations set forth in the University Calendar and by
Senate
Academic Integrity
At Dalhousie University, we are guided in all of our work by the values of academic integrity: honesty, trust,
fairness, responsibility and respect (The Center for Academic Integrity, Duke University, 1999). As a student,
you are required to demonstrate these values in all of the work you do. The University provides policies and
procedures that every member of the university community is required to follow to ensure academic integrity.
Information: https://www.dal.ca/dept/university_secretariat/academic-integrity.html

Accessibility
The Advising and Access Services Centre is Dalhousie's centre of expertise for student accessibility and
accommodation. The advising team works with students who request accommodation as a result of a
disability, religious obligation, or any barrier related to any other characteristic protected under Human
Rights legislation (Canada and Nova Scotia).
Information: https://www.dal.ca/campus_life/academic-support/accessibility.html

Student Code of Conduct

Everyone at Dalhousie is expected to treat others with dignity and respect. The Code of Student Conduct
allows Dalhousie to take disciplinary action if students don’t follow this community expectation. When
appropriate, violations of the code can be resolved in a reasonable and informal manner—perhaps through a
restorative justice process. If an informal resolution can’t be reached, or would be inappropriate, procedures
exist for formal dispute resolution.
Code: https://www.dal.ca/dept/university_secretariat/policies/student-life/code-of-student-conduct.html

Diversity and Inclusion – Culture of Respect

Every person at Dalhousie has a right to be respected and safe. We believe inclusiveness is fundamental to
education. We stand for equality. Dalhousie is strengthened in our diversity. We are a respectful and inclusive
community. We are committed to being a place where everyone feels welcome and supported, which is why
our Strategic Direction prioritizes fostering a culture of diversity and inclusiveness
Statement: http://www.dal.ca/cultureofrespect.html

Recognition of Mi’kmaq Territory

Dalhousie University would like to acknowledge that the University is on Traditional Mi’kmaq Territory. The
Elders in Residence program provides students with access to First Nations elders for guidance, counsel and
support. Visit or e-mail the Indigenous Student Centre (1321 Edward St) ([email protected]).
Information: https://www.dal.ca/campus_life/communities/indigenous.html

Important Dates in the Academic Year (including add/drop dates)

https://www.dal.ca/academics/important_dates.html

University Grading Practices

https://www.dal.ca/dept/university_secretariat/policies/academic/grading-practices-policy.html