Learning

1
Learning
“A relatively permanent change in behavior
due to experience”.
This definition has three aspects:
 1)It is a change in behavior for better or
worse.
 2)It is a change that take place through
practice or experience.
 3)Changes produced through learning must
last a fairly long time
2
 So, Experience is key to learning.
 We learn by association.
 Our minds naturally connect events that occur in
sequence (Associative learning).
 Associative learning: Learning that certain events
occur together.
 The events may be two stimuli (as in classical
conditioning), or a response and its consequences
(as in operant conditioning).
 Conditioning: Process of learning associations.

3
Types of Learning
 Following are the major types of learning:
 1.Classical conditioning
 2.Operent conditioning
 3.Learning by Trial and Error
 4.Learning by Insight
 5.Modeling
 6.Learning by observation/Vicarious Learning

4
1.Classical Conditioning
 “A type of learning in which an organism
comes to associate stimuli”.
 In classical conditioning a stimulus that does
not elicit a reflexive response (conditioned
stimulus) is paired with an unconditioned
stimulus, in a such a way that it starts to elicit
effects that are similarly produced by
unconditioned stimulus after several pairings.
It is also called as Pavlovian conditioning.
5
 Classical Conditioning can also be defined as
a type of learning in which a stimulus
acquires the capacity to evoke a automatic
response that was originally evoked by a
different stimulus.

6
 Classical conditioning begins with any stimulus
which naturally produces a response. For example,
food naturally and reliably produces the response of
salivation. In this example, the food is the
unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and the response of
salivation is the unconditioned response (UCR).
 Learning occurs when a neutral stimulus (one that
would not normally produce a reliable response) is
paired with the UCS and, as a result of this pairing, it
acquires the ability to produce the UCR.

7
 Because the neutral stimulus becomes
effective through the conditioning process, it
is called the conditioned stimulus (CS). The
response produced by the CS, although
technically almost the same as the UCR,
becomes a conditioned response (CR)
because it is produced through the
conditioning process.
 Table 1 below shows an example of the
classical conditioning procedure

8
Table 1

9
10
 Pavlov was studying salivation in dogs - he was
measuring the amount of salivation produced by the
salivary glands of dogs by presenting them meat
powder.
 The dispenser would deliver the meat powder to
which the animals salivated. However, what Pavlov
noticed was that the food dispenser made a sound
when delivering the powder, and that the dogs
salivated before the powder was delivered.
 He realized that the dogs associated the sound
(which occurred seconds before the powder actually
arrived) with the delivery of the food. Thus, the dogs
had "learned" that when the sound occurred, the
meat powder was going to arrive.

11
 This is conditioning (Stimulus-Response; S-R
Bonds). The stimulus (sound of food
dispenser) produced a response (salivation).
It is important to note that at this point, we are
talking about reflexive responses (salivation
is automatic).

12
Important terminology

 a) Unconditioned Stimulus (US) - A

stimulus that evokes an unconditioned
response without any prior conditioning (no
learning needed for the response to occur).
 b) Unconditioned Response (UR) - An
unlearned reaction/response to an
unconditioned stimulus that occurs without
prior conditioning.

13
Cont.
 c) Conditioned Stimulus (CS) - A previously
neutral stimulus that has, through conditioning,
acquired the capacity to evoke a conditioned
response.
 d) Conditioned Response (CR) - A learned
reaction to a conditioned stimulus that occurs
because of prior conditioning.

14
Basic Principles of Classical
Conditioning
 a) Acquisition - formation of a new CR tendency. This means
that when an organism learns something new, it has been
"acquired". The interval between conditioned stimulus is an
extremely important variable. For effective classical conditioning
the CS comes first followed by the UCS usually with a half
second.
 b) Extinction - this is a gradual weakening and eventual
disappearance of the CR tendency. Extinction occurs from
multiple presentations of CS without the UCS.
 Essentially, the organism continues to be presented with the
conditioned stimulus but without the unconditioned stimulus the
CS loses its power to evoke the CR. For example, Pavlov's dogs
stopped salivating when the dispenser sound kept occurring
without the meat powder following.

15
 c) Spontaneous Recovery - sometimes there will
be a reappearance of a response that had been
extinguished. The recovery can occur after a period
of non-exposure to the CS. It is called spontaneous
because the response seems to reappear out of
nowhere.
d) Stimulus Generalization - a response to a
specific stimulus becomes associated to other
stimuli (similar stimuli) and now occurs to those
other similar stimuli.
 For Example - a child who gets bitten by black lab,
later becomes afraid of all dogs. The original fear
evoked by the Black Lab has now generalized to
ALL dogs.

16
 e) Stimulus Discrimination - learning to
respond to one stimulus and not another.
Thus, an organisms becomes conditioned to
respond to a specific stimulus and not to
other stimuli.
 For Example - a puppy may initially respond
to lots of different people, but over time it
learns to respond to only one or a few
people's commands.

17
2.Operent Conditioning/
Instrumental learning
“A type of learning in which voluntary
(controllable; non-reflexive) behavior is
strengthened if it is reinforced and
weakened if it is punished (or not
reinforced)”.
 It can also be defined as “learning that is
determined by the consequences of
behavior”.
 also called instrumental learning.
18
 The most prominent
figure in the
development and study
of Operant
Conditioning was B.
F. Skinner.
 Modern Behaviorism’s
most influential and
controversial figure

19
Skinner's views of Operant
Conditioning
 Operant Conditioning attempts to predict non-
reflexive, more complex behaviors, and the
conditions in which they will occur.
 Behaviors studied in Classical conditioning →
reflexive (e.g salivation)
 Behaviors studied in Operant conditioning→
Non reflexive, voluntary (e.g smoking,
gambling)

20
 In Operant Conditioning, the organism has a lot
of control. There are many factors involved in
determining if an organism will engage in a
behavior or not.
 Just because a stimulus is presented, does not
necessarily mean that an organism is going to
react in any specific way. Instead, reinforcement
is dependent on the organism's behavior.

21
 In other words, in order for an organism to
receive some type of reinforcement, the
organism must behave in a specific manner.
 For example, you can't win at a slot machine
unless several things happen, most importantly,
you pull the lever. Pulling the lever is a
voluntary, non-reflexive behavior that must be
exhibited before reinforcement (hopefully a
jackpot) can be delivered.

22
 In classical conditioning, the controlling stimulus
comes before the behavior. But in Operant
Conditioning, the controlling stimulus comes after
the behavior.
 If we look at Pavlov's meat powder example, you
remember that the sound occurred (controlling
stimulus), the dog salivated, and then the meat
powder was delivered. With Operant conditioning,
the sound would occur, then the dog would have to
perform some behavior in order to get the meat
powder as a reinforcement. (like making a dog sit to
receive a bone).

23
Shaping
An operant conditioning method in which
reinforcer guide behavior toward closer and
closer approximation of a desired goal (called
Successive Approximations).
 In doing so, the organism is rewarded with each
small advancement in the right direction.
 Once one appropriate behavior is made and
rewarded, the organism is not reinforced again until
they make a further advancement, then another and
another until the organism is only rewarded once the
entire behavior is performed.
24
 An entirely new behavior is created by using
rewards to guide an organism toward a
desired behavior.
 For Example, to get a rat to learn how to
press a lever, the experimenter will use small
rewards after each behavior that brings the
rat toward pressing the lever.

25
 So, the rat is placed in
the box. When it takes
a step toward the lever,
the experimenter will
reinforce the behavior
by presenting food or
water in the dish
(located next to or
under the lever).

26
 Then, when the rat makes
any additional behavior
toward the lever, like
standing in front of the
lever, it is given
reinforcement (note that the
rat will no longer get a
reward for just taking a
single step in the direction
of the lever).
 This continues until the rat
reliably goes to the lever
and presses it to receive
reward.

27
Principles of Operant
conditioning
 1.Acquisition:
In order for the acquisition of operant conditioning
the subject must be motivated in order to get
reinforcement. If reinforcement is food then the
subject must be hungry.
 2.Extinction:
In operant conditioning, extinction is withholding of
reinforcement. In other words, when response no
longer leads to a reinforcing event, it is said to
undergo extinction and becomes less likely to occur
than before.
28
 3.Spontaneous recovery:
Spontaneous recovery is the occurrence of behavior
that had been extinguished, after a rest period. Rats
that have been on extinction in Skinner box will
begin to press the lever again when placed back
into box after a rest period.
 4.Generalization:
In operant conditioning, stimulus generalization is
similar as in classical conditioning. The organism
learns to respond to one stimulus and then
generalized this response for the similar stimulus.

29
 5.Stimulus Discrimination:
It is a process in which organism learns to
discriminate stimuli.
 6.Reinforcement:
According to Skinner, the major underlying factor in
learning is reinforcement. In operant
conditioning, reinforcement occurs when an
event following a response causes an
increase in the probability of that response
occurring in the future.
 It is a method of rewarding the behavior you
want to increase.
30
  Principles of Reinforcement

 a) Skinner identified two types of reinforcing events - those in

which a reward is given; and those in which something bad is
removed. In either case, the point of reinforcement is to increase
the frequency or probability of a response occurring again.

 I) positive reinforcement - give an organism a pleasant

stimulus when the operant response is made. For example, a rat
presses the lever (operant response) and it receives a treat, e.g.
cheese (positive reinforcement)

 II) negative reinforcement - take away an unpleasant stimulus

when the operant response is made. For example, stop shocking
a rat when it presses the lever

31
 Skinner also identified two types of
reinforcers :

 I) Primary reinforcer – These reinforcers

satisfies some biological need and work
naturally. Food for a hungry person is a
primary reinforcer.

 II) Secondary/conditioned reinforcer – It is

a stimulus that becomes reinforcing because
of its association with a primary reinforcer.
For example, money.
32
7.Punishment:

 “An event that decreases the behavior that it

follows”.
 Types of Punishment

There are two types of punishment:

 Positive Punishment
 Negative Punishment

33
Punishment
 i) Positive Punishment - presentation of an
aversive stimulus to decrease the probability of
an operant response occurring again. For
example, a child reaches for a cookie before
dinner, and you slap his hand.
 ii) Negative Punishment - the removal of a
pleasant stimulus to decrease the probability of
an operant response occurring again. For
example, each time a child says a curse word,
you remove one toy from his toy basket.

34
Learning by Observation
 Learning by observing others.
 Modeling: “The process of observing and
imitating a specific behavior”.
 Among higher animals, especially humans,
learning need not occur through direct
experience.
 We learn all kinds of social behaviors by
observing and imitating models.

35
 So many of our ideas, fashions, and habits
pass by imitation.
 Imitation of Models shapes children’s
development .
 Pioneering researcher in Observational
Learning → Albert Bandura

36
 Bandura demonstrated
a dramatically ability of
models to stimulate
learning.
 According to Bandura
Observational learning
takes place in four
steps:

37
Cont.
1. Paying attention and perceiving the most
critical features of another person’s
behavior.
2. Remembering the behavior
3. Reproducing the action
4. Being motivated to learn and carry out the
behavior

38
Applications of Observational
Learning:
 Anti-social models in one’s family,
neighborhood or media may have anti-social
effects.
 Pro-social (positive, helpful ) models have
positive effects on society.

39