Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Sciences

AIPS
Cognitive Psychology [PSYC612]

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Learning

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Learning
n. the acquisition of novel information, behaviors, or abilities
after practice, observation, or other experiences, as evidenced
by change in behavior, knowledge, or brain function.

Learning involves consciously or nonconsciously attending to

relevant aspects of incoming information, mentally organizing
the information into a coherent cognitive representation, and
integrating it with relevant existing knowledge activated from
long-term memory.

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Learning
There are two basic kinds of learning: non-associative
learning and associative learning.

Non-associative learning involves learning about a single

stimulus, and it includes habituation and sensitization.

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Learning
Habituation is a type of non-associative learning that is
characterized by a decreased behavioral response to an
innocuous stimulus.

For example, the sound of a horn might startle you when you
first hear it. But if the horn toots repeatedly in a short time, the
amount that you are startled by each sound progressively
decreases.

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Learning
Sensitization is a type of non-associative learning whereby
there is an increase in a behavioral response to an intense
stimulus.

Sensitization typically occurs when noxious or fearful stimuli

are presented to an organism.

For example, the acoustic startle response to a horn is greatly

enhanced if you enter a dark alley right before the loud sound.

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Learning
Both habituation and sensitization are typically relatively
short-lived, lasting for minutes to hours.

Although these types of learning are quite simple, they are

exceptionally important for determining what an organism
attends to in the world.

Indeed, the fact that non-associative learning can be

demonstrated in all animals, ranging from single celled
paramecia to humans, is a testament to the importance of this
form of learning.

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Learning
Associative learning is much more complicated than non-
associative learning, because it involves learning
relationships among events.

It includes classical conditioning and instrumental

conditioning.

Classical and instrumental conditioning both involve forming

associations – that is, learning that certain events go together.

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Learning
Non-associative learning

Presentation of the stimulus alone. => habituation, sensitization

Associative learning

Presentation of the stimulus in relation to another stimulus. =>

classical conditioning

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Learning

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Process of Learning
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Process of Learning
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Learning
Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning is a learning process in which a previously neutral

stimulus becomes associated with another stimulus through repeated pairing
with that stimulus.

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Learning
Classical Conditioning

A type of learning in which an initially neutral stimulus—the conditioned

stimulus (CS)—when paired with a stimulus that elicits a reflex response—the
unconditioned stimulus (US)—results in a learned, or conditioned, response
(CR) when the CS is presented.

For example, the sound of a tone may be used as a CS, and food in a dog’s
mouth as a US.

After repeated pairings, namely, the tone followed immediately by food, the
tone, which initially had no effect on salivation (i.e., was neutral with respect to
it), will elicit salivation even if the food is not presented.

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Q: Write a literature review on topic of your choice from the syllabus of cognitive psychology. Locate
five journal articles on the topic and write a summary of the articles you've selected.

Upload the draft as Word file

You may organize the assignment as follows:

Topic

Introduction (3)
Define or identify the general topic, issue, or area of concern, thus providing an appropriate context for
reviewing the literature.

Review of Literature (8)

Summarize individual studies or articles with as much or as little detail as each merits according to its
comparative importance in the literature, remembering that space (length) denotes significance.

Conclusion (4)
Summarize major contributions of significant studies and articles to the body of knowledge under
review, maintaining the focus established in the introduction.

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Learning

Operant / Instrumental Conditioning

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Learning
instrumental conditioning

any form of conditioning in which the correct response is essential for

reinforcement.

Instrumental conditioning is similar to operant conditioning and usually involves

complex activities in order to reach a goal, such as when a rat is trained to
navigate a maze to obtain food.

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Learning
In instrumental conditioning, certain behaviors are learned because they
operate on the environment.

Your dog learns that performing the trick results in food: the behavior is
instrumental in producing a certain change in the environment.

If we think of the dog as having food as a goal, instrumental conditioning

(which is also called operant conditioning) amounts to learning that a
particular behavior (called the ‘response’ – in this case rolling over) leads
to a particular
goal (Rescorla, 1987).

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Learning
Operant Conditioning

The process in which behavioral change (i.e., learning) occurs as a function of

the consequences of behavior.

Examples are teaching a dog to do tricks and rewarding behavioral change in a

misbehaving child (see behavior therapy). The term is essentially equivalent to
instrumental conditioning. [first described by B. F. Skinner]

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Reinforcement and Punishment

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Schedules of Reinforcement

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Schedules of Reinforcement

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Schedules of Reinforcement

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Schedules of Reinforcement

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Schedules of Reinforcement

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Reinforcement Theory
• From a training perspective, reinforcement theory suggests that for learners to
acquire knowledge, change behavior, or modify skills, the trainer needs to identify
what outcomes the learner finds most positive (and negative). Trainers then need to
link these outcomes to learners’ acquiring knowledge or skills or changing behaviors.

• Learners can obtain several types of benefits from participating in training programs.
The benefits may include learning an easier or more interesting way to perform their
job (job-related), meeting other employees who can serve as resources when
problems occur (personal), or increasing opportunities to consider new positions in
the company (career-related).

• According to reinforcement theory, trainers can withhold or provide these benefits to

learners who master program content.

• The effectiveness of learning depends on the pattern or schedule for providing these
reinforcers or benefits. Similarly, managers can provide these benefits to help ensure
transfer of training.

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Reinforcement Theory

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Reinforcement Theory
• Generalization and discrimination

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Verbal Learning

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Verbal Learning

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Learning
verbal learning

the process of learning about verbal stimuli and responses, such as letters,
digits, nonsense syllables, or words.

The methods used include paired-associates learning and serial learning.

Researchers in the verbal learning tradition, influenced by Hermann

Ebbinghaus and by associationism, sought to uncover basic laws of learning by
studying simple materials under controlled conditions. Compare nonverbal
learning.

nonverbal learning

the process of learning about nonverbal materials, such as pictures or

drawings, odors, or nonlanguage sounds.
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Learning

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Learning
nonsense syllable

any three-letter nonword used in learning and memory research to study

learning of items that do not already have meaning or associations with other
information in memory.

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning

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Learning Theory: Themes and Issues

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Learning Theory: Themes and Issues

• Association
• Repetition
• Reinforcement
• Organization
• Inhibition
• Motivation in learning
• Varieties of learning
• Stages of learning
• Remembering and forgetting
• Contemporary trends in learning theory

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Learning Theory: Themes and Issues

• In the early 1930s the distinction between learned and inherited
behaviour seemed clearer than it does now.

• The view that any bit of behaviour either was learned or simply
developed without learning seemed straightforward.

• Studies based on these expectations led investigators to conclude

that rat-killing behaviour among cats is learned rather than instinctive,
that human fears are all acquired, or that intelligence is completely
the result of experience.

• Learning theorists were saying then that most behaviour is learned

and that biological factors are of little or no importance.

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Learning Theory: Themes and Issues

• Forty years later this position seemed grossly untenable. The once-implied sharp
distinction between learned and inherited behaviour had become badly blurred.

• For example, it has been found that the young of many animal species automatically
will learn to follow the first large, moving, noisy object presented (as if it were their
mother).

• This special form of learning is called imprinting and seems to occur only during a
critical early stage of life. Among mallard ducklings imprinting is most feasible about 15
hours after hatching. During this period a duckling will imprint as easily on an old man
or on a rubber ball as it will on a mother duck. Is this instinctive or learned behaviour?
Manifestly it is both.

• The instinctive tendency to be imprinted is part of the duckling’s biological heritage;

while the object on which it is imprinted is a matter of experience. What is significant for
learning theory is that the contribution of biology cannot be ignored.

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Learning Theory: Themes and Issues

• Learning theorists once ruled a number of concepts out of court on the ground that they
seemed objectively unclean. Image, cognition, awareness, and volition, all are
concepts that were denied acceptance on this basis. They sounded mentalistic,
subjective, introspective, and unverifiable. Yet, in the late 20th century these were
being given more serious scientific consideration.

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