Process of Learning- Trial & Error

The experimental study of animal learning by E. L. Thorndike (1874-1949) in the United States and his theory on trial-and-error learning provided the impetus for Skinner's experiments on instrumental or operant conditioning. Thorndike's doctoral research on 'Animal Intelligence' in 1898 provided the psychological world the first miniature system of learning known as trial-and-error learning. His theory left a profound effect on American psychology then. It also continues to exercise its influence on contemporary psychological theorizing. Thorndike's research was indirectly influenced by Darwin's theory of evolution. Darwin demonstrated that there is a continuity in the bodily structures of many different species. This evidence favored Darwin's doctrine of evolution. What about continuity in the ability to think and reason? Can animals think, understand, and reason like human beings, although at a simpler level? The critics of Darwin argued that the essential difference between humans and beasts is that humans can think and reason, which animals are not capable of doing. Thorndike's research on animals (cats, dogs, fishes, chicks, and moneys) showed that learning is a matter of connecting responses to stimuli in a very mechanical way. There is no involvement of consciousness, thinking, reasoning or understanding. The animal performs responses mechanically. The responses that bring reward are learned; the responses that do not bring reward are not learned. The animal does not show ability to understand, think, and reason. The animal learns mechanically through trial-and-error. Indeed many forms of human learning, particularly the learning of sensory- motor skills, are achieved through trial-and-error. Learning to walk, to swim, or to ride a bicycle is based on trial-anderror. At the beginning, we make wrong movements and commit errors. As we go through a series of practice trials, errors are reduced and responses are mastered. The gradual reduction of errors over trials gives the name, trial-and-error form of learning. Thorndike's Experiments on Cats: Thorndike experimented on a variety of animals like cats, fishes, chicks and monkeys. His classic experiment used a hungry cat as the subject, a piece of fish as the reward, and a puzzle box as the instrument for studying trial-and-error learning. In this typical experiment, a hungry cat was placed inside the puzzle box, and a piece of fish was kept outside the box. The cat could not reach the fish unless it opened the door. In order to escape from the box, the cat had to perform a simple action as required by the experimenter. The cat had to pull a loop or press a lever in order to open the door. Once the door was opened, the cat could escape and eat the fish. What did the hungry cat do inside Thorndike's puzzle box? Initially it made random movements and ineffective responses. On the first trial, the cat struggled valiantly; it clawed at the bars, it bit; it thrust its paws out through any opening; it squeezed itself through the bars; it struck out in all

directions. All the irrelevant responses continued for several minutes until the cat hit upon the correct response, by chance. Accidentally, it pulled the loop and the door opened. The cat came out of the box and was allowed to take a small part of the fish. It was then put inside the puzzle box for the second trial. In the second trial, the time taken to pull the loop reduced a bit. Every time the cat came out of the box and took a piece of fish, Thorndike put the cat inside the box again. Thorndike and the cat kept up this exercise for a while. With increasing trials, the time taken to pull the loop (response latency) decreased. The wrong responses (errors) that the cat was showing also decreased, as trials increased. Finally, the cat learned the trick. As soon as it was put in the box, it pulled the loop to escape for a well-deserved reward. The name, trial-and-error learning comes from the fact that errors decreased over trials. The cat learned from its errors. How did the animal learn? To answer this, Thorndike plotted the time taken on each trial by the cat to show the correct response (i.e., pulling the loop). The plot indicated that there was a gradual decline in the response latency. If the animal would have shown some understanding of the requirements to reach the fish, the curve should have registered a sudden drop at some point. This did not happen. The declining nature of the curve suggested that the animal had no understanding of the situation; it was only performing some responses, one of which was getting mechanically connected with the stimulus situation. Thorndike concluded that animals do not learn through thinking, understanding and reasoning. This view also received a second line of support, when Thorndike failed to teach cats to pull the loop for opening the door. He held cat's paw over the loop, pulling it for them, if cats had understanding, they should find their way out in the box, particularly after Thorndike had taught them the method. It means that the animal cannot learn without acting, it has to make its responses to the situation. The findings suggest that the cat did not have understanding of the solution. Thorndike explained cat's learning by the 'Law of Effect'. Thorndike conducted similar experiments with other animals and obtained similar results. He said that the animal does not learn a new response; it only Thorndike's puzzle box were in animal's stock of responses. Only one response led to animal's satisfaction of obtaining a piece of fish. As a result, this response was selected from the stock automatically. The connection between this response and the stimulus situation got strengthened over trials. Very simply, the 'Law of Effect' derives its name from the fact that whether a response would be strengthened or weakened depends upon the effect of the response.

Classical conditioning
Classical conditioning is a type of learning that had a major influence on the school of thought in psychology known as behaviorism. Discovered by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, classical conditioning is a learning process that occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. Behaviorism is based on the assumption that learning occurs through interactions with the environment. Two other assumptions of this theory are that the environment shapes behavior and that taking internal mental states such as thoughts, feelings, and emotions into consideration is useless in explaining behavior. It's important to note that classical conditioning involves placing a neutral signal before a naturally occurring reflex. In Pavlov's classic experiment with dogs, the neutral signal was the sound of a tone and the naturally occurring reflex was salivating in response to food. By associating the neutral stimulus with the environmental stimulus (the presentation of food), the sound of the tone alone could produce the salivation response. In order to understand how more about how classical conditioning works, it is important to be familiar with the basic principles of the process. The Unconditioned Stimulus The unconditioned stimulus is one that unconditionally, naturally, and automatically triggers a response. For example, when you smell one of your favorite foods, you may immediately feel very hungry. In this example, the smell of the food is the unconditioned stimulus. The Unconditioned Response The unconditioned response is the unlearned response that occurs naturally in response to the unconditioned stimulus. In our example, the feeling of hunger in response to the smell of food is the unconditioned response. The Conditioned Stimulus The conditioned stimulus is previously neutral stimulus that, after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus, eventually comes to trigger a conditioned response. In our earlier example, suppose that when you smelled your favorite food, you also heard the sound of a whistle. While the whistle is unrelated to the smell of the food, if the sound of the whistle was paired multiple times with the smell, the sound would eventually trigger the conditioned response. In this case, the sound of the whistle is the conditioned stimulus. The Conditioned Response

The conditioned response is the learned response to the previously neutral stimulus. In our example, the conditioned response would be feeling hungry when you heard the sound of the whistle. Examples of Classical Conditioning It can be helpful to look at a few examples of how the classical conditioning process operates both in experimental and real-worlds settings: Classical Conditioning a Fear Response One of the most famous examples of classical conditioning was John B. Watson's experiment in which a fear response was conditioned in a young boy known as Little Albert. The child initially showed no fear of a white rat, but after the presentation of the rat was paired repeatedly with loud, scary sounds, the child would cry when the rat was present. The child's fear also generalized to other fuzzy white objects. Let's examine the elements of this classic experiment. Prior to the conditioning, the white rat was a neutral stimulus. The unconditioned stimulus was the loud, clanging sounds and the unconditioned response was the fear response created by the noise. By repeatedly pairing the rat with the unconditioned stimulus, the white rat (now the conditioned stimulus) came to evoke the fear response (now the conditioned response). You can learn more about this famous study in this overview of the Little Albert experiment as well as some more information on the controversy about Little Albert. This experiment illustrates how phobias can form through classical conditioning. In many cases, a single pairing of a neutral stimulus (a dog, for example) and a frightening experience (being bitten by the dog) can lead to a lasting phobia (being afraid of dogs). In one famous field study, researchers injected sheep carcasses with a poison that would make coyotes sick but not kill them. The goal was help sheep ranchers reduce the number of sheep lost to coyote killings. Not only did the experiment work by lowering the number of sheep killed, it also caused some of the coyotes to develop such a strong aversion to sheep that they would actually run away at the scent or sight of a sheep. Classical Conditioning in the Real World In reality, people do not respond exactly like Pavlov's dogs. There are, however, numerous real-world applications for classical conditioning. For example, many dog trainers use classical conditioning techniques to help people train their pets. These techniques are also useful in the treatment of phobias or anxiety problems. Teachers are able to apply classical conditioning in the class by creating a positive classroom environment to help students overcome anxiety or fear. Pairing an anxiety-provoking situation, such as performing in front of a group, with pleasant surroundings helps the student learn new associations. Instead of feeling anxious and tense in these situations, the child will learn to stay relaxed and calm.

More About Classical Conditioning Classical conditioning can be used to increase the amount of a behavior, but it can also be used to decrease behavior. Learn more about some of the basic principles of classical conditioning. Behaviorists have described a number of different phenomena associated with classical conditioning. Some of these elements involve the initial establishment of the response, while others describe the disappearance of a response. These elements are important in understanding the classical conditioning process. Acquisition Acquisition is the initial stage of learning when a response is first established and gradually strengthened. For example, imagine that you are conditioning a dog to salivate in response to the sound of a bell. You repeatedly pair the presentation of food with the sound of the bell. You can say the response has been acquired as soon as the dog begins to salivate in response to the bell tone. Once the response has been acquired, you can gradually reinforce the salivation response to make sure the behavior is well learned. Extinction Extinction is when the occurrences of a conditioned response decrease or disappear. In classical conditioning, this happens when a conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with an unconditioned stimulus. For example, if the smell of food (the unconditioned stimulus) had been paired with the sound of a whistle (the conditioned stimulus), it would eventually come to evoke the conditioned response of hunger. However, if the unconditioned stimulus (the smell of food) were no longer paired with the conditioned stimulus (the whistle), eventually the conditioned response (hunger) would disappear. Sponteneous Recovery Spontaneous Recovery is the reappearance of the conditioned response after a rest period or period of lessened response. If the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus are no longer associated, extinction will occur very rapidly after a spontaneous recovery. Stimulus Generalization Stimulus Generalization is the tendency for the conditioned stimulus to evoke similar responses after the response has been conditioned. For example, if a child has been conditioned to fear a stuffed white rabbit, the child will exhibit fear of objects similar to the conditioned stimulus. Discrimination

Discrimination is the ability to differentiate between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that have not been paired with an unconditioned stimulus. For example, if a bell tone were the conditioned stimulus, discrimination would involve being able to tell the difference between the bell tone and other similar sounds.

What are the Determinants of Verbal Learning? Explained!

6 Major Determinants of Verbal Learning are described below:

(1) Meaningfulness:
The more meaningfulness of an item the more readily and easily it is learnt. Ebbinghaus found that as the meaningfulness of the items in the serial list increases, the list requires fewer trials to learn. In free recall experiments it was found that meaningfulness is positively related to the amount recalled. In paired associate learning experiments also it was found that pairs with an average meaningfulness are learnt more rapidly than those with lower meaningfulness values. Noble found that as the meaningfulness of items increases lesser time is required for learning. Underwood observed that higher the meaningfulness, more rapid is the learning.

(2) Frequency:
Learning and retention is also influenced by the frequency with which particular words are encountered. Hall found that the subjects recalled those items better which they frequently heard or saw. Underwood and Schulz found that the frequency with which words have been experienced determines their availability as responses in new connections.

(3) Recency:
Murdock found that the probability of recall of individual items is a function of their position in the list when free recall is used. Along with other things he found that items at the end of the list are recalled better as compaired to the ones in the middle of the list. This is due to the recency effect. Another aspect of recency is if the time interval between presentation and testing is increased there will be a decline in recall. Less the time interval better the recall, keeping aside other aspects. Yet another aspect of recency pertains to the selector mechanism. This refers to the tendency of not making error by responding with an item that is not present in the list. This mechanism is the

outcome of recency, so it is suggested. The selector mechanism provides a set to respond from a restricted pool of items. This set disappears as the length of time interval between presentation and recall is increased.

(4) Similarity:
There is a close relationship between similarity and generalization. During the course of learning when the stimulus is attached to a response and thereby learnt in that manner we at the same time develop a tendency to make the same response to similar stimuli. However, if the stimulus items are similar to each other the learning task gets difficult because of inter-pair generalization. Hull found that similarity between S-R hinders the association between them rather than the learning of discrete responses.

(5) Imagery and concreteness:

(6) Motivation:
Where there is a will there is a way. This holds true for verbal learning as well. Motivation plays a significantly important role in verbal learning. Deese and Hube have shown that motivation influences the amount of casual learning. D Amato has highlighted the positive motivational role played by instructions given to the subject before a verbal learning task. In his subjects the amount of learning increased as a result of instructions given before the learning task. These instructions served as an incentive and the subject was thereby motivated to do better. However, not all studies have born positive results on the role played by motivation in verbal learning. Harley and Weiner found that verbal learning is least influenced by the magnitude of reinforcement.

SERIAL LEARNING
Serial anticipation learning is an experimental paradigm in learning and memory research in which a timed sequence of stimuli (such as a list of words) is presented to a subject to be learnt . After a further interval the sequence is represented and the subject is asked to predict the next stimuli at each stage of the sequence so that each stimulus is a cue for the following response.

The serial position effect, a term coined by Hermann Ebbinghaus through studies he performed on himself, refers to the finding that recall accuracy varies as a function of an item's position within a study [1] list. When asked to recall a list of items in any order (free recall), people tend to begin recall with the end of the list, recalling those items best (the recency effect). Among earlier list items, the first few items [2][3] are recalled more frequently than the middle items (the primacy effect). One suggested reason for the primacy effect is that the initial items presented are most effectively stored in long-term memory because of the greater amount of processing devoted to them. (The first list item can be rehearsed by itself; the second must be rehearsed along with the first, the third along with the first and second, and so on.) The primacy effect is reduced when items are presented quickly and is enhanced when presented slowly (factors that reduce and enhance processing of each item and thus permanent storage). Longer presentation lists have been found to reduce the primacy effect The primacy effect, in psychology, is a cognitive bias that results from disproportionate salience of initial stimuli or observations. If, for example, a subject reads a sufficiently-long list of words, he or she is more likely to remember words read toward the beginning than words read in the middle. The recency effect is comparable to the primacy effect, but for final stimuli or observations. Taken together the primacy effect and the recency effect predict that, in a list of items, the ones most likely to be remembered are the items near the beginning and the end of the list (serial position effect). Lawyers scheduling the appearance of witnesses for court testimony, and managers scheduling a list of speakers at a conference, take advantage of these effects when they put speakers they wish to emphasize at the very beginning or the very end of a long list.