LEARNING

Unit-III
 Definition

■ Any relatively permanent change in behavior

that occurs as a result of practice or
experience
 Classical Conditioning
■ Ivan Pavlov’s Experiment- 1890’s
 Classical Conditioning

■ Stimulus- anything in the environment that can be detect by the senses

■ Unconditioned Stimulus- A stimulus that elicit/ evoke response or is
reliably followed by one
■ Unconditioned Response- the response that reliably follows the
unconditioned stimulus is known as the unconditioned response
■ Conditioned Stimulus- A previously neutral stimulus that, after repeated
association with an unconditioned stimulus, elicits that response
produced by the unconditioned stimulus itself
■ Conditioned Response – the response that is evoke by the conditioned
stimulus
 Classical Conditioning
■ Conditioned response is usually gradual
■ More and more trials—conditioned response grow stronger and stronger
or more likely to occur
■ Rate of learning is rapid at first but gradually decrease
Basic Principles of Classical Conditioning
■ CS must come before the UCS
■ CS and UCS must come very close together in time
■ Neutral stimulus must be paired with UCS several times
 Stimulus Generalization in Classical
Conditioning
■ Stimulus generalization- The generalization of conditioned response to
other stimuli that was somewhat similar to the original stimulus
■ Greater the similarity greater the generalization among conditioned
stimulus
■ Occur to stimuli that have never been paired with specific
unconditioned stimulus
Discrimination in Classical Conditioning

■ Discrimination : the process of learning to make one response to one

stimulus and a different, or no response to another stimulus
■ Typical discrimination in classical conditioning- response to one
stimulus and not respond to another
■ Response to one stimulus and not response to another the range of
stimuli that can evoke conditioned response are narrowed
 Extinction in Classical Conditioning

■ Extinction- Occurs when conditioned stimulus is presented without

unconditioned stimulus for a number of trials

■ Unpaired stimulus reduce the magnitude or strength of conditioned

response gradually
 Spontaneous Recovery in Classical
Conditioning
■ Spontaneous recovery- the reappearance of the conditioned response
after a rest period or period of lessened response
■ S R shows that the extinction process while decreasing the magnitude
of conditioned response does not entirely remove the tendency to
response to the CS
■ Reconditioning: shows that extinction does not completely erase
conditioning
■ Reconditioning- pair CS and US from the original conditioning
■ Reconditioning occur more rapidly than first conditioning
 Higher-Order Conditioning

■ When strong Conditioned Stimulus is paired with Neutral Stimulus

■ Strong CS can play the role of UCS and
■ The neutral stimulus can become second CS
■ NS-CS-SR
■ Unconditioned stimulus need to be presented along with CS and NS
 Explaining Classical Conditioning

■ Stimulus substitution: Conditioned stimulus activates part of the brain

activated by UCS
■ Cognitive Perspective, Robert Rescorla (1988): Consciously expecting
something to occur. This perspective focuses on memory, intelligence,
perception, problems solving, and learning
 Classical Conditioning & Human
Behavior
■ Conditioned Emotional Response (CER)- “Emotional response that has
become classically conditioned to occur to learned stimuli”, such as
phobias
■ Vicarious Conditioning
■ Conditioned Taste Aversion
■ Biological Preparedness- “ The tendency of animals to learn certain
associations with only one or few pairings due to the survival value of
learning
 Operant Conditioning
■ Thorndike’s Law of Effect: “If an action is followed by a pleasurable
consequence, it will tend to be repeated, and if followed by unpleasant
consequence, it will tend not to be repeated”
■ The effect of consequences on behavior is the heart of OC
■ Reinforcement: “any event or stimulus, that when following a
response, increases the probability that the response will occur again”
■ Reinforcers: “any event or stimulus, that when following a response,
increase the likelihood of that response occurring again”
■ Primary Reinforcer: “any reinforcer that is naturally reinforcing by
meeting a basic biological need, such as hunger, thirst, or touch
■ Secondary Reinforcer: ”any reinforcer that becomes reinforcing after
being paired with a primary reinforcer, such as money
 Operant Conditioning

■ Positive Reinforcement: Reinforcing a behavior by addition or

experiencing pleasurable stimulus
■ Negative Reinforcement: Reinforcing a behavior by removal, escape,
or avoidance of unpleasant stimulus
■ Partial Reinforcement effect- Response is reinforce after some but not
all correct response
■ Continuous Reinforcement- Reinforcement of each and every correct
response
 Operant Conditioning

■ Fixed Interval Schedule of Reinforcement- fixed time

■ Variable Interval Schedule of Reinforcement- time can vary
■ Fixed Ratio Schedule of Reinforcement- fixed number of response
■ Variable Ratio Schedule of Reinforcement- number of response vary
 Punishment
■ “Any object or event that when following a response less likely to
happen again”
■ Weakens a response
■ Punishment by application- Adding or experiencing unpleasant stimulus
■ Punishment by removal- removal of pleasurable stimulus
■ Drawback of punishment: avoidance, encourage lying, creates fear and
anxiety, punishment as model
■ Make Punishment Effective by; give punishment right after the
unwanted behavior, punishment should be consistent, and paired
punishment with reinforcement of right behavior
 Insight Learning

■ Kohler’s Study on Chimp

■ Indight: The sudden perception of relationships among various parts of a problem,
allowing the solution to the problem to come quickly
 Social Learning

■ Bandura’s Study on Bobo doll

Elements of Observational Learning
■ Attention
■ Memory
■ Imitation
■ Desire
 Principles of Learning

■ Focusing
■ Repetition
■ Learner control
■ Active participation
■ Individual styles
■ Organization
■ Association
 Principles of Learning

■ Imitation
■ Motivation
■ Spacing
■ Recency
■ Primacy
■ Arousal
■ Accurate and prompt feedback
■ Application
■ Personal history
 Learning Style
Relational Style Analytical Style
1. Perceive information as part of total picture 1. Able to dis-embed information from total picture
(focus on detail)
2. Exhibit improvisational and intuitive thinking 2. Exhibit sequential and structured thinking
3. More easily learn materials that have a human, 3. More easily learn materials that are inanimate and
social content and are characterized impersonal
experimental/cultural relevance
4. Have a good memory for verbally presented ideas 4. Have a good memory for abstract ideas and
and information, especially if relevant irrelevant information
5. Are more task-oriented concerning nonacademic 5. Are more task-oriented concerning academics
areas
6. Are influenced by authority figures’ expression of 6. Are not greatly affected by the opinions of others
confidence or doubt in students’ ability
7. Prefer to withdraw from unstimulating task 7. Show ability to persist at unstimulating task
performance
8. Style conflict with the traditional school environment 8. Style matches most school environment