Classical Conditioning Classical and Operant Conditioning

January 16, 2001 Reminder of Basic Effect What makes for effective conditioning? How does classical conditioning work?

Classical Conditioning
Reflex-basic unit of behavior Ring a bell and give a sour ballsoon you will salivate to the sound of the bell = conditioned reflex.

Basic effect
If Unconditioned Stimulus ? Unconditioned Response (meat powder) (salivation) then pair Conditioned Stimulus with the Unconditioned Stimulus (bell) (meat powder) then eventually Conditioned Stimulus ? Conditioned Response (bell) (salivation)

Who didnt know this already?

Who didnt know this?

If Unconditioned Stimulus ? Unconditioned Response (smell of food) (approach) then pair Conditioned Stimulus with the Unconditioned Stimulus (sound of can opener) (smell of food) then eventually Conditioned Stimulus ? Conditioned Response (sound of can opener) (approach)

Measurement
You cant answer questions effectively without an experimental method Its not enough to say cat comes
How many times must it hear the can opener? What if sometimes I open a can of soup? How quickly will the cat come? Can any stimulus be associated with any response? WHY does the cat come?

Many questions you could ask

What makes an effective CS and US? How might classical conditioning work?

What makes effective CS & US

Belongingness Taste->vomiting, sight->shock Effect observed in humans, too. Fear conditioning to snakes/spiders vs. flowers/mushrooms (dv = GSR)

What makes effective CS & US

Novelty Bell alone, then bell?food
Bell associated w/ background Bell associated w/ no food

Food alone, then bell?food

How does CC work?

CC can be thought of as adding predictability to the animals environment. Learning that one stimulus is conditional on the other. If one stimulus is not conditional on the other, you wont get learning.

How does CC work?

Importance of one stimulus being conditional on another.
If you present CS and US randomly, you dont get learning. Animals should ignore stimuli that dont have predictive value.

Predictive value--blocking
Training 1 Group 1: Tone Shock Training 2 Tone Light Light Shock Test Light Shock

The Point of Blocking

The animal only learns what light means if light carries new predictive information

Learning = bad

Group 2:

Shock

Light

Shock

Learning = good

Rigor allows prediction

Note how different this enterprise is than the casual observation of your cat.

Final phenomenon-secondary conditioning

What do you think would happen if you taught a dog Light Food, and then taught it Bell Light,

Answer
The dog would learn it, and would eventually salivate to bell.

How does secondary conditioning apply here?

Question. . .

US = food, UR = approach, hovering CS = arm motions, CR = approach, hovering Secondary CS= looking up, CR = approach, hovering

Whats happening, and what should the birds do?

Whats happening: removal of secondary CS What should the birds do?: extinction of CR

Moments later, birds are leaving

Application to humans? Application to humans?

Food anticipations--salivation Food aversions Drug tolerance & addiction

Drug Addiction and Overdose

CC plays a role in deaths caused by drug overdoses Person who usually takes a drug in a particular setting develops a CR to that place. Drug ? Big Response (e.g. hypothermia) and body tries to return to homeostasis

Drug Addiction and Overdose

Drug ? Body attempts to counteract (raise body temp.)

US

UR

Setting (e.g. bathroom)?Drug

CS

US

Bathroom ? Body attempts to counteract drug

CS

CR

What happens if the drug is taken in a different room?

Drug Addiction and Overdose

CR does not occur (users body does not try to counteract drug) and the user can not tolerate the higher dose.

Drug Addiction
Craving for drug is an attempt to get back to homeostasis: Craving is caused by Conditioned Stimuli e.g.: handling money seeing a friend take drug talking about drugs being in specific setting

Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning
Conditioned reflexes couldnt account for all behavior Active response ? future change in response depending on consequences.

Operant Conditioning
In classical conditioning, the presence of one stimulus (e.g. meat powder) is conditional on the presence of another stimulus (e.g., a bell) What else can an animal learn, besides the relationship of two stimuli?

Operant Conditioning
It is also possible for the animal to generate a response and for that response to have consequences: e.g., act cute, you get pet

What makes OC effective?

Temporal contingency Schedule of reinforcement Belongingness

Temporal Contingency
The delay between the animals act that you are reinforcing, and the reinforcer.
Immediate is more effective than delayed for animals. Humans can learn effectively after delayed reinforcement.

Operant Conditioning
Relies on reinforcement: The process by which consequences lead to an increase in the likelihood that the response will occur again.

Reinforcement
Positive Reinforcement: desired event is presented after a response.
example: food when animal presses bar

Negative Reinforcement: removal of an unpleasant event

example: removal of shock when animal presses bar.

Schedules of Reinforcement
Fixed ratio number Variable ratio number Fixed interval time Variable interval time

Fixed ratio
Reinforcement is given after a fixed ratio of responses.
Example: factory piecework
Number of Responses

Steady response Easy to extinguish

Time

Variable ratio
Reinforcement is given after a variable ratio of responses.
Example: slot machine
Number of Responses

Fixed interval
Reinforcement is given for a response emitted after a fixed interval of time.
Example: studying for exams
Number of Responses

Rapid response Hard to extinguish

Little response until just before reinforcement: then rapid response Fairly easy to extinguish

Time

Time

Variable interval
Reinforcement is given for a response after a variable amount of time.
Example: checking mailbox (sort of)
Number of Responses

Operant conditioning--what makes it effective?

Temporal contingency Schedule of reinforcement ** Belongingness

Steady response Hard to extinguish

Time

Belongingness
Thorndike: Cat and puzzle box.
Pressing lever led to door opening Not yawning or scratching

Applications
Animal training Superstition Teaching Machines Token Economies

Motivational state can also influence; a hungry animal does more for foodseeking behaviors. . .

Animal Training
Revolutionized animal training
Shaping

Superstition
Skinner left pigeons alone, reinforced every 15 seconds. Reported that they developed superstitious behavior, each bird having a different behavior. Pigeons appeared to believe that they were making the food appear Temporal contingency--birds were doing something when the food appeared. . .

Importance of temporal contingency Exclusive use of positive reinforcement Complexity of behaviors when these rules are followed.

Superstition
Superstitious behavior: depends on accidental association between action and consequence

Teaching
Apply operant conditioning principles to learning
Make sure student doesnt make mistakes; guide behavior via successive approximations Review frequently

Little enthusiasm. Teachers dont like it and students are bored.

Behavior Modification
Token economies
Secondary reinforcement dehumanizing?

Operant and Classical

CC: Neutral stimulus comes to have meaning OC: Neutral response comes to have meaning Are they really different?