PSY202

Learning= a process of change that occurs as a result of an individual’s experience.

General Principles

- Psychology of learning strategy: the strategy employed in small number of

learning situations, studying them in detail, and then attempting to generalize
findings from these situations to other instances of learning.
- Application Across Disciplines: this approach isn’t exclusive to psychology; it can
be applied to other scientific disciplines as well, facilitating a deeper
understanding of learning processes and their broader implications.

Adaptations

- Behavioral adaptations can be inherited or learnt (not always in the genes)

Environment and Control

Innate: stable, hence not appropriate for responding to environmental changes

Learning: adapt to changing yet recurring facets of the environment

- Acquire new behaviors + lose or modify existing behaviors.

Learning is one of the biological processes that facilitates our survival and promotes our
well-being.

Aristoteles (4th century BCE)

- De Anima /Peri Psyches / On the soul

- Functions of the soul
- Rationality, reasoning (humans)

Associations and Aristoteles Contiguity, Similarity, Contrast

Contiguity: The more closely together (contiguous) in space or time two items occur, the
more likely will the thought of one item lead to the thought of the other

- Chair – Table

Similarity

- Apple- (orange, pear)

- Blue – (Green,red)

Contrast: An item often leads to the thought of its opposite

- Night – day
British Empiricism

- Ideas and knowledge are gained through the senses = thus, through experience
- Control people’s experiences to control/guide them = importance of education

Associationism and Empiricism

- Associationism as a theory of all knowledge

- Empiricism: all knowledge is acquired with experience ( John Locke)
- Opposite approach Nativism / Belief in innate ideas
- Experience (sensations) - Memory (ideas)
- If the same object encountered repeatedly
● The two simple ideas get associated with each other due to contiguity

Thomas Brown (1820): other principles of association

● Length of time two sensations occur together

● Liveliness or vividness of the sensations
● Frequency of pairings
● Recency of pairings

Experimental approach to associations: Ebbinghaus (1885)

- Read a list of nonsense syllables

- PUR, REZ, FIN etc
- initial repetitions - relearning repetitions / initial repetitions
- With enough repetitions, he is able to recall the whole list
- Overlearning: after perfect recall, he either stops or continues to study the list another
10 times
- After 24 hours, more saving as a result of overlearning
- Expectation: more association between adjacent items/ less association between items
far apart in the list

Two Approaches to Learning and Memory: Cognitive and Behavioral

- Behaviorism: dominant approach to the investigation of learning for the first half of
the twentieth century
- After that : cognitive psychology

A ‘ thirsty’ rat

Skinner (1950): Dangerous and unnecessary to point to some unobservable event, or

intervening variable (ara değişken), as the cause of behavior

IV: Hours of water deprivation

DV: Rate of lever pressing for water

Miller (1959): Intervening variables are often useful when several independent and dependent
variables are involved

Week 2: Innate Behavior Patterns and Habitation

- Survival

● Breathing, pumping blood through the veins(damarlar)

● Physiological set-up

- Sensory capacities/ Motor capacities

Innate behavior: behavior that is under strong genetic control and is performed in virtually the
same way by all individuals of a species(universal)

● A behavior is displayed in all members of a species: More likely to be innate

(Reflexes)
● Genes = Neural development = Behaviors

Relation to learning

● Many learned behaviors are derivatives, extensions, or variations of innate behaviors

● Parallels: Triggering stimuli
● Both: Purposive /Goal directed

Goal-directed systems/ Control systems theory

● A general framework for analyzing a wide range of goal-directed systems

● A comparison between the actual state of the world and a goal state: Used to explain
goal directed behavior
● Feedback system(innate behavior have)/ Closed-loop system
Characteristics of Goal-directed Systems

● Goal directed behavior based on upon a feedback systems

● The role of the comparator: Reference and Actual input comparison
● Product of an action system is output

How about a reflex?

● Reflex: a stimulus elicited response

● A stereotyped pattern of movement of a part of the body that can be reliably elicited
by presenting the appropriate stimulus

Reflexes as simple feedback systems

● Flexion reflex: a rapid withdrawal of the hand caused by a bending of the arm at the
elbow (ocağa dokunmak, action systems is activated)
● Sensory neurons for pain
● Take the info to the SC
● Motor neurons( output)
● Stretch receptors (A comparator)

Tropisms and Orientation

● Involuntary forced movement

● Involve the whole body
● Types of tropisms: Kineses (random movement) and Taxes (directed movement)

Kinesis Vs Taxis

● Kinesis: random movement until a state is reached

● Taxis: Direct movement towards or away from a certain stimulus

Wood Louse Humidity- Seeking Behavior

Kurbağalı Humidity-Seeking Davranışı, kurbağalıların nemli ortamları tercih etme

eğilimlerini ifade eder. Bu davranış, kurbağalıların genellikle yaşadıkları ortamın nem
düzeyine göre konumlarını seçme eğiliminde olduklarını belirtir. Kurbağalılar, yüksek
nem seviyelerinin olduğu yerleri tercih ederek nemli ortamlarda daha rahat
yaşayabilir ve su kaybını en aza indirebilirler. Bu davranış, kurbağalıların doğal
yaşam ortamlarını seçme ve uygun koşullarda hayatta kalma stratejilerinden biridir.

Sequences of Behavior: Fixed Action Patterns (FAP):

● Part of the repertoire of all members of a species
● The behavior pattern is not learned
● Occurs in a rigid order
● Once a FAP starts, it will continue to completion
● FAP triggered by sign stimulus
● An unchangeable series of actions triggered by a specific stimulus
Example of FAP
● Nut-burying behavior of squirrels
● Confirmed in the lab
● Human faces as releasers of contagious yawning
Exploitation and Superstimulus
● Replicating the releasing mechanism required to trigger an FAP is known as code-
breaking
● Brood parasites provide a supernormal stimulus to the parenting species
Reaction Chains
● Reaction chains differ from FAP: Progression from one behavior to the next depends
on the presence of the appropriate stimulus
● Response chains is acquired by reaction chains
● Example: Hermit Crab (yengeç): depend on presence behavior component

Innate Human Abilities and Predispositions

● Watson vs Pinker’s concept of the blank slate
● Emotional responses and facial expressions
● Brown’s (1991) list of Human Universals

Universality of Language
 ● Need to communicate: Deaf children with no access to sign language develop it
themselves
● Distinction between verb and noun, negation, questions, grammatical tense (past vs
present)
● Similar developmental patterns (first word etc)
● Dedicated cortical areas (Borca’s and Wernicke’s)
! Universality is not proof for innateness.
Habituation
● Habituation is decrease in the strength of a response after repeated stimulus
presentations
● Startle response
Habituation: Orienting response
● Pavlov: an investigatory reflex
● A reaction to novel or significant stimulus that is associated with ‘curiosity’ rather than
‘fear’ / An attentional mechanism
● Habituation allows the individual to ignore insignificant stimuli that are repeatedly
encountered.
General principles of habituation
● Course of habituation
● Effects of time: spontaneous recovery
● Quick relearning
● Effects of stimulus intensity
● Effects of overlearning
● Stimulus generalization
● Infants early learning of color categories studied with habituation
● Gestalt laws
- Good continuation
- Common fate
Habituation in Emotional Responses: The Opponent- Process Theory
● Solomon and Corbit (1974) concept: Subjects response to a stimulus changes as a
result of repeated presentations
● Emotional reactions consist of an initial response (a-process) and a later opposing
response (b-process)
● Time plays a role in the emotional response

Experimental Evidence
 ● Church et al., 1966
● Initially dogs respond to aversive stimuli (strong, continuous electrical shocks)
very strongly followed by a stealthy and hesitant state
● After many such shock, silent response to stimulus followed by joy

Other Examples of Emotional Reactions and Application of Opponent- Process

Theory

● Parachutists: Initial jump vs later jumps

● Addictive behaviors: initial use vs multiple use

Week 3: Classical Conditioning

Pavlov’s Discovery and Its Impact

● Initial research interest - physiology of digestion

● Developed experimental procedure using dogs
● Unexpected findings of conditioned reflexes

Classical Conditioning: Acquisition

● The unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and conditioned stimulus (CS) are paired
repeatedly (expect in one-trial
learning)

Classical Conditioning Paradigm

 ● Select a stimulus (unconditioned stimulus) that reliably elicits and unconditional
response (UR)
● Repeated pairing of the US with a conditioned stimulus (CS) that does not initially
elicit the UR
● The CS will elicit the response of interest. This response to the CS is called the
conditioned response (CR)
● Note the term “ unconditioned” indicates that the stimulus and response connection is
unlearned

Pavlov’s Classic Experiment: Salivating Dogs

● Before conditioning, the ringing of a bell does not bring about salivation- making the
bell a neutral stimulus
● In contrast, meat naturally brings about salivation, making the meat an unconditioned
stimulus and salivation on unconditioned response.
● During conditioning the bell is rung just before the presentation of the meat
● Eventually, the ringing of the bell alone brings about salivation

UCS: A stimulus that naturally brings about a particular response without having been
learned

UCR: A response that is natural and needs no training

CS: A once-neutral stimulus that has been paired with and unconditioned stimulus to bring
about response formerly caused only by the unconditioned stimulus

CR: A response that, after conditioning, follows a previously neutral stimulus

The Variety of Conditioned Responses

● Eyeblink Conditioning: The US is puff of air directed at the eye; UR is the eyeblink;
CS may be tone, light, or tactile stimulus
● UR-CR difference
- CR blink slower and partial
● US is an aversive event; UR may be to flinch or jump in animals; Learning is
measured via the suppression(bastırma) of ongoing behavior when CS is present

Skin Conductance Response

● The conductivity of the skin is altered by emotions such as fear

● Increases in conductivity can be conditioned to any CS paired with a shock.

Taste- Aversion Learning

 ● Taste-aversion often develops after 1 conditioning trial (one-shot learning)
● The CS is something an individual eats or drinks; the US is something which makes
an individual ill (e.g. poison)
● Association leads to avoidance of food which makes one ill
● Delayed

Pavlov’s Stimulus Substitution Theory

● By virtue of repeated pairings between CS and US, the CS becomes a “ substitute” for
the US
● The response initially elicited by the US is now also elicited by the CS

US= a certain response

CS= the same response

Problems with Pavlov’s Substitution Theory

● The CR is almost never an exact replica of the UR

● Not all parts of the UR to a stimulus becomes part of the CR
● A CR may include some responses that are not part of the UR
● The direction of the CR, in some cases, is opposite that of the UR (conditioned
compensatory responses)

Sign-Tracking Theory

● CS as a sign (rather than a substitute) for the US

● animals tend to orient themselves toward, approach, and explore any stimuli that are
good predictors of important events

Pavlov’s Physiological Centers of Learning

● There is a specific part of the brain that becomes active whenever a US is present -
US center
● Every CS has its own CS center which becomes activated during conditioning
● For every UR, there is part of the brain that is called the response center
● During conditioning, the CS produces activity in the response center (and a CR is
observed)

What is Learned?
 ● S-R association: The connection between the stimulus and the response
● S-S association: The connection between the CS centers and the US center, which
active the response center.

S-S or S-R Connection?

● Rescorla’s (1973)
● After habituation, US-UR association weakened
● Subject-Rats
● UCS-Loud Noise
● UCR-Freezing
● CS-Light
● Stage 2:

-Half the rats are exposed to the sound until they no longer freeze

-Other half not habituated to the sound

● Stage 3:
- light is presented to all the rats

Rescorla: Result

● Habituated rats did not freeze when light was presented, indicating that rats had
formed an SS association rather than an SR association

Basic Conditioning Phenomena

● Acquisition Phase: The period in the learning process when an individual is learning a
new behavior
● The part of a conditioning experiment in which the learner first experiences a series of
CS-US pairings, and during which the CR gradually appears and increases in strength
● The stronger the stimulus the higher percentage of trials showing CR
 ● Presenting the CS without the US which leads to the eventual disappearance of the
CR = Extinction
● Spontaneous recovery: The reappearance of a response that has undergone extinction
after a passage of time without further conditioning trials
● Disinhibition: The reappearance of CR to a stimulus that has undergone extinction
that can occur if a novel stimulus is presented shortly before the extinguished stimulus

! Spontaneous recovery, disinhibition, and rapid reacquisition make it

very clear that there is no simple way to get a subject to “unlearn” a
CR and that no amount of extinction training can completely wipe out
all the effects of a classical conditioning experience. Extinction can
cause a CR to disappear, and after a while spontaneous recovery may
disappear, but the subject will never be exactly the same as before the
conditioning began.

Conditioned Inhibition

● A conditioned stimulus that prevents the occurrence of a conditioned response

● If light = food (learned)
● If light = food / If light + bell (compound stimulus) = no food
- The bell has become a conditioned inhibitor
● A general conditioned inhibitor
- Teach a new CS (tactile)
- After learning use tactile (dokunsal) + bell to see if light prevents the CR
(salivation)

Generalization: The transfer of a learned response from one stimulus to another, similar
stimulus

Discrimination: Learning to response to one stimulus but not to another, similar stimulus
The Importance of Timing in Classical Conditioning

● Simultaneous Conditioning: koşullanmış uyarıcı (CS) ile koşullanmış tepki (CR)

arasında tam olarak aynı anda ortaya çıkar. Örneğin, zil çaldığında hemen ardından
yiyecek sunulması gibi. Bu yöntem genellikle en etkili koşullanma biçimlerinden biri
olarak kabul edilir.
● Trace Conditioning : İz sürme koşullanmasında, koşullanmış uyarıcı (CS) koşullanmış
tepkiden (CR) önce sunulur ve sonra uyarıcı kesilir ve ardından tepki ortaya çıkar.
Örneğin, zil sesi kesildikten sonra bir süre bekledikten sonra yiyecek sunulması gibi.
● Short- Delay Conditioning :Kısa gecikmeli koşullanmada, koşullanmış uyarıcı (CS)
ve koşullanmış tepki (CR) arasında kısa bir zaman aralığı bulunur. Örneğin, zil
sesinden hemen sonra yiyecek sunulması gibi.
● Long-Delay Conditioning :Uzun gecikmeli
koşullanmada, koşullanmış uyarıcı (CS) ile
koşullanmış tepki (CR) arasında daha uzun bir
zaman aralığı bulunur. Örneğin, zil sesinden
sonra birkaç dakika bekledikten sonra yiyecek
sunulması gibi.
● Backward Conditioning : Geriye doğru
koşullanmada, koşullanmış uyarıcı (CS),
koşullanmış tepkiden (CR) sonra sunulur. Bu
durum genellikle diğer koşullanma
yöntemlerinden daha az etkili kabul edilir ve
bazen hatta tepkinin zayıflamasına yol açabilir.
Örneğin, köpek önce yiyecek alır ve sonra bir zil sesi duyar.

Higher Order Conditioning

● Second order conditioning: A conditioned response is transferred from one stimulus

to another by pairing a neutral stimulus with a previously conditioned stimulus.
● Example of second order conditioning- evaluative conditioning

Classical Conditioning Outside the Lesson

● Classical conditioning and emotions

● Harley Davidson and the pounding (jumping) heart
● Advertisements

Systematic desensitization: patients learn muscle-relaxation techniques and then are gradually
exposed to fear provoking stimuli
Behavior Therapies

● Exposure approach:
- Treat phobias through exposure to the feared CS in the absence of the UCS
- Response prevention is used (don't let avoidance occur)
- Highly effective for reducing anxiety responses
- Controversial because intense temporary anxiety is created by treatment
● Virtual Reality (VR): the use of computer technology to create highly realistic virtual
environments
- They evoke the same reactions as a comparable real-world environment
● Aversion therapy: the therapist pairs an attractive CS with a noxious UCS in an
attempt to condition an aversion to the CS
- Examples: alcohol, pedophiles
- More effective if paired with a comprehensive treatment program

Week 4: Classical Conditioning Continuous

Sign-Tracking Theory

● CS as a sign (rather than a substitute) for the US

● animals tend to orient themselves towards, approach, and explore any stimuli that are
good predictors of important events
● Eğer seni süpriz eden bir şey varsa daha çok öğrenirsin dama beklediğin gibiyse daha
az
● Surprise = can be defined informational

Conditioned Inhibition

● A conditioned stimulus that prevents the occurrence of a conditioned response

● If light = food (learned)
● If light = food / ıf light + bell = no food
- The bell has become a conditioned inhibitor
● They are not be enough to understand learning (contiguity or frequency)
● The more frequently two stimuli are paired, the more strongly an individual will
associate the two

Kamin (1969) Experiment

● Conditioned Suppression (unexpected): US is an aversive event; UR may be to flinch

or jump in animals; Learning is measured via the suppression of ongoing behavior
when CS is present.
● Capital is condition
● Plus is follow condition stimulus
 ● Number of T-US pairings is the same
● If how frequently the CS and US are presented together is the only important factor,
we should get the same CR
● But there is no new info provided by T

Conclusion

● Prior conditioning with L “ blocked” later conditioning of T

● conditioning will not occur if a CS adds no new information about the US
● CONDITIONİNG IS NOT AN AUTOMATIC RESULT WHEN CS AND US ARE
PAIRED

The Rescorla -Wagner Model

● Designed to predict the outcome of classical conditioning procedures on a trial by trial

basis ( it try the express, how much learning explain, what is direction)
● Will the association change? If yes, how? (what degree, which direction observe
learning)
● Associative learning occurs not because two events co -occur but because that co
occurrence is unanticipated on the basis of current associative (how much learning did
I undergo) strenght (what is anticipated)
● A mathematical expression of the concept of suprise

● Küçük olursa sonuç büyük oluyor bu da suprisea sebep oluyor

6 Rules of the Rescorla-Wagner Model

● If the strength of the actual US is greater than the strength of the subjects expectation,
the result will be excitatory conditioning (hepsinde aynı şeyi verirsen hep öyle
düşünür gibi mi?)
● If the strength of the actual US is less than the strength of the subject’s expectation,
the result will be inhibitory conditioning (eğer çok fazla expected varsa suprise
olmaz)
● If the strength of the actual US is equal to the strength of the subject’s expectation,
there will be no conditioning
● The larger the discrepancy between the strength of the expectation and the strength of
the US, the greater the conditioning. ( I expected nothing you gave me a lot it is
surprise)
● More noticeable CSs will condition faster than less noticeable CSs.
 ● If two or more CSs are presented together, the subjects expectation will be equal to
their total strength. (ikisinden fazla beklenti 20 tane 10 10 ama sadece 10 tanesi
veriliyor)

Rescorla-Wagner Model Applications

● Acquisition: actual US is greater than the expected US, thus excitatory conditioning.
● This mathematical model predicts the outcome of classical conditioning trial-by-trial
● If we don't have compound stimulus, the same light, same CS and same US
● Vnew = Vold + deltaV
● The basic Rescorla-Wagner formula shows how V changes during each trial
● deltaV (the change in the association, sometimes it is larger or it is small is delta
base)= alpha (beta) (lambda - V)
● V= the current associative value of the CS
● deltaV= the change in associative value of the CS during a trial
● Lambda: the maximum associative value than can be conditioned or the act value of
the US (important)
● Rescorla-Wagner formula states that the change in the associative strength of the CS
during a trial will depend directly on (a) the salience of the CS (alpha), (b) the
strength of the US (beta), and (c) the difference between the maximum associative
value of the CS and its current value (lambda- V)

Blocking Explained

● Blocking: expected US is equal to the actual US, and no conditioning occurs

Extinction (yok olma)

● Expected US is greater than the actual US, thus inhibitory conditioning occurs (actual
US is 0)
● Negative conditioning

Conditioned Inhibition (beyne yollanan uyarı gibi)

● A conditioned stimulus that prevents the occurrence of a conditioned response

● If light = food (learned)
● If light = food / If light + tone = no food
● When LT starts, both L and T will undergo inhibitory conditioning / L starts
positively associated, that association becomes weaker
● But T starts at 0, so it will become negatively associated with food / conditioned
inhibitor
Applications - the role of alpha (overshadowing ya da overexpectation kesin var!)

● Overshadowing: intense CS and weak CS presented together (compound stimulus)

and intense CS masks weaker CS
● Gölgeleme, bir uyarıcının etkisinin diğer uyarıcının etkisini azaltmasıdır.
● Örneğin, bir fareye birlikte sunulan iki farklı uyaran, bir tını ve bir ışık, bir yiyecek
ödülü ile eşleştirilmiştir. Ancak fare sadece tınıya odaklanarak ışığa dikkat etmez. Bu
durumda, tını ışığı gölgelemiştir çünkü fare sadece tınıya tepki vermiş ve ışık dikkate
alınmamıştır.
● Overshadowing occurs because the amount of conditioning depends on the salience of
a stimulus. Here, the noise is more salient, so there is a larger increase in the noise
food association than in the light food association.
● Overexpectation effect: when 2 separately conditioned stimuli are presented, the
expected US is greater than the actual US, inhibitory conditioning occurs
● IMPORTANT: In the control group there are less pairings but more CR

● The CS Preexposure Effect (!): CS'nin önceden maruz kalınmamış olması,

koşullanmanın gücünü azaltabilir veya tamamen önleyebilir
● Örneğin, bir deneyde bir fare, bir zil sesi (CS) ve yiyecek (US) arasında klasik
koşullanma ile eğitilir. Fakat fare daha önce zil sesiyle yiyecek arasında bir ilişki
kurulmadan önce birkaç kez zil sesine maruz kalmışsa, klasik koşullanma sürecinde
zil sesine verdiği tepki, daha az belirgin olabilir.
● If the CS is presented repeatedly before conditioning, its salience is reduced. As such,
later it will take longer to condition it
● In Rescorla Wagner, the salience (belirgin) of the CS is a fixed property
● In pre-exposure, we have to argue that with initial experience, the conditionability of
CS is decreasing (maybe attentional explanation is correct)
● Other failures of the model: Spontaneous recovery, rapid reacquisition

Theories of CS Effectiveness

● Mackintosh (1975) Theory of Attention

● Kamin: In the blocking groups, the salience of T drops to zero, the salience of L
increases
 Biological Constraints (kısıtlamalar)

● Contiguity principle states that CS and US must be presented close in time

● Garcia, 1966: Taste aversion learned with a US after 22 minutes
● Not really surprising

Biological Preparedness

● Biological preparedness in taste-aversion learning: equipotentiality premise (taste is

easier to acquire)
- All stimuli can be conditioned. The conditioning strength of a potential CS is
context- independent

Associations

● Prepared associations
- Taste- illness
● Contraprepared associations
- auditory stimulus - illness
● Unprepared associations
- autodata visual stimulus- shock

How about humans?

● Biological preparedness in human learning: Development of phobias or fears

● Extinction is longer
● Çiçek falan görürsek extinction azalır, korkunç şeyler görürsek artar

The form of the conditioned response

● Drug tolerance and craving (istek) as conditioned responses

● Contextual Stimuli
● Stimuli associated with drug use (e.g. needles)

Compensatory (telafi edici) CRs

● Siegel : Contextual stimuli (e.g. room where injection occurs) acquire capacity to
elicit compensatory CRs
● Rozin et al.: Coffee and salivation
● Cue exposure treatment
● May drug abuser, same location, association with drug, the smell of the coffee
kahveyle ilişkilendirilir bu da UCR
● Compensatory CR: the opposite of the UR
● In addiction : CSs are typical stuff (including context) that happen before taking the
drug
 ● Repeated administration becomes ineffective, since the context cancels out the effect
of the drug

Morphine and CC

● Regular coffee drinkers

● No salivation increase with coffee
● Salivation decrease with decaf
● Salivation increase with caffeine containing apple juice
● Increase salivation, ama her gün içtikçe tolarance gösterir, smell of condition CS

Cue Exposure treatment

● Present the contextual stimuli in order to induce extinction

● Must be similar to the natural environment

Opponent-Process Theory + CC

● Opponent-Process Theory ve klasik koşullanma kavramları, duygusal tepkilerin ve

davranışların nasıl oluştuğunu ve nasıl değişebileceğini anlamamıza yardımcı olan iki
önemli teorik yaklaşımı temsil eder.
● Conditioned opponent theory: only the b-process can be classically conditioned
● Sometimes opponent opponent process
● CR will mimic the UR if the UR is monophasic, but it will be the opposite of the UR
if the UR is biphasic
Week 5: Principles of Operant Conditioning
● In CC: very specific stimuli eliciting an innate behavior pattern (US and UR) = Stimuli
(CS) paired with US eliciting a response (CR) related to UR
● In operant conditioning the focus will be on more ‘voluntary’ (nonreflexive) behaviors
- playing, working, walking, talking etc.
● Nevertheless, predictions are still possible
The Law of Effect
● Thorndike
● Puzzle box / hungry animals
● One or more responses required for escape
● First escape : accidental
● Learning over trials / measure escape latency (expect decrease)
● Strengthening of a S-R connection by reward
● If, in a specific situation, a response is followed by a satisfying state of affairs, the
response will become associated with that situation and will be more likely to occur
again in that same situation.
● “Satisfying state of affairs?” The animal does nothing to avoid that state,often doing
such things as attain and preserve it.
Evidence for a Mechanical Strengthening Process (Guthrie and Horton
● A pole in the center of the chamber to be tipped in any direction to open the door
● A cat settles on a particular response
● Different cats = different responses
● Superstitious behavior = batıl inançlar
● Stop action principle: the occurrence of the reinforcer serves to stop the animals
ongoing behavior and strengthen the association between the situation (the puzzle
box) and those precise behaviors that were occurring at the moment of reinforcement
Superstitious Behaviors
● Skinner
● Accidental strengthening
● Food delivery every 15s
- Independent of behavior
● Different animals
- Different behaviors
An alternative explanation
● Staddon and Simmelhag
● Interim (geçici) vs Terminal behaviors
● Innate behavior that animals tend to perform when the likelihood of reinforcement is
low (interim behaviors) or when food is about to delivered (terminal behaviors)
● Adjunctive (birleşik, yardımcı) behaviors: Innate behaviors that occur when the next
reinforcer is some time away and the animal must do something do “pass the time”
Skinner and The Free Operant
● The operant response can occur at any time
● The operant response can occur repeatedly for as long as the subject remains in the
experimental chamber
● A subject can make thousands of responses in a single session
The Three Term Contingency in Operant Conditioning
● CC: S-S contingency (if CS before US, CS = CR)
● OC : 1) the context or situation in which a response occurs 2) the response itself 3)
the stimulus that follow the response (i.e. reinforcer)
● A response that is reinforced in one context may not be reinforced in another
● Stimulus control: study of how stimuli that precede a behavior can control the
occurrence of that behavior
Ex: Antecedent( event prior to behavior) = kol kaşınması - Behavior (target behavior) = kolu
kaşımak - consequence (event following behavior) = kaşınma gider

Three Term Contingency

● disciriminatice stimulus = response = reinforcer
● antecedent = behavior = consequences (A-B-C)

Basic Principles of OC
● Extinction
● Spontaneous recovery
● Discrimination and Generalization
● Resurgence (canlanma): the reappearance of a previously reinforced response that
occurs when a more recently reinforced response is extinguished
Conditioned Reinforcement
● The sound that accompanies the reward delivery
- draws the attention to and provides info about the delivery of reward
● A neutral stimulus repeatedly paired with a primary reinforcer becomes a conditioned
reinforcer
● Generalized reinforcers: a special class of conditioned reinforcers that are associated
with a large number of different primary reinforcers.
Shaping
● Successive approximations to the target behavior
● Gradually making your criterion for reinforcement more demanding
Shaping and Variability in Behavior
● First: reward what is unlikely rather than what is impossible
● The unlikely becomes likely
● Impossible becomes unlikely
Response Chains
● Similar to reaction chains, but learned
● A sequence of behaviors that must occur in a specific order, with the primary
reinforcer being delivered only after the final response of the sequence
● At each step: the stimulus serves as the discriminatory behavior for the next behavior
in the chain + ıt serves as a conditioned reinforcer ( we are on the correct path to
FOOD)
Backward Chaining
● Starts with the last response of the chain and work backward
● The reward always comes after the same response
Biological Constraints on Operant Conditioning
● İnstinctive Drift: with extensive experience, the subjects performance drifts away from
the reinforced behaviors toward instinctive behaviors that occur when the animal is
seeking the reinforcer.
● “ the misbehavior of organisms”
● Pigs learn to carry coins to a ‘pig bank’
- First they learn, but with time, they start dropping and rooting the coins
● Racoons learning to place coins in container
- At later stages, rubbing and dipping the coins in the container
● These behavior are never rewarded
● These behaviors occur at the expense of reward
● However, they are in the behavioral ‘eating system’
● Autoshaping: experiment by Brown and Jenkins
● Light on- food delivered = no particular response is reinforced
● Pecking (gagalama) behavior increases
● The phenomenon of autoshaping is now considered to be a type of classical
conditioning = stimulus substitution
Autoshaping /Sign-tracking
● Now used to refer to any situation in which an animal produces some distinctive
behavior in response to a signal that precedes and predicts an upcoming reinforcer
● Sign-tracking: the animal watches, follows and makes contact with a signal for an
upcoming reinforcer.
● Note how CC and OC distinction is getting blurred
● What matters is the search for the general principles of learning concerning the
different kinds of contingencies observed in different experimental paradigms
Autoshaping as the Intrusion of Instincitve Behavior Patterns
● Not exactly stimulus substitution: Conditioning of a system of species- typical
behaviors commonly related to the reward
● ‘Eating system’ activated
● ‘Drinking system’ activated
● ‘Get warmer’ system activated
● Affordance (sağlayıcılık)
Learning with Biological Constraints
● Skinner: Phylogeny and ontogeny are friendly rivals and neither one always wins
● Sources of knowledge in behavior
● Responses may occur without reward contingency
● The rewards may have consequences on behavior beyond contingency of
reinforcement (as superstition, as US, as a behavior system activator)
● Singing behavior reflects innate tendencies + socially acquired habits + fine-tuning
with individual learning
Week 5: Reinforcement Schedules - Experimental Analyses and Applications
A Reinforcement Schedule
● A rule that states under what conditions a reinforcer will be delivered
● What we had so far: Continuous reinforcement (CRF)
- Every occurrence of the operant response = a reinforcer
● We dont get something in return for each and every thing we do
● Lets investigate how different schedules of reinforcement have different effects on
behavior
Skinner’s Tool: Cumulative Recorder
● X-axis: t
● Y-axis: Cumulative number of responses
● Slow vs fast
● Acceleration (hızlanma) vs deceleration
(yavaşlama)

4 Simple Reinforcement Schedules

● Fixed-raito (FR) schedule : A reinforcer is delivered after every n responses / n =
the size of the ratio
- FR 20: every 20 responses = a reinforcer // FR 1 : CRF
● Following acquisition : A postreinforcement pause
- Duration proportional to rate / Large ratio : ratio strain
● Work at constant rate = take a break
● Piecework method
● Variable ratio : number of required responses not constant from reinforcer to
reinforcer
- n = on average, after n responses = reinforcer
- exact number of may vary widely
- 2,7,15,22,26,36 // n = 18
● Fairly steady responding
● Gambling (kumar) / Lottery
- 1 - a person chances of winning are directly proportional to the number of
times the person plays
- 2- the number of responses required for the next reinforcer is uncertain
● Games / Sports
● Fixed interval : the first response after a fixed amount of time has elapsed is
reinforced // time and response
● Perfect response : one response after each interval
● Fixed interval scallop (deniz hayvanı)
● Variable interval : the first response after a
variable amount of time has elapsed is
reinforced
● A fairly steady and moderate response rate
● Checking mails and messages
1. it is unpredictable
2. ıf a reinforcer is stored (mail has
been delivered ),only one response
is required to collect it
 3. if the reinforcer has not yet been stored, no amount of responding will bring it
forth
● Fixed schedules : PRP / Variability in responding
● Variable schedules : variability / unpredictability induces a steady response rate
Extinction and Schedules (difference between partial r.e and discrimination hypothesis!)
● Partial reinforcement effect: extinction more rapid after CRF (Continuous
Reinforcement Schedule) than after a schedule of intermittent reinforcement
Humphreyss paradox
● Discrimination hypothesis : ın order for behavior to change once extinction begins,
the individual must be able to discriminate the change in reinforcement contingencies
● Reward delivery (0-1) variable and no reward extinction
● Sonuç olarak, sürekli takviye programı (CRF), her istenilen davranışın her seferinde
takviye edildiği bir öğrenme programını ifade eder. Kısmi takviye etkisi ise, bazı
durumlarda takviye edilme durumunun, davranışın öğrenilmesi ve sürdürülmesi
üzerindeki etkilerini açıklar. Humphreys'in Paradoksu ise, kısmi takviye etkisinin
paradoksal doğasını anlatır.
● Generalized decrement (azalma) hypothesis: responding during extinction will be
weak if the stimuli during extinction are different from those that were present during
reinforcement, but it will be strong if these stimuli are similar to those encountered
during reinforcement
● Reward delivery pattern as stimulus
● Possible rules for delivering reinforcement : unlimited
● Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL)
- Bu, bir yanıtın yalnızca önceki yanıttan belirli bir süre geçtikten sonra
pekiştirilmesi anlamına gelir.
- A response is reinforced if and only if a certain amount of time has elapsed
since the previous response
- Early responses not only go unrewarded, but they also reset the time too
- Very low rates of responding but not as low as optimality would require
● Differential reinforcement of hight rates (DRH)
- A certain number of responses must occur within a fixed amount of time
- very high response rates
Concurrent Schedule
● Possible rules for delivering reinforcement: unlimited
● the subject is presented with two or more response alternative (e.g. several different
levels), each associated with its own reinforcement schedule
● After the birds learn all that they can about this choice situation,how will they
distribute their responses?
● The proportion of responses on the left key equaled, or matched, the proportion of
reinforcers delivered by the left key.
Matching Law in Choice Behavior (!)
● B1= responses on L
● B2 = responses on R
● R1= Reinforcers from L
● R2 = reinforcers from R
● In a two choice situation, the proportion of responses directed toward one alternative
should equal the proportion of reinforcers delivered by that alternative
 ● The major insight provided by the matching law is that the rate of a particular
response does not depend on the rate of reinforcement of that response alone.
● Whether a behavior occurs frequently or infrequently depends not only on its own
schedule of reinforcement but also on the rates of reinforcement of other activities
the individual may perform.
Factors Affecting Performance
● Amount of reinforcement, rate of reinforcement, delay response report
Behavioral Momentum
● Pigeons pecking at a response key
- ıf key green: 60 food presentations per hour
- ıf key red: 20 food presentations per hour
● Switch to free food (no response required)
● More decrease in pecking after red schedule
● Role of discriminative stimulus: similar to classical conditioning of the context
- drug abuse etc.
- discriminative = response = reinforcer
Are humans different?
● Human subjects responses are often varied and unpredictable
● Contingency shaped behaviors: behavior that is controlled by the schedule of
reinforcement or punishment
● Rule-governed behaviors: behavior that is controlled by a verbal or mental rule about
how to behave
The Experimental Analysis of Reinforcement Schedules
● FR postreinforcement pause
- fatigue
- satiation
- remaining responses
● FR rate correlates positively with pause length
- satiation(doyma) based explanation not possible
- on a small FR schedule there is more station because the animal eats after a
few responses
● Multiple schedules
- 2 or more different schedules, one at a time; each schedule is signaled by a
different S D

● During FR 10: sometimes short (b), sometimes long (e)

● During FR 100: sometimes short (a), sometimes long (f)
● So, it not the responses already made
- fatigue ruled out
● Pause short if S = red (FR 10) / Remaining responses
D

Applications of Operant Conditioning

● Teaching language to autistic children
● extreme social withdrawal
● token economy - the principle of conditioned reinforcement to improve behavior
● personal hygiene, social interaction and adequate work performance
● In decline in mental situations
Lovaas method
● Sitting quietly and looking
● audible sounds
 ● imitation
● meaning
● prompt and fading
● conditioned reinforcers and shaping
● begin at an early age
● ıntensive training
Behavioral Therapy for Marital Problems
● Contingency contract - this is a written agreement that lists the behaviors required of
each party and the reinforcers
● ıntegrative couple therapy
Organizational Behavior Management
● Another application of operant conditioning
● Focus - worker productivity, supervisor effectiveness, quality improvement and
customer satisfaction

15.02.24

Acquiring language in humans:

- Broca’s area in the brain more about creating sentences

- Wernicke’s area: linguistic acquisition

Habituation

- stimulus discrimination
- stimulus generalization
!Acquire new behaviors + lose or modify existing behaviors

Learning: an adaptive change in behavior that results from experience