Chapter 6: Learning and Reward
Chapter Review
Summarizing the Principles of Learning and Reward
How Did the Behavioral Study of Learning Develop?1. Behavioral responses are conditioned: Pavlov established the principles of classical conditioning, a process that occurs when associations are made between stimuli and responses. This type of learning is reflex based and has many measurable aspects with regard to acquisition, discrimination, generalization, and extinction. Some emotional responses are learned through conditioning.
2. Phobias and addictions have learned components: Phobias are learned fear associations. Similarly, addiction involves a conditioned response, which results in withdrawal and tolerance.
3. Classical conditioning involves more than contiguity: Not all stimuli are equally potent in producing conditioning. Animals are biologically prepared to make connections between stimuli that are potentially dangerous. Animals are also predisposed to form predictions to enhance survival.
How Is Operant Conditioning Different from Classical Conditioning?
4. Reinforcement increases behavior: Positive consequences of a behavior will likely strengthen and reinforce the behavior. Shaping is a procedure where successive approximations of a behavior are reinforced, which leads to the desired behavior. Reinforcers are primary (those that satisfy biological needs) and secondary (those that do not directly satisfy biological needs).
5. Both reinforcement and punishment can be positive or negative: Positive reinforcement or punishment means the delivery of a stimulus after the response; negative reinforcement or punishment means the removal of a stimulus after the response. Positive and negative reinforcements increase the likelihood of a behavior; positive and negative punishments decrease the likelihood of the behavior.
6. Operant conditioning is influenced by schedules of reinforcement: Reinforcement is delivered at a fixed rate or a variable rate that depends on the number (ratio) or time (interval) of responses.
7. Biology and cognition influence operant conditioning: The biological makeup of an organism restricts the types of behaviors it can learn. Latent learning refers to learning that takes place in the absence of reinforcement.
8. The value of reinforcement follows economic principles: Animals are predisposed to calculate the relative cost and benefit of behaviors, thus aiding their survival.
How Does Watching Others Affect Learning?
9. Learning can be passed on through cultural transmission: Memes (knowledge transferred within a culture) are analogous to genes, in that behaviors are selectively passed on from generation to generation.
10. Learning can occur through observation: Observational learning is a powerful adaptive tool. Humans and other animals learn by watching others' behaviors and the consequences.
11. Animals and humans imitate others: Modeling occurs when the behavior of another is reproduced. Vicarious learning occurs when we see other people's behaviors reinforced or punished. Mirror neurons are activated when we watch a behavior, the same as when we actually perform the behavior.
What Is the Biological Basis of Reward?
12. Self-stimulation is a model of reward: The brain has specialized centers, which produce pleasure when stimulated. Behaviors that activate these centers are reinforced.
13. Dopamine signals reward: The nucleus accumbens (a part of the limbic system) has dopamine receptors, which are activated by pleasurable behaviors. Through conditioning, secondary reinforcers can also activate dopamine receptors. Drugs also increase actuation, which can lead to addiction.
How Does Learning Occur at the Neuronal Level?
14. Habituation and sensitization are simple models of learning: Repeated exposure to a stimulus results in habituation, a decrease in behavioral response. Sensitization is an increase in behavioral response to a new threatening stimulus.
15. Long-term potentiation is a candidate for the cellular basis of learning: Synaptic connections are strengthened when neurons fire together. This occurs in the hippocampus and, in fear responses, in the amygdala. The receptor NMDA is required for long-term potentiation.
16. Learning can be simulated by computerized neural networks: The connectionist model of neural networks is based on the idea that neurons are connected, which allows the brain to receive information (through input units), process the information (in hidden units), and generate an action (through output units). The strength of the connections is modified through learning. The parallel-distributed process (PDP) model is an advanced connectionist model that assumes learning involves parallel processing—it does not occur in a fixed order.
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