Respondent Learning

1
Respondent Learning

• Lesson 5

2
Associative Learning

• Operant learning
• Motivated behavior
• Attempt to change environment
• Controlled by consequences
• Respondent learning
• Involuntary behavior
• Triggered by external events
• Learned reflexes

3
Motivation

• Will expend energy to achieve goal
• Approach satisfiers /Avoid annoyers
• What motivates operant behavior?
• Physiological responses
• Emotional responses
• Cognitive response
• Involuntary responses
• Both innate learned

4
Respondent Learning

• A.K.A. Classical or Pavlovian Conditioning
• Ivan Pavlov
• dog learned to salivate when bell rings
• Throughout animal kingdom
• cockroaches, sea slugs, dogs, humans

5
Learning Associations

• Signal--Important event
• Based on reflexes
• stimulus ? response
• automatic (involuntary)
• After association learned
• signal triggers response

6
Eye-blink Reflex

• Puff of air ? eye blinks
• prevents injury to eye
• click precedes puff of air
• Reflex
• inherited
• stimulus ? response
• automatic

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CC Eye-blink
signal
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After Learning Occurs
Click
Anticipatory response
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What is learned?

• Relationship between events
• Predicts biologically important events
• What kind of responses can be conditioned?
• Expectancies
• Physiological Responses
• Emotional Responses

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Unconditional Stimulus (US)

• Part of reflex
• automatically elicits a response
• Biologically important
• motivational significance
• food, sex partner, drugs
• physical trauma, toxins

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Unconditional Response (UR)

• Response to US
• automatic response
• Reflexive
• Physiological emotional responses
• ? HR/temp. - sexual arousal/pleasure
• Pain/nausea fear/anxiety

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Examples US?URs
US
URs
Good food in mouth
Bad food in mouth
Loud noise
Dust in nose/throat
Animal bite
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Reflexive Behavior
Bite
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Conditional Stimulus (CS)

• Initially neutral stimulus (NS)
• does not trigger UR of interest
• Reliably precedes US
• Cue or signal

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Conditional Response

• Learned response
• in response to CS only
• usually similar to unconditional response
• homogeneous
• After many pairings of CS US
• learning is usually gradual
• frequency important

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Classical Conditioning
Conditional Stimulus
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After Classical Conditioning
Anticipatory response
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Milk Let-down Response

• Feeding reflex
• baby suckling ? milk released
• US UR

• Potential CSs
• crying, time of day, holding baby, etc
• precede suckling predictably
• act as CS ? trigger milk release (CR)
• Generalization?
• another baby crying

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Extinction Respondent Learning

• CS no longer followed by US
• Loses predictive value
• Behavior becomes weaker

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Conditioned Emotional Responses

• Affect
• positive negative
• Depends on experiences
• subjective interpretation of physiological
  responses
• Expectations
• Conditioned emotional response
• CER

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Conditioned Emotional Responses

• Classes of stimuli
• appetitive
• aversive
• CS predicts important event (US)
• CS ? US will occur
• Positive contingency
• CS- ? US wont occur
• negative contingency

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CER (affect)
Positive
Negative
CS
CS-
Positive
Negative
Appetitive Aversive (satisfier)
(annoyer) US
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Likes Dislikes

• Like
• Cues associated w/ satisfying events
• Dislike
• Cues associated w/ annoying events
• Expectation Contingency US
• CS/CS- and appetitive/aversive

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CER (Likes/Dislikes)
Like
Dislike
CS
CS-
Like
Dislike
Appetitive Aversive (satisfier)
(annoyer) US
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Food Preferences

• Genetic component
• Taste receptors
• Salty, sweet, bitter, sour, savory
• Or blend of these tastes
• Learned component
• Taste as CS
• Nutrients as US
• Preference for sweet/salty innate
• Can be altered by experience

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Thiamine Open Eating Systems

• Thiamine (vitamin B1)
• Tasteless odorless
• Beri beri ? heart, neural disorder
• Rats with B1 deficiency
• Prefer tastes of foods w/B1
• Avoid tastes of foods w/o B1
• Taste preferences learned
• Associated w/ vital nutrients