How do we learn?
The ability to learn is crucial for all animas. To survive, animals need to learn things. Learning is
central to almost all aspects of human existence. It makes possible our basic abilities and our
complex ones.
6.1 Learning results from experience
Learning: a relatively enduring change in behavior resulting from experience.
Learning occurs when an animal benefits from experience so that it is better adapted to its
environment and more prepared to deal with it in the future.
The study of learning examines how we adjust our behavior based on the repetition of stimuli or on
predictive associations between stimuli, actions, or consequences.
Psychologists generally differentiate three types of learning: nonassociative, associative, and social.
- Nonassociative learning
Nonassociative liking: responding after repeated exposure to a single stimulus or event.
The simplest form of learning occurs after repeated exposure to a single stimuli or event. For
example, when you move to a house by some train tracts, the passing trains might disturb your
sleep. After you live in the house for a while, you quit waking up the sound of trains. The change in
response to the stimulus is a from of nonassociative learning.
- Associative learning
Associative learning: liking two stimuli or events that occur together.
For example, your dog runs for the door when you pick up the leash because it had learned this
action leads to a walk.
Association develop through conditioning, a process in which environmental stimuli and behavioral
responses become connected.
- Social learning
Social learning: acquiring or changing a behavior after verbal instruction or exposure to another
individual performing that behavior.
The third type of learning is also concerned with understanding how stimuli or evets are associated,
but the learning occurs through social means – either verbal instruction or observation.
Question
The sound of a dentist’s drill makes you nervous. What type pf learning produced your fear?
Associative learning.
,6.2 Nonassociative learning involves habituation and sensitization.
Nonassociative learning occurs when you gain new information after repeated exposure to a single
stimulus or event. The two most common forms of nonassociative learning are habituation and
sensitization.
Habituation: a decrease in behavioral response after repeated exposure to a stimulus.
We tend to notice new things around us. Of something is neither rewarding nor harmful, habituation
leads us to ignore it. Habituation is adaptation in that you can still perceive the stimuli. You just do
nor respond to them because you have learned that they are not important.
The increase in a response because of a change in something familiar is dishabituation.
All animals show habituation and dishabituation. Indeed, much of what psychologists have learned
about nonassociative learning has come from studying simple invertebrates such as Aplysia.
Sensitization: an increase in behavioral response after exposure to a stimulus.
The stimuli that most often lead to sensitization are those that are meaningful to the animal, such as
something threatening or painful.
In general, sensitization leads to the heightened responsiveness to other stimuli.
The neurobiologist Eric Kandel and colleagues have used Alysia to study the neural basis of
nonassociative learning. Their findings show that alterations in the functioning of the synapses lead
to habituation and sensitization. For both types of simple learning, presynaptic neurons alter their
neurotransmitters release. A reduction in neurotransmitter release leads to habituation. An increase
in neurotransmitter release leads to sensitization.
, How do we learn predictive associations?
Learning helps us solve adaptive challenges by enabling us to predict when things go together.
6.3 Classical conditioning is learning what goes together
Pavlovian conditioning (classical conditioning): a type of associative learning in which a neutral
stimulus comes to elicit a response when it is associated with a stimulus that already produces that
response.
In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus elicits a response because it has become associated with
a stimulus that already produces that response. You learn that one event predicts another.
The term Pavlovian is derived from the name of Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist who studied the
digestive system. He was interest in the salivary reflex – the automatic unlearned response that
occurs when a food stimulus is presented to a hungry animal, including a human.
Pavlov conducted the basic research on conditioning using the salivary reflex, in these studies, a
neutral stimulus unrelated to the salivary reflex is presented along with a stimulus that reliably
produces the reflex. This pairing is called a conditioning trail, it is repeated a number of times. Pavlov
found that neural stimulus on its own can produce salivation. This type of learning is now referred to
as classical conditioning, or Pavlovian conditioning.
Unconditioned response (UR): a response that does not have to be learning, such as a reflex.
Unconditioned stimulus (US): a stimulus that elicits a response, such as a reflex, without any prior
learning. The US produces the UR.
Conditioned response (CR): a response to a conditioned stimulus; a response that has been learned
Conditioned stimulus (CS): a stimulus that elicits a response only after learning has taken place.
Learning tip → A stimulus elicits a reaction and a response is the reaction.
Unconditioned response: the unlearned reaction → Unconditioned stimulus: the stimulus that elicits
a reaction without learning
Conditioned response: the learned reaction → Conditioned stimulus: the stimulus that elicits a
learned reaction.
A key aspect of behaviors that can be classically conditioned is that they are elicited automatically by
the US. These behaviors are not voluntary actions but rather are behaviors that occur naturally in
response to the US, such as feelings preferences, of bodily reflexes.
Pavlov concludes that the critical element in the acquisition of a learned association is that the
stimuli occur together in time. Subsequent research has shown that the strongest conditioning
occurs when there is a very brief delay between the onset of the conditioned stimulus and the
unconditioned stimulus.
Chapter summary → Pavlov established the principles of classical conditioning. Though classical
conditioning, associations are made between two stimulus, wish as the clicking of a metronome and
the presence of food. What is learned is the one stimulus predicts another.
The ability to learn is crucial for all animas. To survive, animals need to learn things. Learning is
central to almost all aspects of human existence. It makes possible our basic abilities and our
complex ones.
6.1 Learning results from experience
Learning: a relatively enduring change in behavior resulting from experience.
Learning occurs when an animal benefits from experience so that it is better adapted to its
environment and more prepared to deal with it in the future.
The study of learning examines how we adjust our behavior based on the repetition of stimuli or on
predictive associations between stimuli, actions, or consequences.
Psychologists generally differentiate three types of learning: nonassociative, associative, and social.
- Nonassociative learning
Nonassociative liking: responding after repeated exposure to a single stimulus or event.
The simplest form of learning occurs after repeated exposure to a single stimuli or event. For
example, when you move to a house by some train tracts, the passing trains might disturb your
sleep. After you live in the house for a while, you quit waking up the sound of trains. The change in
response to the stimulus is a from of nonassociative learning.
- Associative learning
Associative learning: liking two stimuli or events that occur together.
For example, your dog runs for the door when you pick up the leash because it had learned this
action leads to a walk.
Association develop through conditioning, a process in which environmental stimuli and behavioral
responses become connected.
- Social learning
Social learning: acquiring or changing a behavior after verbal instruction or exposure to another
individual performing that behavior.
The third type of learning is also concerned with understanding how stimuli or evets are associated,
but the learning occurs through social means – either verbal instruction or observation.
Question
The sound of a dentist’s drill makes you nervous. What type pf learning produced your fear?
Associative learning.
,6.2 Nonassociative learning involves habituation and sensitization.
Nonassociative learning occurs when you gain new information after repeated exposure to a single
stimulus or event. The two most common forms of nonassociative learning are habituation and
sensitization.
Habituation: a decrease in behavioral response after repeated exposure to a stimulus.
We tend to notice new things around us. Of something is neither rewarding nor harmful, habituation
leads us to ignore it. Habituation is adaptation in that you can still perceive the stimuli. You just do
nor respond to them because you have learned that they are not important.
The increase in a response because of a change in something familiar is dishabituation.
All animals show habituation and dishabituation. Indeed, much of what psychologists have learned
about nonassociative learning has come from studying simple invertebrates such as Aplysia.
Sensitization: an increase in behavioral response after exposure to a stimulus.
The stimuli that most often lead to sensitization are those that are meaningful to the animal, such as
something threatening or painful.
In general, sensitization leads to the heightened responsiveness to other stimuli.
The neurobiologist Eric Kandel and colleagues have used Alysia to study the neural basis of
nonassociative learning. Their findings show that alterations in the functioning of the synapses lead
to habituation and sensitization. For both types of simple learning, presynaptic neurons alter their
neurotransmitters release. A reduction in neurotransmitter release leads to habituation. An increase
in neurotransmitter release leads to sensitization.
, How do we learn predictive associations?
Learning helps us solve adaptive challenges by enabling us to predict when things go together.
6.3 Classical conditioning is learning what goes together
Pavlovian conditioning (classical conditioning): a type of associative learning in which a neutral
stimulus comes to elicit a response when it is associated with a stimulus that already produces that
response.
In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus elicits a response because it has become associated with
a stimulus that already produces that response. You learn that one event predicts another.
The term Pavlovian is derived from the name of Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist who studied the
digestive system. He was interest in the salivary reflex – the automatic unlearned response that
occurs when a food stimulus is presented to a hungry animal, including a human.
Pavlov conducted the basic research on conditioning using the salivary reflex, in these studies, a
neutral stimulus unrelated to the salivary reflex is presented along with a stimulus that reliably
produces the reflex. This pairing is called a conditioning trail, it is repeated a number of times. Pavlov
found that neural stimulus on its own can produce salivation. This type of learning is now referred to
as classical conditioning, or Pavlovian conditioning.
Unconditioned response (UR): a response that does not have to be learning, such as a reflex.
Unconditioned stimulus (US): a stimulus that elicits a response, such as a reflex, without any prior
learning. The US produces the UR.
Conditioned response (CR): a response to a conditioned stimulus; a response that has been learned
Conditioned stimulus (CS): a stimulus that elicits a response only after learning has taken place.
Learning tip → A stimulus elicits a reaction and a response is the reaction.
Unconditioned response: the unlearned reaction → Unconditioned stimulus: the stimulus that elicits
a reaction without learning
Conditioned response: the learned reaction → Conditioned stimulus: the stimulus that elicits a
learned reaction.
A key aspect of behaviors that can be classically conditioned is that they are elicited automatically by
the US. These behaviors are not voluntary actions but rather are behaviors that occur naturally in
response to the US, such as feelings preferences, of bodily reflexes.
Pavlov concludes that the critical element in the acquisition of a learned association is that the
stimuli occur together in time. Subsequent research has shown that the strongest conditioning
occurs when there is a very brief delay between the onset of the conditioned stimulus and the
unconditioned stimulus.
Chapter summary → Pavlov established the principles of classical conditioning. Though classical
conditioning, associations are made between two stimulus, wish as the clicking of a metronome and
the presence of food. What is learned is the one stimulus predicts another.
