06/02/2020 1
Neuroscience and Behavior.
Dr Charlotte Bonardi
1. Classical conditioning – what is learned?
2. In the last lecture we looked at the difference between learned and
unlearned behaviors.
3. This lecture – see slide.
4. There are some ‘pre programmed’ reactions to certain stimuli; for example,
birds are preprogrammed to roll round things/eggs.
5. We are all familiar with Pavlov’s classic experiment where he stimulated the
unconditional response of salivating at the smell of food by ringing a bell.
6. See slide for other examples of automatic responses that we are all pre
programmed for. These are ‘unconditional’ stimuli; we do not have to learn
these things. A ‘conditional’ stimulus is something deliberately used to
teach/elicit a response, something that is not pre programmed in by nature.
7. Unconditional stimuli usually elicit a specific unconditioned response. It is a
type of reflex we cannot control.
8. As opposed to a learned response.
9. See slide.
10. When classical conditioning occurs the two things become associated.
11. So there is an indirect conditioned response by association.
12. Do not get confused on this point – a lot of text books can be confusing on
this point and can skip a vital step.
13. See slide.
14. Example study with pigeons – two different types of pecking behavior for
two different types of stimulus, food (grain) or water. So the study associated
a light with either food or water and this resulted in ‘autoshaping’.
15. Video – the bird can be taught to respond to the light as it would to the
actual stimulus, food or water, by pecking at the light.
16. You can also confuse the pigeon by using an ‘unpeckable’ stimulus such
as a noise tone rather than a light.
17. These things happen to us all in our day-to-day lives. The signal for a nice
thing is treated as a nice thing, even though the signal has no real value. So
there is an ‘acquired’ value i.e. money/metal discs.
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18. This effect is manipulated extensively by the advertising industry.
19. We need to be aware of how this response affects us all the time in our
day-to-day lives. This is second order conditioning, and this process can go
further, 3rd order, 4th order etc.
20. Consider if a dog has bitten you, you then see the same type of dog in a
different situation (at your friends house). You then don’t like going to your
friend’s house.
21. What happens if things happen in a different order?
22. This is sensory pre conditioning, you become less inclined to go to your
friends house.
23. This slide shows the difference between the two types of conditioning.
You do not need to have motivational learning for conditioning to occur. You
can get delayed learning.
24. Learning can occur even if there is no visible response.
25. So you may not see the learning until there is motivation.
26. It’s important to understand that some textbooks do not really explain the
difference between visible and not visible learning. A lot of this is down to the
Skinner experiments with pigeons.
27. So a sensory pre conditioning experiment can be used to test this and find
out if non-visible learning has occurred. Something might acquire value.
28. So how do we study this type of conditioning?
29. Example of a Skinner box experiment with positive (appetitive) reinforcer.
The rat will look for food even before its there because it knows its coming,
he’s learned this.
30. See graph. Rats can initially have a problem distinguishing between types
of sound/tone versus clicker, but then they learn to discriminate.
31. You can do a similar experiment with a learned/trained suppression of
action as well.
32. You can count the occurrences of different types of behavior and measure
the suppression ratio.
33. Graph showing this, discrimination between scary tone and non-scary
click.
Neuroscience and Behavior.
Dr Charlotte Bonardi
1. Classical conditioning – what is learned?
2. In the last lecture we looked at the difference between learned and
unlearned behaviors.
3. This lecture – see slide.
4. There are some ‘pre programmed’ reactions to certain stimuli; for example,
birds are preprogrammed to roll round things/eggs.
5. We are all familiar with Pavlov’s classic experiment where he stimulated the
unconditional response of salivating at the smell of food by ringing a bell.
6. See slide for other examples of automatic responses that we are all pre
programmed for. These are ‘unconditional’ stimuli; we do not have to learn
these things. A ‘conditional’ stimulus is something deliberately used to
teach/elicit a response, something that is not pre programmed in by nature.
7. Unconditional stimuli usually elicit a specific unconditioned response. It is a
type of reflex we cannot control.
8. As opposed to a learned response.
9. See slide.
10. When classical conditioning occurs the two things become associated.
11. So there is an indirect conditioned response by association.
12. Do not get confused on this point – a lot of text books can be confusing on
this point and can skip a vital step.
13. See slide.
14. Example study with pigeons – two different types of pecking behavior for
two different types of stimulus, food (grain) or water. So the study associated
a light with either food or water and this resulted in ‘autoshaping’.
15. Video – the bird can be taught to respond to the light as it would to the
actual stimulus, food or water, by pecking at the light.
16. You can also confuse the pigeon by using an ‘unpeckable’ stimulus such
as a noise tone rather than a light.
17. These things happen to us all in our day-to-day lives. The signal for a nice
thing is treated as a nice thing, even though the signal has no real value. So
there is an ‘acquired’ value i.e. money/metal discs.
, 06/02/2020 2
18. This effect is manipulated extensively by the advertising industry.
19. We need to be aware of how this response affects us all the time in our
day-to-day lives. This is second order conditioning, and this process can go
further, 3rd order, 4th order etc.
20. Consider if a dog has bitten you, you then see the same type of dog in a
different situation (at your friends house). You then don’t like going to your
friend’s house.
21. What happens if things happen in a different order?
22. This is sensory pre conditioning, you become less inclined to go to your
friends house.
23. This slide shows the difference between the two types of conditioning.
You do not need to have motivational learning for conditioning to occur. You
can get delayed learning.
24. Learning can occur even if there is no visible response.
25. So you may not see the learning until there is motivation.
26. It’s important to understand that some textbooks do not really explain the
difference between visible and not visible learning. A lot of this is down to the
Skinner experiments with pigeons.
27. So a sensory pre conditioning experiment can be used to test this and find
out if non-visible learning has occurred. Something might acquire value.
28. So how do we study this type of conditioning?
29. Example of a Skinner box experiment with positive (appetitive) reinforcer.
The rat will look for food even before its there because it knows its coming,
he’s learned this.
30. See graph. Rats can initially have a problem distinguishing between types
of sound/tone versus clicker, but then they learn to discriminate.
31. You can do a similar experiment with a learned/trained suppression of
action as well.
32. You can count the occurrences of different types of behavior and measure
the suppression ratio.
33. Graph showing this, discrimination between scary tone and non-scary
click.
