NCSU Course ZO410 Lecture:
Learning
Definition of Learning- Responses to specific experiences that
result in the acquisition of new information
Forms of learning:
1. Habituation
-waning of response after repeated stimulation not
followed by any kind of reinforcement
2. Associative Learning/ Conditioning
Classical Conditioning: (Pavlov)
-
Unconditioned stimulus (US) (food) elicits a specific inborn response
- the unconditioned response (UCR) (salivation).
-
when a neutral stimulus (e.g.., bell) is paired with US, it becomes
the Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
-
the response (salivation) then becomes the Conditioned Response,
(CR).
-
Basic principles:
-
CS should be unambiguous
-
short interval between stimulus and response
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CS must appear before US
Operant Conditioning: (instrumental learning)
Association of voluntary activity with consequences.
Skinner box (B.F. Skinner)
used to avoid harmful food
-
Reinforcement: presenting a reward (+ or -) when the subject shows the
appropriate response.
-
Schedules of reinforcement:
1. Fixed ratio = fixed number of responses to receive reward.
2. Fixed interval = specific amount of time between stimuli and reinforcement.
3. Variable ratio and interval = unpredictable.
-
Extinction
-
Avoidance learning = aversive conditioning (type of operant conditioning)
-association of illness with novel or distasteful food = Garcia effect
-specialized
3. Spatial learning
Pine voles(monogamous) vs. meadow voles (promiscuous), hippocampus differences
Chickadees-- hippocampus size and foraging
4. Observational learning/Imitation
Learning by observing another's performance (imitation)
usually involves food
-
Milk bottle opening by European birds
-
Japanese macaques- sweet potatoes, grain, rocks!?
5. Insight learning:
New associations between previously learned items to solve a new problem
-
chimpanzees
-
orangutan
-
sheepdog
-
honeybee
6. Social learning
-
learning from others
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Rats
-
Avoid or prefer foods when shown a demonstrator
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Transfer information about a distant food source
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Benefits:
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Rats omnivorous, scavengers & opportunistic
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Learn to avoid harmful food at low cost.
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Wild hunting dogs (Goodall & van Lawick)
7. Tool use
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Woodpecker finch
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Sea gulls
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Sea otter
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Chimpanzee
8. Kin recognition (phenotype matching)
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Differential treatment of members of own species, especially relatives.
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Some recognition of siblings when reared apart - monkeys, Belding's ground
squirrels
9. Imprinting
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Formation of an association with another individual or object.
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Long-lasting effects
Memory (all learning requires!)
-
increased synapes
-
increased neurons
-
protein production
- CREB, "rests" in between repeated training events
Advantages of Learning
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Specialization of learning
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Benefits from experience
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Allows for the adapting interaction between environment and individual
LEARNING IS ADAPTIVE, SHAPED BY NATURAL SELECTION
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posted 7-95 under direction of Dr. John G. Vandenbergh. Updated 9-25-01
by Miles Dean.