Scribd
Upload
10 views

IntroPsych Lecture20 Learning 2

Uploaded by

priarsh66
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
10 views

IntroPsych Lecture20 Learning 2

Uploaded by

priarsh66
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 22

Lecture 20

Learned
Associations
Acadia University
Department of Psychology
Dan Lametti, PhD
Lecture outline

• Today we’ll continue our


discussion of learned
associations.
• We will review the phases
of conditioning and talk
about the relationship
between classical
conditioning, emotion, and
the brain.
• This lecture draws on
module 6.1 and 6.2 in
your text.
Classical conditioning
• A quick review of classical conditioning as investigated by
Pavlov.
Classical conditioning
• A quick review of classical conditioning as investigated by
Pavlov.
Phases of conditioning
• Acquisition: the initial phase of learning (e.g., the CS
is repeatedly paired with the1stUS).
memory

• E.g., the CS (e.g., metronome) must occur on most


trials in time with the US (e.g., food).
Only metronome over and over would make the dog realize t
It no more signals food and loses interest.
Phases of conditioning
• Extinction: the loss or weakening of a CR when a
CS and US are no longer paired.
2nd memory
• E.g., the metronome (CS) ticks repeatedly without
food (US) being present
Phases of conditioning
• Spontaneous recovery: extinct learning reappears
following a period in which the CS is not presented.
• Extinction may involve learning something new,
leading to competing memories.
Competition between two memories; get either
Metronome=food or metronome is not food.
Generalization
• Generalization: a response that originally occurred
for a specific stimulus also occurs for similar stimuli.
Applying the acquired knowledge
In different context.

E.g., dogs learn to


salivate to a tone at
1200 Hz will also
salivate to other
tones.
The response to
tones at different
frequencies will never
be as strong as the
learned frequency.
Stimulus tone
(hertz)
Conditioning and emotion
• Conditioned emotional responses: emotional and
physiological responses that develop to a specific
object or situation.
• Conditioned emotional responses provide a partial
explanation for many phobias.
Conditioning and emotion
Human behavior= learned assosciations
• Watson and Rayner (1920)
( conditioned an 11-
month old child (“Little Albert”) to fear a white rat
by repeatedly pairing the white rat with a loud
sound.

That’s what behaviorism says as early psyches did not believe in role of genes.
Watson’s work led to the field of behaviourism—
human behaviour is entirely the result of
experience.
Conditioning, emotion, and the brain
• The development of
conditioned emotional
responses depends on
the integrity of the
amygdala.
• The amygdala is a
subcortical structure
involved in emotional
processing.
Journal of Neuroscience (1995)

• Campeau & Davis (1995) paired loud noises and


bright lights (CS) with a mild foot shock (US).
Conditioning, emotion, and the brain
• After many pairings,
rats showed increased
startle (rapid
contraction of face
muscles) in response

INCREASE IN STARTLE
to the CS.
• Conditioning was not
seen if the amygdala
was lesioned before or
after US-CS pairing.

Sham=opened skull but not did anything to brain


Conditioning, emotion, and the brain
• Psychopathy is a
personality disorder
characterized by
impaired empathy, lack
of remorse, and
egotism.
• Learning to associate a
tone with a shock is
correlated withnegative emotions
We learned to assosciate
Of others with our own experiances. That leads
amygdala activity.
Us being empathetic to others.

reduction in conditioned emotional responses and associat


Journal of the American Medical Association
(2005)
• Birbaumer and colleagues
(2005) compared fear
conditioning and
corresponding patterns of
brain activation between 10
psychopaths and 10 control
participants.
• Photographs of faces were
paired with painful pressure
(CS+) or nothing (CS-).
Conditioning, emotion, and the brain
• Psychopaths did not develop a negative emotional
reaction to the CS+ (picture + painful pressure)
comparable to controls.
• There was also less activation in the amygdala of
psychopaths during conditioning than controls.
No empathy is due to no assosciations with someone’s pain as they have not gone throug
That kind of pain themselves , so we tend to minimize others situation.
Emotion, conditioning and fear
• Are some conditioned fear responses innate?
Emotion, conditioning, and fear
• Fear conditioning (increased skin conductance) rapidly
develops when photos of snakes are paired with
shocks.
• Fear conditioning develops more slowly when
nonthreatening stimuli are paired with shocks.
Emotion, conditioning, and fear
• When photos of guns were paired with shocks less fear
conditioning was observed compared to snakes.
• Preparedness: Humans may have evolved a strong
predisposition to fear environmental threats.
Conditioned taste aversion
• An acquired disgust for
a food or drink that
once made you ill is
known as conditioned
taste aversion.
• These aversions only
occur for foods paired
with illness and not
other stimuli (e.g.,
songs).

e biological prepared to associate foods that makes us ill w


Lecture quiz
• 1) What are the three phases of learning in
classical conditioning?
• Acquisition, extinction, spontaneously recovery.
• 2) What brain area do conditioned emotional
responses seem to depend on?
• The amygdala.
• 3) In the context of conditioned fear responses,
what does preparedness refer to?
• The idea that we are biological prepared to
associate certain environment threats (e.g.,
snakes) with fear.
Lecture credits and links

• Krause et al. An Introduction to Psychological


Science Third Canadian Edition.

Reading for next class


• Module 6.2 in your text.

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy