Test: Learning- 2 - Humanities/Arts MCQ

Food represents the unconditioned stimulus, which trigger an unconditioned response, salivation. The presentation of light with food represents a conditioned stimulus that will eventually trigger a conditioned response, salivation with light in the absence of food. None of the other answers include the correct sequence.

Answers A, B and C each relate to the general rule underlying conditioning behaviour. UR and CR are not always the same response, but the CR is generally consistent with behavioural responses observed in UR.

Both illness-induced aversions and phobias develop based on the principles of classical conditioning. Neutral stimuli become paired or associated with aversive stimuli, and this produces conditioned responses to the aversive stimuli in the absence of the neutral stimuli. Answers A and C do not provide clear examples of how classical conditioning can explain human behaviour.

Instrumental learning is based on responses by the organism to determine whether learning occurs whereas classical condition is not contingent on the organisms’ response. Both instrumental learning and classical conditioning can vary in the length of time for associations and learning to occur based on schedules of reinforcement and rate of pairings.

We know from other training procedures that rats can learn about combined (often referred to as configural) cues. But such learning tends to occur painfully slowly, whereas spatial tasks are mastered much more easily by rats. This suggests that spatial learning operates according to principles quite different from those that underlie classical and instrumental conditioning procedures. It is possible that exposure to an environment allows the animal to form a cognitive map of that environment – some sort of internal representation of the spatial relationships among the cues it has experienced. The animal is then able to navigate because it knows its own position with respect to this internal representation. But no one has yet supplied a full account of the process by which the map is constructed, how the animal knows its own position, and so on.

Learning is any relatively permanent change in behaviour or behavioural potential produced by experience or practice.

Some changes in behaviour are not considered learning because they are temporary. For example:

• A person feels tired after reading for a long time and stops, but resumes after resting.
• This change is due to fatigue, not learning.

Other examples of non-learning behavioural changes include:

• Habituation: Getting used to a constant noise over time, like wedding celebrations nearby.
• Effects of drugs or alcohol, which alter behaviour temporarily.

In contrast, true learning involves:

• Relatively permanent changes in behaviour.
• Experiences that lead to new knowledge or skills.

For instance, a child learning to identify alphabets after practice retains that knowledge, which is a clear example of learning.

Automatic S-R habits can result from initially goal-directed behaviour, and these associations can override planned behaviour. Response-outcome associations would not explain the habitual walk from school to home, and the remaining answers also would not explain the learned habit.

Delayed conditioning is the most effective procedure for acquiring a CR, requiring fewer acquisition trials compared to simultaneous or trace conditioning. Backward conditioning rarely leads to acquisition.

Negative reinforcement involves the removal of aversive stimuli (e.g., escaping cold by wearing woolens, burn firewood or use electric heaters), which strengthens avoidance or escape responses. It is distinguished from punishment, which suppresses responses.

Bandura's Bobo doll experiment shows children imitated aggression more if the model was rewarded, less if punished. Observational learning involves acquiring knowledge from models (influenced by model status and characteristics), but performance depends on vicarious and direct reinforcement. Task complexity is not a key factor; focus is on attention to the model, retention, reproduction ability, and motivation through consequences.