LEARNING
PSYC 2500 Fall 2015
FS 25
sec 01 Tue Thu 5:00-6:15
sec 02 Tue Thu 3:30-4:45
Eric Lundquist
Office: BOUS 136
Phone: (860) 486-4084
Office Hours:Mon Wed 5:30-6:30
and by appointment
E-mail:
Web Page:
READING:
1.REQUIRED: Mazur, James E. (2006). Learning And Behavior (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. (ISBN: 0-13-193163-6)
2.REQUIRED: On-Line Readings and Reserve Readings (to be announced)
3.OPTIONAL: Papers linked at
GRADING:
Two Quizzes:30%approximately 5th and 12th weeks of class (Thu 10/1, Thu 11/19)
Midterm:35%approximately 9th week of class (Thu 10/29)
Final: 35%sec 02: FRIDAYDECEMBER 18, 1:00 PM
sec 01: FRIDAY DECEMBER 18, 3:30 PM
READINGS (subject to expansion and revision)
CH.1: The Psychology Of Learning And Behavior
*pp. 5-6, "The Major Components Of Scientific Theories"
*pp. 11, 13-16, "Behavioral and Cognitive Approaches to Learning," "The Emphasis on External Events"
CH.2: Simple Ideas, Simple Associations, And Simple Cells
*pp. 19-23 the Empiricist / Associationist tradition; (Rationalist / Nativist tradition covered in lecture)
*OPTIONAL: Ebbinghaus's human memory experiments pp. 23-27
*omit pp. 27-37 on physiology
CH.3: Innate Behavior Patterns And Habituation -- entire chapter; note highlights and exceptions:
*reflex p. 40; tropism p. 41: kineses p. 41 and taxes p. 42; fixed-action patterns pp. 42- 44; reaction chains pp. 44-45
*habituation: pp. 47-51; omit pp. 51-53 on "Physiological Mechanisms Of Habituation"; continue with pp. 53-59 on the "Opponent-Process Theory"
CH.4: Basic Principles Of Classical Conditioning -- entire chapter; note highlights and exceptions:
*omit "Aversive Counterconditioning" and "Treatment of Nocturnal Enuresis" pp. 84-87; continue with chapter summary on p. 87-88
CH.5: Theories And Research On Classical Conditioning -- entire chapter; note highlights and exceptions:
*omit "Mackintosh's Theory Of Attention" and "Comparator Theories Of Conditioning" pp. 97-99
*continue with pp. 99-100 on "Associations In First-Order Conditioning" and "Associations In Second-Order Conditioning"
*omit "Associations Involving Contextual Stimuli," "CS-CS Associations," and "Occasion Setting" pp. 100-102
*pp. 102-112 "Biological Constraints On Classical Conditioning" through "Conditioned Opponent Theories"
*omit "Physiological Research On Classical Conditioning" pp. 112-116; continue with chapter summary p. 116-117
*Index of Classical Conditioning Phenomena:
Acquisition [61-62, 68-69]
Extinction [69-70]
Spontaneous Recovery [70-71]
Inhibition / Excitation [70-71]
Disinhibition [71]
Rapid Reacquisition [72]
Pavlov's Stimulus Substitution Theory [65-66]
S-S and S-R Associations [66-68]
- Rescorla's Devaluation and Revaluation Procedures
Higher-Order Conditioning [78-79]
Sensory Preconditioning
Conditioned Inhibition [72-73]
- Retardation and Summation Tests
Latent Inhibition / CS Pre-Exposure Effect [96-97]
US Pre-Exposure Effect
Sensitization [103] (increased responsiveness to ANY stimulus after presentation of a strong US)
Generalization and Discrimination [73-74]
Role of the response in modern interpretations of classical conditioning may really just be as a dependent variable to measure strength of CS-US association (or of any S-S association); CR and UR as such aren't necessarily interesting
Psychoneuroimmunology (Conditioning of the Immune System) [80-81]
Watson's "Little Albert" Experiment on Phobias [82]
Systematic Desensitization [81-84]
Drug Tolerance, Withdrawal, Paradoxical Overdose [108-111]
Conditioned Opponent Theories [111-112]
- Sometimes Opponent Process (SOP)
Pavlov's Assumptions of Contiguity and Arbitrariness / Equipotentiality [102-103]
Taste Aversion Learning / Biological Constraints on Learning / Belongingness [102-105]
- Garcia's Experiment / The Garcia Effect [103-105]
- Wilcoxon, Dragoin, and Kral's Experiment [105]
- Hospital Anorexia (Taste Aversions in Chemotherapy)
Rescorla's Contingency Experiments (CS-US Correlations) [76-78]
- Experiment on Dogs Receiving Forward, Backward, and Mixed Conditioning
- Experiment on Rats Receiving Same Contiguity but Different Contingencies of Tone and Shock
Blocking and Overshadowing [90-94]
Rescorla-Wagner Model of Learning On Individual Conditioning Trials [90-96]
Overexpectation Effect [94-95]
CH.6: Basic Principles Of Operant Conditioning
*"The Law Of Effect" pp. 118-122; "The Research Of B.F. Skinner" pp. 130-132
*pp. 123-125: superstitious behaviors and Staddon and Simmelhag's(1971) interpretation in terms of interim and terminal behaviors (note relation to autoshaping / sign-tracking experiment on pp. 138-142)
*pp. 125-130: shaping (but omit pp. 129-130 on "percentile schedules")
*p. 126 conditioned reinforcers
*p. 133-134 generalized reinforcers
*p. 134-136 chaining
*pp. 136-143 biological constraints on operant conditioning: Brelands and intinctive drift; autoshaping or "sign-tracking" interpreted as classical rather than operant conditioning (note relation to SSDRs pp. 178-179)
CH.7 "The Four Simple Reinforcement Schedules" pp. 146-152
CH.8 "Punishment" pp. 184-185; "Is Punishment The Opposite Of Reinforcement" pp. 185-186; "Disadvantages Of Using Punishment" pp. 188-190; "Negative Punishment" p. 190; "Negative Punishment: Response Cost And Time-Out" pp. 192-194
*pp. 171-172 definition of negative reinforcement and punishment
*pp. 173-174 "two-factor theory"
*pp. 178-179 Bolles's idea of "species-specific defense reactions" or SSDRs
*pp. 181-184 learned helplessness
CH.9 "How Can We Predict What Will Be A Reinforcer?" pp. 209-211 (through "Drive Reduction")
*pp. 202-203 Tolman's views about the role of reinforcement; latent learning
*pp. 205-207 Neal Miller's work on operant conditioning of visceral responses; James Olds's work on electrical stimulation of the brain as a reinforcer
*pp. 212-213 Premack's principle
*pp. 215-216 response deprivation theory (Timberlake and Allison)