LIFE LONG LEARNING

Cdr NABIL EHSAN (R)

PRINCIPLES OF
MEMORY &
LEARNING
Cdr NABIL EHSAN
 MEMORY
Memory refers to the processes that are used to acquire, store, retain,
and later to retrieve information.

There are three major processes/ stages involved in memory:

 Encoding,
 Storage
 Retrieval
 MEMORY PROCESS
 Encoding (or registration): the process of receiving, processing, and combining
information. Encoding allows information from the outside world to reach our senses in
the forms of chemical and physical stimuli. In this first stage we must change the
information so that we may put the memory into the encoding process.

 Storage: the creation of a permanent record of the encoded information. Storage is the
second memory stage or process in which we maintain information over periods of time.

 Retrieval (or recall, or recognition): the calling back of stored information in response to
some cue for use in a process or activity. The third process is the retrieval of information
that we have stored. We must locate it and return it to our consciousness. Some retrieval
attempts may be effortless due to the type of information.

 Problems can occur at any stage of the process, leading to anything from forgetfulness to
amnesia. Distraction can prevent us from encoding information initially; information might
not be stored properly, or might not move from short-term to long-term storage; and/or we
might not be able to retrieve the information once it’s stored.
 TYPES OF MEMORY
1. Sensory Memory
It allows individuals to retain impressions of sensory information after the original stimulus
has ceased. One of the most common examples of sensory memory is fast-moving lights
in darkness: if you’ve ever lit a sparkler or watched traffic rush by at night, the light
appears to leave a trail. This is because of “iconic memory,” the visual sensory store. Two
other types of sensory memory have been extensively studied: echoic memory (the
auditory sensory store) and haptic memory (the tactile sensory store).

Sensory memory is not involved in higher cognitive functions like short- and long-term
memory; it is not consciously controlled. The role of sensory memory is to provide a
detailed representation of our entire sensory experience for which relevant pieces of
information are extracted by short-term memory and processed by working memory.

Information from sensory memory has the shortest retention time, ranging from mere
milliseconds to five seconds. It is retained just long enough for it to be transferred to
short-term (working) memory.
 Types of Sensory Memory
It is assumed that there is a subtype of sensory memory for each of the five
major senses (touch, taste, sight, hearing, and smell); however, only three of
these types have been extensively studied: iconic memory, echoic memory, and
haptic memory.
a. Iconic Memory
Sensory input to the visual system goes into iconic memory, so named because
the mental representations of visual stimuli are referred to as icons. Iconic
memory has a duration of about 100 ms. One of the times that iconic memory is
noticeable is when we see “light trails.” This is the phenomenon when bright
lights move rapidly at night and you perceive them as forming a trail; this is the
image that is represented in iconic memory.
 Types of Sensory Memory
b. Echoic Memory
Echoic memory is the branch of sensory memory used by the auditory system.
Echoic memory is capable of holding a large amount of auditory information, but
only for 3–4 seconds. This echoic sound is replayed in the mind for this brief
amount of time immediately after the presentation of the auditory stimulus.
c. Haptic Memory
Haptic memory is the branch of sensory memory used by the sense of touch.
Sensory receptors all over the body detect sensations like pressure, itching, and
pain, which are briefly held in haptic memory before vanishing or being
transported to short-term memory. This type of memory seems to be used when
assessing the necessary forces for gripping and interacting with familiar objects.
Haptic memory seems to decay after about two seconds. Evidence of haptic
memory has only recently been identified and not as much is known about its
characteristics compared to iconic memory.
 TYPES OF MEMORY
2. Short-Term Memory
Short-term memory is also known as working memory. It holds only a few items (range
of 7 +/- 2 items) and only lasts for about 20 seconds. However, items can be moved from
short-term memory to long-term memory via processes like rehearsal.
An example of rehearsal is when someone gives you a phone number verbally and you
say it to yourself repeatedly until you can write it down. If someone interrupts your
rehearsal by asking a question, you can easily forget the number, since it is only being
held in your short-term memory.

• Short-term memory, which includes working memory, stores information for a brief
period of recall for things that happened recently.

• Unlike sensory memory, it is capable of temporary storage. How long this storage
lasts depends on conscious effort from the individual; without rehearsal or active
maintenance, the duration of short-term memory is believed to be on the order of
seconds.
 TYPES OF MEMORY
3. Long-Term Memory
Long-term memories are all the memories we hold for periods of time longer
than a few seconds; long-term memory encompasses everything from what we
learned in first grade to our old addresses to what we wore to work yesterday.

• Long-term memory has an incredibly vast storage capacity, and some

memories can last from the time they are created until we die.
• Long-term memory is the final, semi-permanent stage of memory. Unlike
sensory and short-term memory, long-term memory has a theoretically
infinite capacity, and information can remain there indefinitely.
• Long-term memory has also been called reference memory, because an
individual must refer to the information in long-term memory when
performing almost any task.
 LONG-TERM MEMORY
Long-term memory consist of two categories: explicit and implicit memory.
EXPLICIT MEMORY
Also known as conscious or declarative memory, involves memory of facts, concepts, and events
that require conscious recall of the information. In other words, the individual must actively think
about retrieving the information from memory. This type of information is explicitly stored and
retrieved—hence its name. Explicit or declarative memory requires conscious recall; it consists
of information that is consciously stored or retrieved. It consist of two types:

• Semantic Memory It involves abstract factual knowledge, such as “Islamabad is the capital
of Pakistan.” It is for the type of information that we learn from books and school: faces,
places, facts, and concepts. We use semantic memory while taking test.

• Episodic Memory It is used for more contextualized memories. They are generally
memories of specific moments, or episodes, in one’s life. As such, they include sensations
and emotions associated with the event, in addition to the who, what, where, and when of
what happened. An example of an episodic memory would be recalling your family’s trip to the
beach. Autobiographical memory (memory for particular events in one’s own life) is generally
viewed as either equivalent to, or a subset of, episodic memory.
 LONG-TERM MEMORY
Implicit Memory
Implicit (“unconscious” or “procedural”) memory involves procedures for completing
actions. These actions develop with practice over time. Athletic skills are one example
of implicit memory. You learn the fundamentals of a sport, practice them over and
over, and then they flow naturally during a game.
Rehearsing for a dance or musical performance is another example of implicit memory.
Everyday examples include remembering how to tie your shoes, drive a car, or ride a
bicycle.
These memories are accessed without conscious awareness—they are automatically
translated into actions without us even realizing it. As such, they can often be difficult
to teach or explain to other people.
Implicit memories differ from the semantic scripts, in that they are, usually actions
that involve movement and motor coordination, whereas scripts tend to emphasize
social norms or behaviours.
 PROCESS OF FORGETTING
The Fallibility of Memory
Memories can be encoded poorly or fade with time; the storage and recovery
process is not flawless.

Memory is not perfect. Storing a memory and retrieving it later involves both
biological and psychological processes, and the relationship between the two is
not fully understood. Memories are affected by how a person internalizes events
through perceptions, interpretations, and emotions. This can cause a divergence
between what is internalized as a memory and what actually happened in reality;
it can also cause events to encode incorrectly, or not at all.
 PROCESS OF FORGETTING
Transience
“Transience” refers to the general deterioration of a specific memory over
time. Transience is caused by proactive and retroactive interference.
Proactive interference is when old information inhibits the ability to
remember new information, such as when outdated scientific facts
interfere with the ability to remember updated facts. Retroactive
interference is when new information inhibits the ability to remember old
information, such as when hearing recent news figures, then trying to
remember earlier facts and figures.
 PROCESS OF FORGETTING
Encoding Failure
Encoding can be impacted by a number of factors, and how well information is
encoded affects how well it is able to be recalled later. Memory is associative by
nature; commonalities between points of information not only reinforce old
memories, but serve to ease the establishment of new ones.
The way memories are encoded is personal; it depends on what information an
individual considers to be relevant and useful, and how it relates to the
individual’s vision of reality. All of these factors impact how memories are
prioritized and how accessible they will be when they are stored in long-term
memory.
Information that is considered less relevant or less useful will be harder to recall
than memories that are deemed valuable and important. Memories that are
encoded poorly or shallowly may not be recoverable at all.
 Types of Forgetting
Cue-Dependent Forgetting
Cue-dependent forgetting, also known as retrieval failure, is the failure to recall
information in the absence of memory cues. There are three types of cues that can
stop this type of forgetting:
• Semantic cues are used when a memory is retrieved because of its association with
another memory. For example, someone forgets everything about his trip to Ohio
until he is reminded that he visited a certain friend there, and that cue causes him
to recollect many more events of the trip.
• State-dependent cues are governed by the state of mind at the time of encoding.
The emotional or mental state of the person (such as being inebriated, drugged,
upset, anxious, or happy) is key to establishing cues. Under cue-dependent
forgetting theory, a memory might be forgotten until a person is in the same state.
• Context-dependent cues depend on the environment and situation. Memory
retrieval can be facilitated or triggered by replication of the context in which the
memory was encoded. Such conditions can include weather, company, location, the
smell of a particular odor, hearing a certain song, or even tasting a specific flavour.
 Types of Forgetting
Other Types of Forgetting
Trace decay, interference, and lack of cues are not the only ways that memories can fail to be
retrieved. Memory’s complex interactions with sensation, perception, and attention sometimes
render certain memories irretrievable.
Absentmindedness
Attention and memory are closely related, and absentmindedness involves problems at the
point where attention and memory interface. Common errors of this type include misplacing
objects or forgetting appointments. Absentmindedness occurs because at the time of encoding,
sufficient attention was not paid to what would later need to be recalled.
Blocking
Blocking is when the brain tries to retrieve or encode information, but another memory
interferes with it. Blocking is a primary cause of the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon. This is the
failure to retrieve a word from memory, combined with partial recall and the feeling that
retrieval is imminent. People who experience this can often recall one or more features of the
target word, such as the first letter, words that sound similar, or words that have a similar
meaning. Sometimes a hint can help them remember: another example of cued memory.
 Types of Forgetting
Amnesia
Amnesia, the inability to recall certain memories, often results from damage to
any of a number of regions in the temporal lobe and hippocampus.
“Amnesia” is a general term for the inability to recall certain memories, or in
some cases, the inability to form new memories. Some types of amnesia are due
to neurological trauma; but in other cases, the term “amnesia” is just used to
describe normal memory loss, such as not remembering childhood memories.

Amnesia from Brain Damage

Amnesia typically occurs when there is damage to a variety of regions of the
temporal lobe or the hippocampus, causing the inability to recall memories
before, or after, an (often traumatic) event. There are two main forms of
amnesia: retrograde and anterograde.
 Types of Forgetting
Retrograde Amnesia
Retrograde amnesia is the inability to recall memories made before the onset of amnesia. Retrograde
amnesia is usually caused by head trauma or brain damage to parts of the brain other than the
hippocampus (which is involved with the encoding process of new memories). Brain damage causing
retrograde amnesia can be as varied as a cerebrovascular accident, stroke, tumour, hypoxia,
encephalitis, or chronic alcoholism. Retrograde amnesia is usually temporary, and can often be
treated by exposing the sufferer to cues for memories of the period of time that has been forgotten.
Anterograde Amnesia
Anterograde amnesia is the inability to create new memories after the onset of amnesia, while
memories from before the event remain intact. Brain regions related to this condition include the
medial temporal lobe, medial diencephalon, and hippocampus. Anterograde amnesia can be caused
by the effects of long-term alcoholism, severe malnutrition, stroke, head trauma, surgery, Wernicke-
Korsakoff syndrome, cerebrovascular events, anoxia, or other trauma.

Amnesia: There are two main forms of amnesia:

retrograde and anterograde. Retrograde prevents
recall of information encoded before a brain injury,
and anterograde prevents recall of information
encountered after a brain injury.
 Types of Forgetting
Anterograde amnesia cannot be treated with pharmaceuticals because of the damage to brain tissue.
However, sufferers can be treated through education to define their daily routines: typically,
procedural memories (motor skills and routines like tying shoes or playing an instrument) suffer less
than declarative memories (facts and events). Additionally, social and emotional support is important
to improve the quality of life of those suffering from anterograde amnesia.
Other Types of Amnesia
Some types of forgetting are not due to traumatic brain injury, but instead are the result of the
changes the human brain goes through over the course of a lifetime.
Childhood Amnesia
Do you remember anything from when you were six months old? How about two years old? There’s a
reason that nobody does. Childhood amnesia, also called infantile amnesia, is the inability of adults to
retrieve memories before the age of 2–4. This is because for the first year or two of life, brain
structure such as the limbic system are not yet fully developed. Research has shown that children
have the capacity to remember events that happened to them from age 1 and before while they are
still relatively young, but as they get older they tend to be unable to recall memories from their
youngest years.
Neurocognitive Disorders
Neurocognitive disorders are a broad category of brain diseases typical to old age
that cause a long-term and often gradual decrease in the ability to think and recall
memories. “Neurocognitive disorder” is synonymous with “dementia” but the
terms is no longer used in the DSM-5. For the diagnosis to be made there must be
a change from a person’s usual mental functioning and a greater decline than one
would expect due to aging. These diseases also have a significant effect on a
person’s caregivers.
The most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, which makes up 50%
to 70% of cases. Its most common symptoms are short-term memory loss and
word-finding difficulties. People with Alzheimer’s also have trouble with visual-
spatial areas (for example, they may get lost often), reasoning, judgement, and
insight into whether they are experiencing memory loss at all.
 PRINCIPLES OF MEMORY
1. Pay attention while you're learning.
2. Get the information right the first time. False ideas and misunderstood facts can hang on.
3. Be sure you fully understand the material.
4. Try to see the significance of what you're learning. What you're learning is part of a larger
whole.
5. Involve your ego, if possible. See how the task relates to you. Does the material please or
displease you? Is it important to your self-concept that you know the material?
6. Associate new material with related facts you already know.
7. Organize the material to properly place in your memory. If you have organized carefully,
remembering part of something will enable you to remember the rest.
8. Divide and group your material. Information is best taken in as "little bunches."
9. Reinforce what you have learned through repetition & usage. You will not remember
something you don't use.
10.Recite often.
 TECHNIQUES/ PRINCIPLES OF MEMORY

Some principles and techniques that have been used to assist in memorization
include:
• Rote learning, a learning technique which focuses not on understanding but on
memorization by means of repetition. For example, if words are to be learned,
they may be repeatedly spoken aloud or repeatedly written down.

• Spaced repetition, a principle of committing information into long-term

memory by means of increasing time intervals between subsequent review of
the previously learned material. Spaced repetition exploits the
psychological spacing effect.
Active recall, a learning method that exploits the testing effect − the fact that
memorization is more efficient when some time is devoted to actively retrieving
the to-be-learned information through testing with proper feedback. Flashcards are
a practical application of active recall.

Mnemonic, a type of memory aid. Mnemonics are often verbal, such as a very
short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something,
particularly lists, but they may be visual, kinesthetic or auditory. Mnemonics rely
on associations between easy-to-remember constructs which can be related back
to the data that is to be remembered. This is based on the principle that the human
mind much more easily remembers spatial, personal, surprising, sexual or
humorous or otherwise meaningful information than random sequences.
The Major system, a mnemonic technique used to aid in memorizing numbers which is also
called the phonetic number system or phonetic mnemonic system. It works by converting
numbers first into consonant sounds, then into words by adding vowels. The words can then
be remembered more easily than the numbers, especially when using other mnemonic rules
which call for the words to be visual and emotive.

The Method of loci or mind palace, a technique for memorizing practiced since classical
antiquity which is a type of mnemonic link system based on places (locations). It is often
used where long lists of items need to be memorized.

Sleep aids memory; this applies to naps as well.

Dramatizing the information that needs to be memorized will help you remember it more. If
said in an exaggerated and dramatic manner it will most likely not be forgotten.

The "desirable difficulty" is a principle based on a theory which suggests that people
remember things better when their brains have to overcome minor obstacles to catch the
information.
 Memory Retrieval: Recognition and Recall

Memory retrieval, including recall and recognition, is the process of

remembering information stored in long-term memory. Some theorists
suggests that there are three stores of memory: sensory memory, long-term
memory (LTM), and short-term memory (STM).
Only data that is processed through STM and encoded into LTM can later be
retrieved. Overall, the mechanisms of memory are not completely understood.
However, there are many theories concerning memory retrieval.

There are two main types of memory retrieval: recall and recognition. In recall,
the information must be retrieved from memories. In recognition, the
presentation of a familiar outside stimulus provides a cue that the information
has been seen before. A cue might be an object or a scene—any stimulus that
reminds a person of something related. Recall may be assisted when retrieval
cues are presented that enable the subject to quickly access the information in
memory.
 Memory Retrieval: Recognition and Recall

Patterns of Memory Retrieval

There are three main types of recall studied in psychology: serial recall, free recall, and cued
recall.

Serial Recall
People tend to recall items or events in the order in which they occurred. This is called serial
recall and can be used to help cue memories. By thinking about a string of events or even
words, it is possible to use a previous memory to cue the next item in the series. Serial recall
helps a person to remember the order of events in his or her life. These memories appear to
exist on a continuum on which more recent events are more easily recalled.
When recalling serial items presented as a list (a common occurrence in memory studies), two
effects tend to surface: the primacy effect and the recency effect. The primacy effect occurs
when a participant remembers words from the beginning of a list better than the words from
the middle or end. The theory behind this is that the participant has had more time to
rehearse these words in working memory. The recency effect occurs when a participant
remembers words from the end of a list more easily, possibly since they are still available in
short-term memory.
 Memory Retrieval: Recognition and Recall

Free Recall
Free recall occurs when a person must recall many items but can recall them in
any order. It is another commonly studied paradigm in memory research. Like
serial recall, free recall is subject to the primacy and recency effects.

Cued Recall
Cues can facilitate recovery of memories that have been “lost.” In research, a
process called cued recall is used to study these effects. Cued recall occurs when
a person is given a list to remember and is then given cues during the testing
phase to aid in the retrieval of memories. The stronger the link between the cue
and the testing word, the better the participant will recall the words.
 Memory Retrieval: Recognition and Recall
Interference with Memory Retrieval
Interference occurs in memory when there is an interaction between the new material
being learned and previously learned material. There are two main kinds of
interference: proactive and retroactive.
Proactive Interference
Proactive interference is the forgetting of information due to interference from
previous knowledge in LTM. Past memories can inhibit the encoding of new memories.
This is particularly true if they are learned in similar contexts and the new information
is similar to previous information. This is what is happening when you have trouble
remembering your new phone number because your old one is stuck in your head.
Retroactive Interference
Retroactive interference occurs when newly learned information interferes with the
encoding or recall of previously learned information. If a participant was asked to recall
a list of words, and was then immediately presented with new information, it could
interfere with remembering the initial list. If you learn to use a new kind of computer
and then later to use the old model again, you might find you have forgotten how to
use it. This is due to retroactive interference.
 Memory Retrieval: Recognition and Recall

Retrieval Failure
Sometimes a person is not able to retrieve a memory that they have previously encoded.
This can be due to decay, a natural process that occurs when neural connections decline,
like an unused muscle.
Occasionally, a person will experience a specific type of retrieval failure called tip-of-the-
tongue phenomenon. This is the failure to retrieve a word from memory, combined with
partial recall and the feeling that retrieval is imminent. People who experience this can
often recall one or more features of the target word such as the first letter, words that
sound similar, or words that have a similar meaning. While this process is not completely
understood, there are two theories as to why it occurs. The first is the direct-access
perspective, which states that the memory is not strong enough to retrieve but strong
enough to trigger the state. The inferential perspective posits that the state occurs when
the subject infers knowledge of the target word, but tries to piece together different clues
about the word that are not accessible in memory.
RECONSTRUCTIVE MEMORY
Reconstructive memory is a theory of memory recall, in which the act of
remembering is influenced by various other cognitive processes
including perception, imagination, semantic memory and beliefs, amongst
others. People view their memories as being a coherent and truthful account
of episodic memory and believe that their perspective is free from an error
during recall. However, the reconstructive process of memory recall is
subject to distortion by other intervening cognitive functions such as
individual perceptions, social influences, and world knowledge, all of which
can lead to errors during reconstruction.
RECONSTRUCTIVE MEMORY

• Leveling Error: refers to a loss of details. levelling being when you

downplay details.

• Assimilation Error: refers to the recollection being ‘rationalized’ or

‘normalized’ to fit with preconceived notions. changing our
schemas to fit what we have learned, add new info

• Sharpening Error: refers to remembering details that were not

actually mentioned but that could be inferred from general
knowledge. and sharpening being when you exaggerate details
LEARNING
CDR NABIL EHSAN
 What Is Learning?
•Learning is an adaptive function by which our nervous system changes in relation to
stimuli in the environment, thus changing our behavioral responses and permitting us to
function in our environment.
•The process occurs initially in our nervous system in response to environmental stimuli.
Neural pathways can be strengthened, pruned, activated, or rerouted, all of which cause
changes in our behavioral responses.
• Instincts and reflexes are innate behaviors—they occur naturally and do not involve
learning.
• Learning is a change in behavior or knowledge that results from
experience.
 Types of Learning
• There are three main types of learning:
 Classical conditioning
 Operant conditioning
 Observational learning.

• Both classical and operant conditioning are forms of associative learning,

in which associations are made between events that occur together.

• Observational learning is just as it sounds: learning by observing others.

 Types of Learning
Operant Conditioning

• In this learning process behaviors are reinforced or punished, thus strengthening

or extinguishing a response.
• Edward Thorndike coined the term “law of effect,” in which behaviours followed
by consequences and satisfying to the organism are more likely to be repeated.
Whereas, behaviours that are followed by unpleasant consequences are less
likely to be repeated.
• B. F. Skinner researched operant conditioning by experiments with rats in what
he called a “Skinner box.” Over time, the rats learned that stepping on the lever
directly caused the release of food, demonstrating that behavior can be
influenced by rewards or punishments. He differentiated between positive and
negative reinforcement, and also explored the concept of extinction.
 Types of Learning

Observational Learning
• Observational learning occurs through observing the behaviors of others
and imitating those behaviors—even if there is no reinforcement at the
time.

• Albert Bandura noticed that children often learn through imitating adults,
and he tested his theory using his famous Bobo-doll experiment. Through
this experiment, Bandura learned that children would attack the Bobo doll
after viewing adults hitting the doll.
 Types of Learning
Basic Principles of Classical Conditioning:
• Ivan Pavlov’s research on classical conditioning
profoundly informed the psychology of learning and
the field of behaviorism.
• Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) was a Russian scientist
whose work with dogs has been influential in
understanding how learning occurs. Through his
research, he established the theory of classical
conditioning
 Types of Learning
Basic Principles of Classical Conditioning
 Classical conditioning is a form of learning whereby a conditioned
stimulus (CS) becomes associated with an unrelated
unconditioned stimulus (US) in order to produce a behavioral
response known as a conditioned response (CR).

 The conditioned response is the learned response to the

previously neutral stimulus. The unconditioned stimulus is usually a
biologically significant stimulus such as food or pain that elicits an
unconditioned response (UR) from the start. The conditioned
stimulus is usually neutral and produces no particular response at
first, but after conditioning it elicits the conditioned response.
 Types of Learning
• Extinction is the decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned
stimulus is no longer presented with the conditioned stimulus. When presented
with the conditioned stimulus alone, the individual would show a weaker and
weaker response, and finally no response. In classical-conditioning terms, there
is a gradual weakening and disappearance of the conditioned response.

• Related to this, spontaneous recovery refers to the return of a previously

extinguished conditioned response following a rest period.

• Research has found that with repeated extinction/recovery cycles, the

conditioned response tends to be less intense with each period of recovery.
 Types of Learning
Classical conditioning: Before conditioning, U.S (food) produces an U.R (salivation), and a neutral
stimulus (bell) does not have an effect. During conditioning, the U.S (food) is presented repeatedly just
after the presentation of the neutral stimulus (bell). After conditioning, the neutral stimulus alone
produces a conditioned response (salivation), thus becoming a conditioned stimulus.
 Types of Learning

Classical Conditioning
• Classical conditioning is a process by which we learn to associate events,
or stimuli, that frequently happen together; as a result of this, we learn to
anticipate events.
• Ivan Pavlov conducted a famous study involving dogs in which he trained
(or conditioned) the dogs to associate the sound of a bell with the
presence of a piece of meat.
• The conditioning is achieved when the sound of the bell on its own makes
the dog salivate in anticipation for the meat.
 Types of Learning
Pavlov’s experiment, identify the four factors of classical conditioning at
work:

 Unconditioned response was the dogs’ natural salivation in response to

seeing or smelling their food.
 Unconditioned stimulus was the sight or smell of the food itself.
 Conditioned stimulus was the ringing of the bell, which previously had
no association with food.
 Conditioned response, was the salivation of the dogs in response to the
ringing of the bell, even when no food was present.
 Types of Learning
Neurological Response to Conditioning

• When a dog sees food, the visual and olfactory stimuli send information to
the brain through their respective neural pathways, ultimately activating the
salivation glands to secrete saliva (natural process -saliva aids in the
digestion of food).
• When a dog hears a buzzer and at the same time sees food, the auditory
stimulus activates the associated neural pathways. However, because these
pathways are being activated at the same time as the other neural pathways,
there are weak synapse reactions that occur between the auditory stimulus
and the behavioral response.
• Over time, these synapses are strengthened so that it only takes the sound
of a buzzer (or a bell) to activate the pathway leading to salivation.
 Types of Learning
“Little Albert” Experiment (Application to Human Behaviour)

• John B. Watson carried out a controversial classical conditioning experiment on an

infant boy called “Little Albert.” Watson was interested in examining the effects of
conditioning on the fear response in humans, and he introduced Little Albert to a
number of items such as a white rat, a bunny, and a dog.

• Albert was originally not fearful of any of the items. Watson then allowed Albert to
play with the rat, but as Albert played, Watson suddenly banged a hammer on a
metal bar. The sound startled Albert and caused him to cry. Each time Albert
touched the rat, Watson again banged the hammer on the bar. Watson was able to
successfully condition Albert to fear the rat because of its association with the loud
noise. Eventually, Albert was conditioned to fear other similar furry items such as a
rabbit and even a Santa Claus mask. While Watson’s research provided new
insight into conditioning, it would be considered unethical by the current ethical
standards set forth by the American Psychological Association.
 Types of Learning
•Behavioral Therapies
•Classical conditioning has been used as a successful form of
treatment in changing or modifying behaviors, such as substance
abuse and smoking.
Some therapies associated with classical conditioning include
aversion therapy, systematic desensitization, and flooding.
• Aversion therapy is a type of behavior therapy designed to
encourage individuals to give up undesirable habits by causing
them to associate the habit with an unpleasant effect.
• Systematic desensitization is a treatment for phobias in which the
individual is trained to relax while being exposed to progressively
more anxiety -provoking stimuli.
• Flooding is a form of desensitization that uses repeated exposure
to highly distressing stimuli until the lack of reinforcement of the
anxiety response causes its extinction.
 Types of Learning
The Law of Effect
•Thorndike’s law of effect; behaviors that are followed by consequences,
which are satisfying to the organism are more likely to be repeated, and
behaviors that are followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to
be repeated.

•Essentially, if an organism does something that brings about a desired

result, the organism is more likely to do it again. If an organism does
something that does not bring about a desired result, the organism is less
likely to do it again.

•From a young age, we learn which actions are beneficial and which are
detrimental through a trial and error process.
 Types of Learning
Basic Principles of Operant Conditioning: Skinner
•Operant conditioning is a theory of behaviorism that focuses on changes in an
individual’s observable behaviors. In operant conditioning, new or continued
behaviors are impacted by new or continued consequences.
Skinner’s Theories of Operant Conditioning

•Skinner attempted to prove an extension to Thorndike’s theory—that all

behaviors are in some way a result of operant conditioning.

•Skinner theorized that if a behavior is followed by reinforcement, that behavior is

more likely to be repeated, but if it is followed by some sort of aversive stimuli or
punishment, it is less likely to be repeated. He also believed that this learned
association could end, or become extinct, if the reinforcement or punishment was
removed.
 Types of Learning
•Skinner conducted most of his research in a special cumulative recorder
(Skinner box) which was used to analyze the behavioral responses of his test
subjects. In these boxes he present his subjects with positive reinforcement,
negative reinforcement, or aversive stimuli in various timing intervals
(schedules) that were designed to produce or inhibit specific target
behaviors.

•Skinner placed the rats in a Skinner box with a lever attached to a feeding
tube. Whenever a rat pressed the lever, food was released. After the
experience of multiple trials, the rats learned the association between the
lever and food and began to spend more of their time in the box procuring
food than performing any other action.
 Types of Learning

•Skinner discovered that the rate of response—as well as changes in

response features—depended on what occurred after the behavior was
performed, not before. Skinner named these actions operant
behaviors because they operated on the environment to produce an
outcome.

•The process by which one could arrange the contingencies of

reinforcement responsible for producing a certain behavior then came
to be called operant conditioning.
 Types of Learning
Shaping

•Skinner often used an approach called shaping. Instead of rewarding only

the target, or desired, behavior, the process of shaping involves the
reinforcement of successive approximations of the target behavior.

•Skinner believed that all behavior is predetermined by past and present

events in the objective world. His work remains extremely influential in the
fields of psychology, behaviorism, and education.
 Types of Learning
•Shaping requires that the subject perform behaviors that at first merely resemble the
target behavior; through reinforcement, these behaviors are gradually changed,
or shaped, to encourage the performance of the target behavior itself. Shaping is
useful tool for training animals, such as dogs, to perform difficult tasks.
In summary, the process of shaping includes the following steps:
 Reinforce any response that resembles the target behavior.
 Then reinforce the response that more closely resembles the target behavior. You will
no longer reinforce the previously reinforced response.
 Next, begin to reinforce the response that even more closely resembles the target
behavior. Continue to reinforce closer and closer approximations of the target
behavior.
• Finally, only reinforce the target behavior.
 Types of Learning
Reinforcement and Punishment

•Reinforcement means you are increasing a behavior: it is any consequence or

outcome that increases the likelihood of a particular behavioral response (and that
therefore reinforces the behavior).

•Punishment means you are decreasing a behavior: it is any consequence or outcome

that decreases the likelihood of a behavioral response.

•Extinction in operant conditioning, refers to when a reinforced behavior is

extinguished entirely. This occurs at some point after reinforcement stops; the speed at
which this happens depends on the reinforcement schedule, which is discussed in more
detail in another section.
 Types of Learning
Positive and Negative Reinforcement and Punishment

•Both reinforcement and punishment can be positive or negative. In operant conditioning, positive
and negative do not mean good and bad. Instead, positive means you are adding something
and negative means you are taking something away. All of these methods can manipulate the
behavior of a subject, but in a unique fashion. aversive
 Types of Learning
Bandura and Observational Learning
•Observational learning occurs from watching, retaining, and replicating a
behavior observed from a model. Observational learning, also referred to
as modeling or social learning, occurs by observing, retaining, and
replicating behavior seen in others.

•This type of learning can take place at any stage in life, it is thought to be
particularly important during childhood, when authority is important.

•Stemming from Albert Bandura’s social learning theory, observational

learning allows for learning without any direct change to behavior;
because of this, it has been used as an argument against strict
behaviorism, which argues that behavior must occur for learning to have
taken place.
 Types of Learning
Bobo-Doll Experiment

•One of the first recorded instances of observational learning in 1961 by Albert

Bandura. This experiment demonstrated that children can learn merely by
observing the behavior of a social model, and that observing reinforcement of the
model’s behavior could affect whether or not a behavior was emulated.

•Bandura believed that humans are cognitive beings who, unlike animals, are
•(1) likely to think about the links between their behavior and its consequences,
and
•(2) more likely to be influenced by what they believe will happen than by actual
experience.
 Types of Learning
Bandura studied the responses of nursery-school-aged children to the
actions of adults. The children were presented with a short film in
which an adult model directed aggression towards an inflatable Bobo
doll.

Three main conditions were included:

a) the model-reward condition, in which the children saw a
second adult give the aggressive model candy for a
“championship performance”;

b) the model-punished condition, in which the children saw a

second adult scold the model for their aggression;

c) the no-consequence condition, in which the children simply

saw the model behave aggressively.
 Types of Learning
•Results indicated that after viewing the film, when children were left alone in a
room with the Bobo doll and props used by the adult aggressor, they imitated the
actions they had witnessed. Those in the model-reward and no-consequence
conditions were more willing to imitate the aggressive acts than those in the
model-punished condition.

•Further testing indicated that children in each condition had equal amounts of
learning, and it was only the motivation factor that kept behaviors from being
similar in each condition.

•Bandura hoped that the experiment would prove that aggression can be
explained, at least in part, by social learning theory. The theory of social learning
states that behavior such as aggression is learned through observing and
imitating others.
 Types of Learning
Four Conditions for Observational Learning
As per Bandura’s social learning theory, four conditions, or steps, must be met in
order for observational or social learning to occur:
•Attention
Observers cannot learn unless they pay attention to what is happening around
them. This process is influenced by characteristics of the model, as well as how
much the observer likes or identifies with the model. It is also influenced by
characteristics of the observer, such as the observer’s expectations or level of
emotional arousal.
•Retention or Memory
Observers have to not only recognize the observed behavior, but also remember
it. This process depends on the observer’s ability to code or structure the
information so that it is easily remembered.
 Types of Learning
•Initiation or Reproduction
Observers must be physically and intellectually capable of producing the act. In many cases
the observer possesses the necessary responses, but sometimes reproducing the observed
actions may involve skills the observer has not yet acquired.

•Motivation
An observer must be motivated to reproduce the actions they have seen. You need to want to
copy the behavior, and whether or not you are motivated depends on what happened to the
model. If you saw that the model was reinforced for her behavior, you will be more motivated
to copy her; this is known as vicarious reinforcement. On the other hand, if you observed the
model being punished, you would be less motivated to copy her; this is called vicarious
punishment. In addition, the more an observer likes or respects the model, the more likely
they are to replicate the model’s behavior. Motivation can also come from external
reinforcement, such as rewards promised by an experimenter.