Psychology Chapter 4, 5 and 6

Chapter 4

Sensation and Perception

sensation: stimulation of the sense organs (p. 125)

o stimulus (physical energy) is "raw data" about the outside world

o received by specialized "receptor" cells in eyes, ears, skin, nose, tongue, etc. "raw data"
sent to the brain

perception: the organization and interpretation of sensations

o brain makes sense of "raw data"

o influenced by knowledge of the world, expectations, context, etc.
o limited by attention

sensation and perception together are the underlying processes operating visual illusion- when
the way you see a stimulus is not the way it is in reality

filling-in: a process that occurs without our awareness. It helps us make sense of our often
confusing, perceptual world

Role of Attention

Video: students were passing a basketball around and viewer were asked to count how many
times the ball was passed around. Spontaneously, a gorilla walked in between the students
playing basketball as a distraction. Surprisingly, majority of viewers did not notice or see the
gorilla appear while the students were playing which shows how individuals selectively notice/
pay attention to things they want to.

Simons & Chabris (1999) found that 73% of participants failed to spot a gorilla walking through
some basketball passes.

o inattentional blindness – failure to detect stimuli that are in plain sight when our
attention is focused elsewhere
o selective attention allows us to select one channel and turn off others. This is controlled
by the RAS
o shows that perception depends on attention
o Gorillas in our midst: Sustained inattentional blindness for dynamic events.

o What do we mean when we say we are "paying attention" to something?

o focusing selectively on some things while largely ignoring others (p. 128)
 o filter metaphor – our brain acts as a filter, we choose what we want to focus on and we
block out external things that we believe are not useful for us

Attention defined

o method for studying attention developed in the 1950s - dichotic listening

o dichotic = "divided in two"
o dichotic listening: two different messages presented simultaneously, one to each ear task
is to shadow, or repeat aloud, one message while ignoring the other this is a process
called shadowing (p. 129)
o people could only repeat the messages that they attended and would sometimes mix it
with the information they were told to ignore
only basic information recalled, e.g., whether the non-shadowed speaker is male or
female but still notice your name if spoken in the non-shadowed message
o cocktail party effect- being able to pick out important messages, like your name in a
conversation that does not involve you

Seeing: The Visual System

o a light source emits electromagnetic radiation that travels as a wave waves can differ in
amplitude and wavelength
o wavelength is measured in nanometers (nm) 1 nanometer = one billionth of a meter
o a tiny range of possible wavelengths is visible as light (Fig. 4.5).
o Within that range: brightness = perception of amplitude

- low amplitude = dull

- high amplitude = bright

o a tiny range of possible wavelengths is visible as light (Fig. 4.5). Within that range:
colour or hue = subjective perception of wavelength

- low frequency = violet

- high frequency = red

different parts of the eye allow different amounts of light to enter

o pupil -> regulates amount of light passing into the eye (p. 132) eyes have a pupillary
reflex that decreases the amount of light allowed in them
o lens -> focuses light rays to fall on the retina (p. 133)
curvature of the lens adjusts (accommodates – when the lens changes shape to focus
light at the back of the eyes) -> closer object = fattens; further object = flattens
o retina: tissue lining the inside back of the eye that contains the receptors for seeing (pp.
133-134) converts light into neural actvity
o rods: (type of retina cell) receptors for night and peripheral vision (p. 134)
cones: (type of retina cell) receptors for daylight, fine detail, and color vision (p. 134)
stimulation of rods and cones converted to neural signals that are sent to the brain via the
optic nerve (Fig. 4.9)

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 o after visual cortex (p. 160)

- dorsal stream = ("where"-> action pathway)

- ventral stream = ("what" -> perception pathway)

o evidence from double dissociation in brain-damaged patients:

optic ataxia (dorsal -> parietal lobe damage): can't use vision to guide movements (NOT
IN TEXTBOOK)
visual agnosia (ventral -> temporal lobe damage): inability to recognize objects by sight
(p. 138)

Color

1. trichromatic theory of colour vision: three types of receptors with differing sensitivities
to different wavelengths (pp. 135-136) believes color vision is based on our sensitivity to
three primary colors. Other colors are combinations of these colors

o short = blue; medium = green; long = red

o perception of colours in the brain depends on activation levels of each receptor (p. 136)
o this theory shows how the cones in the eye detect the full range of colours

evidence for -> (dichromatic) color-blindness to green or red (rarely blue) (p. 136)

2. opponent process theory of colour vision: proposes that certain cells in the visual
pathway colour (pp. 136). Proposes that we perceive colours in terms of three pairs of
opponent colors; either red or green, blue or yellow and black or white
`

- red versus green; yellow versus blue; black versus white

- explains why we don't experience "bluish yellow" or "reddish green"
- cells that respond to red spots are inhibited by green spots

afterimage: a sensation experienced after a stimulus is removed should see afterimage of

opposing colors

- green/black/yellow receptors are tired out; red/white/blue released from inhibition

both theories are correct

How are we able to recognize objects?

o one way is to sense different basic features and integrate (combine) them into a
perceptual whole

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 o bottom-up processing: processing that is driven by the physical input contacting the
sensory receptors (p. 150) we construct a whole stimulus from its parts. Starts with raw
stimuli and synthesizes them into a meaningful concept
o but what about this?

-->

even though they have identical forms, we recognize the second letters as "h" and "a" why?
top-down influence of context (words in which the letters are contained). Starts with our beliefs
and expectations which we impose on the raw stimuli we see.

Gestalt psychologists (pp. 151-153) active in the 1920s top-down visual perception
basic ideas:

o "we tend to order our experience in a manner that is regular, orderly, symmetrical, and
simple" (Wikipedia)
o we are biased to perceive whole objects, rather than parts

Law of Closure: organize perception into wholes rather than parts

Law of Similarity: like things tend to get grouped together

Law of Proximity: things that are close together get grouped together see others on pp. 152-153

How do we see depth if the retinal image is two-dimensional?

Two types of cues:

binocular cues: clues about distance based on the differing views of the two eyes. Allow us to
judge depth with both eyes. Allows our brain to make comparisons (pp. 154-155)

- e.g., retinal disparity: closer an object is, the greater the difference (disparity)
between the two retinal images

monocular cues: clues about distance based on the image in either eye alone (p. 154)

- e.g. 1, motion parallax: objects at different distances move across the retina at different
rates. Ability to judge the distance of a moving object based on speed. Nearby objects
appear to move faster and faraway objects appear slower.
- motion parallax example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgfhNzKPEM4

linear perspective: lines converge in the distance (p. 154)

which vertical line is longer?

Muller-Lyon illusion -> vertical lines are same length, but many people will say one on the right
is longer why?

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 "carpentered world hypothesis": "angles in" looks like a near
corner "angles out" looks like a far corner

o lines look the same length on the retina so the brain

assumes that because "angles out" is "further away" in space,
it must be longer

a line of identical length appears longer when arrows are

pointing inward as opposed to outward

o Evidence for "carpentered world hypothesis":

study found that American children and urban Zambian
children living in a "carpentered world" (i.e., seeing corners
everywhere) more susceptible to the illusion than rural
Zambian children not exposed to rectangular environments

Hearing: The Auditory System

Sound is a vibration travelling through a medium, usually air.

o we can graph changes in air pressure:

o amplitude = height of the peaks measured in decibels (dB) this corresponds to loudness.
Loud noise results in increased amplitude; because there’s more mechanical disturbance;
vibrating air molecules
o for sound, wavelengths are described in terms of frequency
o measured in hertz (Hz) = number of cycles per second
o middle C is ~262 Hz

loudness = perception of amplitude (p. 139)

- low amplitude = quiet

- high amplitude = loud

o outer ear -> pinna (pl. = pinnae) funnel sound waves to the middle ear (pp. 139-140, Fig.
4.15)
o middle ear -> vibration of the eardrum amplified by the three tiny bones (p. 140)
o inner ear -> vibrations converted to a neural signal in the cochlea (p. 140)
o cochlea: fluid-filled coil in the inner ear that contains the receptors for hearing

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 o basilar membrane runs the length of the cochlea; has tiny hairs protruding from it
o vibrations from the middle ear bones creates a wave of fluid that travels along the cochlea
o waves stimulate the hair cells as they pass
o stimulation converted to neural signals that are sent to the brain
o hearing and the cochlea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5gyQf2gVvA

Theories for auditory perception

1. place theory: perception of pitch corresponds to the place of vibration along the basilar
membrane
- high pitch towards the opening of the cochlea; low pitch towards the end

2. frequency theory: perception of pitch corresponds to the frequency or rate at which the
basilar membrane vibrates. The rate at which neurons fire action potential faithfully
reproduces the pitch.

- evidence suggests both place and frequency theories are right

How can we tell where a sound is coming from? Two binaural cues (p. 155): difference in the
loudness of the sound arriving at each ear
difference in the timing of the sound arriving at each ear (shown in picture)

Auditory/audiovisual illusions

o some fun illusions, including McGurk Effect (p. 127):

o sound alters perceived vision – Bar and Far enunciation
o tritone paradox – brain has a preference on which sound we listen to when it comes to
ascending and descending sounds
o sheppard tone illusion – notes are raising in pitch but our brain doesn’t notice it so it
sounds like the rise is never ending

Touch and pain: The Somatosensory System

Somatosensory stimuli responds to stimuli applied to the skin

skin contains specialized receptor cells called mechanoreceptors (p. 147)

- sensitive to touch, pressure, temperature

- more numerous are (unspecialized) free nerve endings also sensitive to pain

information in regards to pain travels up our somatic nerves before entering the spinal
cord

unequally distributed throughout different skin layers and different body parts most are in our
fingertips, lips, face, hands and feet (p.146)

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we can respond reflexively to pain, e.g., withdrawal reflex eg. Touching a hot stove (p. 146)

but pain can also be modulated by the brain (perception)

Two afferent pain pathways to the brain (NOT IN TEXTBOOK):

o fast pathway -> sharp, localized pain and non-pain events

o slow pathway -> dull, non-localized aches only

Neurons in the fast pathways are myelinated and help the signal travel better
Slow pathway is not myelinated ex. Hurting your thumb
o Study where people were given electric shocks and asked to rate the pain. One group was
told the shocks were intentional and another group thought the shocks happened by
accident. Those who thought the shocks were intentional rated the pain much higher
o perception of pain gives it meaning: decide how bad it is, where it is, compare with
memories of other pain attach emotional meaning
o pain is associated with anxiety, uncertainty and restlessness

perception of pain is subjective. Some evidence: placebo effect

o cultural differences context effects:

- reduced when looking at pleasant pictures (Roy et al., 2009)
- more painful when pain inflicted intentionally rather than accidentally (Grey &
Wegner, 2008)
o can get better when we divert our attention

Phantom limb- phantom, limb will do the same thing as the real limb when placed in the mirror
box. Pain can be a construct of the mind. Can alleviate the discomfort of phantom limb
can even have perception of pain without sensation!
e.g., phantom limb pain (p. 147)
"mirror box" therapy for phantom limb pain: https://www.youtube.com /watch?v=gc3CmS8_vUI

how does the brain influence incoming pain signals?

o gate control model (pp. 146-147) proposes that incoming pain signals from the PNS can
be blocked or "gated" by signals produced in the brain

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 specifically, activating the fast pathway can prevent slow pathway signal from making it's
way up the spinal cord
o explains why rubbing, massaging, scratching an injured area makes it feel better

o Gate Control Model – ex. You stubbed your toe and the fast and slow pathway send the
messages to the brain. Fast pathway makes to the brain and slow pathway goes to the
spinal cord. Fast pathway neurons can inhibit slow pathway neurons
o activity, diverting attention, etc., can also lessen pain by

- activating the fast pathway, which closes the gate

- triggering release of neurotransmitters (e.g., endorphins) that "dampen" pain
signal that makes it through the gate

Psychophysics – debate between structuralism and functionalism. This is a legacy of

structuralists. Maps the relationship between physical stimulus and what it feels like to
experience the physical stimulus. branch of psychology that deals with the relationship between
physical stimuli and psychological experience

- set of methods for quantifying what people are able to detect

ex. What is the dimmest light that people can see?

presumably, people have an absolute threshold, i.e., lowest level of intensity that can be
detected (p. 126) absolute threshold: intensity level at which a person detects the presence of
the stimulus 50% of the time (p. 126)

- can present people lights of different intensities to find absolute threshold

ex 2. What is the smallest difference in brightness of light that can be detected? presumably,
people have a just noticeable difference (JND), i.e., smallest difference that can be detected (p.
126)

- can repeatedly present people with pairs of lights to find JND again, not so easy to measure
- difference threshold depends on context
- in a dark room, one candle makes a big difference in brightness but in a bright room, one
candle might make barely any difference

Weber's law predicted that there is a lawful relationship between context and detection
threshold. There is a constant proportional relationship between the JND and original
stimulus intensity

o let's say I found that in a room lit by 5 candles (standard), it takes 1 candle to notice a
difference (1/5 = 20%)
o Weber's law predicts that:
- in a room lit by 10 candles, it should take 2 candles to notice a difference (2/10 =
20%)

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 -
in a room lit by 100 candles, it should take 20 candles to notice a difference
(20/100 = 20%), etc.
o Weber's law has been shown to be correct for many tasks but not all

Chapter 5

Biology of Sleep

Consciousness: awareness of internal and external events. Subjective experience of the world, our
bodies and our mental experiences (p. 165)

conscious vs. unconscious?

 Sigmund freud – conscious and unconscious thoughts like an iceberg

deep sleep -> light sleep -> deep relaxation -> normal waking thought -> paying attention ->
meditation?

o many environmental conditions happen in cycles (e.g., seasons, day/night, etc.)

o most organisms have an internal timekeeper that keeps track of these cycles
o circadian rhythm: biological activities that rise and fall in a 24-hour cycle (p. 166)

- circa = about; diem = 1 day

examples in humans: body temperature

o blood pressure
o production of certain hormones
o sleep/wakefulness

jet lag disrupts the bodies circadian rhythym

o circadian rhythms aligned to environmental cues (especially light)

o light information sent from the retina to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the
hypothalamus ("biological clock"; p. 166)
o sleep: SCN sends signals to the pineal gland, which increases the production of the
hormone melatonin as light decreases (p. 166)
o melatonin makes you feel sleepy

o circadian rhythms are internally-produced:

- e.g. 1, w/o environmental cues, still feel sleepy at night

- e.g. 2, jet lag, shift work

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 - biological clock corrects itself with reference to environmental cues but can function
without them

o people differ in their circadian rhythms "morningness" versus "eveningness"

o not clear why we spend 1/3 of our lives sleeping
what is clear is that we need to sleep
extended sleep deprivation can have severe physical and psychological consequences (p.
167) people deprived of sleep can have depression, difficulty learning new things and
paying attention

o Pilcher & Walters (1997) compared cognitive test performance for sleep-deprived and
normal-sleep college students [NOT IN TEXTBOOK]:

- sleep-deprived students performed more poorly

- sleep-deprived students rated their effort, concentration, and performance higher
[!]

o other studies show sleep-deprived individuals are not good at predicting if and when they
fall asleep [!]
o benefits to getting a night's sleep
evolutionary perspective: conserving our energy, staying away from predators (p. 166)
research shows improved ability to recall information, learn a new task, and gain insight on
problems (p. 166)
o "sleeping on a problem" -> Wagner et al. (2004)

Number Reduction Task: 8-digit series of 1's, 4's, and 9's Rules:

- if two digits are the same, respond with that digit

- if two digits are different, respond with the remaining digit
- comparison is between series
final digit is your answer

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 o procedure: several repetitions before and after 8-hr incubation period
o Independent variable:
8 hour incubation activity
o 3 levels of the independent variable
o SLEEP
o WAKE-NIGHT
o WAKE-DAY Dependent variable:

percentage of people in each group gaining insight

Participants in the SLEEP group were more than twice as likely to gain the insight.
more on the effects of sleep on memory in the NOVA video later today

brains don't "turn off" when we go to sleep

sleep labs -> EEG (p. 167), EOG, and EMG

Memory consolidation occurs during sleep, we replay things that happened throughout the day in
our sleep. When we sleep, we kind of edit our memories and toss away the information that’s not
important and keep the information that matters. When we make up, the memories that we have
are different then the way they were before we went to sleep. They were altered over the course
of the night, this allows us to see things from a different perspective.

o electro-encephalograph or EEG -> records brain activity

o electro-myograph or EMG -> records muscle activity [NOT IN TEXTBOOK]
o electro-oculograph EOG -> records eye movements [NOT IN TEXTBOOK]
sleep involves cycling through distinct stages, each with its own EEG signature (p. 168)
o groups of neurons tend to fire at the same rate and at the same time EEG not sensitive
enough to pick up activity of individual neurons
o groups of neurons tend to fire at the same rate and at the same time EEG not sensitive
enough to pick up activity of individual neurons
o summed activity of neurons are measured by EEG as a brain wave (p. 166)
brain waves differ in frequency (Hz = number of peaks per second) and amplitude (peak
height)

o awake and alert -> fast (frequency) and small (amplitude) alpha waves (8-13 Hz)
first 4 stages in the sleep cycle -> brain waves get slower (frequency) and larger
(amplitude)

Stage 1

- lasts 5-10 minutes, brain activity powers down and produces theta waves
- alpha (8-13 Hz) then theta waves (4-7 Hz) "just dozing off"
- hypnagogic imagery (p. 167) – scrambled, bizzare and dream-like images that flit in and out
of our consciousness
- myoclonic jerks – sudden jerks from our limbs

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Stage 2

- brain waves slow down even more

- still sensitive to events in the external world
- sleep spindles and k-complexes(appear only when we are asleep)
- heart rate slows, body temperature decreases, eye movements cease
- most of our sleep is spent in this stage (p. 168)

Stages 3-4

- also called slow wave sleep or delta wave sleep (1-4 Hz) deepest stage of sleep
- needed to feel refreshed in the morning
- suppressed by alcohol

o then cycle reverses except, instead of stage 1, we enter REM sleep (stage 5)

- rapid side-to-side movements of the eyes (measured with EOG) brain wave resembles
waking brain
- almost no muscle tension (basically paralyzed)
- most (but not all) dreaming occurs
- sleep cycle repeats about 4-5 times per night; about 90 minutes per cycle
REM sleep gets longer; Non-REM (NREM) sleep (i.e., stages 1-4) gets shorter (Fig. 5.2)

lucid dreaming: experience of becoming aware that you are dreaming (p. 170) opens up the
possibility of controlling our dreams (p. 170)
is this a real phenomenon?

o Labarge (2000) measured EEG while lucid dreamers counted and estimated 10 seconds while
awake and dreaming

- interval initiated by eye movements (EOG)

- chin muscle activity measured (EMG)
- time intervals highly similar between awake/asleep what is the EMG reading during REM
telling us?

5 sleeping disorders on pp. 171-

1) sleep apnea - blockage of airway during sleep resulting in daytime fatigue. Causes people to
snore loud, gasp and sometimes stop breathing. Lack of oxygen can buildup carbon dioxide
which can result in night sweats, hearing loss, arrhythmia etc. facemask can be worn to flow
air into the nasal passages

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 2) night terrors – waking episodes characterized by screaming, sweating and confusion
followed by a return to a deep sleep. Are usually harmless events that mostly occur in
children

3) sleepwalking – walking while fully asleep. Occurs in people that are deprived of sleep, sleep
walkers are not acting out their dreams, it almost always occurs in NONREM.

4) insomnia – difficulty falling and staying asleep. You can have trouble falling asleep, wake up
too early or wake up in the middle of the night and be unable to fall back asleep. People with
depression, pain and medical disorders usually have insomnia. Some people have brief
cases of insomnia due to stress, relationship problems, medication, working late or napping
during the day. Pills can treat but psychotherapy is more effective.

5) narcolepsy – dramatic disorder in which people experience episodes of sudden sleep lasting
a few seconds to several minutes. The urge to sleep can start at any moment. Surprise
elation or strong emotion can cause people with narcolepsy to experience cataplexy, a
complete loss of muscle tone. They can remain alert but won’t be able to move. When
people with narcolepsy sleep, they plummet into REM sleep immediately. Genetic
abnormalities boost risk of narcolepsy

Dreams

Why do we dream? Theories of dreaming/REM sleep:

Dreaming is a universal experience. People usually fail to recall their dreams

o Dreaming as wish fulfillment (p. 173) – how we wish things could be. Dreams don’t surrender
their secrets easily, they require interpretation to reverse the dream work and reveal their true
meaning. Freud distinguished between the details of the dream itself (manifest content) and the
true hidden meaning (latent content) eg. Dream about a flat tire could signify anxiety about a
loss of status at ones job
o Activation-synthesis theory (p. 174) - dreams reflect the activated brains attempt to make
sense of random and internally generated neural signals during REM sleep. The pons transmit
random signals to the thalamus which relay information to the forebrain. The forebrain
attempts to create a story from the incomplete information it receives
o Neurocognitive theory (p. 175) – that dreams are a meaningful product of our cognitive
capacities which shape what we dream about

Freud -> day residue- a dream related to an experience of the previous day.

proposed that people fulfill wishes in dreams (p. 133)

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o manifest content: the actual plot of the dream
o latent content: "hidden meaning" of the dream
o dream interpretation

- REM sleep -> "random" brain activity originating in the hindbrain internally- or
externally generated (p. 197)

o sent to emotion, memory, and sensory processing centers of the brain

o activation synthesis model argues that, as it does when it is awake, the brain attempts to
"make sense" or "construct a story" out of random brain activity during REM sleep (p. 197)
o dreams are the result
o activation synthesis model provides a good explanation for why dreams are weird
o brain needs to make sense of "random" brain activity

Canadian psychologist Rosalind Cartwright -> people often dream about problems occurring in their
waking life (NOT IN TEXTBOOK)

- Cartright argued that because dreams are not constrained by logic or realism, they offer a
unique and creative "place" for working out problems (NOT IN TEXTBOOK) anecdotal
- evidence: a number of famous solutions to scientific problems solved in dreams
- also evidence that new memories are strengthened or consolidated by REM sleep (pp. 193-
194)
day's events are replayed in our heads
important stuff kept; unimportant stuff discarded

NOVA video on sleep

effects of sleep deprivation
memory consolidation theory of dreaming

Brain is still very active when sleeping

During sleep people are processing, reviewing and strengthening memory

Drugs and consciousness

Psychoactive drugs electively alter consciousness by changing chemical processes in neurons
Mimic neurotransmitters produced internally
Eg. Some opioid mimic the body own natural pain killers called endorphins pg 110
Drug Type Example Effect on Behavior
Depressants Alcohol, barbiturates, Decreased activity of the
Quaaludes and valium central nervous system
(initial high followed by

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 sleepiness, slower thinking
and impaired concentration)
Stimulants Tobacco, cocaine, caffeine, Increased activity of the
amphetamines central nervous system
(sense of alertness, well-
being and energy)
Opiates Heroine, morphine and Sense of euphoria and
codeine decreased pain
Psychedelics Marijuana, LSD, ecstasy Dramatically altered
perception, mood and
thoughts

All addictions (not just drugs) involve activity in the reward pathway
o Aka mesolimbic dopamine pathway
-middle limbic system, neurons in the pathway are very rich in dopamine
-Connects the midbrain to other areas in the limbic system and the frontal lobe
Dependence on a drug can occur when people continue to take it to avoid
withdrawal symptoms or have intense cracings
Large and rapid increase in dopamine release along the mesolimbic pathway
-drugs, food, social media

fMRI study from Meshi

Stimuli
Asked people how often they are on Facebook, and had people do two tests in the scanner. First
test was card task: pick a card out of three – win a small or large amount of money
Description task: Trying to mimic the experience of a person on social media. Identify person in
the picture (yourself or someone else) – positive attribute shown afterwards.
They question whether this study displays external validity
Results: more nucleus activity for:
Bigger prize than smaller
Self than other flattering description
Only latter correlated with facebook use.

Some controversy about the effects of dopamine release:

o Earlier – feelings of pleasure (liking)
o More recent – feelings of desire (wanting)

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 o Olds and milner discovered that stimulating the Pathway in rats induced addictive
behavior
o Implanted an electrode in the rats brain
o Findings: rats stimulated its own reward pathway by pressing a lever
o Pressed over 200 times per hour to the point of exhaustion
Some more recent evidence suggests increased dopamine associated with wanting:
o destroying the pathway in rats – still will receive pleasurable stimulus but won’t work
for it
o Addicts will report wanting a drug even though they no longer get any pleasure from
it
Ie. Dopamine release – motivation to obtain the reward, rather than the pleasure experienced
after the reward is received.
Evolutionary function?
o Where food resources and mating opportunities were scarce, wanting to find these
things would have been critical to survival and passing on your genes
Maybe drugs are technologies that “hijack” the “reward” pathway

Chapter 6 Learning
Learning Defined
Behaviorism emerged as a reaction against psychology early emphasis on researching
consciousness
Psychology should only study what people do
Behaviorism: psychology should only study observable behavior
Psychology should relate behaviors to events (responses) in the environment (stimuli)

Is behavior more nature or nurture?

Eg. Bullying. If someone is on the nature side of things, the hormone testosterone is
associated with aggressive behavior. If a blood test was conducted, they would find more
testosterone in the blood correlating that bullies have more testosterone in the bloodstream.
On the nurture side of things, they would assume someone is a bully because of the
upbringing and learning and imitation of the people around them.
Behaviorists strongly believe in nurture

behaviourists argue(d) that all behaviours are learned responses to stimuli in our environment

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 Learning

We often use the word learn in a narrow sense to mean coming to know some fact about the
world e.g., "Today I learned in geography class that the capital city of Madagascar is
Antananarivo."

Psychologists use the word learn in a broader sense

Learning is a change in an organisms behavior or thought as a result of experience pg. 199

- learning doesn't need to involve "facts" or school

- learning doesn't need to involve people
- learning doesn't need to involve "facts" or school learning doesn't need to involve
people

Simplest form of learning is habituation

Habituation: a gradual reduction in the strength of a response when a stimulus event is
presented repeatedly
May even occur in plants ex. Mimosa

Habituation emerges in infants at 32 weeks

in infant studies responses could be behavioral (ex. Sucking rate, looking time) physiological
(heart rate) neurophysiological (spike in neural activity)
After repeated presentations of the stimulus, the response weakens (habituation)

e.g., looking time gets shorter

Infant studies capitalize on thus response in lieu of verbal ability

If a different stimulus once again elicits a strong response, the experimenter can infer that the
infant was aware of the change
Ex. Looking time gets longer again

Conditioning
Conditioning learning connections between events and behavior
Eg. when this happens, I do that (classical)

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 Eg. If I do that this will happen after (operant)

Classical: transferring an automatic response to a new neutral stimulus

Ex. Pavlovs dogs. Dogs drool when they see food

- originally, meat powder automatically made the dogs salivate

- Pavlov tried preceding the presentation of the meat powder with the sound of a tone
- found that dogs salivated at the sound of a tone alone
- dogs learned or were conditioned to associate the sound of a tone with food

Unconditional Stimulus (UCS): stimulus that automatically elicits a response without

conditioning dogs = meat powder

Unconditional response (UCR) automatic response to a UCS that occurs without previous
conditioning (p. 225) eg. Pavlov's dogs = salivation

Conditioned stimulus (CS): a previously neutral stimulus that has, through conditioning,
acquired the capacity to elicit a conditioned response (p. 225) Pavlov's dogs = tone

Conditioned response (CR): a learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus (p. 225) Pavlov's dogs
= salivation

NOTE: UCR and CR are usually the same behaviour

Tyrone has a cat hair allergy. When he comes into contact with cat hair, he starts sneezing.
After a few allergic reactions, he starts sneezing as soon as a cat comes in the room.

UCS? Cat hair

UCR? sneezing

CS? When cat enters room

CR? sneezing

are CR’s permanent?

Eg. Were Pavlov’s dogs stuck drooling for the rest of their life every time they heard a tone?
No. Pavlov tested this my presenting a CS over a repeated number of trails and measuring the
number of drops of saliva after each trial

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 After repeated presentation of CS (tone) without UCS (no meat powder) CR declined and
disappeared. This process is called extinction.

Do stimuli that are similar to the CS also elicit a CR?

e.g., for Pavlov's dogs, if the pitch of the CS is a 1200Hz tone, does an 800 Hz tone also elicit
a CR?

Yes. But the more similar the new stimulus is to the original CS, the greater the CR

see figure 6.4 on p. 204

another (in)famous example -> Watson's experiment involving "Little Albert"

Little albert experiment

Little albert also shows how irrational fears and phobias may develop from classical conditioning
pg 205
Eg. Coulrophobia = fear of clowns
Advertising takes advantage of one subtype of classical conditioning called evaluative
conditioning
Evaluative conditioning: changes in whether you like something resulting from it being paired
with another positive or negative stimulus
Textbook talks about this idea but does not use this term – KNOW FOR THE EXAM pg 207

Classical conditioning aversion therapy

Attempts to modify problematic behavior by pairing it with an unpleasant stimulus
Often uses an emetic or nausea inducing drug as a UCS
Eg. An alcoholic out of control drinking is treated by conditioning the person to associate alcohol
with nausea
Eg. Clockwork Orange had a cartoonish version of aversion therapy on a violent teenager named
Alex

Operant conditioning
Classical conditioning does not account for all conditioning
Two limitations

1. Not all responses are automatic (e.g., salivating); some are voluntary

e.g., dog sitting is voluntary

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2. Not all responses are influenced by the stimulus that precedes it; some are influenced by
stimulus events that follow the response

- i.e., influenced by the expected consequences of the response

- e.g., dog sits because it has learned it will receive a treat aft

A form of learning in which responses come to be controlled by their consequences

Law of effect pg 210

Operant conditioning: a form of learning in which responses come to be controlled by their

consequences
early research by Thorndike; taken up again in the 1930s by B.F. Skinner

Law of effect (p. 210):

- organisms tend to repeat responses that lead to positive consequences

- organisms tend not to repeat responses that lead to negative consequences
- Skinner called this process reinforcement
reinforcer: any event that increases or strengthens the behaviour that it follows
goals of operant conditioning:

basic science

- understanding how operant conditioning works

- e.g., under what conditions does reinforcement work best?

practical applications

- behaviour modification
- e.g., Skinner attempted to teach pigeons to guide missiles during WWII (Project Pigeon)

independent variables, e.g., type of reinforcement (food, removal of shock, shock), schedule of
reinforcement

dependent variables, e.g., number of responses (rapid response = steep slope; slow response =
shallow slope), resistance to extinction

unlike classical conditioning, which involved transferring existing automatic responses

(reflexes), operant conditioning involves learning new voluntary responses

Skinner used shaping by successive approximations to gradually build up responses

shaping: reinforcements of closer and closer approximations of a desired response (p. 218)

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Dog training video
In operant conditioning, extinction begins when the experimenter stops reinforcing
Again, response usually gradually declines before disappearing

remember, in classical conditioning, extinction begins when a CS (e.g., tone) is no longer paired
with a UCS (e.g., meat powder)

CR gradually declines and then disappears

in operant conditioning, extinction begins when the experimenter stops reinforcing

again, response usually gradually declines and then disappears

Resistance to extinction: when an organism continues to respond after reinforcement is removed

high resistance = continues to respond for a long time after extinction

low resistance = continues to respond for a short time after extinction

Skinner manipulated reinforcement in two basic ways:

how often reinforcement is delivered (schedule of reinforcement; pp. 215-217)
type of reinforcement (pp. 211-214)

continuous reinforcement: when every instance of a desired response is reinforced (p. 215)

e.g., food pellet delivered every time a pigeon presses the lever

partial reinforcement: when a desired response is reinforced only some of the time (pp. 215-
216)

e.g., food pellet delivered every fourth lever press we'll look at four schedules of partial
reinforcement

1. fixed-ratio schedule (FR): reinforcement given after a set number of non-reinforced

responses

e.g., food pellet delivered every fourth lever press e.g. everyday life?

2. variable-ratio schedule (VR): reinforcement given after a variable number of non-reinforced

responses

e.g., food pellet delivered on average every fourth lever press e.g. everyday life?

3. fixed-interval schedule (FI): reinforcement given after a set amount of time

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e.g., food pellet delivered every two minutes e.g. everyday life?

4. variable-interval schedule (VI): reinforcement given after a variable amount of time has
passed

e.g., food pellet delivered on average every two minutes e.g. everyday life?

ratio schedules produce more rapid responding than interval schedules

Why?

Variable schedules tend to be more resistant than fixed schedules

Because you never know when the food/ reinforcement will be coming
Ex. Traffic reinforces, leaving for work early

fixed schedules (especially FI) tend to pause after each reinforcement ("scalloping" effect)

1. positive reinforcement: response consequences that increase the likelihood of responding in a

similar way again

e.g., food pellets after pressing the lever e.g. everyday life?

2. negative reinforcement: an event that, when removed after a response in a situation,

increases the likelihood of that response occurring in that situation again

e.g., electric shock reinforces pressing the lever e.g. everyday life?

3. positive punishment: something is added to decrease the likelihood of a response

e.g., electric shock when the lever is pressed decreases likelihood of pressing the lever
e.g. everyday life?

4. negative punishment: something is removed to decrease the likelihood of a response

e.g., removing food pellets when the lever is pressed decreases likelihood of pressing the lever
e.g. everyday life?

good summary of 4 types of punishment in Table 6.3, p. 212

important note: according to operant conditioning, punishment can be disciplinary (weakening

"bad behaviour") but it doesn't have to be

e.g., behaviour -> going to a restaurant (nothing "bad" about this!) -> lousy meal decreases
behaviour

study tip:
negative reinforcement and punishment are not the same thing:

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negative reinforcement strengthens a response by removing an unpleasant stimulus
punishment weakens a response

The reason why people become gamblers is because of the reinforcement.

Skinner experimented with randomly presenting reinforcement in a way that was

unrelated to responses
found that this produced "superstitious" behaviour in pigeons
Dawkins on superstition: https://www.youtube.com /watch?v=7XbH78wscGw

Rafael Nadal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAMiaXvKd7I Nadal is among the

winningest players in tennis history
maybe winning positively reinforces his superstitious behaviour?

What about learning to drive a car?

this fits with our psychological definition of learning:

learning: "a change in an organism's behaviour or thought as a result of experience" (p.

199)

but learning to drive doesn't seem to involve conditioning: conditioning: involves learning
connections or associations that occur between events that occur in an organism's
environment

So, how do we learn to drive a car? watching others do it!

observational learning: learning that occurs as a result of observing the experience of

others (p. 223)
it is important to note that observational learning doesn't have to be separate from
classical and operant conditioning

observational learning can involve being indirectly conditioned by someone else's

conditioning

e.g., you observe your friend behaving assertively with a car salesperson and getting a great
deal on the car
your friend has been conditioned to behave assertively with salespeople by having this
behaviour positively reinforced (getting good deals)

by observing your friend's response, you may now be conditioned to respond in the same
way

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Canadian psychologist Albert Bandura has studied best conditions for observational
learning:
having a model, especially one that has positive characteristics, e.g., attractiveness, social
standing, etc. (p. 223)

Bandura's classic experiment showed that children imitated adult models' aggressive
behaviour towards a toy clown named Bobo

especially when the adult model wasn't punished for their behaviour replicated this finding
for adult models shown on TV

a 2008 study found that children spend on average 40 hours of week with media
entertainment (NOT IN TEXTBOOK)
a 2003 study found that 61% of TV programs contain violence

75% of violent actions occurred without punishment Does observing unpunished violence
in the media lead to violence?

mirror neurons found in frontal and parietal lobes of the brain mirror neurons have the
unique property of firing both when performing an action and observing that same action
being performed

proposed to form the biological basis of observational learning i.e., observing might involve
actually simulating or "playing out" someone else's action in your head

In the 1930s, Tolman had three groups of rats run through a maze once a day (p. 223):
Group A received a food reward at the end of the maze each day Group B never received a
reward

Group C received a food reward starting on the 11th day

Group A gradually improved

Group B improved very little

Group C rapidly improved to levels slightly better than group A

Tolman concluded that Group C had been learning the maze all along but had no incentive
to improve performance until the food reward

i.e., learning was latent or hidden

if correct, this challenges the Behaviourist assumption that learning requires reinforcement
Tolman also suggested that Group C rats had formed a mental picture of the maze
("cognitive map") that wasn't expressed in their behaviour

remember, the Behaviourists did not want to deal with underlying "invisible" thoughts -
only behaviour!

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instinctive drift: when innate response tendencies interfere

with conditioning (p. 230)

e.g., students of B.F. Skinner tried to use operant conditioning to get a raccoon to put coins
in a piggy bank

raccoon returned to instinctive food-washing behaviour and washed the coins

shows that behaviour is not all learned ("nurture"); some is innate ("nature")

Psychologist Martin Seligman had steak bearnaise at a restaurant for dinner with his wife
coincidentally became ill with stomach flu six hours later thought of sauce bernaise made
him sick for years after
on the one hand, seems like a straightforward case of classical conditioning

on the other hand, seems to violate basic principles of conditioning (Sauce Bernaise
problem; pp. 227-228):
1. CR after a single pairing of UCS (flu) with CS (sauce)

usually takes several repetitions for CR

2. CR with 6 hour separation between UCS (flu) and CS (sauce)

previous studies showed no CR with even a 30-second gap between UCS and CS

Why was the sauce the CS?

i.e., why not the plate, the tablecloth, his wife,

Garcia and colleagues had rats drink sugar water (CS) paired the CS with a number of
different UCS's bright light, buzzer, electric shock, radiation

- radiation induces nausea (UCR)

- found a CR (nausea) for the radiation but none of the other UCS's

Garcia's study showed that taste aversions are much more easily conditioned than
others (p. 228)

- i.e., not all CR's are equal

Garcia argued that taste aversion is favoured by natural selection
- i.e., advantage to survival if you can quickly learn what not to eat suggests that
conditioning can be both "nurture" (learned) and "nature" (innate)

fears and phobias can result from classical conditioning e.g., Little Albert was conditioned
to be afraid of rats, rabbits, fur coats, etc.

- some fears are clearly more common than others e.g., snakes and spiders

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 - But why do we learn these fears?
e.g., many of us won't have any scary encounters with a snake in our lifetime
- Why aren't people afraid of more realistic threats like cars, hammers, etc.? spiders
and snakes were real threats to our early ancestors
similar to taste aversion, quickly learning a fear of snakes and spiders would have
been advantageous to survival for our early ancestors
- preparedness: idea that humans and animals are innately inclined to fear certain
stimuli more than others (pp. 228-229)

Mineka and Ohman (2002) tested the preparedness hypothesis

- presented pictures of three types of CS:

phobic stimuli (snakes, spiders)
neutral stimuli (mushrooms, flowers) modern fear-relevant stimuli (guns, knives)

CS paired with UCS (electric shock)

- Found that phobic stimuli elicited: more rapid conditioning

larger fear responses
greater resistance to extinction more activity in the amygdala

Mineka and Ohlman propose that humans have an evolved ability for fear learning that:

- preferentially activated by threats to our ancestors' survival automatically activated

resistant to conscious efforts to suppress fear
involves the amygdala

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