Chapter 5

Evolutionary Psychology: Learning, Biology, and the Brain

Chapter Outline

Modified: 2007-07-17

• I. This Chapter
  • How does biology affect learning?
• II. Learning Taste Aversions: Learning to avoid specific stimuli, often in one trial
  • A. Conditioning Explanations for Taste Aversions
    • 1. Problems With Classical Conditioning Explanations of Taste Aversions
      • Single trial
      • Long latencies
      • Very selective learning and other stimuli do not show similar conditioning
    • 2. One-Trial Acquisitions of Taste Aversions
      • Many examples of one-trial learning (butterflies, rats)
    • 3. Delayed Conditioning of Taste Aversions
      • Long delay trace conditioning (remember 15 seconds?, hours!!)
    • 4. Latent Inhibition in Taste Aversion Learning
      • Will not eat same food later (rats, coyotes, humans)
      • Chicken Country in Stamps
      • Food neophobia
    • 5. Selectivity in Taste Aversion Learning
      • Important issue
      • NOT all stimuli can lead to taste aversion (Garcia & Koelling, 1965)
      • Quail data shows visual aversion data
  • B. The Phenomenon of Blocking
    • Single stimulus predicts CR
    • Paired stimulus follows and one of the pairs is the original stimulus
    • Single stimulus presented (the other one in the pair) and no response occurs.
    • Blocking
  • C. Explanations of Blocking
    • 1. The Rescorla-Wagner Model
      • Mathematical description of classical conditioning
      • Explains blocking
      • X and Y cause allergy, X causes allergy, hard to learn that Y causes allergy
    • 2. A Biological Explanation: Learning What Goes With What
      • Organisms learn expectations
      • Once a pairing is made, it is hard to displace
      • New learning is difficult if old learning already works
        • Think of word processing software
    • 3. Higher-Order Conditioning Higher order conditioning
      • Shows how "organism represents its structure of the world" (Rescorla)
    • 4. Conditioning as Biological Adaptation
      • Learning is an adaptive (and efficient) process
  • D. Darwinian Natural Selection and Psychology
    • Long history of Darwinian influence in psychology of learning: Thorndike, Skinner
• III. Evolutionary Psychology: Romanes, anti-tabula rasa metaphor (Locke), biological constraints
  • A. Autoshaping
    • In pigeons, graphic
    • Why does pigeon start to peck?
    • Problem for conditioning theory
    • Pecking is food-related and a high-probability response
  • B. Instinctive Drift (Breland and Breland) Marian Breland-Bailey
    • Misbehavior of Organisms (note pun), Skinner was not amused
      • pigs rooting
      • raccoons washing
      • chickens not running to first base
    • Animal Wonderland and IQ Zoo (Hot Springs) link
• IV. Biological Constraints
  • Some behaviors are easier to teach than others
    • Easy to teach cats and dogs to sit still
    • Hard to teach chickens to sit still, but easy to teach them to scratch
  • Evolutionary linkage
    • Seligman-preparedness vs. contrapreparedness
      • rats and pigeons
      • humans
• V. Sociobiology: A Precursor of Evolutionary Psychology
  • A. Inclusive Fitness and Altruism
    • Working for relatives is not really altruistic
    • Reciprocal altruism may be
    • Eugene
  • B. Some Reactions to Sociobiology
    • Controversial when applied to humans
    • Being replaced by evolutionary psychology
• VI. Evolutionary Psychology: An Appraisal FAQ
  • Classical conditioning is learning about expectations
  • Evolution explains many examples of learning
    • Buss and jealousy graphic book review
  • We carry our evolutionary heritage with us and it affects our learning
• VII. Some Practical Applications: Biofeedback and Neurofeedback link
  • A. Conditioning of Autonomic Responses
    • Originally thought that only classical conditioning of autonomic responses possible
    • Some demonstrations of automic control using operant conditioning techniques
    • Results not exactly similar to operant conditioning
  • B. How Biofeedback Works
    • Many examples
    • Mechanism unclear
• VIII. The Beginning of a Transition
• IX. Learning and the Brain: Connecting learning to brain function is Holy Grail
  • Take the Physio and Comparative course! This material struck through will NOT be on test.
  • A. Studying Brain Functions
  • 1. Brain Injuries
  • 2. Brain Ablations
  • 3. Electronic Brain Stimulation
  • 4. Chemical Brain Stimulation
  • 5. Brain Imaging Techniques
  • B. Hindbrain
  • C. Midbrain
  • D. Forebrain
    • 1. The Hypothalamus
    • 2. The Thalamus
    • 3. The Limbic System
    • 4. The Cerebrum
    • 5. The Hemispheres
    • E. The Brain and Experience: the brain is modified by experience
      • Darkness and chimpanzees (Riesen)
      • Enriched environments (Krech, Rozensweig, and Bennett)
      • Human examples:
        • nurseries: just right, not too much, not too little
        • orphanages
    • F. A Brain-Based Approach to Learning
      • Somehow, the brain creates hypotheses from sensory data
      • Sensory data end up in specific areas of the brain
      • Hippocampus and thalamus aid in long-term memory
      • Cerebral cortex looks for meanings and associations
• X. Summary

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