Classical/instrumental interactions

Question 1

Evidence for classical learning?

Answer 1

In any classical S>S training situation the animals may also make responses – can’t stop incidental instrumental learning

Classical conditioning task where a stimulus predicts food the animal may learn they are responding to get food – instrumental

Question 2

Evidence for instrumental learning?

Answer 2

In any instrumental R>S training situation other stimuli will be present – can’t stop incidental classical conditioning

Instrumental conditioning task where a response predicts food, the animal may learn that the stimuli present predict food

Question 3

Are there two types of leanring?

Answer 3

Maybe the behaviour we see in classical and instrumental training is ALL classical conditioning, or ALL instrumental conditioning and scientists like parsimony

Use the known differences between them to test this

Instrumental response is rational and goal directed – can adapt as long as goal is reached

Form of classically conditioned CR is often rigid – tightly linked to UR

Question 4

What was Holland (1979) study of omission training?

Answer 4

Train classical light>food association

Light predicts food but also magazine approach CR prevents food

Light > food
Light + magazine entry > no food

Light paired with food – classical conditioning measured magazine behaviour

Omission – every time rat made magazine response in CS, food cancelled

Question 5

What groups were involved in omission training?

Answer 5

Group Omission: 10s light paired with food unless rat responded, this is the master rat

Group Yoked: 10s light paired with food every time its partner in Group Omission got food

Group Unpaired: as many foods as its partner in Group Omission, but unpaired with light

Group Control: 10s light always paired with food.

Yoked and Unpaired – same number of USs as Omission group regardless of their behaviour

Question 6

What was experiment two of omission training?

Answer 6

Puts omission schedule on rearing behaviour

Light predicts food but also rearing CR prevents food

Light > food
Light + rear > no food

Light paired with food – classical conditioning; measured rearing

Omission training reduced but did not eliminate rearing behaviour, mostly classical

Both groups were responding a lot, omission training did not have an effect on rearing behaviour

Question 7

What is confirming instrumental learning?

Answer 7

Form of classically conditioned response is constrained by nature of US, biting the lever more likely than pressing it

If CR is to respond one way, it can’t be to respond the other

Question 8

What are other interactions?

Answer 8

Involuntary classical CRs may also interfere with operant response you want to train

Pigeon CR to a box signalling food is moving about making it harder to peck the key

Long box autoshaping - Some responses difficult to elicit in operant training

Might freeze, interfering with active response but making passive avoidance easy they might run, which makes active avoidance easy, but passive avoidance difficult

Question 9

How to train animals to avoid shock?

Answer 9

Training rats to do different things to avoid shock, running is more natural response when shock’s about than standing

The stronger the hard-wired UR to shock, the harder it is to train animals to escape or avoid it

To train an operant response you may need to work with their classical CRs

Question 10

What are Pavlovian/instrument interactions?

Answer 10

Although we don’t have a clear theory of why the response is made in the first place, we do know what factors can increase and decrease rates of responding

Question 11

How is classically conditioned CSs affecting instrumental performance studied?

Answer 11

Avoidance responses rewarded by removing aversive USs before they’ve begun
- Rat in chamber
- Buzzer comes on, followed by shock
- BUT if rat responds during buzzer, shock is cancelled

Buzzer is a classically conditioning CS – a warning signal that predicts shock

One reason for avoidance responding is the presence of a signal for fear

Question 12

What is Rescorla and Soloman (1967) two process theory?

Answer 12

If responding is motivated by something nice, CSs predicting something nice > respond more

If responding is motivated by something nice, CSs predicting something nasty> respond less

If responding is motivated something nasty, a CS predicting something nasty > respond more

If responding is motivated something nasty, a CS predicting something nice> respond less

Question 13

How did Estes (1948) study instrumental transfer?

Answer 13

• Rats trained that a tone signals food
• Then trained to press a lever for food
• Finally allowed to press the lever but stopped food deliveries and occasionally present the tone

Question 14

How did Rescorla and LoLordo (1965) study instrumental transfer?

Answer 14

• Dogs trained to jump a barrier to avoid shock on Sidman avoidance
• schedule – no explicit signals for shock, only time.
• Then train separately
• one stimulus > shock (CS+) nasty
• another signalled absence of shock (CS-) nice

Rate of avoidance responding:
- increased by signal for shock
- decreased by inhibitor for shock

Question 15

What does specific Pavlovian-instrumental transfer involve?

Answer 15

Two rewards:
A stimulus predicting one reward elevates performance of responding for the same reward (congruent responding) more than responding for the other (incongruent responding)

Question 16

What is the relevance of Pavlovian instrumental transfer to addiction?

Answer 16

The reward of drinking or smoking becomes associated with the sight of beer and cigarettes, and hence their packaging.

So seeing a picture of a beer bottle can make you want to have a beer (but not a cigarette)

This why cigarette displays are restricted in the UK, and packets no longer have branding

Question 17

What is contextual control and state dependence?

Answer 17

Memories, or associations, can be cued by context that was present when you formed it

Contexts can be places, smells, drug states, state dependence (or contextual control)

Godden and Baddeley (1975) - recall better if test context matches training context

Question 18

What are other examples?

Answer 18

The same stimulus may be associated with two different outcomes

Which association is retrieved may be conditional on the context in which the stimulus is presented

This allows associations to represent knowledge in a versatile way

The context appears to control access to the appropriate CS>US association to use in that context – the one that was operating in that context

The controlling contextual cues can be discrete stimuli like lights and tones

Question 19

What is occasion-setting control of associations?

Answer 19

Stimulus or context present when an association is formed can control access to that association in a special kind of state dependence

When the association is instrumental R>S it is called a discriminative stimulus

When the associations is classical S>S the controlling stimulus is often called an occasion setter

The effects of these controlling stimuli do not depend on Pavlovian conditioning – they are something else

Question 20

What was the two groups of animals study of discriminative control of classical associations?

Answer 20

• Group FP: Light>tone>food
• tone> no food

The light is followed by the tone, which is then followed by food

Animals respond more to the tone when the light has just been on
- Group PP: Light > tone > food
- Light > no food

Group PP gets the same, but also the light is
presented alone so its associative strength extinguishes

See classical conditioning to the light is absent in Group PP

Light is controlling conditioned responding to the tone even when it doesn’t predict food itself

Question 21

What did Holmad and Mackintosh (1981) study about discriminative control of classical associations?

Answer 21

Animals learn to only press the lever for food when the Sd is present – it controls access to R>food

If it is just a CS, it should block acquisition of associative strength by the light, just as in Group CS

If it doesn’t have associative strength it should not

• Learn about light in the control group where clicker has no strength > no blocking
• Learn less about the light in the CS group where clicker does have strength > blocking
• In Sd group clicker behaves like the light in the control group – as though it has no strength