Associative learning.
Also on the topic:
HUMAN BRAIN
From the time of Aristotle to the present day, the basic principle of learning—association by contiguity—has been formulated in a similar way. When two events are repeated with a short interval (temporal contiguity), they are associated with each other in such a way that the occurrence of one recalls the other. Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849–1936) was the first to study the properties of associative learning in laboratory conditions. Pavlov discovered that although the sound of the bell initially had no effect on the dog's behavior, if it rang regularly at the time of feeding, after a while the dog developed a conditioned reflex: the bell itself began to cause it to salivate. Pavlov measured the degree of learning by the amount of saliva released during a call that was not accompanied by feeding ( see
. CONDITIONED REFLEX). The method of developing conditioned reflexes is based on the use of an already existing connection between a specific form of behavior (salivation) and a certain event (the appearance of food) that causes this form of behavior. When a conditioned reflex is formed, a neutral event (bell) is included in this chain, which is associated with a “natural” event (the appearance of food) to such an extent that it performs its function.
Psychologists have studied associative learning in detail using the so-called method. paired associations: verbal units (words or syllables) are learned in pairs; Subsequent presentation of one member of the pair triggers recall of the other. This type of learning takes place during the acquisition of a foreign language: an unfamiliar word forms a pair with its equivalent in the native language, and this pair is memorized until, when a foreign word is presented, the meaning conveyed by the word in the native language is perceived.
Question 9. Types and theories of learning. Formation of skills and abilities.
Learning
is the process and result of acquiring individual experience. Learning is a concept denoting the process of developing new types of behavior.
The term “learning” is used primarily in behavioral psychology.
Learning differs from learning as the acquisition of experience in activities directed by cognitive motives or motives and goals. Through learning, any experience can be acquired - knowledge, abilities, skills (in humans) and new forms of behavior (in animals).
Like any acquisition of experience, learning includes unconscious understanding of the content of the material and its consolidation (involuntary memorization). In animals, learning is the main form of acquiring experience. Directed learning in animals exists only in rudimentary form (examination of a new situation, imitation). The ability to learn is possessed mainly by species that have advanced far in evolutionary development. If instinctive behavior is effective in an animal’s usual environment and ordinary circumstances, then, in essence, only individuals of those species in which the ability to learn and develop skills predominates to cope with new situations and unusual surroundings and form new behavioral acts. Basic learning theories
. There are many theories of learning. In each of them, one can highlight a separate aspect of the phenomenon being studied. According to some theories, in the process of teaching and learning there is a single learning mechanism (in both humans and animals); other theories view teaching and learning as different mechanisms.
Group 1 includes theories of foreign psychology
:
— the theory of behaviorism (J. Watson), where learning is interpreted as a process of random, blind association of stimuli and reactions based on readiness, exercise, reinforcement, or contiguity in time, unrelated to the psyche and cognition. Such theories contradict later established facts indicating the possibility of learning without reinforcement, without exercise, etc.;
— theories where learning is considered as a process of changing the mental reflection of the conditions of activity and behavior on the principle of passively establishing new connections (associationism), restructuring the initially holistic experience in the form of samples (Gestalt psychology) or plans (neobehaviorism). This also largely includes the theory of J. Piaget (Geneva School) and the theories of some representatives of the information approach and cognitive psychology. Cognitive psychologists are interested in what psychological structures are formed during learning. Many of them are trying to model the learning process in the form of computer programs
Group 2 includes theories of domestic psychologists
and a number of foreign authors. In humans, learning and teaching are considered by them as a cognitive process of assimilation of social experience of practical and theoretical activity. In animals, learning is interpreted as a process of changing innate species experience and adapting it to specific conditions.
R.G. Averkin, having analyzed the variety of learning theories, identified general provisions with which, in his opinion, most researchers agree: 1. Learning is a gradual or abrupt change in behavior. There are two types of temporal progression of the learning process. Forms of learning such as classical or operant conditioning occur gradually, while forms of learning such as imprinting or insight occur instantly.
2. Learning is a change in behavior that is not a direct consequence of the maturation of the organism, although development is always accompanied by learning. The problem of learning is closely related to the problem of development and maturation. Sometimes in a young organism it is difficult to distinguish the result of learning from the result of maturation, so they prefer to study learning in adults.
3. Learning is not a change in behavior due to fatigue or as a result of the use of psychoactive substances.
4. Exercise improves the learning process.
5. The species affiliation of an organism determines its learning capabilities.
Classical concepts of learning (I.P. Pavlov, B.F. Skinner, N.A. Bernstein).
The classical concepts
are well known . This, for example, is the teaching of I.P. Pavlova (1849-1936) on the formation of conditioned reflexes. As a result of one or several presentations of an indifferent delimiter (conditioned stimulus) and the following unconditional stimulus (food), which causes an unconditioned, innate reaction (salivation), the indifferent stimulus itself begins to cause a reaction. In the process of establishing a temporary connection, the unconditioned stimulus performs the function of reinforcement, the conditioned stimulus serves as a signal value, and the reflex contributes to the organism’s adaptation to changing environmental conditions.
In learning theories (I.P. Pavlov), adaptation is considered as an analogue of human development. It can be carried out in different ways, for example through classical conditioning according to Pavlov.
Skinner's goal was to explain the mechanisms of learning in humans and animals (rats and pigeons) on the basis of a limited set of basic principles. The main idea was to manipulate the environment, control it, while obtaining orderly changes.
The training procedure is called “operant conditioning.” It consisted in the experimenter's desire to establish a connection between stimulus (S) and response (R) through reinforcement - reward or punishment. In the stimulus-response (SR) framework, the key for Skinner was the response. The reactions were considered from the point of view of simplicity and complexity. Simple - salivation, withdrawal of the hand; difficult - solving a mathematical problem, aggressive behavior.
Operant conditioning
is the process by which the characteristics of a reaction are determined by the consequences of that reaction.
On the one hand, learning is almost always based on certain levels of biological maturity of the organism; on the other hand, training and teaching to a certain extent influence the maturation of the organism.
— the problem of identifying general laws and patterns of learning
. After all, on their basis, more specific laws of the formation of educational skills can be considered.
— the problem of identifying types, mechanisms and conditions for effective learning
.
Types of learning in humans.
All types of learning can be divided into two types: associative and intellectual.
Characteristic of associative learning is the formation of connections between certain elements of reality, behavior, physiological processes or mental activity based on the contiguity of these elements (physical, mental or functional).
Levels of learning. Each type of learning can be divided into two subtypes: reflexive; cognitive.
When learning is expressed in the assimilation of certain stimuli and reactions, it is classified as reflex; when mastering certain knowledge and certain actions, they talk about cognitive learning.
Learning occurs constantly, in a variety of situations and activities. Depending on the path by which learning is achieved, it is divided into two different levels - reflex
and
cognitive
.
At the reflex level, the learning process is unconscious, automatic. In this way, the child learns, for example, to distinguish colors, the sound of speech, to walk, to reach and move objects. The reflex level of learning is also preserved in an adult, when he unintentionally remembers the distinctive features of objects and learns new types of movements.
But for humans, much more characteristic is the higher, cognitive level of learning, which is built on the assimilation of new knowledge and new ways of acting through conscious observation, experimentation, comprehension and reasoning, exercise and self-control. It is the presence of a cognitive level that distinguishes human learning from animal learning. However, not only the reflexive, but also the cognitive level of learning does not turn into learning if it is controlled by any goal other than the goal of mastering certain knowledge and actions. Pavlovian conditioned reflex. In the early 1900s, Russian physiologist I.P. Pavlov conducted a series of experiments on dogs, demonstrating the mechanism of the conditioned reflex. A hungry dog salivates when it sees food. During each feeding, a bell would sound, and eventually the dog would begin to salivate at the sound alone, as he was conditioned to associate the bell with the appearance of food. The release of saliva at the sight of food is an unconditioned reflex, and the release of saliva at the bell is the result of learning, or a conditioned reflex. Pavlov's discovery, called classical conditioning, left such a deep mark on psychology that the development of a conditioned reflex has become almost synonymous with learning. Pavlov also discovered that some conditioned reflexes can spread to adjacent areas (generalization); on the other hand, one can develop the ability to subtly distinguish (differentiate) similar stimuli. The discovery of the orienting reflex, or the “what is it?” reflex. - also the merit of Pavlov.
Skinner's operant behaviorism. Following the same direction, the American behaviorist B. Skinner identified, in addition to classical conditioning, which he designated as respondent, a second type of conditioning - operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is based on the active actions (“operations”) of the organism in the environment. If some spontaneous action turns out to be useful in achieving a goal, it is reinforced by the result achieved. A pigeon, for example, can be taught to play ping-pong if the game becomes a means of obtaining food. Reinforcement is called reinforcement because it reinforces the desired behavior.
Hull's theory of learning. Another behaviorist theory of learning belongs to K. Hull. According to his views, learning occurs due to the fact that with each answer reinforcement occurs in the form of partial satisfaction, i.e. "reductions", needs. The individual learns to respond in a certain way if this results in a decrease in desire or need - for example, for food or sex. This reaction becomes a habit. According to Hull, habit becoming stronger with each reinforcement is the fundamental law of learning. In the absence of habits and needs, a person will not carry out any actions, because without a habit he will not know how to act, and without a need he will lose motivation to act. Since none of these psychodynamic factors can be observed directly, Hull called them "psychic constructs" that act as "intervening variables" between stimulus and response.
Associative-reflex theory of learning.
In accordance with this theory, didactic principles have been formulated and the vast majority of teaching methods have been developed. The associative-reflex theory of learning is based on the patterns of conditioned reflex activity of the human brain identified by I.M. Sechenov and I.P. Pavlov. According to their teaching, during life, a constant process of formation of conditioned reflex connections—associations—occurs in the human brain. The resulting associations are a kind of experience, a person’s life baggage. The individuality of each person depends on which associations will be stable and consolidated in the mind. Based on the doctrine of the physiology of mental activity, famous domestic psychologists and teachers S.L. Rubinshtein, A.A. Smirnov, Yu.A. Samarin, P.A. Shevarev, and others developed an associative-reflex theory of learning.
Briefly, the meaning of this theory can be expressed by the following provisions. 1. The assimilation of knowledge, the formation of skills and abilities, the development of a person’s personal qualities is the process of formation in his mind of various associations: simple and complex. 2. The acquisition of knowledge, the formation of skills and abilities, the development of abilities (i.e. the process of forming associations) has a certain logical sequence and includes the following stages: perception of educational material; its comprehension, brought to an understanding of internal connections and contradictions; memorization and retention of studied material in memory; application of what has been learned in practical activities.
3. The main stage of the learning process is the active mental activity of the student in solving theoretical and practical educational problems.
4. The highest result in training is achieved when a number of conditions are met: the formation of an active attitude towards learning on the part of the trainees; presenting educational material in a certain sequence; demonstrating and reinforcing various techniques of mental and practical activity in exercises; application of knowledge for educational and professional purposes, etc.
Interdisciplinary approach to teaching.
The entire diversity of human activity can be reduced to three main types - play, learning, work.
A game is a type of unproductive activity, the motive of which lies not in its results, but in the process itself.
Learning is the activity of a student in acquiring new knowledge and mastering methods of acquiring knowledge.
Labor is a purposeful human activity aimed at preserving, modifying, adapting the environment to meet one’s needs, and producing goods and services.
Teaching, which follows play and precedes work in the successive change of basic types of activity that occurs during the life of each person, is significantly different from play.
After all, any interaction with the world not only satisfies the needs of the individual, but also leads to a more complete and accurate reflection of the conditions of activity, which ensures the improvement of the methods of its implementation. Teaching is a necessary component of any activity and represents the process of changing its subject, determined by its subject content. This teaching differs from changes in activity caused by the physiological properties of the organism (its maturation, functional state, etc.). There are different interpretations of the concept of “teaching.” Let us give some of them. For example, S.L. Rubinstein reveals the essence of the teaching as follows: “The main goal of the teaching, in relation to which its entire social organization is aligned, is to prepare for future independent work activity; the main means is the development of the generalized results of what has been created by the previous labor of mankind; By mastering the results of past social labor, a person prepares for his own work activity. This process of learning does not occur spontaneously, not by gravity. Teaching is a side of the essentially social learning process - a two-way process of transferring and assimilating knowledge. It is carried out under the guidance of a teacher and is aimed at developing the student’s creative capabilities.” Itelson L.B.: “This is an activity, the immediate goal of which is the very development of certain information, actions, and forms of behavior. It includes:
- assimilation of information about the significant properties of the world necessary for the successful organization of intellectual and practical activities,
- mastering the very techniques and operations that make up this activity,
— mastering the ways of using this information for the correct selection and control of these techniques and operations in accordance with the goal.”
Basic theories of learning in Russian psychology.
In Russian psychology, there are several approaches to analyzing learning problems. One of these theoretical approaches is to consider learning as students’ assimilation of knowledge and the formation of mental activity techniques in them (N.A. Menchinskaya, E.N. Kabanova-Meller, D.N. Bogoyavlensky, etc.). It is based on the position that schoolchildren’s assimilation of knowledge is determined by external circumstances (primarily, the program and methods of teaching) and at the same time is the result of the activity of the student himself.
The central point of learning is the assimilation of knowledge presented in the form of scientific concepts. Such assimilation does not come down to simply copying in the minds of students the concepts introduced by the teacher. This externally given concept is formed to the extent that it is the result of the student’s mental activity and the mental operations he performs (analysis, synthesis, generalization, abstraction). In the assimilation of concepts, successive stages arise: movement from incomplete knowledge to complete knowledge. This movement, depending on the content of the concepts, can be of a different nature. In many cases it goes from the particular, concrete to the general, abstract. But there is another option for assimilation: from the undifferentiated general to the particular, concrete, and through the concrete to the truly abstract. Thus, when mastering concepts about representatives of various social classes, the student initially learns only the diametrical opposition of these concepts and their main features. Concepts become meaningful in the future, as students acquire relevant specific knowledge.
The assimilation of knowledge is closely related to its application in various educational and practical situations. The application of acquired knowledge depends on the relationship between theoretical and practical, abstract and concrete thinking. They correlate differently at different stages of learning, which makes it necessary to use the processes of internalization and exteriorization (the transition from external actions to solve mental problems to action in the mental plane and vice versa).
In the learning process, not only knowledge is acquired, but also those mental operations with the help of which students obtain and apply knowledge are improved; methods of mental activity are formed, including both mastery of operations and the emergence of motives and needs for using these operations as methods of activity.
The development and fairly widespread use of mental activity techniques leads to the formation of certain mental qualities in students: activity and independence, productivity, flexibility, etc.
Learning is a developing process, including a transition from elementary situations, where it is carried out on the basis of imitation of a model with minimal activity of the student himself, to higher levels based on the “self-government” of the student, who independently obtains new knowledge or applies previously acquired knowledge to solve new problems . Another approach to the problems of learning is contained in the theory of the gradual formation of mental actions and concepts, developed by P.Ya. Galperin (Galperin P.Ya., 1985), N.F. Talyzina (Talyzina N.F., 1998) and their employees. In this theory, learning is viewed as the assimilation of certain types and methods of cognitive activity, which include a given system of knowledge and subsequently ensure their application within predetermined limits. Knowledge, abilities and skills do not exist in isolation from each other; the quality of knowledge is always determined by the content and characteristics of the activity in which they are included.
The unit acquired in the process of learning cognitive activity is a mental action, and the task of managing learning is, first of all, the task of forming mental actions with certain, predetermined properties. The possibility of such management is provided by the knowledge and use of laws according to which new actions are formed, and the conditions affecting their quality are identified and taken into account. Such laws and conditions were the subject of research by the authors of the theory of phased formation. They found that the initial form in which a new mental action with given properties can be constructed among students is its external, material (or materialized) form, when the action is carried out with real objects (or their substitutes - models, diagrams, drawings and etc.). The process of assimilation of an action includes the initial mastery of its external form and subsequent internalization - a step-by-step transition to execution on the internal, mental plane, during which the action not only turns into mental, but also acquires a number of new properties (generalization, abbreviation, automation, rationality, consciousness) . An example of the formation of a mental action is the assimilation of counting, which is first carried out by actually moving objects (material form) or counting sticks (materialized form), then in terms of loud speech and, ultimately, completely “in the mind.”
The theory of the gradual formation of mental actions and concepts (P.Ya. Galperin).
A theory formulated and studied by Pyotr Yakovlevich Galperin [1902 - 1988] in the middle of the 20th century. It is based on the fact that the organization of external activities of schoolchildren, facilitating the transition of external actions into mental ones, is the basis for rational management of the process of assimilation of knowledge, skills, and abilities. According to this theory, the formation of mental actions goes through the following stages:
The first is to create student motivation;
The second is drawing up a so-called diagram. indicative basis of action; The third is taking real action;
The fourth is speaking out loud descriptions of the real action that is being performed, as a result of which there is no need to use an indicative basis for actions;
Fifth - The action is accompanied by saying “to oneself”;
Sixth - Complete rejection of verbal accompaniment of action, formation of mental action in a collapsed form - internalization.
At each stage, the action is first performed in an expanded manner, and then gradually shortened, “collapsed.”
Feeling
So, sensation is a mental reflection of the isolated properties of objects in the objective world, arising from their direct impact on the senses.
The occurrence of sensations is associated with special physiological processes involved in the reception and primary transformation of the effects of certain stimuli from the external and internal environment of the body. These devices were called analyzers (I.P. Pavlov). Each analyzer consists of three parts: firstly, a peripheral section (receptor), where the recoding of physical effects into nerve impulses occurs; secondly, afferent (from the Latin afferentis - bringing) nerve pathways along which information encoded in the form of nerve impulses is transmitted to the central nervous system (in higher animals and humans - to the brain), and thirdly, the center of the analyzer - a special area of the cerebral cortex. As a result of processing the received information in the cortical section of the analyzer, sensations arise. The return signal, which implements the body's reaction to the stimulus, passes through the efferent (from the Latin efferentis - efferent) nerve pathways.
Different analyzers have unequal projections in the cerebral cortex. Maps were experimentally obtained that schematically show the location and size of the area of the cortex, which provides an analysis of sensations coming from various areas of the body.
Thus, in humans, the maximum area of the cerebral cortex is occupied by the projection zones of the mouth, eyes and hands, which is determined by the leading role of vision, speech activity (it requires developed sensory sensitivity of the lips and tongue) and subtle hand movements for social life. In an animal for which another type of sensory reflection of reality is of greatest importance, similar mapping reveals different proportions of the areas of the projection zones of the analyzer system (for example, the olfactory apparatus is developed in a dog about a thousand times better than in a person, and, accordingly, it is he who occupies the largest cortical area).
The presence of highly specific analyzers, each of which is susceptible to only one specific type of stimulation, poses the problem of the relationship between the properties of sensations and the properties of objects in the external world. In other words, it is necessary to understand how accurately we can judge the real properties of stimuli from our sensations?
J. Müller (1801-1858) put forward the hypothesis of “specific energies of the sense organs.” The essence of this hypothesis is that sensations do not reflect the real properties of the stimulus, but only signal the state of our analyzers. One gets the impression that sensations are pure subjectivity, only incidentally connected with the objective world. The position of I. Muller at one time had a great influence on the interpretation of sensation phenomena. However, evolutionary reasoning leads us to the conclusion that we are dealing with a pseudo-problem.
Even if in some cases we perceive the world not as it really is, our sensations are generally adequate to the world, since they allow us to effectively navigate the environment. A deeper comprehension of the world is provided by another mental function - thinking, which consists in a generalized and mediated knowledge of reality.
The second question that arises when discussing the topic of sensation is the question of the “immediacy” of the action of the stimulus. Indeed, we not only receive sensations from stimuli that are in direct contact with the surface of our body (we touch, taste and smell), but we also see and hear what is located at a considerable distance from us. Ancient thinkers solved this problem by admitting that objects “emit” the finest etheric copies from themselves, which easily penetrate the eyes, ears, etc. At a new stage of development, science has, in essence, returned to a similar understanding, having found physical carriers of “distant” stimuli that make them “close.” For vision, such a stimulus will be light, for hearing - air vibrations, for smell - the smallest particles of matter suspended in a neutral environment. According to C. Sherrington, sensations are usually divided into contact (the stimulus itself acts on the perceiving organ, and an intermediary delivering information is not required) and distant (i.e., a special “agent” is needed to bring information to the sensory surface). Contact sensations are gustatory, olfactory, skin, kinesthetic (sensations of the position of individual parts of the body) and organic (hunger, thirst, etc.), distant - auditory and visual sensations.
However, there are other prerequisites for dividing sensations into distant and contact. They lie in the anatomical features of the structure of the corresponding sense organs. Obviously, contact sensations are phylogenetically more ancient than distant ones. The receptors of contact analyzers do not generally constitute integral sensory organs. For example, tactile sensitivity is provided by isolated cells - skin receptors (the so-called Paccini body, Meissner body). The former respond to pressure, the latter to vibration. Distant analyzers are complex ensembles that include both the receptors themselves, concentrated in a certain area of the body, and additional “devices” that ensure maximum efficiency of sensation. As A.N. points out. Leontiev, at a certain stage of evolution, these ensembles acquire their own motor apparatus, acquiring motor capabilities quite autonomous from the rest of the organism (propriomotor apparatus). The eye, for example, has extraocular muscles, ciliary muscles, etc. Thus, the impact on distant sensory organs presupposes a higher counter activity of the subject.
In addition to dividing into contact and distant ones, C. Sherrington also proposed classifying sensations according to the location of their corresponding receptors (according to receptive fields). In this case, they differ into interoreceptive sensations (from receptors located in the internal organs), proprioceptive (from receptors located in muscles, ligaments and tendons) and exteroceptive (from receptors located on the outer surface of the body).
Each sensation, regardless of its belonging to a specific sensory system, for example vision, hearing, touch, etc., has the properties of intensity, duration and spatial
localization.
complex processing in the processes of perception.
Types by modality: Hearing, vision, proprioceptive, taste, skin sensations. Smell, touch
Instrumental learning.
Also on topic:
REFLEX
The second type of learning, also related to the basic ones, is carried out by trial and error. It was first systematically studied by the American scientist E. Thorndike (1874–1949), one of the founders of educational psychology. Thorndike placed the cat in a box from which it could only get out by pulling a cord hanging from the lid. After a series of random movements, the cat would eventually pull the cord, usually completely by accident. However, when she was put back in the box, she spent less time pulling the cord again, and when the situation repeated, she was freed from the box instantly. Learning was measured in the seconds it took for the cat to perform the correct action. Another example of instrumental learning is the method proposed by the American psychologist B. Skinner (1904–1990). The Skinner Box is a tight cage with a lever in one of the walls; the goal of the experiment is to teach an animal, usually a rat or pigeon, to press this lever. Before training begins, the animal is deprived of food, and the lever is connected to the mechanism for feeding food into the cage. Although at first the animal does not pay attention to the lever, sooner or later it presses it and receives food. Over time, the interval between pressing the lever decreases: the animal learns to use the relationship between the desired response and feeding.
Sometimes learning a particular behavior is so long or difficult that the animal could never have acquired it by chance. Then the method of “successive approximations” is used. Without waiting for the entire required sequence of actions to be completed, the trainer provides a reward for something similar to the desired behavioral act. For example, if a dog needs to be taught to roll, he is first given a treat simply for lying down on command. After the first part has been mastered, the dog receives reinforcement only when it accidentally performs the desired movement: for example, after lying down, it rolls onto its side. Step by step, the trainer achieves closer and closer compliance with the desired behavior, according to the principle of the children's game “cold - warmer - hot”. In general, instrumental learning is very similar to this game, but the role of the hidden object is played by a specific behavior, and the role of the word “hot” is reinforcement.
Progressive approaches to desired behavior are also used in the treatment of severe forms of schizophrenia, when the only goal is to encourage the patient to move and talk instead of withdrawing and remaining silent. As always with instrumental learning, for the method to be successful it is necessary to find something that the patient wants (for example, sweets, chewing gum or interesting photographs). Once a response has been detected, it is necessary to determine which aspects of the behavior are most desirable and make them a condition for receiving a reward. Let us note that punishment also belongs to the methods of instrumental learning, but here the dependence arises between undesirable behavior and unpleasant influence.
Social learning[ | ]
In the natural environment, neither the trial and error method nor the method of forming reactions by themselves can ensure the adaptation and survival of an animal. Any mistake may be the last: a hare cannot make a mistake in its behavior when it sees a wolf. There is also no mentor who shapes reactions; The exception is the training of cubs by parents, but this method is quite limited. In this regard, social learning, or learning by observation, arose. Its essence boils down to the fact that a young individual learns not from its own, but from the mistakes of others: by copying the behavior of adult individuals, it adopts the experience of generations. This form of learning includes two types: simple imitation and vicarious learning.
Simple imitation
- blindly copying the actions of adults, without understanding its consequences. Simple imitation is typical for the youngest individuals - small children and young animals.
Imitation (vicarious) learning
— imitation of a successful model with an understanding of the consequences.
So someone imitates their favorite characters from books or films, someone imitates the leader of the class, someone imitates famous athletes, actors, etc. This learning is typical for older individuals - teenagers and young animals; sometimes in a person it persists for life, actually replacing independent development and behavior. Associative learning
The process by which a person or animal learns a connection (association) between two stimuli or events[2]. According to biologist Frans de Waal, associative learning should be distinguished from event memory[3].
Sequential learning.
Some types of learning require the performance of separate behavioral acts, each of which is easily mastered individually, but then they are combined into a certain sequence. Research on one type of sequential learning, the so-called. serial verbal learning were started by the German philosopher and psychologist G. Ebbinghaus (1850–1909). Ebbinghaus's experiments involved memorizing lists of words or syllables in a specific order and demonstrated for the first time several well-known laws, in particular the law governing the ability to remember elements of a sequence. This law of “place in a series” states that in any sequence the easiest part to remember is the beginning, then the end, and the most difficult part is the part immediately following the middle. The effect of place in a series appears when performing any task of this kind - from memorizing a telephone number to memorizing a poem.
Mastery of a skill is another type of sequential learning, which differs from verbal learning in that a sequence of motor reactions, rather than verbal ones, is learned. Whatever the area of the skill - sports, playing a musical instrument, or tying shoelaces - mastering it almost always involves three stages: 1) instruction, the purpose of which is to determine the task facing the performer and give recommendations on how to perform it; 2) training, in which the required actions are performed under the control of consciousness, at first slowly and with errors, then faster and more correctly; 3) the automatic stage, when behavioral acts proceed smoothly and require less and less conscious control (examples of an automatic skill are tying shoelaces, changing gears in a car, dribbling the ball by an experienced basketball player).
Secondary reinforcement.
During associative learning, some signals that initially had no value or did not indicate danger are associated in the mind with events that have value or are associated with danger. If this happens, signals or events that were previously neutral in nature begin to act as rewards or punishments; This process is called secondary reinforcement. A classic example of secondary reinforcement is money. Animals in a Skinner box are ready to press a lever to obtain special tokens that can be exchanged for food, or to cause the bell to ring, with the sound of which they are accustomed to identify the appearance of food. Avoidance learning illustrates a variant of secondary reinforcement through punishment. The animal performs certain actions when a signal appears, which, although not itself unpleasant, constantly accompanies some unpleasant event. For example, a dog that is often beaten cowers and runs away when its owner raises his hand, although there is nothing dangerous in the raised hand itself. When positive and negative secondary reinforcement is used to control behavior, there is no need for frequent actual rewards or punishments. Thus, when animals are trained using the successive approach method, the reinforcement for each attempt is usually only the clicking sound that previously regularly accompanied the appearance of food.
About psychology...
Three categories of learning forms:
1) Build-up (accretion) - adding new knowledge to already existing memory schemes (for example, an experienced driver begins to drive a new car). 2) Creation of structures - the formation of new conceptual structures, new comprehension (when existing schemes become insufficient).
Experiments:
1. Teaching Morse code (Brian and Harter, based on the memories of telegraph operators). Graphs - curves turn into a plateau. There is gradual improvement (building up) followed by a long plateau where there is little or no improvement. Sharp jumps in the learning curve are explained by the process of restructuring the task, learning anew using more appropriate memory structures (for example, to perceive not individual letters, but whole words).
A plateau in the learning curve means that lower-order skills are approaching their maximum development, but have not yet been automated enough for attention to move away from them and toward higher-order skills. But the data of Brian and Harter were not confirmed by other experimenters (Keller - changes occur simultaneously with the mastery of lower-level units, learning phrases and words goes in parallel with the learning of individual letters, this leads to a smooth progressive improvement).
2. Wire puzzle task (separate the pieces). Until the 75th trial, the subject coped with the task, but at random, at random, and then suddenly understood the principle, and the task performance improved, the spread of solution time decreased. A special state of sudden comprehension is necessary for the learning process, but for this the student must be in a state confusion and it is necessary to properly present the instructions at the right time.
3) Tuning – fine adaptation of knowledge to the task. One way is exercise. The change that occurs in a person who knows how to perform a task, which he masters in practice, is called attunement. Tuning consists of the slow, continuous adaptation of knowledge structures, making them more efficient, more specialized, more automatic, specifically tailored to the requirements of the task. What is tuning? It could be:
1. the acquisition of specialized knowledge for special cases, requiring more memory, but leading to effective completion of the task2. combining commonly used actions into efficient code to perform some other actions3. moving knowledge to levels below those that require conscious attention.
Reward or punishment.
One of the problems of learning is not only to achieve new, desirable behavior, but also to get rid of unwanted manifestations. The main purpose of punishment is to eliminate existing behavior, not to replace it with new behavior. Often, for example, when raising children or teaching them, the question arises what is better: to punish for an offense or to wait for the desired behavior and reward the child. The greatest results are achieved when punishment accompanies old behavior and reward accompanies new behavior. Although this is just a general rule that cannot be applied in all situations, it highlights an important principle: one should pay attention not only to the behavior itself - undesirable, eliminated by punishment, and desirable, encouraged by reward - but also to the availability of alternatives to it. type of behavior. If you need to wean a child from pulling a cat's tail, then, according to this principle, it is necessary not only to punish the child, but also to offer him another activity (for example, playing with a toy car) and reward him for switching. If a person masters working with any mechanism, the instructor should not just wait patiently for him to do everything correctly, but show him his mistakes.
Unconscious Motivation
Motivation itself is a neutral constant in the human matrix. But those motives will appear, and latently, that type of motivation that is determined by the leading function of the nervous system. This means that in a person with a melancholic temperament, the leading function of the nervous system will be logic. These people will always strive and comply with the letter of the law, standards, will worship authorities, calculations, restrictions, boundaries, morality, laws, etc. People with a sanguine temperament, without even realizing it, will always strive for the future, for leadership and management, command, strategies, innovation, leadership. The prerogative function of their nervous system is will. They always strive to implement acts of will.
Attitudes, beliefs, and various kinds of resistance exhibited by children and adolescents are styles of behavior raised by parents and society. They stem from the process of learning, upbringing, education. But the formed behavior styles in adulthood can change if the field of motivations (subconscious imprints) are formed qualitatively and at a high level of honor and spirituality.
Motivations are mostly unconscious. This means they come from under consciousness. Some subconscious mechanisms are subject to psychogenetic imprints formed in the prenatal period of life or transmitted by parents at the genetic level. That is, at a time when the child could not realize what was happening and accepted samples of sensory-emotional (wave) radiation at the cellular level.
It is the feelings and emotional experiences that will then determine his choice when faced with the reality of life. They say, “...the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree...”. Behind this lies the great wisdom of humanity - children reflect through themselves the internal subconscious bank of their parents. Long-term psychological observations of the problems of parents and children showed: “If you want to get to know a person, talk to his child.”
Continued in the article Infantile behavior of children
Psychologist Yana Neumayer
Partial reinforcement.
Instrumental learning using rewards—for example, training a rat in a Skinner box to press a lever for food or praising a child when he says “thank you” and “please”—involves several types of relationships between behavior and reinforcement. The most common type of addiction is constant reinforcement, in which a reward is given for each correct response. Another option is partial reinforcement, which offers reinforcement only for some correct responses, say every third time the desired behavior occurs, or every tenth time, or the first time it occurs every hour or every day. The effects of partial reinforcement are important and of great interest. With partial reinforcement, it takes longer to learn the desired behavior, but the results are much more durable. The persistence of the effect is especially noticeable when the reinforcement is stopped; This procedure is called "extinction". Behavior learned with partial reinforcement persists for a long time, while behavior mastered with constant reinforcement quickly ceases.
Character in personality structure
In general, we can say about a person’s character: a sign of character is a disease with which a person shows his distortions. Character is the totality of mental characteristics of a given individual, manifested in his actions and behavior. Character structure is a set of typical, consistently reproducible ways of responding (behavior patterns) that determine the way a person presents himself to the world, the main life positions within which he feels, thinks, and acts.
Character is formed from childhood as a way of regulating and influencing any kind of stimuli. And the type and structure of character is formed in the prenatal period of life through the psycho-emotional state of the mother, transmitted to the child, when the mother reacts emotionally to her family, loved ones, and environment.
In fact, any type of character, being a frozen way of reacting, deforms the development and quality of life of an individual, limits his health and well-being. Therefore, the evolutionary development of any personality affects the psychological correction of a person’s character - that is, working with his past traumas, through the prism of which he, one way or another, reacts to the world around him in a specifically chosen type of response, or a certain role formed by learning. Learning is the process of forming clearly defined response criteria, which the child accepts on faith and believes these models unquestioningly, often throughout his life.
A major problem in society is revealed by dependent conditions: gambling addiction, alcoholism, drug addiction, money-grubbing, and the search for justice. These states are defined as a type of distortion of the individual’s intrapersonal bank. It also forms motivation.
TRANSFER AND INTERFERENCE
Learning a particular type of behavior rarely occurs in isolation. More often, there are similarities between the situations in which different types of behavior are learned, or similarities between the types of behavior themselves. When, for example, two successive learning tasks are similar, completing the first one makes it easier to complete the second; this effect is called “carryover.” Positive transfer occurs when mastering the first skill helps in mastering the second; for example, having learned to play tennis, a person will more easily learn to play badminton, and a child who can write on a blackboard will more easily master writing with a pen on paper. Negative transference occurs in opposite situations, i.e. when mastering the first task interferes with learning to perform the second: for example, having incorrectly remembered the name of a new acquaintance, it is more difficult to learn the correct name; The ability to change gears in a car of one brand can make it difficult to use a car of another brand, where all the levers are located differently. The general principle is as follows: positive transfer is possible between two activities if the second of them requires the same behavior as the first, but in a different situation; Negative transfer occurs when learning a new way of behavior to replace the old one in the same situation.
Negative transfer is of particular interest. When studying it experimentally, “extinction” is used, i.e. procedure when the reinforcement stops. Although such experiments are usually carried out to monitor the disappearance of previously reinforced behavior, they lead to the conclusion that the latter is always replaced by new behavior - even if only inaction. The so-called verbal interference, the essence of which is that new verbal material is remembered worse due to the overlap of other, already known material of the same kind; in such cases, the task of associative learning is to form a new association to a word or object that is already associated with something (for example, when the subject is required to remember that in French his pet is called chien, not dog). Finally, in psychotherapy there is a method of counterconditioning, according to which patients suffering from obsessive fear (phobia) are taught to relax when they see an object that causes fear or something that symbolizes it. Thus, a patient who is afraid of snakes is first taught the method of deep relaxation, and then he is gradually taught to think about snakes during relaxation, replacing the previously existing fear with calm behavior. In all such situations, when two interfering reactions arise, the severity of conflicting types of behavior clearly depends on the time that has elapsed since their development. If success is assessed immediately after a new task has been mastered—either in a series of experiments without reward, or by repeatedly calling the dog the word chien, or by repeatedly pairing relaxation with the idea of a snake—the second type of behavior appears to be dominant. However, if there is a break in training, the first type of behavior reappears. For example, if a person, after diligently practicing, finally learned to change gears in a new car, where the handles are located differently than in the old one, then a week-long break will lead to the restoration of the previous habit and errors in the application of the new skill. Periodic training of a new type of behavior time after time reduces the likelihood of relapse, but since previous actions are never completely eradicated, some experts are inclined to believe that the original learning is never completely erased, and new reactions only dominate over old ones.
Reactive learning[ | ]
Reactive learning, in which new reactions to stimuli are developed. This is a passive form of learning: in order to acquire new reactions, a living creature does not perform any actions on the external environment.
The simplest type of learning. The main forms of reactive learning: habituation and sensitization, imprinting, classical conditioning.
Habituation and sensitization[ | ]
These simplest forms of learning are found in the most primitive animals, but are also preserved in humans.
Habituation (habituation)
- this is a decrease in reaction upon repeated exposure to an insignificant stimulus. For example, a person gets used to sleeping peacefully with the noise of cars outside the windows.
Sensitization
, on the contrary, is an intensification of the reaction upon repeated exposure to a significant stimulus. For example, a person who is very frightened by a loud sound temporarily increases his reaction to quiet sounds.
Imprinting[ | ]
Imprinting (“imprinting”) is instant learning, “learning the first time.” A classic example of imprinting is the formation of an attachment of goslings to the first moving object they see after hatching. In the natural habitat, this object is the mother, and the goslings immediately after hatching begin to follow her everywhere; the biological significance of this phenomenon is obvious. If the first moving object turns out to be the experimenter or even an inanimate object (for example, a ball), then the goslings begin to follow him.
An important pattern of imprinting is that it is formed during strictly defined periods of life, called critical periods. In the example of goslings, the critical period is the first hours after birth. This pattern also applies to many other forms of learning that are similar to imprinting: for example, a canary can learn to sing only if it is placed with an adult singing individual at a certain period of its life; A child has a certain critical period (up to 5 years) for the formation of speech. Thus, critical periods in the broad sense of the word are those periods in which certain forms of behavior are especially easily formed and especially firmly established.
Classical conditioning[ | ]
Pavlovian, respondent conditioning. This is the process of forming conditioned reflexes. Conditioned reflexes differ from unconditioned reflexes in the following main features.
Unconditioned reflexes are mostly innate, they occur in response to a biological stimulus without previous learning or conditioning.
Conditioned reflexes are new, acquired connections between a neutral stimulus and an unconditional response; they are produced by combinations of unconditional and neutral stimuli, the main of which are the following:
A typical example is the production of conditioned reflex salivation. The presentation of food is an unconditional stimulus: in a more or less hungry animal or person, it always causes salivation. If the presentation of food is preceded by turning on the light bulb several times, then after a certain number of repetitions, saliva will be released in response to the turning on of the light bulb.
If the unconditioned stimulus ceases to be reinforced, then the conditioned reflex gradually begins to fade. For example, if you develop conditioned reflex salivation when a light bulb turns on, and then this turning on is no longer accompanied by the presentation of food, then after a while the sight of the light bulb will stop causing salivation. This phenomenon is called extinction. There are several types of extinction, but they all have one main thing in common: they occur in response to non-reinforcement.
The biological meaning of conditioned reflexes is that conditioned stimuli have signaling value, that is, they notify about upcoming important events. Thus, the reaction to a conditioned stimulus (conditioned reflex) provides an anticipatory response, which is valuable for the survival of the species. The importance of the conditioned reflex is enormous: the vast majority of our actions are anticipatory reactions to signals. Thanks to the constant development of conditioned reflexes to reinforced stimuli and the extinction of conditioned reflexes, when reinforcement stops, the body adapts more and more finely to the environment.
Respondent conditioning was discovered by I. P. Pavlov.
Encoding information in memory.
Many types of learning involve three essential elements: sound, meaning and sight. For example, it is necessary to form an association between the words “dog” and “table”. Learning by encoding sounds requires repeating those words over and over again, listening to how they sound together, and remembering how they feel when they are repeated. This acoustic method, called rote memorization, is sometimes necessary, but is significantly inferior in meaning to encoding. Meaningful learning of the association between the words “dog” and “table” involves thinking about a dog, thinking about a table, and making some kind of connection between them, such as the statement that a dog never works at a table. Semantic encoding is the most important factor in successful school education. Long hours of hard work using rote memorization do not produce the same results as those achieved through much fewer sessions that focus on the meaning of the lesson. Sometimes the third method turns out to be the most effective - the method of forming visual images. In the case of “dog” and “table,” the procedure would be to create a realistic mental image in which both the dog and the table play important roles, such as an image of an antique desk on which stands a paperweight with a handle in the shape of a hunting dog. The more vivid the image is, the easier it is to subsequently remember the connection between these two objects. Of course, in some cases, especially when it comes to abstract concepts like "misfortune" and "energy", there is no simple way of visual representation and you have to rely only on semantic encoding. Thus, effective learning is not only achieved through time and effort spent on practice; The nature of the practice itself is also of great importance.
Cognitive explanation of learning[ | ]
This is the most complex and most perfect form of learning, in which a living being learns to first carry out actions on a mental model of reality, and then transfer the results obtained to reality.
Let's imagine a labyrinth leading to a feeding trough; this labyrinth first bifurcates into left and right branches, and then both branches converge. If a rat is trained to run to the feeder along the left branch, and then block it, then the rat, having stumbled upon the partition, suddenly turns and runs along the right branch, without preliminary trial and error. In other words, during the learning process, a “map of the area” is formed in her brain under the influence of a stream of conscious and unconscious stimuli - the so-called cognitive map. In the broadest sense of the word, a cognitive map can be understood not only as a purely topographical diagram of an area, but as any model of reality over which mental actions are performed. A classic example is a monkey in which there are narrow and wide meter-long tubes in a cage, and a banana lies one and a half meters from the cage; the monkey unsuccessfully tries to get it first with his hand, then with separate tubes, then freezes for a while (“thinks”) and suddenly suddenly inserts one tube into the other and takes out a banana - and he has never done this before.
Organization of practice.
When mastering a skill, as in many other situations, it is helpful to take frequent rest breaks rather than practice continuously. The same number of lessons will lead to more effective learning if they are distributed over time, and not concentrated in a single block, as is done with the so-called. massive training. Classes held partly in the morning and partly in the evening provide a greater difference in learning conditions than classes only in the morning or only in the evening. However, part of the learning process is for the learner to recall stored information, and such recall is facilitated by recreating the situation in which something was learned. For example, test results are better if it is conducted not in a special examination class, but in the same room where the training took place. see also
NEUROPSYCHOLOGY; MEMORY; PSYCHOLOGY; HABIT.
Trial and error[ | ]
This method of learning is that a living being, when a need arises, performs many different actions (trials); most of them turn out to be useless (errors), but some lead to the achievement of the goal, and then they are reinforced in the form of operant conditioned reflexes. For example, a pigeon has a circle in its cage, and hitting it causes a feeder with grain to appear. A hungry pigeon actively walks around the cage, pecks at various objects, and if its beak accidentally hits the circle, it receives food. After a certain number of repetitions, the pigeon will be directed to beat the circle with its beak to obtain food.
The development of operant conditioned reflexes can be directed by reinforcing some intermediate stages necessary to achieve the goal (for example, lay out a path of grains for a pigeon towards a circle and stick another grain to the circle). This teaching method is called the reaction formation method; it is widely used in training, partly in raising children and in various types of psychotherapy. Used by animals when raising young individuals - for example, when a cat raises kittens.
