Module -III

Learning
Descriptors/Topics • Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning and
Verbal Learning: Methods and Procedures
Definition of Learning
Learning is any relatively permanent change in behavior brought about
by experience or practice.
*Relatively permanent means it’s stored in memory and can be
retrieved later, even if not immediately visible.
*Behavioral change is not temporary (like fatigue or mood) but reflects
an internal change in the brain.
*Experience or practice means learning results from interaction with
the environment — not biological growth.
*Maturation refers to changes due to biological development (e.g.,
walking, puberty), not learning.
• Why Learning Matters:
Learning helps humans and animals adapt to their surroundings,
avoid dangers, and develop new skills for survival and progress.
Classical Conditioning
• Ivan Pavlov’s Discovery
• Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, studied digestion in dogs.
• He observed that dogs salivated not only when food was presented
but also when they heard the footsteps of the lab assistant.
• He realized the dogs learned to associate neutral stimuli (sounds)
with food.
Concept Definition Example

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) Naturally triggers response Food

Unconditioned Response (UCR) Natural reflex to UCS Salivation to food

Neutral Stimulus (NS) Does not initially elicit response Bell sound before conditioning

Previously NS that triggers response

Conditioned Stimulus (CS) Bell after pairing
after association

Conditioned Response (CR) Learned response to CS Salivation to bell

• Basic Principles of Classical Conditioning
• CS must come before UCS (the bell must ring before food).
• CS and UCS must be close in time — usually within seconds.
• NS must be paired with UCS several times before learning occurs.
• CS must be distinctive and not mixed with other stimuli.
• Major Phenomena in Classical Conditioning
• Acquisition – Initial learning stage; the organism associates NS with UCS.
• Extinction – When CS no longer predicts UCS, CR gradually disappears.
• Spontaneous Recovery – Reappearance of CR after extinction when CS is
presented again.
• Generalization – Responding to stimuli similar to the CS (e.g., all bells).
• Discrimination – Learning to respond only to a specific CS (e.g., only one
bell tone).
• Higher-order conditioning: occurs when strong CS is paired with new
neutral stimulus; new previously neutral stimulus becomes a second CS.
Conditioned Emotional Responses (CERs)
• Later scientists took Pavlov’s concepts and expanded them to explain not
only animal behavior but also human behavior. One of the earliest of
these studies showed that even an emotional response could be
conditioned.
• Introduced by John B. Watson in the Little Albert experiment (1920):
• Watson paired the presentation of the white rat to the baby with a loud,
scary noise. Although the baby was not initially afraid of the rat, he was
naturally afraid of the loud noise and started to cry. After only seven
pairings of the noise with the rat, every time the baby saw the rat, he
started to cry. In conditioning terms, the loud noise was the UCS, the fear
of the noise the UCR, the white rat became the CS, and the fear of the rat
(the phobia) was the CR.
• The learning of phobias is a very good example of a certain type of
classical conditioning, the conditioned emotional response (CER).
Conditioned emotional responses are some of the easiest forms of
classical conditioning to accomplish and our lives are full of them. It’s
easy to think of fears people might have that are conditioned or
learned: a child’s fear of the doctor’s office, a puppy’s fear of a rolled-
up newspaper, or the fear of dogs that is often shown by a person who
has been attacked by a dog in the past. But other emotions can be
conditioned, too.
• It is even possible to become classically conditioned by simply watching someone
else respond to a stimulus in a process called vicarious conditioning (Bandura &
Rosen thal, 1966; Hygge & Öhman, 1976; Jones & Menzies, 1995).
• Many years ago, children received vaccination shots in school. The nurse lined up
the children, and one by one they had to go forward to get a needle in the arm.

• When some children received their shots, they cried quite a bit. By the time the
nurse got near the end of the line of children, they were all crying—many of them
before she ever touched needle to skin.
• They had learned their fear response from watching the reactions of the other
children. The good news is that the same learning principles that can contribute to
phobias and anxiety disorders can also be used to treat them as we’ll s
Biological Influence on Conditioning
Conditioned Taste Aversion
• Discovered by Garcia and Koelling (1966).
• Rats learned to avoid sweet-tasting water after it was paired with
nausea-inducing radiation.
• In a similar manner, alcoholics who are given a drug to make them
violently nauseated when they drink alcohol may learn to avoid
drinking any alcoholic beverage. The chemotherapy drugs that cancer
patients receive also can create severe nausea, which causes those
people to develop a taste aversion for any food they have eaten before
going in for the chemotherapy treatment (
Biological preparedness for fear of objects that are dangerous makes sense
for survival, but when objects are not typically dangerous, it turns out to be
very difficult to condition a fear of those objects.
In one study, monkeys easily learned to be afraid of a toy snake or
crocodile by watching videos of other monkeys reacting fearfully to these
stimuli (a good example of vicarious conditioning). But the monkeys never
learned to fear flowers or a toy rabbit by the same means (Cook & Mineka,
1989). Snakes and crocodiles are predators; flowers and rabbits are not.

Biological Constraints
• Some associations (taste → nausea, sight → pain) are learned more easily
because they are evolutionarily adaptive. some associations are relatively
quick and easy to learn due to survival value for organism (biological
preparedness.
Why does Classical Conditioning works?
• Pavlov believed that the conditioned stimulus, through its association close
in time with the unconditioned stimulus, came to activate the same place
in the animal’s brain that was originally activated by the un conditioned
stimulus. He called this process stimulus substitution.
• But if a mere association in time is all that is needed, why would
conditioning fail to happen when the CS is presented immediately after the
UCS?
• Robert Rescorla (1988) found that the CS has to provide some kind of
information about the coming of the UCS in order to achieve conditioning.
In other words, the CS must predict that the UCS is coming. Because this
explanation involves the mental activity of consciously expecting
something to occur, it is an example of an explanation for classical
conditioning called the cognitive perspective.
• Classical conditioning is the kind of learning that occurs with
automatic, involuntary behavior.
• The kind of learning that applies to voluntary behavior is called
operant conditioning, which is both different from and similar to
classical conditioning.
Operant Conditioning
• Edward Thorndike and the Law of Effect
• Thorndike was among the First to study learning of voluntary
responses
• Used a puzzle box with cats.
• Cats learned to escape by pressing a lever to get food.
• Law of Effect: Behaviors followed by pleasant consequences are
repeated; unpleasant consequences are not.
• B.F. Skinner’s Contribution
• B. F. Skinner (1904–1990) was the behaviorist who assumed leadership of the
field after John Watson.
• He was even more determined than Watson that psychologists should study
only measurable, observable behavior.
• The heart of operant conditioning is the effect of consequences on behavior.
• Expanded Thorndike’s work; developed operant conditioning to study
voluntary behavior.
• Skinner coined the term operant conditioning.
• Used the Skinner box (operant chamber) with levers and food dispensers.
• Introduced reinforcement as a key concept.
Operant Conditioning
• Learning to make voluntary responses through the effects of positive
or negative consequences.
• Thinking back to the section on classical conditioning, learning an
involuntary behavior really depends on what comes before the
response—the unconditioned stimulus and what will become the
conditioned stimulus.
• These two stimuli are the antecedent stimuli (antecedent means
something that comes before another thing).
• But in operant conditioning, learning depends on what happens after
the response—the consequence. In a way, operant conditioning
could be summed up as this: “If I do this, what’s in it for me?
• Reinforcement: The Heart of Operant Conditioning
• Reinforcement is any event or stimulus that increases the likelihood
that a response will occur again.

Type Description Example

Positive Reinforcement Addition of a pleasant stimulus Giving praise or food

Removal, escape or avoidance of Turning off a loud noise when the

Negative Reinforcement
an unpleasant stimulus correct button is pressed
• Primary vs. Secondary Reinforcers
• Primary Reinforcer: Satisfies a biological need (food, water).
• Secondary Reinforcer: Gains power through association with primary
reinforcer (money, grades, praise).
Schedules of Reinforcement
Resistance to
Schedule Definition Example
Extinction
Reinforce every Giving treat for every Fast learning, fast
Continuous
response trick extinction
Reinforce after fixed Bonus after every 10
Fixed Ratio (FR) High, steady rate
# of responses sales
Reinforce after
Variable Ratio (VR) Slot machines Very resistant
unpredictable #

Reinforce after set Response increases

Fixed Interval (FI) Weekly paycheck
time as interval nears

Reinforce after Checking for Steady, moderate

Variable Interval (VI)
variable times messages rate
 Punishment
• Punishment is a consequence that reduces the probability of a behavior
recurring.
Type Description Example
Punishment by Application Add something unpleasant Scolding, spanking
Take away something
Punishment By Removal Removing privileges, phone
pleasant
• Problems with Punishment
• May cause fear, aggression, or avoidance.
• Teaches what not to do, not what to do.
• Works best when:
• Immediate
• Consistent
• Combined with reinforcement for desired behavior.
 Stimulus Control and Other Concepts

•Discriminative Stimulus: A cue indicating when reinforcement is

available (e.g., “Open” sign).
•Shaping: Reinforcing successive approximations of a desired behavior.
•Example: Teaching a dog to roll over step by step.
•Extinction in Operant Conditioning: Occurs when reinforcement stops.
•Spontaneous Recovery: Reappearance of a previously reinforced
behavior.
•Instinctive Drift: Learned behavior drifts back to instinctive patterns (e.g.,
raccoons rubbing coins like food).
 Observational Learning

• Albert Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment (1961)

• Children observed adults hitting an inflatable doll.
• Later, children imitated the same aggressive behavior — especially if they saw the
model rewarded
• The Four Elements of Observational Learning
• Attention – Must pay attention to the model’s behavior.
• Memory – Must remember what was done.
• Imitation – Must be capable of reproducing the behavior.
• Desire/Motivation – Must have a reason or reinforcement to perform it.
• Vicarious Reinforcement: Learning by watching others being rewarded or punished
Summary

Learning Type Key Figures Key Idea Example

Learning by association
Classical Conditioning Pavlov, Watson Salivation to bell
between stimuli
Learning through
consequences
Operant Conditioning Thorndike, Skinner Studying for good grades
(reinforcement/punishme
nt)

Learning by watching and

Observational Learning Bandura Child imitating parent
imitating models
Verbal Learning
• Meaning of Verbal Learning
• Verbal Learning is the process of acquiring, retaining, and recalling verbal material
— such as words, syllables, sentences, or connected text.
• It is a subfield of experimental and cognitive psychology, focusing on how people
encode, store, and retrieve linguistic information.
• Definition
• Verbal learning refers to the learning of materials that are expressed in words or involve
verbal associations, including lists, pairs, or sentences.
• Example
• Remembering a list of unrelated words.
• Learning paired associations like “Dog–Animal”.
• Memorizing poetry or facts.
• Nature of Verbal Learning
• It involves mental associations, memory processes, and cognitive
organization.
• The focus is on how stimulus words (S) become linked to response
words (R).
• Closely related to human memory models, especially
encoding–storage–retrieval processes.
Theories Underlying Verbal Learning
[Link] Theory (Behavioristic)
• Learning occurs through forming associations between stimuli and
responses (S–R bonds).
• Repetition strengthens the associations.
[Link] Theory
• Emphasizes internal mental processes like organization, meaning, and
imagery.
• Learners actively encode and structure the material.
Common Methods and Experimental Procedures in Verbal Learning
• Researchers have developed several standardized methods to study
verbal learning in the laboratory.
These methods reveal how information is learned, forgotten, or
recalled.
 A. Serial Learning Method

• Procedure
• A list of items (e.g., words or nonsense syllables) is presented in a fixed order.
• The subject must learn and recall the list in the same serial order.
• Example: Learning “CAT–DOG–BOOK–CHAIR”.
• Measures Used
• Trials to criterion (number of repetitions until perfect recall).
• Serial Position Effect:
• Primacy Effect: Better recall for items at the beginning.
• Recency Effect: Better recall for items at the end.
• Applications
• Understanding memory for ordered material (phone numbers, sequences).
• B. Paired-Associate Learning
• Procedure
• Pairs of items are presented (e.g., “CAT–TREE”, “HOUSE–CAR”).
• Later, the first item (stimulus) is shown, and the subject must recall the second
(response).
• Example
• Study: “RED–APPLE”, “BLUE–SKY”, “GREEN–LEAF”.
• Test: When shown “RED”, respond with “APPLE”.
• Uses
• Useful in studying language learning, vocabulary, concept associations.
• Factors Affecting Learning
• Meaningfulness of words (meaningful pairs learned faster).
• Imagery (vivid images improve recall).
• Response hierarchy (how responses are mentally organized).
• C. Free Recall Method
• Procedure
• A list of words is shown.
• The learner recalls as many words as possible, in any order.
• No requirement for serial recall.
• Measures
• Total number recalled.
• Order of recall (can still show serial position effects).
• Findings
• Early and late items are remembered best (primacy and recency).
• Demonstrates the structure of short-term and long-term memory.
D. Recognition Method
• Procedure
• The learner studies a list of items, then later identifies which were seen
before from a mixed list.
• Example: After studying 10 words, the test includes those 10 plus 10 new
words.
• Measures
• Accuracy of recognizing previously seen items.
• Recognition is easier than recall.
• Applications
• Used in memory tests, forensic psychology, eyewitness studies.
E. Relearning Method
• Procedure
• First, a subject learns a list until mastery.
• After some time, they relearn the same list.
• The time or trials saved during relearning show how much was retained.
• Formula
• Savings = Initial Trials−Relearning Trials × 100
Initial Trials
• Example
• If it took 20 trials to learn initially and 10 trials to relearn, savings = 50%.
• Found by: Hermann Ebbinghaus (1885) — pioneer of memory and verbal
learning research.
• Stimulus Materials Used
• Nonsense syllables (Ebbinghaus):
• Consonant–vowel–consonant (CVC) combinations like BOK, TUP.
• Used to control for prior associations.
• Real words: More meaningful, learned faster.
• Paired associates, sentences, or paragraphs for higher-level verbal
learning.
Important Phenomena in Verbal Learning

Phenomenon Description
Serial Position Effect Better recall of first (primacy) and last (recency) items.
Forgetting Curve Rapid initial loss, then gradual decline (Ebbinghaus).
Distributed practice leads to better retention than
Spacing Effect
massed practice.
Meaningfulness Meaningful material is learned and retained faster.
Organization Grouping or categorizing improves recall (chunking).
Earlier or later learning can hinder recall (proactive
Interference
and retroactive interference).
 Applications of Verbal Learning Research

•Education: Designing better teaching and study methods.

•Advertising: Repetition and association in slogans.
•Memory therapy: Cognitive techniques for improving recall.
•Language learning: Effective vocabulary acquisition techniques.
•Forensic psychology: Understanding eyewitness memory reliability.
Summary Table: Major Verbal Learning
Methods

Method Task Example Key Finding

Serial Learning Recall in same order “Dog–Book–Chair” Primacy–Recency effects
Meaningful pairs learned
Paired-Associate Recall response word “Sun–Light”
faster
Shows organization of
Free Recall Recall any order 10 words
memory

Recognition Identify studied items Multiple choice test Easier than recall
Relearning (Savings) Relearn list Learn–forget–relearn Shows memory retention