General patterns of learning in animals

Non-associative and associative learning and cognitive processes in animals.

Obligate and facultative learning.

General patterns of learning in animals.

Lecture 4.

Subject: Learning.

In general, Learning is acquiring new, or modifying and reinforcing, existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information.

In ethology, Learning - is an adaptive change individual behavior as a result of previous experience.

Learning in animals of different taxonomic groups has qualitative differences. However, there are some general patterns that were first formulated zoopsychologists-behaviorists:

1. Thorndike law of effect,

2. the principle of least effort Skinner,

3. law of instinctive bias of acquired behavior (Merian and Keller Breland);

1. Edward Lee Thorndike (Эдвард Ли То́рндайк) Thorndike was a pioneer not only in behaviorism and in studying learning, but also in using animals in psychology experiments. Thorndike was able to create a theory of learning based on his research with animals. His doctoral dissertation, “Animal Intelligence: An Experimental Study of the Associative Processes in Animals”, was the first in psychology where the subjects were nonhumans. Thorndike was interested in whether animals could learn tasks through imitation or observation. To test this, Thorndike created puzzle boxes.

Thorndike's theory of learning:

Learning is incremental.

Learning occurs automatically.

All animals learn the same way.

Law of effect - if an association is followed by a “satisfying state of affairs” it will be strengthened and if it is followed by an “annoying state of affairs“ it will be weakened.

Thorndike’s law of exercise has two parts; the law of use and the law of disuse.

· Law of use- the more often an association is used the stronger it becomes.

· Law of disuse- the longer an association is unused the weaker it becomes.

Law of recency- the most recent response is most likely to reoccur.

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