BEHL 2012 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Conditioned Taste Aversion, Head Injury, Malnutrition
BEHL 2012 Week 4a Workshop
Limits of learning
Physical characteristics
oThe physical structure of an individual or species
Learned behaviour is not inherited
oLearned behaviour is not passed on to future generations
Individual differences
oHeredity does play a role in learning ability (controversial)
Critical periods
oCritical periods:
Stages of development for optimal learning
Neurological damage
oPrenatal exposure to alcohol and other drugs
oNeurotoxins
oHead injury
oMalnutrition
oAll above influence learning
Biological constraints on conditioning
1.Instinctive drift and animal misbehaviour
a. Instinctive drift occurs when an animal's innate response tendencies interfere with
conditioning process
2.Conditioned taste aversion
a. Aversions to food can develop, if:
a.i. Eating a particular type of food is followed by nausea
a.ii. Animals readily make connections between taste and nausea
b. From an evolutionary point of view this makes sense
a.i. Animals quickly learn to avoid food that has made them sick because
individuals that learn what not to eat will survive
b. Preparedness and phobias
a.i. Martin Seligman suggests preparedness is a biologically programmed
phenomenon
a.ii. Humans appear easily to develop phobias to: spiders, snakes, heights, and
darkness
a.i.1. Posed threat to humans in our evolutionary history and fear and
avoidance of these items may have aided survival
a.i.2. Preparedness is in our genes
Schedule induced behaviour and or adjunctive behaviours
In animals
A variety of excessive abnormal behaviour have been found to occur during fixed
interval schedules
Typically occur just after reinforcement
In humans
Excessive levels of instinctive appetitive behaviours can occur
In our societies
Reinforcement often occurs on fixed-interval schedules
Interval schedules may contribute to excessive drinking or alcoholism
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
The physical structure of an individual or species. Learned behaviour is not passed on to future generations. Individual differences: heredity does play a role in learning ability (controversial) Prenatal exposure to alcohol and other drugs: neurotoxins, head injury, malnutrition, all above influence learning. Instinctive drift occurs when an animal"s innate response tendencies interfere with a. conditioning process. 2. conditioned taste aversion: aversions to food can develop, if: a. i. a. ii. Eating a particular type of food is followed by nausea. Animals readily make connections between taste and nausea: from an evolutionary point of view this makes sense a. i. Animals quickly learn to avoid food that has made them sick because individuals that learn what not to eat will survive: preparedness and phobias a. i. Martin seligman suggests preparedness is a biologically programmed phenomenon a. ii. Humans appear easily to develop phobias to: spiders, snakes, heights, and darkness.
