Month: November 2019

Throughout lectures for exam 3, we have been discussing topics including different types of conditioning, disorders, and types of therapy. For this blog assignment, I am going to go further into depth with the topic of conditioning and more specifically something known as operant conditioning. With operant conditioning, an association is formed between behaviors and resulting events. A response causes a consequence and then that response continues to be strengthen. When training an animal to do new tricks such as lying down or rolling over or shaking their paw, it as known as shaping. People guide a behavior closer towards the desired action. Like the example in class, to get a dog to roll over, you take it step by step. You give it a treat when it sits, then when it lies down, then finally when it rolls over. Each step of the way is called successive approximations. People use positive reinforcement by giving dogs treats when they succeed in the action. They are adding a desirable stimulus.

This type of conditioning can be related to how I trained all of my cats to use the litter box. My family would use the technique of shaping in order to teach each of our new kittens to properly use the litter box. We would begin by placing them in the litter box and we would give them a treat and give them lots of love for just stepping into the litter box. Then we would place a potty pad underneath the litter box and every time they would step onto the potty pad or into the litter box,  we would again positively reinforce their actions with treats and love. We would then again positively reinforce their behavior once they began to use the bathroom on the potty pad or in the litter box. And finally, we would take away the potty pad and we would positively reinforce their behavior once they used the litter box properly. We would continue to give them treats and love until we felt as though the behavior was sufficiently strengthened. However, we would also use positive punishment as well when our cats would use the bathroom in the wrong place. My mother would give a slight tap on the bum and a stern yelling whenever they would use the bathroom on the rug or on the bed, they would receive this positive punishment. A combination of shaping, positive punishment, and positive reinforcement is how my family has effectively trained my cats to properly use the litter box. This method has yet to fail us.

A core concept learned in this unit was that of observational learning. The name is pretty straightforward and self explanatory, as observational learning occurs when humans and animals of a higher intelligence learn through observation. This is partially due to mirror neurons in the brain, that are activated during this. There are four specific elements that comprise observational learning. The behavior must be noticed, remembered, imitated, and the subject must be motivated to copy the behavior.

In a well known experiment, Albert Bandura conducted a test with a Bobo doll to study this concept. He had children watch adults interact with a Bobo doll, with one group observing the adult be polite and amicable, and the other observing the adult be aggressive and physically abusive towards the doll. Afterwards, he placed both groups in a room with toys. The children in the second group were far more likely to display aggressive tendencies, which supported the concept of observational learning.

However, it is important to remember the difference between correlation and causation. Studies have been conducted linking screen time and violence, but they were proven to be correlational.

When my little brother was younger, around the age of six or 7, many of his behaviors were learned through observational learning. One example in particular was when he watched my father reading. He would put on his reading glasses and settle into his armchair while swiping through a newspaper. Although my brother at the time arguably had no interest in everyday news and politics, he developed a habit of sitting in the exact same spot and pawing through the newspaper, just as my dad did. He learned this through observational learning, which supports the theory that children learn many things through simply watching others.

Classical conditioning has a fairly simple and straightforward definition as an automatic response to a stimulus which is derived from a process in which an organism learns to associate new stimulus from their environments. Classical Conditioning is comprised of 4 main parts: an Unconditioned Stimulus (which naturally elicits the response you are trying to condition), an Unconditioned Response (that is a naturally occurring response in response to an Unconditioned Stimulus), a Conditioned Stimulus (which was originally irrelevant as a stimulus until it is used), and a Conditioned Response (which is learned from conditioning). These 4 parts are the bread and butter of Classical (and even other forms of) Conditioning. Classical Conditioning can be applied and used in a variety of applications. Classical Conditioning has the ability to shape one’s behavior, and this can be used to elicit certain responses to certain stimulus.

While this concept may seem to affect a very small portion of our understanding and learning, the potential that classical conditioning has is that we can teach and learn in a much more diversified and unique way. The reason that Conditioning works on us humans, in addition to a variety of other species as well, is because we learn by association. Our brains are made up of billions of interconnected cells known as neurons, and many of our formative and sensory memories are entangled in this web of neurons. Many of our intrinsic capabilities such as memory work in the same way, which makes sense for us to use conditioning to our advantage. Classical Conditioning has the ability to shape one’s behavior, and this can be used to elicit certain responses to certain stimulus. An example of an experiment that successfully used conditioning would be Ivan Pavlov’s experiment, where he trained dogs to salivate to the sound of a bell. In the context of Pavlov’s experiment, the conditioning of food (Unconditional Stimulus) produced salivation (the Conditioned Response). Classical Conditioning requires a neutral stimulus to produce its effects, and this can be anything that does not produce an Unconditioned response already. For Pavlov, he used a bell as the neutral stimulus and this bell was   consistently used in the same way throughout the experiment: to signal to the dogs that food was on the way. During conditioning of the dogs, the bell is paired with the food and this eventually creates (after a few trials and errors). The bell was eventually paired with the signaling of food, and this eventually led to the dogs salivating to the sound of the bell under the preemptive impression that food was on the way.

While Pavlov’s experiment demonstrated the positive effects of classical conditioning, the potential of using classical conditioning to shape behavior in other applications seems very plausible. John Garcia did a later experiment where he exposed rats to radiation but first warned them by using taste, sound, and sight to signal the start of the radiation. Garcia later learned and proved the concept of taste aversion, and this happens when an organism associates a bad taste to something (in this case, the radiation). Inherently, classical conditioning enables researchers to test and prove behaviors in a controlled environment with proven results. Humans can also be classically conditioned in the same ways that dogs and rats can be classically conditioned, as long as the stimulus is regularly present. A loss of the stimulus may lead to extinction, which can cause the Conditioned Response to diminish over time. An example of this happening in my life would be when I smell rubbing alcohol in the first few weeks after getting a vaccine, I wince because of my fear of vaccinations. Throughout my childhood, the doctors would wipe rubbing alcohol on my skin, and I was conditioned into believing the smell of rubbing alcohol meant that I was getting a shot, similar to how the bell signaled to the dogs that food was on the way. This is something that only affects me in the first few weeks after getting vaccines, indicating that while I am also able to be conditioned, it can go away over time. Perhaps further down the road, we could condition humans to help guide their behaviors and decisions throughout their lives with the purpose of bettering everyone’s lives in the process. We could condition subjects to avoid drugs, smoking, and any other behaviors that might be detrimental for their own good and for the good of society as a whole.

 

Firstly, schizophrenia is a mental disorder that usually appears in late adolescence or early adulthood and is characterized by delusions, hallucinations, and other cognitive difficulties. There two categories of symptoms that a person who is diagnosed to have schizophrenia will present with. Those categories are positive and negative. Positive symptoms of schizophrenia are when a symptom is added to a person’s current state. This would include delusions, inappropriate emotions, disorganized thinking, and hallucinations. These behaviors are abnormal and are because of an individual’s schizophrenia. Positive symptoms are often found to last longer than negative but are easier to treat. This differs from Negative Symptoms which are behaviors that have taken away from their usual self. A person who suffers from negative symptoms of schizophrenia would present with rigidness, monotone voice, being mute, and emotionless behavior or apathy. Simply, negative symptoms take away and positive symptoms add. Positive symptoms are behaviors that should not be present in an individual, while negative symptoms are behavior that are expected of a person. A person with schizophrenia may present with all the symptoms, some of them, or only negative or positive symptoms. Most individuals would present with a mix from both types of symptoms.
An example of these symptoms would include an individual with schizophrenia that exhibits racing thoughts, delusions, apathy, and a monotone voice. This individual presents with both types of symptoms, which is most commonly found in individuals with schizophrenia. The positive symptoms would be delusions and racing thoughts. The negative symptoms would be apathy and the monotone voice. While these symptoms are common, each individual person will present with a different mixture of symptoms. To treat these symptoms, a doctor will likely present them with medications such as and various therapies. Schizophrenia is lifelong struggle and affects one percent of the population.

Anxiety can be a complicated and complex disorder that effects different people in different ways. Anxiety includes feelings of excessive and/or unrealistic fearfulness towards future or current events. Under the umbrella of anxiety, generalized anxiety is characterized as excessive worry, tenseness, and apprehension towards every day life events. Sometimes this worry comes from stimuli, but in other situations, there is no obvious reasons to worry. Another branch of anxiety is panic disorder. This disorder includes spontaneous episodes of intense dread and fear. Some physical symptoms during a panic attack episode can be chest pains, fear of loss of control, trembling, tightness in the throat and hot flashes. Major depressive disorder is characterized as extended feelings of intense sadness, loss of interest in activities, fatigue and feelings of worthlessness.

Being diagnosed in 3rd grade with generalized anxiety, major depressive disorder and panic disorder, I have been aware of what anxiety was and how it impacted me very early in my life. Although, because of the stigmatization of mental health, I never talked about it. But, a lot of things I constantly hear regarding my anxiety is, “take a breath, it’s not that big of a deal,” or “just be happy, you’ll be fine” or “it’s all in your head.” A lot of these things, instead of making me feel better, created more anxiety. Through learning about the psychological and scientific background of anxiety and depression, it has been cool to point to something that causes these feelings. When sometimes not knowing specifics of where my anxiety and depression stem from, pointing to reduced norepinephrine and serotonin, is in a way very freeing. Also looking at things like PET scans of the brain’s energy consumption has been a nice way to not only reduce the stigma in my conversations with others, but the stigma I have about myself having these disorders. Knowing not to believe the things I am hearing from my friends about “getting over it” through recognizing what these disorders truly are, has given me peace. I am excited to use the things we learn in class to spark conversation with people I know have preconceived ideas about these anxiety and mood disorders.

Reinforcement is any event that strengthens the behavior it follows and it can either be positive or negative. Many people believe positive and negative reinforcement to mean it is either good or bad, but that is not true. Positive reinforcement is increasing the behavior by presenting positive stimuli, so you can think of it by adding something. Negative reinforcement on the other hand is increasing behaviors by removing negative stimuli, so as to remove or take away something. This process is used in many different scenarios. Human beings and animals alike learn to adjust their behavior based on the type of reinforcement their behaviors receive.

Ten years ago, I got two yellow Labrador Retrievers and while I was training them I used positive and negative reinforcement to teach them when they were puppies. I would tell the dogs the commands that I wanted them to do, starting off simple with sit and shake. To reinforce the behavior that I wanted them to do I would reward them with a treat. So if they sat after I gave the command they would get a reward. This process was positive reinforcement. When I would give them a command and they did not listen I would not give them a treat. This taught them that they were not doing the correct thing. By using this process I was able to train my dogs to listen to the commands that I told them because their behavior was either getting positively or negatively enforced.

These concepts are related because my dogs were able to learn by their behaviors were correct by getting rewarded with a treat, positive reinforcement, or not getting a treat when they did not follow the command, negative reinforcement. Throughout the process of training my dogs with this tactic I was able to teach them many different things and reward them for doing the correct task.