Biological boundaries of behavior

1. Biological boundaries of behavior • Old-school behaviorists emerged as a reaction against the Structuralists. • Rejected biology in error • The equipotentiality principle explains their position: • The choise of any CS, US, R, Sr or P is arbitrary • Any CS can be paired with any US • Any response can be governed by any Sr or P • Once a reinforcer or punisher, always and for everyone in the organism’s class • Biology is irrelevant; anything can be learned

2. Obviously, they were WRONG! Let’s look at evidence that shows this: • Garcia effect or conditioned taste aversion • Learned helplessness • Preparedness learning or behavior systems models

3. Garcia Effect orConditioned Taste Aversion • Grp I: Tasty Water--> Nausea • Good Conditioning • Grp II: Bright Noisy Water-> Shock • Good conditioning • Grp III: Tasty Water--> Shock • No conditioning • Grp IV: Bright Noisy water--> Nausea • No conditioning

4. A “biological boundary” may explain this phenomenon: • Look at the TYPE of stimuli that are being used: • Categorize each as an internal or external event • Grp I: Tasty Water--> Nausea • InternalInternal • Grp II: Bright Noisy Water-> Shock • ExternalExternal • Grp III: Tasty Water--> Shock • InternalExternal • Grp IV: Bright Noisy water--> Nausea • External Internal • Can’t learn ACROSS modalities very well!

5. Important Properties of Taste Aversion • One trial conditioning • General phenomenon: most species show it • Tolerates long delay • Novel stimuli condition more readily than familiar stimuli • Occurs differently for different species: • quail: color of food • monkeys: texture • rats: taste and smell • In social animals- can transmit stimulus socially

6. Uses • Humans: dietary restrictions and smoking cessation programs (but will switch brands and tastes) • Can develop CTA with Chemotherapy- must watch pairing good food with nausea • Most important use: Wildlife Management: • Coyote management • Wolf management • Bear management

7. Application: How can you keep your dog out of the garbage?

8. Learned helplessnessMarty Seligman • Four groups of dogs Training I and II result Lasting effects Grp I Escapable/escapeable run None Grp II Inescapable/inescapable not run None Grp III Escapable/inescapable not run None Grp III Inescapable/escapable not run Severe Remember, Seligman’s hypothesis was that NONE of the dogs would be significantly harmed.

9. Key Factor = inescapability once learned not to escape (learned to be helpless)= not change Characteristics of L.H. • inescapability that produces phenomenon, not the shock itself • works under variety of procedures, conditions • very generalizeable, transferable • if take far enough, can make it a contingency rule for the animal, rather than specific contingency for specific situation(s)

10. Symptoms of L.H. • passivity • learned laziness • retardation of learning • somatic effects • reduction of helplessness with time

11. Clinical expressions oflearned helplessness • School phobias and math anxiety • Abusive Relationships • Depression • Cultural learned helplessness

12. “Curing” or eliminating learned helplessness • Unlearn the rule • Reshape or recondition • Must be done in situation where organism cannot fail • Difficult to do- animals can “not” respond • UPenn program on relearning thoughts during test taking

13. Behavioral Systems of Behavior: Biological Preparedness • Are boundaries or systems of behavior • Behaviors are clustered into groups of relevant behaviors • These may be biologically relevant • May be hard wired in many animals • Several “modes” of behavior • Feeding mode • Sexual mode • Aggression mode

14. Misbehaving Animals • Marion and Keller Breland • Students of B.F. Skinner • Went to Hollywood to train animals for films and commercials • In process of training, discovered consistent “misbehavior” of animals • Several examples: • Miserly raccoon • Piggy Bank Pig • Dancing Chicken • Baseball playing Chicken

15. Why? Instinctive drift • Whenever situation permitted, specifies specific behavior patterns intruded • Instinctive behaviors competed with operantly conditioned behaviors • Not random, but predictable • Species specific • Related to reward

16. Behavior Systems Modes

17. Interestingly, these behavior modes may be modulated to a great degree by the neurotransmitter Dopamine (DA) • Dopamine appears to be the “motivator” neurotransmitter • DA flow is controlled by specialized receptors on DA neurons • D1-like: control local flow • D2-like: control overall flow

18. Why is this important for humans? • Helps explain the “misbehavior” of humans with some disorders • Drug addicts and those with schizophrenia make “poor” choices • May be due to physiology of the addiction or disease • “bad choices” may be due to effect of DA • Real changes may be occurring in the brain which prevent the addict from being sensitive to changes in his or her life rewards • May also explain some of the perseverative and off-task behaviors observed in these individuals

19. Conclusions • We are animals and we behave in ways that are consistent with other species. • There are biological boundaries or constraints in how we learn and react to our environment • Our biggest Human instinct: to learn, predict and control our environment • Animal models allow us to investigate these boundaries and help explain human learning and choice behavior!