Learning

Activity . Fig. . : Sixteen figures containing two shapes – square and triangle, two shades – pink and grey, cross on top and bottom, circles – right or left sides of figures.

These figures are used as instances of and non-instances of an artificial concept. In Figure . there are cards having two shapes - square and triangle, two shades-pink and grey, signs of cross on top or bottom, and small circle on right side or left side. With the help of these cards one can create a number of concepts by using different rules.

The set of features that are connected by some rule are called relevant features . The features that are not included in the rule are considered to be irrelevant features. For example, in the cards shown in Figure . there are four features — shape, shade, cross or no cross on the top, and circle on the right or left side.

In creating a conjunctive concept by using two features one may use shape and side as the relevant ones, and leave out two others as irrelevant. For such a concept, the exemplars and non- exemplars are given in Figure . . You will study more about concepts in Chapter on thinking.

shorthand writing, and writing and reading are examples of skills. Such skills are learned by practice and exercise. A skill consists of a chain of perceptual motor responses or as a sequence of S-R associations. Phases of Skill Acquisition Skill learning passes through several qualitatively different phases.

With each successive attempt at learning a skill, one’s performance becomes smoother and less effort demanding. In other words, it becomes more spontaneous or automatic. It has also been shown that in each phase the performance improves. In transition from one phase to the next, when the level of performance stands still, it is called performance plateau.

Once the next phase begins, performance starts improving and its level starts going up. One of the most influential accounts of the phases of skill acquisition is presented by Fitts. According to him, skill learning passes through three phases, viz. cognitive , associative and autonomous .

Each phase or stage of skill learning involves different types of mental processes. In the cognitive phase of skill learning, the learner has to understand and memorise the instructions, and also understand how the task has to be performed. In this phase, every outside cue, instructional demand, and one’s response outcome have to be kept alive in consciousness. The second phase is associative.

In this phase, different sensory inputs or stimuli are linked with appropriate responses. As the practice increases, errors decrease, performance improves and time taken is also reduced. With continued practice, errorless performance begins, though, the learner has to be attentive to all the sensory inputs and maintain concentration on the task. Then the third phase, i.e.

autonomous phase, begins. In this phase, two important changes take place in performance: the attentional demands of the associative phase decrease, and interference created by external factors reduces. Finally, skilled performance attains automaticity with minimal demands on conscious effort. S KILL L EARNING Nature of Skills A skill is defined as the ability to perform some complex task smoothly and efficiently.

Car driving, airplane piloting, ship navigating, Fig. . : The four figures on the top are the exemplars of the concept, and rest of the figures are non-exemplars. The exemplars of the concept must be triangle and grey.

Other features are irrelevant. Group of Participants Phase Phase Experimental Learns task A Learns task B Control Does not learn but rests Learns task B TTTTTable able . Experimental Design used in the Study of T Experimental Design used in the Study of T Experimental Design used in the Study of T Experimental Design used in the Study of T Experimental Design used in the Study of Transf ransf ransf ransf ransfer Eff er Eff er Eff er Eff er Effects of Learning ects of Learning ects of Learning ects of Learning ects of Learning Transitions from one phase to the other clearly show that practice is the only means of skill learning. One has to keep on exercising and practicing.

As the practice increases, improvement rate gradually increases; and automaticity of errorless performance becomes the hallmark of skill. That is why it is said that ‘practice makes a man perfect’. T RANSFER OF L EARNING The term transfer of learning is often called transfer of training or transfer effect. It refers to the effects of prior learning on new learning .

Transfer is considered to be positive if the earlier learning facilitates current learning. It is considered to be negative transfer if new learning is retarded. Absence of facilitative or retarding ef fect means zero transfer. Psychologists use specific experimental designs in the study of transfer effects.

One such design is presented in Table . Suppose you want to know whether learning of English language affects learning of French. To study this you select a large sample of participants. Now you randomly divide the sample into two groups, one to be used in the experimental condition and the other as control group.

The experimental group of participants learn English language for a year and is tested to find out their achievement in English. In the second year, they study French. In the end this group is tested to find out its achievement scores in French. The control group in the first phase does not learn English language and just does its routine work for one year.

In the second year, these participants learn French for a year and their achievement scores are obtained. The achievement scores in French of the two groups are then compared. If the achievement score of the experimental group is higher than that of the control group, it implies that positive transfer has taken place. If the score is lower than the control group, it means negative transfer has taken place.

If the two groups perform equally well, then it shows that transfer effect is zero. It must be noted that in the study of transfer effect, a distinction is made between general transfer and specific transfer . It is now a well-known fact that prior learning always leads to positive general transfer. It is only in specific transfer that transfer effects are positive or negative, and in some conditions there is zero effect, though in reality, due to general transfer, zero transfer is theoretically untenable.

Let us try to understand the nature of general transfer and specific transfer. General (Generic) Transfer General transfer is not clearly conceptualised and defined in its details. However, prior learning predisposes one to learn another task in a better manner. The learning of one task warms-up the learner to learn the next task more conveniently.

You must have seen a cricketer going to the pitch to take her/his position near the wicket. The cricketer walks by jumping on one foot then on the other. S/he moves her/his two hands holding the bat sideways to loosen up. When you write answers while appearing at the examination, your writing is slow and sitting position awkward for efficient writing.

However, you get warmed up after having written two or three pages. Your speed increases and your body gets well adjusted to the writing task. This continues until the writing of the last answer is over. After some time, warm-up effect disappears.

Warm-up effect lasts over one session of . In the third case, the stimuli are same but responses are different. In such conditions also some positive transfer occurs. .

In the fourth case, the stimuli are different, but responses are the same. Therefore new associations with responses are to be learned. In this case positive transfer is obtained. .

In the fifth case, stimuli and responses are the same, but associations are altered. Because of this alteration, negative transfer occurs in the learning of the second task. It is so because the associations learned in the initial task interfere in the learning of new associations. Such interferences are discussed in Chapter which deals with human memory.

learning. Only in that session one can learn two or more tasks. Specific Transfer Whenever an organism learns something, it consists of a series of stimulus-response associations. Any task can be understood as a chain of discriminable stimuli, each of which has to be associated with a specific response.

Specific transfer means the effect of learning of task A on learning of task B. The learning of task A may make the learning of task B easier or more difficult or have no such effect. Such transfers depend on similarity-dissimilarity between the initial learning task and the second task. The possible relationships between stimuli and responses are shown in Table .

. S.No. Initial Task Second Task Comments . S A – R A S C – R D Both stimuli and responses are different .

S A – R A S A – R A Stimuli are the same and responses are similar . S A – R A S A – R D Stimuli same but responses are different . S A – R A S C – R A Stimuli are different but responses same . S A – R A S A – R A Same stimuli and responses but associations interchanged TTTTTable able .

Similarity-Dissimilarity Similarity-Dissimilarity Similarity-Dissimilarity Similarity-Dissimilarity Similarity-Dissimilarity RRRRRelationship between the Initial and Subsequent Learning T elationship between the Initial and Subsequent Learning T elationship between the Initial and Subsequent Learning T elationship between the Initial and Subsequent Learning T elationship between the Initial and Subsequent Learning Tasks asks asks asks asks On the basis of a long series of experimental studies, the following conclusions have been drawn about specific transfer with reference to the situations shown in Table . . . In the first instance, the initial and transfer tasks are very different both in stimuli as well as in responses.

Hence no specific transfer is expected. However, due to the mechanism of general transfer some degree of positive transfer may occur. . In the second case, the stimuli of the two tasks are the same and responses are highly similar.

Therefore, maximum transfer may occur. It has been regularly shown that in this condition positive transfer takes place. F ACTORS F ACILITATING L EARNING In the preceding section we examined the specific determinants of learning, such as contiguous presentation of CS and US in classical conditioning; number, amount, and delay of reinforcement in operant conditioning; status and attractiveness of models in observational learning; procedure in verbal learning; and the nature of rules and perceptual features of objects and events in concept learning. Now, we shall discuss some general determinants of lear ning.

This discussion is not exhaustive. Rather it deals with some salient factors only which are found very important. organism to act for fulfilling the current need. In other words, motivation energises an organism to act vigorously for attaining some goal.

Such acts persist until the goal is attained and the need is satisfied. Motivation is a prerequisite for learning. Why does a child forage in the kitchen when the mother is not in the house? S/he does so because s/he needs sweets to eat for which s/he is trying to locate the jar in which sweets are kept.

During the course of foraging the child learns the location of the jar. A hungry rat is placed in a box. The animal forages in the box for food. Incidentally it presses a lever and food drops in the box.

With repeated experience of such activity, the animal learns to press the lever immediately after the animal is placed there. Have you ever asked yourself why you are studying psychology and other subjects in Class XI? You are doing so to pass with good marks or grades in your final examination. The more motivated you are, the more hard work you do for learning.

Your motivation for learning something arises from two sources. You learn many things because you enjoy them (intrinsic motivation) or they provide you the means for attaining some other goal (extrinsic motivation). Preparedness for Learning The members of different species are very different from one another in their sensory capacities and response abilities. The mechanisms necessary for establishing associations, such as S-S or S-R, also vary from species to species.

It can be said that species have biological constraints on their learning capacities. The kinds of S-S or S-R learning an organism can easily acquire depends on the associative mechanism it is genetically endowed with or prepared for. A particular kind of associative learning is easy for apes or human beings but may be extremely difficult and sometimes impossible for cats and rats. It implies that one can learn only those associations for which one is genetically prepared.

Continuous vs Partial Reinforcement In experiments on learning the experimenter can arrange to deliver reinforcement according to a specific schedule. In the context of learning, two kinds of schedules namely continuous and partial have been found very important. In continuous reinforcement the participant is given reinforcement after each target response. This kind of schedule of reinforcement produces a high rate of responding.

However, once the reinforcement is withheld, response rates decrease very quickly, and the responses acquired under this schedule tend to extinguish. Since organism is getting reinforcement on each trial, the effectiveness of that reinforcer is reduced. In such schedules where reinforcement is not continuous, some responses are not reinforced. Hence, they are called partial or intermittent reinforcement.

There are several ways in which one might reinforce responses according to an intermittent schedule. It has been found that partial reinforcement schedules often produce very high rates of responding, particularly when responses are reinforced according to ratio. In this kind of schedule, an organism often makes several responses that are not reinforced. Therefore, it becomes difficult to tell when a reinforcement has been discontinued completely and when it has merely been delayed.

When reinforcement is continuous it is easier to tell when it has been discontinued. This kind of difference has been found crucial for extinction. It has been found that extinction of a response is more difficult following partial reinforcement than following continuous reinforcement . The fact that the responses acquired under partial reinforcement are highly resistant to extinction is called partial reinforcement effect .

Motivation All living organisms have survival needs and human beings, in addition, have growth needs. Motivation is a mental as well as a physiological state, which arouses an The concept of preparedness may be best understood as a continuum or dimension, on one end of which are those learning tasks or associations which are easy for the members of some species, and on the other end are those learning tasks for which those members are not prepared at all and cannot learn them. In the middle of the continuum fall those tasks and associations for which the members are neither prepared nor unprepared. They can learn such tasks, but only with great difficulty and persistence.

T HE L EARNER : L EARNING S TYLES You may have observed that some children, sometimes from the same family, perform well in school whereas others do not. There has been a great deal of research on learning styles over the last several decades. It demonstrates the differences in the way people learn within the same class, culture, community or socio- economic group and those belonging to different groups. Learning style may be defined as ‘a learner’s consistent way of responding to and using stimuli in the context of learning ’.

In other words, it is ‘the way in which each learner begins to concentrate, processes, and retains new and complex information’ . It may be noted that this interaction occurs differently for everyone. For example, you may have noticed that children in your class are unique in their personalities, cultural experiences, and values. Different students prefer different learning environments, learning modalities and they all have unique strengths, talents, and weaknesses.

Therefore, it is necessary to examine each individual’s personal characteristics to determine what is most likely to trigger each learner’s concentration, maintain it, respond to her or his natural processing style and facilitate long-term memory. There are various instruments which are used to determine a student’s learning style. Learning styles are mainly derived from Perceptual Modality, Information Processing, and Personality Patterns. A brief description of these approaches are given below: .

Perceptual Modality are biologically-based reactions to the physical environment. It refers to the preferences of persons through which they take in information such as auditory, visual, smell, kinesthetic, and tactile. . Information Processing distinguishes between the way we are structured to think, solve problems, and remember information.

This may be thought of as the way we process information. For example, active/reflective, sensing/intuitive, sequential/global, serial/simultaneous, etc. . Personality Patterns are the way we interact with our surroundings.

Each one of us has a preferred, consistent, and distinct way of perceiving, organising, and retaining information. This approach focuses on understanding how personality affects the way people interact with the environment, and how this affects the way individuals respond to each other within the learning environment. There are several dimensions along which learning styles differ. For example, Anderson differentiated between analytic and relational styles of learning.

These have been illustrated in Table . . It is clear that people with a relational style learn material best through exposure to a full unit or phenomenon. They comprehend parts of the unit only by understanding their relationship to the whole.

On the other hand, people with an analytical learning style learn mor e easily when information is presented step by step in a cumulative sequential pattern that builds towards a conceptual understanding. One must remember that the various learning styles are points along a scale that help us to discover the different forms of mental representation. They do not characterise people. Therefore, we should not divide the population into a set category (e.g., visual person, extrovert, etc.).

We are capable of learning under any style, no matter what our preference may be. L EARNING D ISABILITIES You must have heard, observed or read that thousands of children get enrolled for education in schools. Some of them, however, find the demands of educational process too difficult to meet, and they drop out. Such students are called “drop-outs”.

The reasons for this are numerous, such as sensory impairment, intellectual disability, social and emotional disturbance, poor economic conditions of the family, cultural beliefs and norms or other environmental influences. Apart from these conditions, there is another source of obstacle in the continuance of education that is called learning disabilities. It makes school learning, i.e. acquisition of knowledge and skills too difficult to grapple with.

Such children also fail to move forward in their learning activities. Learning disability is a general term. It refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders manifested in terms of difficulty in the acquisition of learning, reading, writing, speaking, reasoning, and mathematical activities. The sources of such disorders are inherent in the child.

It is presumed that these difficulties originate from problems with the functioning of the central nervous system. It may occur in conjunction with physical handicaps, sensory impairment, intellectual disability or without them. It must be noted that learning disabilities may be observed as a distinct handicapping condition in children of average to superior intelligence, adequate sensory motor systems, and adequate learning opportunities. If it is not remedied, it may continue throughout life and affect self-esteem, vocation, social relations, and daily living activities.

Symptoms of Learning Disabilities There ar e many symptoms of learning disabilities. They become manifest in different combinations in children who suffer from this disorder irrespective of their intelligence, motivation, and hard work for learning. . Difficulties in writing letters, words and phrases, reading out text, and speaking appear quite frequently.

Quite often they have listening problems, although they may not have auditory defects. Such Relational Style . Perceive information as part of total picture . Exhibit intuitive thinking .

Learn materials that have a human, social content and are characterised by experiential/cultural relevance more easily . Have a good memory for verbally presented ideas and information, especially if relevant . Are more task-oriented concerning non- academic areas . Are influenced by authority figures’ expression of confidence or doubt in students’ ability .

Prefer to withdraw from unstimulating task performance . Style conflicts with the traditional school environment TTTTTable able . Learning Styles Learning Styles Learning Styles Learning Styles Learning Styles Analytical Style . Able to disembed information from total picture (focus on detail) .

Exhibit sequential and structured thinking . Learn materials that are inanimate and impersonal more easily . Have a good memory for abstract ideas and irrelevant information . Are more task-oriented concerning academics .

Are not greatly affected by the opinions of others . Show ability to persist unstimulating task . Style matches most school environments children are very different from others in developing learning strategies and plans. .