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Understanding the Limitations of Learning: Heredity, Critical Periods, and Instinctual Drift

This chapter explores the inherent limitations of learning, focusing on physical characteristics, non-heritability, and the heredity of learning ability. Key concepts include neurological damage, critical periods essential for learning, and the idea of biological preparedness versus instinctual drift in animals. Research such as Tryon's infamous rat studies highlights genetic influences on learning potential, while critical periods illustrate optimal times for skill acquisition. Overall, the interplay between heredity, environment, and learning abilities reveals profound implications for adaptability and evolution.

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Understanding the Limitations of Learning: Heredity, Critical Periods, and Instinctual Drift

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  1. Chapter 12 The Limitations of Learning

  2. Limits • Physical Characteristics • Non-heritability • Heredity of learning ability • Neurological Damage • Critical Periods • Preparedness • Instinctual Drift • Biological Preparedness • Sign Tracking

  3. Physical Characteristics • Physiological structure of the species • Limitations on behaviours • e.g. teaching chimps to talk vs. teaching sign language

  4. Nonheritability of Learned Behaviour • Learned behaviours are not inherited • Lamarckian evolution: passing acquired characteristics to offspring • Short neck giraffe needs to stretch to reach food • Neck gets longer • Passes on long neck to offspring

  5. McDougall’s rats • Trained rats to run on avoidance task • Trained those rats offspring on avoidance task • Trained those rats offspring on avoidance task, etc. • Each generation should learn faster (inherit skill of parents, and ancestors) • BUT, no control group…

  6. Agar (1954) • Replicated McDougall’s design, but added a control group • Control: every second generation was untrained • Found same pattern of results with control group • i.e. successive generation also learned faster than previous generations • But also many fluctuations within both groups • Suggests that training of parents has no effect on offspring

  7. Non-inheritance • Inheritance of learning could limit adaptability • Advances/changes in ways of thinking • e.g. sun revolves around the earth? • Traditional male/female roles?

  8. Heredity and Learning Ability • Don’t inherit learned behaviours BUT… • Genetic influences on ability to learn • Tryon (1940): rats learn maze, breed “smartest” together and “dumbest” together for 18 generations • ‘Smart’ rats had ‘smart’ rat pups • Not inheriting a learned behaviour, but ability to learn quickly • Identical twins reared apart • Nature and nurture

  9. Neurological Damage • Neurotoxins • Prenatal damage to CNS (e.g., fetal alcohol syndrome, crack cocaine) • Envrionmental toxins (e.g., lead) • Physical damage (e.g., concussions)

  10. Critical Periods • Stage for optimum learning • Puppy dogs • Konrad Lorenz & Imprinting

  11. Harlow & Harlow • Monkeys & terry cloth mothers • “Pit of despair” • Critical period for development of social skills

  12. Preparedness & Learning • Seligman’s ‘Continuum of Preparedness • Prepared • Unprepared • Contraprepare

  13. Autoshaping • Pigeons peck at key light CS even though unnecessary for arrival of US (food) • ‘Prepared’ for learning to peck key-light • autoshaping

  14. Instinctive Drift • Breland & Breland (1961) • “miserly” raccoon • Contraprepared • Innate tendencies (GBTs, FAPs) interfere with learning

  15. Biological Preparedness • Remember ‘bright-noisy water’? • Prepared for ‘flavour’ taste aversion, unprepared for ‘noise’ taste aversion

  16. Learning & Evolution • Like evolution, learning has no specific goal • Not all learning is good • Learned helplessness • Vicarious learning of aggression • Drug conditioning

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