It is time to inhibit Pavlovian conditioning

2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-261
Author(s):  
John Limber
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Control Theory ◽  
Pavlovian Conditioning ◽  
Predictive Capability ◽  
Forward Models ◽  
Feed Forward ◽  
Target Article ◽  
Concept Of Information

Despite a promising introduction, Domjan et al.'s target article fails to capitalize on the concept of information intrinsic to control theory. The authors limit their application of feed-forward models to simple nondynamic cases. Their applications to social behavior are stimulus-occasioned responses. Agents might as well be dogfood! The notion of “conditioning” is generalized without warrant to explain virtually any acquired predictive capability.

Learning theory, feed-forward mechanisms, and the adaptiveness of conditioned responding

2004 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 698-698
Author(s):  
Peter D. Balsam ◽  
Michael R. Drew
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Feedback Control ◽  
Pavlovian Conditioning ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Adaptive Behavior ◽  
Time Lags ◽  
Feed Forward ◽  
Adaptive Value ◽  
Conditioned Responding

The specific mechanisms whereby Pavlovian conditioning leads to adaptive behavior need to be elaborated. There is no evidence that it is via reduction in the “destabilizing effect that time lags have on feedback control” (Domjan et al. 2000, sect. 3.3). The adaptive value of Pavlovian conditioning goes well beyond the regulation of social behavior.

Extensions, elaborations, and explanations of the role of evolution and learning in the control of social behavior

2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-276
Author(s):  
Michael Domjan ◽  
Brian Cusato ◽  
Ronald Villarreal
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Pavlovian Conditioning ◽  
Maladaptive Behavior ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Target Article ◽  
Homeostatic Model ◽  
Conditioned Responses ◽  
Reproductive Consequences

Reactions to the target article included requests for extensions and elaborations of the schema we proposed and discussions of apparent shortcomings of our approach. In general, we welcome suggestions for extension of the schema to additional kinds of social behavior and to forms of learning other than Pavlovian conditioning. Many of the requested elaborations of the schema are consistent with our approach, but some may limit its generality. Many of the apparent shortcomings that commentators discussed do not seem problematic. Our schema encourages a broad view of the behavioral consequences of Pavlovian conditioning – including learned modifications of responding to the unconditioned stimulus. Costs and benefits addressed by our schema are the long-range reproductive consequences of learning – not the immediate reinforcing consequences of particular conditioned responses. Our approach allows the evolution of learning to yield maladaptive behavior and can be extended to characterize dynamic social interactions. We clarify that ours is not a homeostatic model involving ideal set points, and we clarify and defend our application of Pavlovian concepts to the analysis of social play.

Pavlovian feed-forward mechanisms in the control of social behavior

2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Domjan ◽  
Brian Cusato ◽  
Ronald Villarreal
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Systems Theory ◽  
Control Systems ◽  
Pavlovian Conditioning ◽  
Biological Theory ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Feed Forward ◽  
Cost Benefit Ratio ◽  
Control Systems Theory

The conceptual and investigative tools for the analysis of social behavior can be expanded by integrating biological theory, control systems theory, and Pavlovian conditioning. Biological theory has focused on the costs and benefits of social behavior from ecological and evolutionary perspectives. In contrast, control systems theory is concerned with how machines achieve a particular goal or purpose. The accurate operation of a system often requires feed-forward mechanisms that adjust system performance in anticipation of future inputs. Pavlovian conditioning is ideally suited to subserve this function in behavioral systems. Pavlovian mechanisms have been demonstrated in various aspects of sexual behavior, maternal lactation, and infant suckling. Pavlovian conditioning of agonistic behavior has been also reported, and Pavlovian processes may likewise be involved in social play and social grooming. Several further lines of evidence indicate that Pavlovian conditioning can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of social interactions, thereby improving their cost/benefit ratio. We extend Pavlovian concepts beyond the traditional domain of discrete secretory and other physiological reflexes to complex real-world behavioral interactions and apply abstract laboratory analyses of the mechanisms of associative learning to the daily challenges animals face as they interact with one another in their natural environments.

Ecological heuristics for learning

2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-251
Author(s):  
Paul M. Bronstein
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Aggressive Behavior ◽  
Pavlovian Conditioning ◽  
Target Article ◽  
Components Of Behavior

Domjan, Cusato & Villarreal's target article is reviewed in the context of historical difficulty for learning studies in discriminating between learned and unlearned components of behavior. The research surveyed in the target article meets the criterion of differentiating between some learned and the unlearned aspects of social behavior, with Pavlovian conditioning shown repeatedly as a route by which reproductive and aggressive behavior is modulated.

Feed-forward and the evolution of social behavior

2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-266
Author(s):  
C. N. Slobodchikoff
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Pavlovian Conditioning ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Social Behaviors ◽  
Conditioned Stimuli ◽  
Feed Forward ◽  
Proximate Mechanism

Feed-forward Pavlovian conditioning can serve as a proximate mechanism for the evolution of social behavior. Feed-forward can provide the impetus for animals to associate other individuals' presence, and cooperation with them, with the acquisition of resources, whether or not the animals are genetically related. Other social behaviors such as play and grooming may develop as conditioned stimuli in feed-forward social systems.

Multilayer Feed Forward Models in Groundwater Level Forecasting Using Meteorological Data in Public Management

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (15) ◽  
pp. 5041-5052 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgios N. Kouziokas ◽  
Alexander Chatzigeorgiou ◽  
Konstantinos Perakis
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Level ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Meteorological Data ◽  
Forward Models ◽  
Feed Forward

Is the avoiding of operant theory a Pavlovian conditioned response?

2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 252-253
Author(s):  
Claudia D. Cardinal ◽  
Matthew E. Andrzejewski ◽  
Philip N. Hineline
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Pavlovian Conditioning ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Conditioned Response ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Behavior Patterns ◽  
Selection By Consequences

The proposed heavy dependence on Pavlovian conditioning to account for social behavior confounds phylogenically and ontogenically selected behavior patterns and ignores the extension of the principle of selection by consequences from biological to learning theory. Instead of acknowledging operant relations, Domjan et al. construct vaguely specified mechanisms based upon anticipatory cost-benefit considerations that are not supported by the Pavlovian conditioning literature.

Pavlovian perceptions and primate realities

2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 262-262
Author(s):  
Frank E. Poirier ◽  
Michelle Field
Keyword(s):  
Pavlovian Conditioning ◽  
Feed Forward ◽  
Learned Behavior ◽  
Behavior Learning

The extent to which Pavlovian feed-forward mechanisms operate in primates is debatable. Monkeys and apes are long-lived, usually gregarious, and intelligent animals reliant on learned behavior. Learning occurs during play, mother-infant interactions, and grooming. We address these situations, and are hesitant to accept Domjan et al.'s reliance on Pavlovian conditioning as a major operant in primates.

Fish displaying and infants sucking: The operant side of the social behavior coin

2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-255
Author(s):  
Edmund Fantino ◽  
Stephanie Stolarz-Fantino
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Operant Conditioning ◽  
Infant Behavior ◽  
Feed Forward ◽  
The Social ◽  
Complete Account

We applaud Domjan et al. for providing an elegant account of Pavlovian feed-forward mechanisms in social behavior that eschews the pitfall of purposivism. However, they seem to imply that they have provided a complete account without provision for operant conditioning. We argue that operant conditioning plays a central role in social behavior, giving examples from fish and infant behavior.

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