A Contrast Between Traditional and Contemporary Learning Theory

Mowrer, Robert R.; Klein, Stephen B.

doi:10.4324/9781315788982-2

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Thus, the distinction between Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning is not only based on the type of events experienced and the experimental procedure used, but also includes what subjects learn (i.e., mental representations and learned associations in memory). On the other hand, unlike behaviourist positions, modern learning theory does not claim that anything can be learned or that all behaviour is learned, but rather the realisation that our biological systems and associative vulnerabilities constrain what we do or do not learn, promoting the learning of specific associations [27]. Surprisingly, progress in learning theory has not had a significant impact on clinical research and practice in EDs until very recently.…”

Section: Basic Concepts Of Learning Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Food Restriction in Anorexia Nervosa in the Light of Modern Learning Theory: A Narrative Review

Garcia‐Burgos

Wilhelm

Vögele

et al. 2023

Behavioral Sciences

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Improvements in the clinical management of anorexia nervosa (AN) are urgently needed. To do so, the search for innovative approaches continues at laboratory and clinical levels to translate new findings into more effective treatments. In this sense, modern learning theory provides a unifying framework that connects concepts, methodologies and data from preclinical and clinical research to inspire novel interventions in the field of psychopathology in general, and of disordered eating in particular. Indeed, learning is thought to be a crucial factor in the development/regulation of normal and pathological eating behaviour. Thus, the present review not only tries to provide a comprehensive overview of modern learning research in the field of AN, but also follows a transdiagnostic perspective to offer testable explanations for the origin and maintenance of pathological food rejection. This narrative review was informed by a systematic search of research papers in the electronic databases PsycInfo, Scopus and Web of Science following PRISMA methodology. By considering the number and type of associations (Pavlovian, goal-directed or habitual) and the affective nature of conditioning processes (appetitive versus aversive), this approach can explain many features of AN, including why some patients restrict food intake to the point of life-threatening starvation and others restrict calorie intake to lose weight and binge on a regular basis. Nonetheless, it is striking how little impact modern learning theory has had on the current AN research agenda and practice.

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Section: Basic Concepts Of Learning Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Food Restriction in Anorexia Nervosa in the Light of Modern Learning Theory: A Narrative Review

Garcia‐Burgos

Wilhelm

Vögele

et al. 2023

Behavioral Sciences

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“…In the case of addictive behavior, extinction-based therapy became known as cue exposure therapy and consisted of repeated exposure to drug-associated cues in the absence of drug reward. Although cue exposure therapy was intuitively appealing, efficacy studies have indicated minimal utility, possibly because extinction training does not alter the original learning but, rather, results in the development of inhibitory learning that suppresses responding . Importantly, the ability of the inhibitory learning to oppose the original learning and suppress responding is constrained by a number of factors, including the passage of time (ie, spontaneous recovery), the presence of novel drug cues or contexts (ie, renewal), or the occurrence of drug reward following drug administration (ie, reinstatement) .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of a Brief Memory Updating Intervention on Smoking Behavior

et al. 2017

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IMPORTANCE Recent research on addiction-related memory processes suggests that protracted extinction training following brief cue-elicited memory retrieval (ie, retrieval-extinction [R-E] training) can attenuate/eradicate the ability of cues to elicit learned behaviors. One study reported that cue-elicited craving among detoxified heroin addicts was substantially attenuated following R-E training and through 6-month follow-up. OBJECTIVE To build on these impressive findings by examining whether R-E training could attenuate smoking-related craving and behavior. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This prospective, mixed-design, human laboratory randomized clinical trial took place between December 2013 and September 2015. Participants were recruited in Charleston, South Carolina. Study sessions took place at the Medical University of South Carolina. The participants were 168 screened volunteer smokers, of whom 88 were randomized; 72 of these 88 participants (81.8%) attended all the follow-up sessions through 1 month. The primary eligibility criteria were current nicotine dependence (DSM criteria), smoking 10 or more cigarettes per day, and a willingness to attempt smoking cessation. INTERVENTIONS Participants were randomly assigned to receive either smoking-related memory retrieval followed by extinction training (the R-E group) or nonsmoking-related retrieval followed by extinction training (the NR-E group). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Primary outcomes were cue-elicited craving and physiological responding to familiar and novel cues in the R-E group vs the NR-E group over a 1-month follow-up period. Secondary outcomes were smoking-related behaviors. RESULTS A total of 44 participants were randomly assigned to the R-E group (mean age, 48.3 years; 72.7% male); a total of 44 participants were randomly assigned to the NR-E group, with 43 attending at least 1 training session (mean age, 46.7 years; 55.8% male). The mean craving response to both familiar and novel smoking cues was significantly lower for participants in the R-E group than for participants in the NR-E group at 1-month follow-up (for both cue types: t1225 = 2.1, P = .04, d = 0.44, and Δ = 0.47 [95% CI, 0.04–0.90]). The mean numbers of cigarettes smoked per day at 2 weeks and 1-month were significantly lower for the R-E group than for the NR-E group (treatment main effect: F1,68 = 5.4, P = .02, d = 0.50, and Δ = 2.4 [95% CI, 0.4–4.5]). Significant differences in physiological responses, urine cotinine level, number of days abstinent, lapse, and relapse were not observed between groups (all between P = .06 and .75). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Retrieval-extinction training substantially attenuated craving to both familiar and novel smoking cues and reduced the number of cigarettes smoked per day by participants 1 month after treatment relative to extinction training alone. Between-group differences were not observed for physiological responses, cotinine level, number of days abstinent, relapse, or lapse. In summary, R-E training is a brief behavio...

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“…Studies dating back to the 1970s have found higher US intensities drive greater long-term defensive responses (e.g., startle, freezing), fear generalization, and “dose”-dependently drive increased transmitter levels in the brain across species ( 86–89 ). Several other theories have also addressed aspects of associability ( 67 ). These studies suggest that the US plays an especially important role in regulating how a neutral stimulus (NS) is associated with an unconditioned aversive stimulus (US) to produce a conditioned stimulus (CS) and conditioned defensive response (CR).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This work has provided valuable insights into the associative strength (e.g., ΔV) between single and compound cues and the unconditioned stimulus (US) to produce a future behavioral CR (cf. ( 67 )). Moreover, these principles have been essential for understanding how memories are held in discrete, but distributed, networks of cells and circuits (e.g., “the engram”; ( 7, 18, 19, 68 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Circular RNAs may embed pieces of real-world sensory information into an episodic memory

Asok¹

2022

Preprint

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For a generation, neuroscience has searched for a molecule that stores our memories across time. This search has focused on proteomic mechanisms, but less is known about RNA. Here, we identify a new persisting class of RNA associated with long-term memory - Circular RNAs. Unlike other RNAs, Circular RNAs are stable for days or longer and may provide a means for storing sensory information across time. We leveraged a differential fear conditioning paradigm whereby individual mice sample all real-world sensory inputs (i.e., auditory, visual, gustatory, olfactory, and incidental tactile) in a quasi-stochastic manner prior to receiving different intensities of an unconditioned stimulus (US) foot-shock. While Pavlovian models of learning from the 20th century were critical for understanding elemental associations, they fail to appreciate (1) what US content remains inside of a complex conditioned stimulus (CS) or response (CR - a behavioral manifestation of an episodic memory), (2) what happens when the associations involve multiple senses, and (3) what biologically happens to the real-world US. Given (1) we are constantly sampling information from our environment through all our senses and (2) the US at a given moment in time likely adds value to imprint that multisensory representation, we propose the real-world US is biologically encoded via back-spliced Circular RNAs within the cells and circuits that represent a particular episodic memory and present days later. This logic, best simplified by the equation: CS^(NS+US) = NS degrees ^(x1p(a)+x2p(v)+x3p(t)+x4p(o)+x5p(g)/t)+ US^((((i+(n-1))*is) - (i2) -/t)), allowed us to ask how the formation of similar episodic memories, which only differ in relation to the content of US information, alter Circular RNAs in the CA1 subfield of the hippocampus - a brain area critical for episodic memories. We found that stronger foot-shock USs during conditioning produce stronger memories relative to weaker USs 24-h later. Stronger memories also generalize to novel/safe environments 48-h later. Moreover, the unconditioned response is highly correlated with future CRs, suggesting (1) an understudied relationship between the strength and type of US/URs and future CRs in complex environments as well as (2) fear generalization, at least in the short-term, is associated with the embedding of additional US information. Next-generation Circular RNA sequencing 1-hr after acquisition revealed a remarkably small set of circular RNAs relative to nearly identical, yet weaker, episodic memories in CA1. Gene Ontologies for mice that formed weaker and stronger memories matched those families classically involved in weaker and stronger forms of memory across species. Preliminary in situ hybridization visually confirmed the presence of Circular RNAs in the CA1 subfield. Future experiments will examine the persistence of Circular RNAs in cells of a memory trace (i.e., engram cells; in situ hybridization) at recent (4 days) and remote (21-days) time points. Taken together with our mathematical model for multisensory learning, our data suggest that Circular RNAs do not contribute to the storage of the multisensory configural representation, but perhaps to the storage of discrete pieces of real-world sensory information related to the US that is partially embedded inside of a memory trace early-on. Importantly, in the above model for multisensory learning, the discrete USs are biologically separable from the future CS^(NS+US) associations and US strength is modifiable across time. This work reveals fundamental insights into how we store pieces of real-world sensory information in an episodic memory at the biological level of the brain.

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A Contrast Between Traditional and Contemporary Learning Theory

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

Food Restriction in Anorexia Nervosa in the Light of Modern Learning Theory: A Narrative Review

Food Restriction in Anorexia Nervosa in the Light of Modern Learning Theory: A Narrative Review

Effect of a Brief Memory Updating Intervention on Smoking Behavior

Circular RNAs may embed pieces of real-world sensory information into an episodic memory

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