1: Learning & Memory

Question 1

Was Aristotle’s approach data-oriented or innately-oriented?

Answer 1

data oriented

Question 2

Which notion of learning did Aristotle come up with?

Answer 2

Associationism

Question 3

What is the core idea behind associationism?

Answer 3

That memory depends on the formation of links/associations between pairs of events, sensations, and ideas

Question 4

What are the 3 core principles of associationism that help thing to be remembered together?

Answer 4

• contiguous (next in sequence)
• frequent presentation together
• similar in their meaning

Question 5

Did Ebbinghaus study words or non-words in relation to learning?

Answer 5

non-words

Question 6

Did Gestalt emphasise the format of the information or the role of the learner?

Answer 6

Role of the learner (active)

Question 7

Which psychologists emphasised the role of internal representations?

Answer 7

Bartlett & Gestalt

Question 8

What are the core concepts of the information-processing approach?

Answer 8

Memory and learning is explained through information being encoded, stored and retrieved. It is based off a computer analogy

Question 9

What is dense amnesia & which case study is an example of it?

Answer 9

Forgetting stuff so frequently that it becomes difficult to hold memories for any considerable time at all. The case study is Clive Wearing .

Question 10

What are the 3 parts of the sensory memory in the modal model of memory?

Answer 10

visual, auditory & haptic (touch)

Question 11

What mechanism moved information from the sensory memory to the STM/Working Memory in the Modal Model of memory?

Answer 11

attention

Question 11

What are the 4 control processes in the STM/Working Memory?

Answer 11

Rehearsal, coding, decision and retrieval strategies

Question 12

How does retrieval manifest for non-declarative/implicit memory?

Answer 12

performance (eg muscle memory)

Question 13

How does retrieval manifest for declarative/ explicit memory?

Answer 13

intentional and is used for personal life recollection or facts

Question 14

what is the total time hypothesis?

Answer 14

The amount learned is a function of the time spent learning

Question 15

How is time spent during initial study related to the time required for relearning?

Answer 15

Learning is linearly related to the amount of study. (a greater amount of repetitions of the list on day 1 meant less repetitions needed to relearn the list later)

Question 16

What part of the brain was affected during the Maguire (2000) taxi driver experiment?

Answer 16

posterior hippocampus

Question 17

What part of the brain was affected during the Draganski (2006) taxi driver experiment?

Answer 17

parietal cortex and the posterior hippocampus

Question 18

Do structural changes stay once learning has occurred?

Answer 18

the brain normalise the volume in the regions enhanced by practice. Some structural changes may be selected and others dropped

Question 19

What is the lag effect?

Answer 19

Lag effect = benefit of repeated study increases as the lag between study occasions increases

Question 20

do participant generally favour massed learning or spaced presentation for learning?

Answer 20

massed learning (even though spaced presentation is more effective)

Question 21

What is the testing effect?

Answer 21

Having to retrieve the answer, rather than being presented with, leads to greater retention.

Question 22

which study practise displayed the greatest recall between repeats, conceptive maps and testing?

Answer 22

testing

Question 23

in what automatic ways does motivation help with learning?

Answer 23

External (e.g., reward) or internal (e.g., curiosity) motives prior to exposure to stimuli improves memory

Question 24

in what strategic way does motivation help with learning?

Answer 24

People use deeper and more elaborate memorization strategies for high value items

Question 25

what part of the brain has been shown have a change in network to be associated with learning?

Answer 25

hippocampus

Question 26

what is Hebbian learning?

Answer 26

Learning involves strengthening the connections of co-active neurons

Question 27

what evidence do we have for hebbian learning?

Answer 27

stimulating axonal pathways led to lasting increases in the electrical potentials generated in post-synaptic neurons = long-term potentiation

Question 28

what is long term potentiation?

Answer 28

Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a persistent strengthening of synaptic connections induced by a brief period of high-frequency presynaptic activity