5. Learning Flashcards
Key words ur Baddeley, Eysenck & Anderson (2009)
The total time hypothesis
The proposal that amount learned is a simple function of the amount of time spent on the learning task.
So: if you double the learning time, you double the amount of information stored.
(Not really the case though…)
Nonsense syllables
Pronounceable but meaningless consonant-vowel- consonant items designed to study learning without the complicating factor of meaning.
Change blindeness
The failure to detect that a visual object has moved, changed, or been replaced by another object.
EX: turist byts ut när några byggarbetare går förbi med ett plank –> många märker inte bytet
Distributed practice (effect)
Breaking practice up into a number of shorter sessions; in contrast to massed practice, which comprises fewer, long, learning sessions.
- har visat sig mest effektiv pluggtaktik!
Expanding retrieval
A learning schedule whereby items are initially tested after a short delay, with pretest delay gradually increasing across subsequent trials.
So if the learner fails an item in the vocabulary list, it should be presented after a shorter delay; whenever the learner is correct, the delay should be increased.
A method where two basic principles, derived from the laboratory study of verbal memory, are combined:
- the distribution of practice effect and
- the generation effect
Latent inhibition
Classical conditioning phenomenon whereby multiple prior presentations of a neutral stimulus will interfere with its involvement in subsequent conditioning.
Mere exposure effect
A tendency for a neutral stimulus to acquire positive value with repeated exposure.
So simply increasing our exposure to a novel stimulus will increase its rated pleasantness
Amygdala
An area of the brain close to the hippocampus that is involved in emotional processing.
Hippocampus
Brain structure in the medial temporal lobe that is important for long-term memory formation.
- known to be important for episodic memory
Stem completion
A task whereby retention of a word is tested by presenting the first few letters.
- tests implicit memory
- by presenting the first few letters and inviting the patient to “provide” a word that would fit
EX: present STAMP and test with ST– – –
Fragment completion
A technique whereby memory for a word is tested by deleting alternate letters and asking participants to produce the word.
- test explicit memory
- a previously presented word such as ELEPHANT is tested by giving the word with half the letters omitted
EX: presenting – L – P – A – T and asking what word would fit that fragment.
Immersion method
A strategy for foreign language teaching whereby the learner is placed in an environment where only the foreign language is used.
- attempting to learn in a context in which only the second language is spoken
Studies have shown that learning a language by the immersion method is NOT possible. However, this is clearly not the case, as this is how we learn our native language.
Consolidation of memory
A process whereby the memory becomes more firmly established. It is commonly now divided into two processes, synaptic consolidation a process that is assumed to involve the hippocampus and operate over a 24 hour timescale, and systems consolidation. This is assumed to operate over a much longer period, and to involve the transfer of information from the hippocampus to other parts of the neocortex.
Cell assembly
A concept proposed by Hebb to account for the physiological basis of long-term learning, which is assumed to involve the establishment of links between the cells forming the assembly.
The generation effect
= if you succeed in remembering an item for yourself, this strengthens the memory more than if you have the item provided for you, i.e. producing the answer from memory rather than being given it!
The implications of this are exactly the opposite to the distribution of practice effect. The sooner an item is tested, the greater the probability that you will be able to successfully retrieve it, and hence the greater the probability that learning will be strengthened