Altius Pschology 1 Flashcards
Retrieval cues
Definition
Example
You are bringing old information out of long term memory into working memory and can then be manipulated and used further.
There are methods/processes that can be used to help with pulling out permanent information from LTM
Primers are related words/ideas that help to increase recognition
Priming Effect
Definition
Example
Able to increase recall/verification by presenting a related word first to spark retrieval
More likely to think NURSE if presented with DOCTOR first
Typicality Effect
Definition
Example
Retrieval is faster/more efficient if you use an example that is more well known versus something less typical
A pigeon is an animal is verified faster than would a penguin is an animal.
Familiarity Effect
Definition
Example
By increasing the level of familiarity with a concept or example this will increase recall and verification rates
A dog is a mammal is verified faster than an armadillo is an mammal simply because you are more familiar/exposed to dogs
True-False Effect
General idea that true statements are verified faster than false statements
Category Size Effect
Definition
Example
Recall and verification rates increase if there are less members in a category and will decrease as members increase.
dogs versus mammals
Serial Position Effect
Definition
Prediction of recall via primacy effect
Prediction of recall via recency effect
The way in which a list of items is presented affects how you recall these items
Predicts that the first few items are more likely to be remembered at a higher rate
Predicts the last few items of a list are more likely to be recalled at a higher rate
Interference Effect
A very similar memory can make it difficult to recall a new memory secondary to interference
Proactive Interference
Definition
Example
Can occur when old memories interfere with forming new ones
You experience a more difficult time remembering your new phone number and keep reverting to your previous number
Retroactive Interference
Definition
Example
Will occur when a new memory interferes with recalling an old memory
Attempting to memorize a list of words: you may be able to remember some of the words but adding on new words makes it much more difficult to recall these words
Automatic Spreading Activation
Definition
Example
Occurs when the primer is a category name and the target is an example within that category
For instance, subjects respond faster to the word “doctor” when it is preceded by “nurse” than when it is preceded by an unrelated word like “carrot”.
Emotion and Memory
Heightened emotional state
Positive versus negative memories
State dependent learning
Memories coded during heightened emotional states are remembered more easily.
- heightened emotions with respect to one memory can increase the strength of this memory in LTM and can simultaneously decrease the strength for a memory immediately before or at the same time as the emotional event.
Positive memories are more likely to be remembered easier and with more details than negative memories.
- people with depression remember both negative and positive memories equally
Recall of a memory in the same state in which it was learned enhances recall includes mood and emotions presents
Forgetting:
Why does this occur
Insufficient repetition and attention
Methods to combat forgetting
Repetition
Spaced repetition creates stronger LTM traces
Without rehearsal, short term memory lasts for how long
15 to 30 seconds
LTM is constantly decaying
The more semantic memories and connections you make to the memory and the more interconnections with existing memories, the less likely decay is to occur
Hermann Ebbinghaus
Curve of forgetting
Episodic Memory Loss
related to age
As you age, you can experience memory loss where you no longer recall or have difficulty with remembering autobiographical information such as what did I eat for dinner last week or where was I when 9/11 happened.
Source Memory Loss
related to age
As you age, you can experience difficulty or no longer recall autobiographical information such as Where did I read that or who told me about 9/11?
Alzheimer’s Disease
Characteristics of the disease
Physiological characteristics of the disease
Normally diagnosed around age 65. Starts with memory loss, impaired cognition and language deterioration. With time, the disease progresses where judgement is lost; changes in mood and personality; confusion.
B-amyloid (peptides) plaques form outside of CNS neurons and Tau proteins involved in structure will aggregate into tangles within the cell. Brain and hippocampus will decrease. Ventricles increase.
Korsakoff’s Syndrome
General characteristics
How
Brain disorder caused from a severe deficiency in thiamine or B1 from chronic alcohol abuse.
Alcohol inhibits the conversion of thiamine to active form TPP (thiamine pyrophosphate)
In addition, alcoholics can experience malabsorption of vitamins secondary to GI being chronically inflamed
May involve confabulation of memories
Wernicke’s Encephalopathy
Milder version of Korsakoff’s syndrome and treated by IV vitamins and alcohol cessation
Confabulation
Fabricate/recall false memories that are vivid and detailed to fill in gaps in a coherent story/memory
seen in patients with Alzheimer’s and Korsakoff’s
Misinformation Effect
If you are presented false information or details, these details can alter a memory or have you inaccurately recall the memory
Watching a video of a car at a stop sign, told by witness that the car did not stop yet you yourself saw that they did in fact stop but your memory is altered
Source Monitoring Errors
source amnesia
Occurs when the source of the memory is incorrect and was likely not encoded when storing the memory.
In response to source amnesia, you may use heuristic judgement to
Unconsciously determine the source of a memory by using clues or short cuts associated with the memory
In response to source amnesia, you may use systematic judgments to
Consciously determining the source of a memory based on logical evaluation of the details you do recall
Neural Plasticity
Your brain and neurons can physically change in response to stimuli
Synapses, dendrites and glial cells can all change
Neural Plasticity
Adult versus infant brains
Infant brains contain the same number of neurons, more synapses and fewer glial cells which are support cells like oligodendrocytes
Synaptic Pruning
Some synapses are destroyed when they are weak and not frequently used
Others are strengthened when they are strong and frequently used
Memory storage for STM
STM may result from temporary chemical or electrical traces that fade away quickly
Memory storage for LTM
LTM causes physical changes to neurons whether more dendrites are grown strengthening a neuronal connection or a synaptic membrane is modified to decrease or increase the strength of that synapse
Potentiation
Occurs when you consistently strengthen a synapse (LTM) increasing the activity of that synapse
This can occur with increases in pre-synaptic NT bundles, increase in post synpactic ion channel receptors, increase in gene expression
LT Depression
Persistent weakening of a synapse due to decreased activity
Memory versus Learning
Define both
Encoding, storage and retrieval of information
stable change in behavior based on experience over time
Habituation
decrease response to a stimuli after you are exposed to it multiple times so essentially you are shifting attention away from the stimuli
the stimuli is innate therefore unconscious behavior
Extinction
decreased response to a conditioned behavior
Dishabituation
When you introduce a second stimulus that disrupts inattention to a stimulus that was habituated so you are now reacting to the old stimulus as if it were new
Sensitization
You have an increased response to a stimulus even though you have been exposed to the stimulus multiple times
Essentially it is the opposite reaction to habituation
Classical Conditioning
Think:
Pavlov’s dog
So you are learning to associate a stimulus with another
Classical conditioning is only for instinctual responses to it must be automatic in nature whether its a reflex, instinct or biological response
Pavlov’s dogs salivating to food was a biological process and this was paired with the ringing of the bell
Neutral stimulus
a stimulus that does not elicit a response in the absence of learning.
In Pavlov’s experiment, the bell was neutral as it did not have a paired response
Conditioned stimulus
Pairing a neutral stimuli with a conditioned response can create a conditioned stimulus
Shaping
form of operant conditioning
reinforce successive modifications of a target behavior
Extinction
form of operant conditioning
eliminate a behavior that you already have with no consequences
Reinforcement
increase behavior in future
Positive Reinforcement
add stimulus in order to reinforce a behavior
Negative Reinforcement
remove stimulus to reinforce a behavior and have it continue
Punishment
want to decrease or stop a behavior
Positive punishment
add stimulus or present something to decrease behavior
Negative punishment
remove something to decrease behavior
Conditioned reinforcer
does not have reinforcing value on its own
but when paired with a primary reinforcer it then has value because of that association
Fixed ratio
behavior is rewarded every time or every nth time
Fixed interval
behavior is rewarded every after a fixed time interval i.e. every 30 seconds
Variable ratio
rewarded at a variable rate or number of times something is done
i.e. after the fourth time, then second, then sixth
Variable interval
rewarded at a variable time interval
i.e. after 20 seconds then after 2 minutes
Cumulative number of responses versus time
VR
FR
VI
FI
Avoidance behavior/learning
rxn to negative reinforcement
adopt a behavior to avoid an unpleasant stimulus or learn not to do something to avoid it
i.e. bee stings you and you learn not to pick flowers
Escape learning
subject adopts a behavior to reduce or end an unpleasant stimulus
you touch a hot stove, it burns you, you jerk away
Acquisition learning
learn an association between neutral and unconditioned stimuli so that neutral stimulus becomes a condition stimulus
Extinction learning
presenting the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus will over time stop the conditioned response to the conditioned stimulus from occurring
For example, imagine that you taught your dog to shake hands. Over time, the trick became less interesting. You stop rewarding the behavior and eventually stop asking your dog to shake. Eventually, the response becomes extinct, and your dog no longer displays the behavior.
Spontaneous recovery
Extinction occurs but if you show the conditioned response to the conditioned stimulus even if the conditioned stimulus was extinguished
Generalization
Conditioned response to stimuli will occur to things that are similar but not identical to the conditioned response
Discrimination
learn to respond only to the conditioned stimulus and ignore other similar sitmuli
Automatic learning
is unconscious, unintentional and stimulus driven in that association is determined by the event or stimulus experienced
Rule based processing
conscious and intentional
driven by both the stimulus experienced and language, cognition or formal reasoning
Latent learning
learning without having a reward
but is spontaneously demonstrated once the reward is presented
passively soak up knowledge
Instinctive drift
tendency to revert back to instinctual response
i.e. mother goose will protect her eggs. If you try to teach a goose to abandon eggs, it won’t work because it goes against their instinct
Observational learning
learning that results from observing the behavior of others
Social-Cognitive Theory
psychological perspective from Albert Bandura (bobo doll experiment) attempting to explain behavior
we learn how to behave by observing others in society
Modeling
learn a behavior by watching others and then mimicking their behavior
this can also stop you from attempting a behavior
Mirror Neurons
active when we watch someone else perform a behavior and fire again when we do the behavior
can include motor behaviors or empathy (see someone smile)
fire both when we feel an emotion and when we observe someone else feeling that emotion
located in motor and sensory areas like primary motor cortex (somatomotor cortex) and somatosensory cortex
Sensation
when you detect a stimuli by sensory receptors then convert the stimuli to an electrical impulse that travels to CNS
Threshold
minimum magnitude of a stimulus or minimum difference in magnitude between two stimuli that can be perceived by the CNS
Absolute threshold
the minimum amount of stimulation that can be detected about 50% of the time
i.e. how bright a light must be to be detected half of the time
Difference threshold or just noticeable difference (JND)
ability to discriminate between sensory stimuli of varying intensities
so how much difference must exist between two stimuli in order to determine that one is more or less intense than the other
Threshold of conscious perception
a stimulus that does not exceed or falls below the absolute threshold or 50%
Weber’s Law
the minimum just noticeable difference for a stimulus is directly proportional to the magnitude of the original stimulus
the ratio of the JND to the magnitude of the original stimulus is a constant for a given stimulus type
