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MCAT > Behavioral Sciences Ch 3. Learning and Memory > Flashcards

Behavioral Sciences Ch 3. Learning and Memory Flashcards

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MCAT flashcards
1
Q

Habituation

A

The process of becoming used to a stimulus, where are repeated exposure to the same stimulus can cause a decrease in response

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2
Q

Dishabituation

A

Recovery of a response to a stimulus ever habituation has occurred, can occur when a second stimulus intervenes

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3
Q

Associative learning

A

A way of pairing together stimuli and responses, or behavior and consequences, includes classical conditioning and operant conditioning

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4
Q

Classical conditioning

A

A type of associative learning that takes advantage of biological, instinctual response to create associations between two unrelated stimuli, an unconditioned stimulus that produces an instinctive, unconditioned response is paired with a neutral stimulus. With repetition, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus that produces a conditioned response, aka acquisition

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5
Q

Operant conditioning

A

Links voluntary behaviors with consequences in an effort to alter the frequency of those behaviors, associated with BF Skinner

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6
Q

Reinforcement

A

The process of increasing the likelihood that an individual will perform a behavior

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7
Q

Punishment

A

Decreases the likelihood of a behavior

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8
Q

Reinforcement schedules

A

Fixed ratio, variable ratio, fixed interval, variable interval

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9
Q

Variable ratio schedules

A

Reinforce the behavior after varying number of performances of the behavior, but such that the average number of performances to receive a reward is relatively constant, the fastest for learning a new behavior in the most resistant to extinction

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10
Q

Observational learning

A

A.k.a. modeling, the acquisition of behavior by watching others

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11
Q

Encoding

A

The process of putting new information into memory, it can be automatic or effortful, semantic encoding is stronger than both acoustic and visual encoding

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12
Q

Sensory memory

A

Transient and is based on the neurotransmitter activity, typically lasts less than a second, incredibly detailed representation of our surroundings, maintained by major projection areas (occipital and temporal lobe)

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13
Q

Short term memory

A

Transient and is based on neurotransmitter activity, typically lasts less than a minute, generally limited in capacity to about 7 items, capacity can be increased by chucking and duration can be extended with maintenance rehearsal, stored in hippocampus

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14
Q

Long-term memory

A

Requires elaborative rehearsal and is the result of increased neuronal connectivity, primarily controlled by the hippocampus, some very old memories moved back to cerebral cortex

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15
Q

Explicit memory

A

aka declarative memory, stores facts and stories, can be divided into semantic memory and episodic memory

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16
Q

Declarative memory

A

aka explicit memory, stores facts and stories, can be divided into semantic memory and episodic memory

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17
Q

Automatic processing

A

Information that is gained without effort

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18
Q

Effortful processing

A

aka controlled processing, active memorization, with practice can become automatic

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19
Q

Acoustic encoding

A

Type of controlled processing where we store it based on the way it sounds

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20
Q

Visual encoding

A

Type of controlled processing where we store it based on visualizing it

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21
Q

Semantic encoding

A

Type of controlled processing where we put it in a meaningful context, most successful

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22
Q

Implicit memory

A

aka non-declarative memory or procedural memory, store skills and conditioning effects

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23
Q

Non-declarative memory

A

aka implicit memory or procedural memory, store skills and conditioning effects

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24
Q

Semantic networks

A

Network of interconnected ideas, how the brain organizes ideas where concepts are linked together based on similar meaning

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25
Q

Recognition

A

Easier than recall, the process of merely identifying a piece of information that was previously learned

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26
Q

Recall

A

Harder than recognition, the retrieval and statement of previously learned information

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27
Q

Retrieval

A

The process of demonstrating that something that has been learned has been retained, often based on priming interconnected nodes of the semantic network

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28
Q

Priming

A

A retrieval cue based on spreading activation, recall is aided by first being presented with a word or phrase that is close to the desired semantic memory

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29
Q

Memories loss

A

Disorders that can cause memory loss include Alzheimers disease, Korsakoffs syndrome, or agnosia; decay; or interference

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30
Q

Memory subjection

A

Memories are highly subjective to influence from outside information in mood both at the time of encoding and at recall

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31
Q

Neuroplasticity

A

When neural connections form rapidly in response to stimuli, children’s brains are much more plastic than adults allowing them to recover from traumatic brain injuries way better because their brains can reorganize more easily

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32
Q

Long-term potentiation

A

Responsible for the conversion of short-term to long-term memory, is the strengthening of neuronal connections resulting from increase neurotransmitter release and adding of receptor sites

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33
Q

Learning

A

Refers specifically to the way in which we acquire new behaviors

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34
Q

Stimulus

A

Anything to which an organism can respond to

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35
Q

Unconditioned stimulus

A

Any stimulus that brings about a reflexive response

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36
Q

Unconditioned response

A

The innate or reflexive response to an unconditioned stimulus

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37
Q

Neutral stimuli

A

Stimuli that do not produce a reflexive response

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38
Q

Signaling stimuli

A

Neutral stimuli that have the potential to be used as a conditioning stimulus

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39
Q

Conditioned stimulus

A

Normally neutral stimulus that, through association, now causes a reflexive response called a conditioned response

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40
Q

Conditioned response

A

A reflexive response due to a condition stimulus that was a neutral stimulus prior to association

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41
Q

Extinction

A

If the condition stimulus is presented without the unconditioned stimulus enough times the organism can become habituated to the condition stimulus

42
Q

Spontaneous recovery

A

If an extinct condition stimulus is presented again, we conditioned response can sometimes be exhibited

43
Q

Generalization

A

A broadening affect by which a stimulus similar enough to the condition stimulus can also produce the conditioned response

44
Q

Discrimination

A

Organism learns to distinguish between two similar stimuli

45
Q

BF Skinner

A

Operant conditioning is associated with him, father of behaviorism

46
Q

Behaviorism

A

The theory that all behaviors are conditioned

47
Q

Positive reinforcers

A

Increase the behavior by adding a positive consequence or incentive following the desired behavior

48
Q

Negative reinforcers

A

Increase the frequency of a behavior by removing something unpleasant, can be subdivided into escape learning and avoidance learning

49
Q

Escape learning

A

The role of her behavior is to reduce the unpleasantness of something that already exists

50
Q

Avoidance learning

A

Meant to prevent the unpleasantness of something that has yet to happen

51
Q

Primary reinforcer

A

A reinforcer that the organism responds to naturally, is based on biological factors

52
Q

Secondary reinforcer

A

aka conditioned reinforcer, a reinforcer that would not normally be a reinforcer on its own, but classical conditioning is used to pair the secondary reinforcer with a primary reinforcer to elicit the same response

53
Q

Discriminative stimulus

A

Indicates that am award is potentially available, for example a dolphin may associate the presence of a trainer with the possibility of a reward

54
Q

Positive punishment

A

Adds an unpleasant consequence to reduce the occurrence of a behavior

55
Q

Negative punishment

A

Removal of something pleasant to reduce a behavior

56
Q

Fixed ratio schedules

A

Reinforce the behavior after a specific number of performances of that behavior

57
Q

Continuous reinforcement

A

A fixed ratio schedule in which the behavior is rewarded every time it is performed

58
Q

Fixed interval schedules

A

Reinforce the first instance of a behavior after a specific time has elapsed

59
Q

Variable interval schedules

A

Reinforce the behavior the first time that a behavior is performed after a varying interval of time

60
Q

Shaping

A

The process of rewarding increasingly specific behaviors, the use of shaping an operant conditioning can allow for the training of extremely complicated behaviors

61
Q

Latent learning

A

Learning that occurs without a reward but that is spontaneously demonstrated once a reward is introduced

62
Q

Problem solving

A

The ability to analyze the situation and respond correctly the first time, instead of a trial and error approach

63
Q

Preparedness

A

The predisposition to learn, or not to learn, behaviors based on a species natural abilities and instincts

64
Q

Instinctive drift

A

The difficulty in overcoming instinctual behaviors

65
Q

Mirror neurons

A

Neurons located in the frontal and parietal lobe of the cerebral cortex and fire both win an individual performs an action and when that individual observe someone else performing that action, largely involved in motor processes but additionally are thought to be related to empathy and vicarious emotions, also play a role in imitative learning

66
Q

Self reference effect

A

We tend to recall information best when we can put it into the context of our own lives

67
Q

Maintenance rehearsal

A

Repetition of a piece of information to keep it within working memory (to prevent from forgetting) or to store it in short term and eventually long-term memory

68
Q

Mnemonics

A

Common ways to memorize information, often acronyms are rhyming phrases that provide a vivid organization of the information we are trying to remember

69
Q

Method of loci

A

Memorizing information tactic, involves associating each item in a list with a location along a route through a building that has already been memorized

70
Q

Peg word system

A

A memorization tactic, associates numbers with items that rhyme with the resemble the numbers

71
Q

Chunking

A

A.k.a. clustering, a memory trick that involves taking individual elements of a large list and grouping them into groups of elements with related meaning

72
Q

Iconic memory

A

Visual sensory memory

73
Q

Echoic memory

A

Auditory sensory memory

74
Q

7+-2 rule

A

Describes the capacity of our short term memory

75
Q

Hippocampus

A

Houses short term memory, is responsible for the consolidation of short term memory into long term memory

76
Q

Working memory

A

Closely related to short term memory and is similarly supported by the hippocampus, enables us to keep a few pieces of information in our consciousness simultaneously and to manipulate that information, allows us to do simple math in our heads

77
Q

Elaborative rehearsal

A

The association of information to knowledge already stored in the long term memory, one of the ways information is consolidated into the long term memory

78
Q

Relearning

A

A way of demonstrating that information has been stored in long-term memory, the ability to re-memorize information much quicker the second time through

79
Q

Spacing effect

A

The longer the amount of time between sessions of re-learning the greater the retention of the information later on

80
Q

Spreading activation

A

When one note of our semantic network is activated, the other linked concepts around it are unconsciously activated

81
Q

Context effects

A

Memories aided by being in a physical location where in coding took place, it has been shown that a person will score better when they take an exam in the same room in which they learned the information

82
Q

State dependent memory

A

aka state dependent effect, a person in a certain mental state will recall information better in that same mental state

83
Q

Serial position effect

A

Retrieval cue that appears well learning list, participants have a much higher recall for both the first few and last few items on the list

84
Q

Primacy and recency effect

A

The tendency to remember early and late items of a list, recency effect likely a result of the last items on the list still being in short-term memory on initial recall

85
Q

Alzheimer’s disease

A

A degenerative brain disorder thought to be linked to a loss of acetylcholine and neurons that link to the hippocampus, marked by progressive dementia, memory loss, and atrophy of the brain, typically memory loss in retrograde fashion, microscopic findings include neurofibrillary tangles and beta amyloid plaques

86
Q

Beta amyloid plaques

A

Common in Alzheimer’s disease, incorrectly folded copies of the amyloid precursor protein

87
Q

Sundowning

A

A phenomenon that occurs in individuals with middle to late stage Alzheimer’s that involves an increase in dysfunction in the late afternoon and evening

88
Q

Korsakoff syndrome

A

And form of memory loss caused by thiamine deficiency in the brain, marked by both retrograde amnesia and anterograde amnesia, common symptom is confabulation

89
Q

Retrograde amnesia

A

Loss of previously formed memories

90
Q

Anterograde amnesia

A

Inability to form new memories

91
Q

Confabulation

A

The process of creating vivid but fabricated memories typically thought to be an attempt made by the brain to fill in the gaps of missing memories

92
Q

Agnosia

A

The loss of the ability to recognize objects, people, or sounds, usually caused by physical damage to the brain caused by a stroke or neurological disorder such as multiple sclerosis

93
Q

Memory decay

A

When memories that are simply lost naturally overtime as the Nuro chemical trace of short term memory fades

94
Q

Interference

A

A.k.a. interference affect, a retrieval error caused by the existence of other, usually similar, information

95
Q

Proactive interference

A

When old information is interfering with new learning

96
Q

Retroactive interference

A

The new information causes forgetting of old information

97
Q

Memory loss and aging

A

Contrary to popular belief, does not necessarily lead to significant memory loss

98
Q

Prospective memory

A

Remembering to perform a task at some point in the future

99
Q

Misinformation effect

A

When outside sources alter how one encodes or recalls a memory

100
Q

Source monitoring error

A

Involves confusion between semantic and episodic memory, a person remembers the details of an event but confuses the context under which those details were gained

101
Q

Synaptic pruning

A

We can all connections are broken well strong ones are bolstered, increasing the efficiency of our brains ability to process information as we get older

102
Q

Long term potentiation

A

As a stimulus is repeated, the stimulated neurons become more efficient at releasing their neurotransmitters and at the same time receptor sites on the other side of the synapse increase, increasing receptor density, this strengthening is the neurophysiological basis of long-term memory

MCAT (67 decks)

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