Behavioral Sciences Ch3 Flashcards
Learning
The way in which we acquire new behaviour
Stimulus
Anything to which an organism can respond
Associative learning
The creation of a pairing or association, either between two stimuli or between a behaviour and a response
Classic Conditioning
A type of associative learning that takes advantage of biological , instinctual response to create association between two unrelated stimuli
Unconditioned stimulus
Any stimulus that brings about a reflexive response
Unconditioned response
The innate, reflexive response to a stimuli
Conditioned Stimulus
A normal neutral stimulus that, through association, now causes a reflexive response
Conditioned response
Reflexive response that occurs in result to a conditioned stimulus
Acquisition
The process of using a reflexive, unconditioned stimulus to turn a neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus
Extinction
The loss of a conditioned response and can occur if the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus
Spontaneous Recovery
After some time, presenting subjects again with an extinct conditioned stimulus will sometimes produce a weak condition response
Generalization
A broadening effect by which a stimulus similar enough to the condition stimulus can also produce the conditioned response
Stimuli Discrimination
An organism learns to distinguish between similar stimuli
Operant Conditioning
Examines the ways in which consequences of voluntary behaviours change the frequency of those behaviours
Reinforcement
The process of increasing the likelihood that an animal will perform a behaviour
Positive reinforcers
Increase the frequency of a behavior by adding a positive consequence or incentive following the desired behaviour
Negative Reinforcers
Increase the frequency of a behaviour, but they do so by removing something unpleasant
Escape Learning
A situation where the animal experiences the unpleasant stimulus and, in response displays the desire behaviour in order to trigger the removal of the stimulus
Avoidance Learning
When the animal displays the desired behaviour in anticipation of the unpleasant stimulus, thereby avoiding the unpleasant stimulus
Discriminative Stimulus
Indicates that reward is potentially available in an operant conditioning paradigm
Positive Punishment
Adds an unpleasant consequence in response to a behaviour to reduce that behaviour
Negative Punishment
Removing a stimulus in order to cause reduction of a behaviour
Fixed-ratio Schedules
Reinforce a behaviour after a specific number of performances of that behaviour
Continuous Reinforcement
A fixed-ratio schedule in which the behaviour is rewarded every time it is performed
Variable-ratio Schedules
A behaviour after a varying number of performances of the behaviour, but such that the average number of performances to receive a reward is relatively constant
Fixed-interval Schedule
Reinforce the first instance of a behaviour after a specified time period has elapsed
Variable-interval Schedule
Reinforce a behaviour the first time that behaviour is performed after varying interval of time
Which reinforcement schedule works fastest for learning a new behaviour
Variable-ratio
Shaping
The process of rewarding increasingly specific behaviours that become closer to a desire response
Latent Learning
Learning that occurs without a reward but that is spontaneously demonstrated once a reward is introduced
Instinctive drift
When animals revert to an instinctive behaviour after learning a new behaviour that is similar
Observational learning
The process of learning a new behaviour or gaining information by watching others
Mirror Neurons
Neurons located in the frontal and parietal lobes of the cerebral cortex and fire both when an individual performs an action and when that individual observes someone else performing that action
Encoding
The process of putting new information into memory
Automatic processing
Information gained without any effort
Controlled processing
AKA effortful processing
- Information actively memorized
Visual encoding
Encoding visual information
Acoustic Encoding
Encoding sounds
Elaborative encoding
Linking new encoded information to knowledge that is already in memory
Sematic Encoding
encoding meaningful context
Self-reference effect
Put it into the content of our own lives
Maintenance rehearsal
The repetition of a piece of information to either keep it within working memory or to store it in short-term and eventually log-term memory
Mnemonics
acronyms or rhyming phrases that provide a vivid organization of the information one is trying to remember
Method of Loci
Involves associating each item in a list which a location along a route through a building that has already been memorized
Peg-word system
Associates numbers with items that rhyme with or resemble the numbers
Chunking
A memory trick that involves taking individual elements of a larger list and grouping them together into group of elements with related meaning
Sensory memory
Preserves information in its original sensory form with high accuracy and lasts only a very short time
- first and most fleeting type of memory
Iconic Memeory
Fast decaying memory of visual stimuli
Echoic Memory
Fast-decaying memory of auditory stimuli
Short-term memory
- Information we pay attention to
- Memory fades quickly
- 30 seconds without rehearsal
Memory Capacity
Limited to 7 +/- 2
Hippocampus
Houses short-term memory and is responsible for consolidation of short-term memory into long-term memory
Working memory
- Enables us to keep a few pieces of information in our consciousness simultaneously and to manipulate that information
- integrates short-term memory, attention, and executive function
- supported by the hippocampus, with frontal and parietal lobes involved
Long term memory
Limitless warehouse for knowledge that we are the able to recall on demand
Elaborative Rehearsal
The association of the information to knowledge already stored in long-term memory
Implicit memory
Consists of our skills, habits, and conditioned responses, none of which need to be consciously recalled
Procedural memory
Relates to our unconscious memory of the skills required to complete procedural tasks
Priming
Involves the presentation of one stimulus affecting the perception of a second stimulus
Positive priming
when exposure to the first stimulus improves processing the second stimulus
Negative priming
The first stimulus interferes with the processing of the second stimulus resulting in slower response times and more errors
Explicit memory
Consists of those memories that require conscious recallE
Episodic Memory
To our recollection of life experiences
Semantic Memory
Ideas, concepts, or facts that we know
Autobiographical Memory
the name given to our explicit memories about our lives and ourselves
Retrieval
Process of demonstrating that something that has been learned has been retained
- can be demonstrated through statements of information, recognition or quick relearning
Recognition
The process of merely identifying a piece of information that was previously learned
Relearning
Another way of demonstrating that information has been stored in long-term memory
Spacing effect
the longer the amount of time between sessions of relearning, the greater the retention of the infomration later of
Semantic Network
Concepts are linked together based on similar meaning
Spreading activation
When one node of our semantic network is activated, the other linked concepts around it are also unconsciously activated
Recall cue
using the presentation of a word or phrase that is close to the desired semantic memory to aid recall
Context effect
Memory is aided by being in the physical location where encoding took place
Source monitoring
A part of the retrieval process that involves determining the origin of memories, and whether they are factual or fictional
State-dependent effect
A retrieval cue based on performing better when in the same mental state as when the information was learned
Serial-position effect
Position in the list affect participants’ ability to recall
Primacy and recency effect
Strong recall for the first few items on a list later recalled, and last few items
- however, memory of last few fades as the recency effect is a result of short-term memory
Amnesia
A significant loss of memorized information
Source amnesia
The inability to remember where, when, or how one has obtained knowledge
Alzheimer’s disease
A degenerative brain disorder thought to be linked to a loss of acetylcholine in neurons that link to the hippocampus
- Marked by progressive dementia and memory loss, with atrophy of the brain
- occurs in retrograde fashion, with most recent memories before distant memories
- Associated with neurofibrillary tangles and beta-amyloid plaques
Sundowning
An increase in dysfunction i the late afternoon and evening in Alzheimer’s patients
Korsakoff’s Syndrome
Form of memory loss caused by thiamine deficiency in the brain
- marked by both retrograde and anterograde amnesia
- confabulation is another symptom
Confabulation
the process of creating vivid but fabricated memories
Agnosia
The loss of the ability to recognize objects, people, or sounds, though usually only one of the three
Decay
Memories are simply lost naturally over time as the neurochemical trace of a short-term memory fades
Retention function
Natural curve of forgetting
Interference
A retrieval error caused by the existence of other, usually similar, information
Proactive interference
Old information is interfering with new learning
Retroactive inference
When new information causes forgetting of old information
Aging and memory
- Aging does not necessarily lead to significant memory loss
- People in their 70s and 80s tend to say that their most vivid memories are of events that occurred in their 20s suggesting it to be the peak period of encoding in a person’s life
Prospective memory
Remembering to perform a task at some point in the future
- most intact when it is event based
- time-based prospective memory declines with age
Reproductive Memory
A record of our experiences or a kind of video recording that is stored to be accessed later
Reconstructive memory
A theory of memory recall in which cognitive processes such as imagination, semantic memory, and perception affect the act of remembering
False Memory
A memory that incorrectly recalls actual events or recalls events that never occured
Recovered Memeories
Repressed memories, memories stored I the unconscious mind and blocked from recall brought back into our conscious mind either spontaneously or through psychotherapy
Misinformation effect
A person’s recall of an event becomes less accurate due to the injection of outside information into the memory
Intrusion errors
False memories that have included a false detail into a particular memory
- Intruding memory is injected into original memory due to both memories being related or sharing a theme
Source-monitoring error
Confusion between semantic and episodic memory
- a person remembers the details of an event, but confuses the context under which those details were gained
Neuroplasticity
Neural connections form rapidly in response to stimulus
Synaptic Pruning
As we grow older, weak neural connections are broken while strong ones are bolstered, increasing the efficiency of our brains’ ability to process information
Long-term potentiation
The strengthening of neural connections through repeated use
- believed to be the neurophysiological basis of long-term memory
