ch3: learning and memory Flashcards
stimulus
anything to which an organism can respond, including all fo the sensory inputs
habituation
repeated exposure to the same stiulus can cause a decrease in response
med students and cadaver, they get use to it
dishabituation
recovery of a response to a stimulus after habituation has occurred.
highway, then going on exit, heightened stimuli more in body
associative learning
creation of a pairing between two still or between behavior an da response
classical conditioning
biological instinctual response to creat associations between two unrelated stimuli
pavloves dogs thru conditioned stimuli
unconditional stimulus
stimulus that brings a reflexive response
uncondisiotns response
reflexive reponse
conditioned stimulus
neutral stimulus into a reflexive stimulus
acquisision
process of neutral stimulus into a conditioned pavlova dogs
generalization
a broadening effect by which a stimulus similar enough to the conditioned stimulus can also produce the conditioned response
little Albert :(
discrimination
organism learns ot distinguish between two similar stiuli
operant conditioning
voluntary behaviors linked with consequences in an effort to alter the frequency of those behaviors
reinforcement
the process of increasing the likelihood that an individual will perform a behavior
positive or negaive
escape learnign
the role of the behavior is to reduce the unpleasantness of something that already exisits,
like taking an aspirin bc of a headache
avoidance learning
meant to prevent the unpleasantness of something that has yet to happen
like Angela, “I don’t have a headache, Im just preparing”
primary reinforcer
the fish in the case of dolphins and tricks and a clicker
the clicker is the conditioned/secondary reinforcer
the trainer may be associated with ehpossiblility of a reward, so its is the discriminative stimulus
reinforcement scheudles
fixed ratio schules- button presses
variable ratio scheudles- FASTEST RESPONSE RATE
fixed interval schedules-time w button presses
variable interval schedules
shaping
process of rewarding increasingly specific behaviors. pars with barking
latent leaning
leaning that occurs without a reward but that is spontaneously demonstrated once a reward is introduced
rats running a maze
preparedness
animals are most able to learn behaviors that coincide with their natural behaviors
birds pecking for seeds
instinctive drift
difficult in overcoming instinctual behaviors
observational learning
process of learning a new behavior or gaining information by watching others
the clown kicking experiment
mirror neurons
neurological factors in observational learning that affect observational learning, locate din the frontal and parietal labels of the cerebral cortex and fire both when an individual performs and action and when that individual observes someone else performing that action,
play a role in imitative learning by a number of primates
negative reinforcement
cause an increasing of a given behavior by REMOVING something unpleasant
positive punishment
reduces behavior by ADDING SOMETHING UNPELASANT
positive reinforces
increase a behavior by adding a positive consequence
negative punishment
reduces behavior by revmoving something plelasant
7 plus/minus 2 rule
in addition to having alimited duration, short term memories are also limited din acapaity to approximately seven items, capacity can be increasing by clustering info and the duration can be extended using maintenance rehearsal
short term memory is housed primary in the ___`
hippocampus, which is also responsible fo the consolidation of short term memory into long term memory
working memory
is closely related to short term memory and is similar supported by the hippocampus, enables us to keep a few pieces of info in our consciousness simultaneously and manipulate that information (simple math in our heads)
semantic encoding
visualize information that requires controlled processing by putting it into MEANIGNFUL CONTEXT
semantic memory
the facts that we know
episodic memory
our experiences
spacing effect
the longer amount of time between sessions of relearning, the greater the retention fo the information later on, dubbed by ebbinghaus, why cramming aint effective
semantic network
brain organisms ideas into a semanticc network of interconnected ideas
spreading activaiotn
when one node of our semantic network is activated, the other linked concepts around it are also unconsciously activated
is at the heart fo retrieval cue known as priming, in which recall is aided by first being presented with a word or phrase that is close o the desired semantic memory
serial position effect
retrieval cue that appears while learning lists
the tendency to remember early and late items is known as the primacy and recency effect, respectively
alxxheimers disease
degenerative brain disorder, thought to be linked to a loss of acetylcholine in neurons that link to the hippocampus, although its exact causes are not well understood
progressive dementia, which is loss of cognitive function, and memory loss
atrophy of the brain
NEUROFIBRILLARY TANGLES AND BETA AMYLOID PLAQUES– microscopic findings
sundowning,(common in middle to late stage) an increasing in dysfunction in the late afternoon and evening
korsadoffs syndrome
another form of memory loss caused by thiamine deficiency in the brain
marked by both
retrograde amnesia (the loss of prev mems)
anterograde amnesia(the inability to form new memories)
confabulation, the process of creating vivid by fabricated memories, thought to fill in the gaps of missing memories
agnosia
loss of the ability to recognize objects, people or sounds, though usually only one of the three
interference/ interference effect
a common reason for memory loss
a retrieval error caused by the hesitance of other, usually similar, information
practice interference: old info is interfering with new leaning
retroactive interference: when new info causes forgetting of old info
prospective memory
remembering to perform a task at some pointing the future
source monitoring error
involves confusion between semantic and episodeic memory, a person remembers he details of. an even, but confuses the context under which those details were gained
list the three modes in which info can be encoded, from strongest to weakest
semantic (strongest), acoustic, visual (weakest)
maintenance rehearsal
the repetition of information to keep it within short term memory for near immediate use saying phone number over an dover again until you writ it down
elaborative rehearsal
the association of info to other stored knowledge, and is a more effective way to move information from short term memory to long term memory than maintenance rehersal
reasons why eyewitnesses are unreliable
the nature of info shared with the witness by police, lawyers, and other witnesses, the misinformation effect, source monitoring error, amount of time elapsed between the even and the trial, manner in which th questions are asked (can appeal to emotions: collided vs crashed)
misinformation effect
a phenomenon in which memories are altered by misleading information provided at eh point of encoding or recall
neuroplasticity
a phenomenon where as our brains develop, neural connections form rapidly in response to stimuli
adult brains display nowhere dnear the degree of plasticity as those of a child
the ability of the brain to form new connections rapidly, the brain is most plastic in young children and the plasticity quickly drops off after childhood
synaptic pruning
a way our brains change, 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
believed to be the neurophysiological basis of long term memory
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 increasing increasing receptor density
pruning
removing weak neural connections
long term potentiation
strengthening of memory connections through increased neurotransmitter release and receptor density
avoidance learning
type of negative reinforcement in which a behavior is increased to prevent an unpleasant future consequeunce
controlled processing
requires active attention to the information being encoded
metod of loci
involves associating each item in the list with a location along a route through a building that has already been memorized, for example
peg words
associates things/numbers with items that rhyme with or resemble the things/numbers
