chapt 1 Flashcards
what is epistemology?
studies how we come to have knowledge.
what is empiricism?
the origin of knowledge is in experience, as provided to the mind through the senses.
john Locke (1632–1704)
what is learning?
getting knowledge.
relatively permanent change in behavior or the potential of seeing change in behaviour (behavioral repertoire) due to experience.
learning and memory are……
biological processes and psychological processes that intervene between the environment (which we can manipulate) and behavior (which we can measure).
what are the 3 outcomes of learning?
recalled factual knowledge.
skill learning.
attitude changes.
examples of behavioral changes due to maturation?
children learning to walk
Infant development of sitting upright, standing,
what is performance?
the measures of behavior used to indicate whether learning occurred, knowledge was acquired, and memory is present.
sometimes imperfect and indirect.
what is latent learning?
no behavioral change is observed even though (we realize later) learning has occurred.
knowledge that is not displayed in performance.
what is the problem of behavioral silence?
the absence of performance.
what is learning–performance distinction?
performance does not accurately assess underlying learning.
what is memory?
retaining learnt knowledge or behavior.
learning is to memory as …
acquisition is to retention.
what is a learning curve?
a graphic plot of a measure of behavior on the Y axis (e.g., number or size of the correct responses) as a function of the number of practice trials shown on the X axis.
what is the opposite of the the learning curve?
the forgetting curve. Here we would plot the amount remembered at different intervals of time after learning has been completed. Over time there is a decline in what can be recalled.
used to graph the course of memory.
what is basic research?
an interest in understanding the fundamental processes of learning and
memory. It seeks to demonstrate cause-and-effect relationships between key variables.
The questions asked in basic research do not always have obvious and immediate applications outside of the lab.
what is applied research?
solving a specific practical problem
reasons for using nonhuman test subjects
they can be controlled;, their experiences, genetics etc.
animals and humans have similar nervous systems and therefore an assumed generality in the basic principles of learning.
procedures are used on
animals that cannot ethically be applied to humans.
what is The Functional Approach?
studies how learning and remembering aid survival.
what is The Behavioral Approach?
it emphasizes the relationship among, first, observable behaviors; second, the antecedent stimuli that precede behavior; and, third, the consequences that follow behavior.
what is The cognitive approach?
derives from information-processing approaches to the mind.
Information, or knowledge, is encoded, transformed, stored, and retrieved.
what is the neuroscience approach?
it seeks to determine the underlying biological basis for learning and memory.
studies the changes that learning produces in the brain.
