Chapter 1 - Fundamental Themes In The Psychology Of Learning And Memory Flashcards
What is the definition of data?
Facts and figures from which conclusions can be inferred.
What is the definition of theories?
A set of statements devised to explain a group of facts.
What is associationism?
A theory that Aristotle formed in which memory depends on the formation of linkages (associations) between pairs of events, sensation, and ideas, such that recalling or experiencing one member of the pair elicits a memory or anticipation of the other.
What is contiguity?
Nearness in time (temporal contiguity) or space (spatial contiguity).
What is empiricism?
A philosophical school of thought that holds that all the ideas we have are the result of experience.
What is nativism?
A philosophical school of thought that holds that the bulk of knowledge is inborn (or native).
What is the definition of learning in psychology?
The process by which changes in behavior arise as a result of experiences interacting with the world.
What is the definition of memory in the book?
The internal record of past experiences acquired through learning.
What are the 3 fundamental principles of association according to Aristotle? Aristotle believed humans organized sensations and ideas through these.
- Contiguity
- Frequency
- Similarity
Aristotle identifies with which school of thought?
Empiricism. He believed that all of the ideas we have are the result of our experience.
Plato identifies with which school of thought?
Nativism. Which holds that the bulk of our knowledge is inborn.
What is nativism and empiricism better known as today?
Nature (nativism) vs nurture (empiricism) debate.
What is William James’s memory model??
Memory of an event, such as a dinner party, has multiple components all linked together. Another Event, such as going dancing with a lady from the dinner party, also has component parts linked together. A mental association between the two events in turn consists of multiple connections between components common to both.
What is a stimulus?
A sensory event that provides information about the outside world.
What is classical conditioning?
A type of learning in which the organism learns to respond to a previously neutral stimulus that has been repeatedly presented along with a biologically significant stimulus; also called Pavlovian conditioning.
What is an independent variable?
The factor being manipulated in the experiment.
What is the dependent variable?
In an experiment, the factor whose change is measured as an effect of changes in the independent variable. (The factor under observation)
What is a response?
The behavioural consequence of perception of a stimulus.
What is the learning curve?
A graph showing learning performance (the dependent variable, usually plotted along the vertical axis) as a function of time (the independent variable, usually plotted on the horizontal axis).
What is the process Pavlov called extinction?
Extinction: the process of reducing a learned response to a stimulus by ceasing to pair that stimulus with a reward or a punishment.
What is generalization?
The transfer of past learning to novel events and problems.
What is the law of effect?
The observation, made by Thorndike, that the probability of a particular behavioural response increases or decreases depending on the consequences that have followed that response.
who invented associationism?
Aristotle
