Chapter 3: Learning and Memory Flashcards
What is learning?
The way we acquire new behaviors
What is habituation?
A decrease in response due to repeated exposure to the same stimulus
A stimulus that is too weak to elicit a response is called a ?
Subthreshold stimulus
What is dishabituation?
The recovery of a response to a stimulus after habituation has occurred
When a 2nd stimulus is presented during habituation of 1st stimulus
When does dishabituation usually happen?
Late in th habituation of a stimulus
The presentation of a different stimulus causes dishabituation
What is associative learning?
The association or pairing between 2 stimuli or between a behavior and response
What are the 2 main types of associative learning?
- Classical conditioning
- Operant conditioning
Any stimulus that brings about a reflexive response is called an ____________________ stimulus.
Unconditioned
The innate or reflexive response is called an ____________________ stimulus.
Unconditioned
Many stimuli do not produce a reflexive resopnse and are known as ________ stimuli.
Neutral
A normally neutral stimulus that, through association, causes a reflexive response, is called a ____________________ stimulus.
Conditioned
The response to a conditioned stimulus is called a ____________________ response.
Conditioned
The process of using a reflexive, unconditioned stimulus to turn a neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus is called ____________________.
Acquisition
Conditioned responses don’t have to be permanent; the loss of a conditioned response is called ____________________.
Extinction
What causes extinction?
If the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus
e.g. bell rings, but no meat presented to dog
The extinction of a response is not always permanent; presenting subjects again with an extinct conditioned stimulus can cause a weak conditioned response. This is called ____________________ ___________.
Spontaneous recovery
What is generalization?
A stimulus similar enough to the conditioned stimulus can also produce the conditioned response
Broadening effect
What is stimuli discrimination?
Organism learns to distinguish between similar stimuli
What is operatn conditioning?
The ways in which consequences of voluntary behaviros change the frequency of those behaviors
What theory did B.F. Skinner found and what is it about?
Behaviorism - all behaviors are conditioned
A stimulus that is added is considered ____________.
Positive
A stimulus that is taken away / removed is considered ____________.
Negative
When a behavior continues, this is considered ____________________. This increases the likelihood that an animal will perform a behavior.
Reinforcement
When a behavior stops, this is considered ____________.
Punishment
What is a positive reinforcer?
Increases behavior by presenting a positive incentive/consequence
e.g. money
What is a negative reinforcer?
Increase the frequency of a behavior by taking something unpleasant away
e.g. taking an aspirin to reduce a headache
What is escape learning?
An animal experiences an unpleasant stimulus and displays a desired behavior in order to trigger the removal of a stimulus
A type of negative reinforcement
What is avoidance learning?
An animal displays the desired behavior in anticipation of the unpleasant stimulus (in order to avoid it)
Another type of negative reinforcement
Based on the types of negative reinforcement
________________ learning often develops from multiple experiences of ________ learning.
Avoidance; Escape
A primary reinforcer is a stimulus that an animal responds to ________________. It can be associated with a ________________ reinforcer, also known as a ________________ reinforcer.
Naturally; conditioned, secondary
What is positive punishment?
aka ____________ conditioning
Adds an unpleasant consequence in response to a behavior that reduces the behavior
also known as aversive conditioning
What is negative punishment?
Removing a stimulus in order to cause reduction of a behavior
The rate at which desired behaviors are acquired is also affected by the ________________________ schedule.
The 2 key factors involved are:
Reinforcement
fixed/variable and ratio/interval
What is a fixed-ratio schedule?
Reinforces a behavior after a specific number of performance of that behavior
e.g. continuous reinforcement
What is a variable-ratio schedule?
Reinforces a behavior after a random number of performances of the behavior
Results in highest rates of response
Most resistant to extinction
Very Rapid and Very Resistant to extinction
What is a fixed-interval schedule?
Reinforces the first instance of a behavior after a specified time period has elapsed
e.g. give pellet to rat after specified time period
What is a variable-interval schedule?
Reinforces a behavior the first time that behavior is performed after a random interval of time
Fixed or variable
________ schedules often have a breif moment of no response after the behavior is reinforced.
Fixed
What is shaping?
Rewarding increasingly specific behaviors that become closer to a desired response
What is latent learning?
Example?
Occurs without a reward but is spontaneously demonstrated once a reward is introduced
rats running through a maze with a reward
Animals learn behaviors that best conicide iwth their natural behaviors, this is called ________________.
e.g. rewarding pecking-based behavior in birds
Preparedness
When animals revert to an instinctive behavior after learning a new similar behavior, this is called ________________ drift.
Instinctive
What is observational behavior?
Learning a new behavior or gaining information by watching others
What type of neurons are associated with observational learning? Where are they located?
Mirror neurons; frontal and parietal lobes
Information gained without any effort is the result of ________________ ________________
Automatic processing
Active memorization, e.g. via flashcards, is called ________________ ________________.
Controlled/effortful processing
Types of encoding:
* Visualize information = ____________ encoding
* The way it sounds = ____________ encoding
* Link to preexisting knowledge = ____________ encoding
* Put it into meaningful context = ____________ encoding
visual
acoustic
elaborative
semantic
Which type of encoding it the strongest and most visual?
Semantic encoding
We tend to recall info best when we put it in the context of our own lives, this is called ________________________ effect.
self-reference
What is maintenance rehearsal?
The repetition of a piece of info to either keep it within working memory or to store it in short-term and eventually long-term memory
What is the method of loci?
Sherlock’s mind palace
Associating each item in a list with a location along a route through a building that has already been memorized
Sherlock’s mind palace
What is the peg-word system?
Associates numbers with items that rhyme with or resemble the numbers
What is chunking?
Taking individual elements of a large list and grouping them together into groups that have meaning
Which type of memory is the most fleeting? What are the 2 types?
Sensory memory
* Iconic memory (visual)
* Echoic memory (auditory)
Our memory capacity is limited to approximately (how many?) items, usually stated as the ____________ rule.
7_+_2 rule.
Short-term memory is housed primarily in the ________________, which is also responsible for the consolidation of short-term into long-term memory.
Hippocampus
What is working memory?
Enables us to keep a few pieces of info in our consciousness simultaneously and to manipulate that information
What is one of the ways that information is consolidated into long-term memory?
Elaborative rehearsal
What are the 2 types of long-term memory?
What are they also known as?
Implicit and explicit
Non-declarative and declarative
What is implicit memory?
Skills, habits, and conditioned responses - nothing that needs to be consciously recalled
Implicit memory includes ____________ memory, which relates to our unconscious memory of the skills required to complete ____________ tasks, and ____________, which involves the presentation of 1 stimulus affecting perception of a second.
procedural, procedural; priming
What is positive priming?
When exposure to the first stimulus improves processing of the 2nd stimulus
exemplified by decreased response time, less errors
What is negative priming?
First stimulus interferes with processing of second stimulus
exemplified by slower response time, more errors
What is explicit memory?
aka?
Memories that require conscious recall
declarative
What are the two types of explicit memory?
episodic and semantic
What is episodic memory?
Recollection of life experiences
What is semantic memory?
Ideas, concepts, or facts that we know, but are not tied to specific life experiences
The brain organizes ideas into a ____________ network. When one node of this network is activated, this is called ____________ activation. This activation is at the heart of positive priming, as recall is aided by first being presented with a word or phrase, a ____________ ____, that is close to the desired semantic memory.
semantic; spreading; recall cue
Another common retrieval cue is ____________ effect, where memory is aided by being in the physical location where encoding took place.
encoding
e.g. taking an exam where you went to lecture
Similar to context effect, ____________ ________________ is part of the retrieval process that involves determining the origin of memories, and whether they are factual (real and accurate) or ficitonal (from a dream, novel, or movie).
source monitoring
What is state-dependent memory?
A retrieval cue; you perform better when in the same mental state as when the information was learned
if you learn something drunk, you remember it better when you’re drunk
What is serial position effect?
What effects specifically?
You remember first and last items on list more
Primacy and recency effects
Which neurotransmitter deficiency is associated with Alzheimer’s disease?
acetylcholine
Microscopic findings of Alzheimer’s include ________________ tangles and _-_________ plaques.
neurofibrillary; β-amyloid
An increase in dysfunction in the late afternoon and evening that is associated with middle- to late-stage Alzheimer’s is called _________________.
Sundowning
A form of memory loss caused by thiamine deficiency in the brain is ________________ syndrome.
Korsakoff’s
The loss of previously formed memories is ________________ ________________.
Retrograde amnesia
The inability to form new memories is ________________ ________________.
Anterograde amnesia
The process of creating vivid but fabricated memories is ________________.
Confabulation
an attempt made by the brain to fill in the gaps of missing memories
____________ is the loss of the ability to recognize objects, people, or sounds, though usually only 1 of the 3.
Agnosia
What usually causes agnosia?
physical damage to the brain, e.g. stroke, neurological disorder
Ebbinghaus noted a “curve of forgetting,” formalled called the ______________ ______________.
Retention function
Memories are simply lost naturally over time - this is called decay
A retrieval error caused by the existence of other, usually similar, information, is called ________________.
Interference
When we experience ________________ interference, old information is interfering with new learning.
Proactive
e.g. you move to a new address, but keep recalling your old address
When new information causes forgetting of old information, this is called ________________ interference.
Retroactive
ex. teachers try to remember new names, causes them to forget old names
________________ memory remains mostly intact in old age if triggered by a certain event, e.g. passing by a store and remembering to stop in, but tends to decline when it is time-based, e.g. having to take meds at a certain time.
Prospective
The accurate recall of past events is defined as ________________ memory.
Reproductive
________________ memory is a theory of memory recall in which cognitive processes such as imagination, semantic memory, and perception affect the act of remembering.
What does this explain?
Reconstructive
Explains how 2 people recall the same event in different ways
________________ effect = a person’s recall of an event becomes less accurate due to the injection of outside information into the memory
Misinformation
________________ errors refers to false memories that have included a false detail into a particular memory.
Intrusion
How are intrusion errors different than the misinformation effect?
Intrusion errors are not from an outside source, instead, they are due to memories being related or sharing a theme
As our brains develop, neural connections form rapidly in response to stimuli via a phenomenon called ____________________.
Neuroplasticity
As we grow older, weak neural connections are broken while strong ones are bolstered, increasing the efficiency of our brains’ ability to process information. This is called ________________ ________________.
Synaptic pruning
The strengthening of neural connections through repeated use is known as ________-________ _____________________.
Long-term potentiation
