Chapter 5 - Learning, Memory, and Behavior Flashcards
What is nonassociative learning?
repeated exposure to one type of stimulus
What are the two types of nonassociative learning?
- habituation
- sensitization
What is habituation?
A person learns to tune out a stimulus they have experienced repeatedly.
What is dishabituation?
After a person has been habituated to a given stimulus, and the stimulus is removed, they are no longer accustomed to the stimulus.
What is sensitization?
There is an increase in responsiveness due to either a repeated application of a stimulus or a particularly aversie or noxious stimulus.
What is associative learning?
One event, object, or action is directly connected with another.
What are the two categories of associative learning?
- classical conditioning
- operant conditioning
What is classical conditioning?
Respondent conditioning: Two stimuli are paired in such a way that the response to one of the stimuli changes.
What is the best historical example of classical conditioning?
Pavlov’s dog salivating at the ringing of a bell in the absence of food, after associating it with the presentation of food.
What is a neutral stimulus?
It is a stimulus that does not elicit any intrinsic response (sound of the bell at the beginning of Pavlov’s experiment).
What is an unconditioned stimulus (US)?
A stimulus that elicits an unconditioned response (UR) - biological, not learned. In Pavlov’s experiment, this was the food and salivation.
What is a conditioned stimulus (CS)?
It is an originally neutral stimulus that is paired with an unconditioned stimulus until it can produce the conditioned response withouth the unconditioned stimulus. This was the bell.
What is a conditioned response?
It is the learned response to the conditioned stimulus. It is the same as the unconditioned response, but now occurs without the unconditioned stimulus. This was salivating at the sound of the bell.
Define acquisition
the process of learning the conditioned response (the time when the food and bell were paired in Pavlov’s experiment)
Define extinction
The conditioned and unconditioned stimuli are no longer paired, so the conditioned response eventually stops occuring.
Define spontaneous recovery
An extinct conditioned response occurs again when the conditioned stimulus is presented after some period of time.
Define generalization
Stimuli other than the original conditioned stimulus elicit the conditioned response (other bells)
Define discrimination
The conditioned stimulus is differentiated from other stimuli, so the conditioned stimulus only occures for conditioned stimuli (only that bell that was used in the experiment).
What is operant conditioning?
using reinforcement and punishment to mold behavior and eventually cause associative learning
What is the best historical experiment of operant conditioning?
B.F. Skinner’s box
In Skinner’s experiment, what his positive reinforcement?
The food pellet was a positive reinforcer for the rat because it caused the rat to repeat the desired behavior (pushing the lever).
In Skinner’s experiment, what was his negative reinforcement?
Electric shock was a negative reinforcer for the rat because it caused the rat to repeat the desired behavior (pushing lever) to remove the undesirable stimulus (shock).
Which brain structure is believed to be most important in positive conditioning?
hippocampus
Which brain structure is believed to be most important in negative conditioning?
amygdala
What are primary (unconditioned) reinforcers?
They are innately satisfying or desirable (ex: food, avoiding pain).
What are secondary (conditioned) reinforcers?
They are those that are learned to be reinforcers: neutral stimuli paired with primary reinforcers to make them conditioned.
What is a continuous reinforcement schedule?
Every occurence of the behavior is reinforced.
What is an intermittent reinforcement schedule?
Occurences are sometimes reinforced and sometimes not.
What are the short-term and long-term affects of a continuous reinforcement schedule?
Behavior acquisition is rapid but there is also rapid extinction
What are the short-term and long-term effects of an intermittent reinforcement schedule?
Acquisition of behavior is slower, but there is great persistence (or resistance to extinction).
What is the difference between ratio and interval schedules of reinforcement?
Ratio schedules are based on the number of instances of a desired behavior. Interval schedules are based on time.
What is a fixed-ratio schedule of reinforcement?
Provide reinforcement after a set number of instance of the behavior.
What is a variable-ratio schedule of reinforcement?
Provide reinforcement after an unpredictable number of occurences
What is a fixed-interval schedule of reinforcement?
Reinforcement is provided after a set period of time that is constant.
What is a variable-interval schedule of reinforcement?
Reinforcement is provided after an inconsistent amount of time
What is shaping when it comes to behavior?
Reinforcement is provided for attempts at the behavior, until the whole behavior is understood.
What is positive punishment?
It involves the application or pairing of a negative stimulus wth the behavior.
What is negative punishment?
It is the removal of a reinforcing stimulus after the behavior has occured (ex: losing TV privileges).
Is punishment or reinforcement more effective in behavior change?
Reinforcement
What is escape vs. avoidance in operant conditioning?
In escape, a behavior that removes an undesirable stimulus is reinforced (throwing tantrum to avoid eating veggies). In avoidance, a behavior that avoids undesirable stimulus is reinforced (faking illness to avoid dinner).
Define behaviorism
All psychological phenomena are explained by describing the observable antecedents of behaviors and its consequences.
What is cognitive psychology?
focus on the brain, cognition, and their effects on how people navigate the world.
Define insight learning
Previously learned behaviors are suddenly combined in unique ways.
What is latent learning?
Something is learned but not expressed as an observable behavior until it is required.
How quickly does taste-aversion occur?
after one event
Define consolidation
the process by which short-term memory is converted to long-term memory
What is long-term potentiation?
After brief periods of stimulation, an increase in the synaptic strength between two neurons leads to stronger electrochemical responses to a given stimuli. The neurons involved in the circuit develop increased sensitivity, which results in an increased potential for neural firing after a connection has been stimulated.
If a person gets a concussion, which memories will not be wiped out?
those that have long-term potentiatied
In observational learning, what is modeling?
An observer sees the behavior being performed by another person and later imitates the same behavior.
What are mirror neurons?
They are neurons that fire both when an individual performs a task and when they observe another individual performing the task.
What emotions might mirror neurons be involved with?
vicarious emotions: empathy
What is the elaboration likelihood model?
It explains whether people will be influenced by the content of a speech or by other, more superficial characteristics (like the appearance of the orator). If a person is interested in the topic and not distracted, they will pay attention to the content. If they are distracted, they will pay attention to superficial aspects.
What 3 elements may have an impact on persuasiveness?
- Message characteristics: features of the message itself
- Source characteristics: the person/venue delivering the message
- Target characteristics: the person receiving the message
In persuasion, what is the central route?
A cognitive route in which people are persuaded by the content of the argument
In persuasion, what is the peripheral route?
A cognitive route in which people are persuaded by superficial or secondary characteristics of a speech/orator
Which type of processing route has a longer-lasting effect on persuasion: central or peripheral route?
central route
What is social cognitive theory?
It is a theory of behavior change that emphasized the interactions between people and their environment.
What is reciprocal determinism?
It is the interaction between a person’s behaviors, personal factors, and environment. People both shape and are shaped by their environments.
What is behavioral genetics?
Researching how the genotype and evironment affect the phenotype of an individual
What are twin studies?
To study the effect of genetics and environment on phenyotype, researcheers compare traits in monozygotic (identical) and dizygotic (fraternal) twins
Are monozygotic female twins or male twins more identical and why?
Monozygotic male twins are more identical because X inactivation in female somatic cells is not identical between the female twins.
What are adoption studies?
To study the effect of genetics and environment on phenotype, researchers study adopted inviduals’ traits in comparison to their genetic relatives’ and environmental revlatives’ traits.
Define heritability
It is a statistic used to estimate how much of the genetic variation of a phenotypic trait in a population is due to genetic differences in that population (ex: studying height, focus on how genetics factors play a role in the differences in height between people).
What are transgenic mice?
They have an introduced exogenous/outside gene that alters their genotype while controlling for the environment.
What are knockout mice?
A gene of interest has been inactivated.
What are reflexive movements?
They are primitive, involuntary movements that serve to “prime” the neuromuscular system and form the basis for more sophisticated movement to come. These occur during a child’s first year.
What are rudimentary movements?
They are the first voluntary movements performed by a child up until age 2. These include rolling, sitting, crawling, standing, and walking.
What are fundamental movements?
From age 2-7, children learn to manipulate their body through actions such as running, jumping, throwing, etc.
What is specialized movement?
From ages 7-14, children learn to combine fundamental movements and apply them to specific tasks.
- transitional substage: combination of movements
- application substage: conscious decisions to apply these skills to specific types of activity
What is the lifelong application stage of movement?
From ages 14-on, people continually refine and apply movements to many types of activities.
At birth, what does an infant’s neuronal makeup look like?
It has the highest number of neurons than at any other point in its life, but does not have many neural networks (codified routes for information processing).
What is infantile amnesia?
Humans are unable to recall memories until around age 3.5, but are still capable of learning and memory.
What did Harry and Margaret Harlow determine from their experiments with monkey development?
Infant monkeys grew attached to comfortable contact (blanket, cloth-mother), rather than the bottle-mother. Without a real mother, they grew up demostrating social deficits with other monkeys.
In Mary Ainsworth’s strange situation experiments, how did the securely attached infants respond?
They played and explored in the presence of their mothers but felt distress when she left. When she returned, they sought contact and were easily consoled.
In Mary Ainsworth’s strange situation experiments, how did the insecurely attached infants respond?
They did not explore their surroundings or play even in the presence of their mother. When she left, they would cry or display indifference.
Describe the authoritarian parenting style
attempting to control children with strict rules that are expected to be followed unconditionally
Describe the permissive parenting style
allowing children to lead, rarely disciplining them, and are very lenient
Describe the authoritative parenting style
listen to children, encourage independence, place limits, and consistently follow through with consequences
During adolescence, what three major changes occur in the brain?
- cell proliferation
- synaptic pruning
- myelination
Define encoding
process of transferring sensory information into our memory system
What are the primacy and recency effects in the serial position effect?
primacy: first items are more easily recalled because they have had the most time to be encoded
recency: last items are more easily recalled because they may still be in the phonological loop
What is chunking?
Information to be remembered is organized into discrete groups of data (ex: telephone digits separated into chunks)
What are heirarchies in terms of memorization?
They are groups of information (ex: types of birds vs. types of cats at the zoo)
What is depth of processing in terms of memorization?
Information that is thought about at a deeper level is better remembered.
What is the dual coding hypothesis?
It is easier to remember words with associated images than either words or images alone.
What is the method of loci?
using a memory palace
What is the self-reference effect?
It is easier to remember things that are personally relevant because it interacts with our own views or it can be linked to existing memories.
What is sensory memory?
the initial recording of sensory information in the memory system
What are the two types of sensory memory?
- iconic memory: brief photographic memory for visual information (less than a second)
- echoic memory: brief memory for sound (3-4 seconds)
What is the typically short-term recall capacity for adults?
7 items
How long does short-term memory typically last before it is processed?
20 seconds
What is implicit/procedural memory?
conditioned associations and knowledge of how to do something without conscious recall
What is explicit/declarative memory?
ability to “declare” or voice what is known
What are the two types of explicit memory?
- semantic memory: memory for factual information
- episodic memory: autobiographical memory for personal experiences (ex: first kiss)
What brain structure is majorly involved in implicit/procedural memory?
cerebellum
What brain structure is majorly involved in associating emotion with memories?
amygdala
What brain structure is majorly involved in explicit/declarative memory?
hippocampus
What are the nodes in our long-term memory network?
individual ideas (like cities on a map)
What are the associations in our long-term memory network? How does these impact our ability to retrieve information?
They connect nodes (like roads between cities on a map). We can retrieve information more quickly if we have stronger associations (more frequent/deep connections). We can also add connections by processing material in dffierent ways.
What is prospective memory?
remembering to do things in the future
What is the response threshold in our long-term memory network?
A node must receive enough input signals (summation) from its neighbors to become activated.
What is spreading activation in our long-term memory network?
When trying to retrieve information, we start the search from one node. We do not “choose” where to go nest, but rather the activated node spreads its activation to other nodes around it to an extent related to the strength of association between that node and each other.
What is mood-dependent memory?
What we learn in one state is most easily recalled when we are once again in that emotional state.
What is the difference between cued recall and recognition?
Cued recall involves retrieving information when provided with a cue (given countries, name all the capitals of the world). Recognition involves identifying specific information from a set of information that is presented (multiple choice).
What is the misinformation effect?
A tendency to misremember after a person is exposed to subtle misinformation.
What is anterograde amnesia?
inability to encode new memories
What is retrograde amnesia?
ability to recall information that was previously encoded
What is proactive interference?
Information previously learned interferes with the ability to recall information learned later.
What is retroactive interference?
New learned information interferes with the recall of information learned previously.
What is positive transfer?
Old information facilitates the learning of new information.
How are false memories formed?
They may result from the implanting of ideas (ex: if you repeatedly imagine getting lost as a child in a mall, this imagined occurence would begin to feel familiar and take on some sort of real memory).
What is an error source monitoring?
Being able to recognize someone, but not knowing where you’ve seen them before or attributing an action to a person when in reality it was a dream.
What is neural plasticity?
the maleability of the brain’s pathways and synapses based on behavior, the environment, and neural processes
Where has neurogenesis occured?
hippocampus and cerebellum
What is the best explanation for the physical basis of memory?
Learning and memory over a lifetime involves increased interconnectivity of the brain through increasing synapses between existing neurons, forming a neural net.
