Chapter 5.1 and 5.4: Learning and Memory Flashcards
Nonassociative learning
when an organism is repeatedly exposed to one type of stimulus
ex. habituation and sensitization
Habituation
habit is an action that is performed repeatedly until it becomes automatic; a person learns to automatically “tune out” a stimulus
Dishabituation
when the previously habituated stimulus is removed; the person is no longer accustomed to the stimulus
Sensitization
the opposite of habituation; instead of being able to “tune out” or ignore the stimulus, the stimulus produces a more exaggerated response
Associative learning
one event, object, or action is directly connected with another
ex. classical conditioning and operant conditioning
Classical conditioning
two stimuli paired in such a way that the response to one of the stimuli changes
ex. Ivan Pavlov and his dogs; paired a bell with food, eventually dogs salivate at the sound of a bell
Neutral stimulus
initially does not elicit any intrinsic response - sound of bell for Pavlov’s dogs
unconditioned stimulus (US)
elicits an unconditioned response (UR), like a reflex; not a learned reaction, but a biological one - food is US and salivation is UR
conditioned stimulus
originally a neutral stimulus (bell) that is paired with an unconditioned stimulus until it can produce the conditioned response (salivating) without the unconditioned stimulus (food)
Conditioned response
the learned response to the conditioned stimulus (bell); it is the same as the unconditioned response (salivating), but now it occurs without the unconditioned stimulus (food)
Acquisition
the process of learning the conditioned response; when the bell and food are always paired
Extinction
the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli are no longer paired, so the conditioned response eventually stops occurring; if the bell is presented without food multiple times, the dog will stop salivating
Spontaneous recovery
extinct conditioned response occurs again when the conditioned stimulus is presented after some period of time
Generalization
stimuli other than the original conditioned stimulus elicit the conditioned response; if the dogs salivate to the sound of a chime or doorbell
Discrimination
opposite of generalization, when the conditioned stimulus is differentiated from other stimuli, thus the conditioned response only occurs for conditioned stimuli; the dogs don’t salivate at the sound of chime or horn
Operant conditioning
uses reinforcement (pleasurable consequences) and punishment (unpleasant consequences) to mold behavior and eventually causes associative learning; BF Skinner
Reinforcement
anything that will increase the likelihood that a preceding behavior will be repeated
positive - positive stimulus that occurs immediately following a behavior (food pellet for rats pushing lever)
negative - a negative stimulus that is removed immediately following a behavior (electric shock removed after rats push lever)
Primary (unconditional) reinforcers
innately satisfying or desirable; integral to our survival
secondary (conditional) reinforcers
learned to be reinforcers; neutral stimuli that are paired with primary reinforcers to make them conditioned
Reinforcement schedules
operant conditioning relies on this; can be continuous or intermittent - continuous reinforcement results in rapid behavior acquisition but also in rapid extinction, intermittent results in slower acquisition of behavior but greater persistence
Fixed-ratio schedule
reinforcement provided after a set number of instances of behavior
ex. every 10 times a wanted behavior is performed
Variable-ratio schedule
reinforcement provided after an unpredictable number of occurrences; this is the best
fixed-interval schedule
provides reinforcement after a set period of time that is constant, behavior will increase as the reinforcement interval comes to an end; this is the worst
variable-interval schedule
provides reinforcement after an inconsistent amount of time, produces a slow but steady behavior response rate
Shaping
a way to learn more complex behavior by breaking them down and reinforcing the “pieces of the puzzle”
ex. a baby learning how to walk
Punishment
the process by which a behavior is followed by a consequence that decreases the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated
positive - applying a negative stimulus with the behavior
negative - taking away a positive stimulus after the behavior has occurred
Escape
an individual learns how to get away from an aversive stimulus by engaging in a particular behavior - this reinforces that particular behavior
ex. child throwing tantrum to escape eating veggies
Avoidance
a person performs a behavior to ensure an aversive stimulus is not presented
ex. child faking to be sick to avoid eating veggies
Behaviorism
associated with Skinner; all psychological phenomena are explained by describing the observable antecedents of behaviors and its consequences - not concerned with unobservable events in the mind, brain is “black box”
Cognitive psychology
a reaction to behaviorism; began to focus on the brain, cognitions (thoughts), and their effects on how people navigate the world
Insight learning
a part of cognitive psych - they thought not all learning is due to stimulus pairing and reinforcement; when previously learned behaviors are suddenly combined in unique ways
Latent learning
part of cognitive psych; something is learned by not expressed as an observable behavior until it is required
Short-term to Long-term memory
short-term lasts for seconds to hours, and can potentially be converted into long-term through a process called consolidation
Long-term potentiation
occurs when, following brief periods of stimulation, an increase in the synaptic strength between two neurons leads to stronger electrochemical responses to given stimuli - results in increased potential for neural firing
Observational learning
aka social learning or vicarious learning - learning through watching and imitating others
ex. modeling
Modeling
one of the most basic mechanisms behind observational learning - an observer sees the behavior being performed by another person, later the observer imitates the behavior he observed
Encoding
the process of transferring sensory information into our memory system
Serial position effect
when someone attempts to memorize a series, such as a list of words; in immediate recall, the person is more likely to remember the first and last words
Primacy effect - first word is easily recalled because they have had most time to be encoded and transferred to memory
Recency effect - last word is recalled because may still be in phonological loop and may be readily available
Working memory
information is maintained temporarily as part of a mental activity - includes a phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, central executive, and episodic buffer
correlated with prefrontal cortex - a storage bin to hold memories (short and long term) that are needed to process info or solve a problem
Mnemonic
any technique for improving retention and retrieval of information from memory
Rehearsal
aids memory through use of phonological loop
ex. don’t have a way to write down phone number, so you repeat digits over and over again in head; remembering Pledge of Allegiance after multiple rehearsals
Chunking
a strategy in which information to be remembered is organized into discrete groups of data
ex. memorizing phone numbers in groups of 3 and a group of 4
Hierarchies
people make use of these for organization while memorizing info; recall improves when words are organized into a group
Depth of processing
important for encoding memories; info that is thought about at a deeper level is better remembered
Dual coding hypothesis
indicates that it is easier to remember words with associated images than either words or images alone
Self-reference effect
easier to remember things that are personally relevant
Sensory memory
initial recording of sensory information in the memory system; two types:
Iconic memory - brief photographic memory for visual information
Echoic memory - memory for sound which lasts a few seconds ex. have trouble hearing someone, but then hear and make sense of what was said a second later
Short-term memory
also limited in duration and capacity; adults can recall about 7 items and memory is retained only for 20 seconds, until it is actively processed
correlated with pre-frontal cortex and hippocampus
Long-term memory
retained sometimes indefinitely; believed to have an infinite capacity
correlated with the hippocampus - where new information is sought to be remembered resides temporarily and is then encoded into long-term memory
Implicit/Procedural memory
type of long-term memory; conditioned associations and knowledge of how to do something without conscious recall; procedural - motor skills, actions
Explicit/declarative memory
type of long-term memory; being able to declare or voice what is known, explaining concepts; includes semantic and episodic
ex. explaining basketball is explicit, demonstrating on the court is implicit
Semantic
memory for factual information; semantic memory deteriorates before episodic
Episodic
autobiographical memory for information of personal importance; memory for events experienced personally
Hippocampus
encoding of new explicit memories; associated with short term memories
Cerebellum
involved in learning skills and conditioned associations - implicit memory
Amygdala
associating emotion with memories, particularly negative memories
Semantic networks
information is stored in long-term memory as an organized network; individual ideas are called nodes (cities on a map), connecting the nodes are associations (roads); stronger associations depend on how frequently and how deeply the connection is made
Spreading activation
when trying to retrieve info, we start at one node, then the activation spreads to other nodes around it to an extent related to the strength of association between that node and others
Retrieval
process of finding information stored in memory
Recall
the ability to retrieve information
free recall - retrieving the item out of thin air
cued recall - retrieving info when provided with a cue
prospective recall - remembering to do things in the future
Recognition
identifying specific information from a set of information that is presented
ex. multiple choice questions
Relearning
process of learning material that was originally learned; able to relearn it more quickly than when it was originally learned
Priming
retrieval cues provide reminders of information; hints activate nodes, and prior activation of nodes and associations is called priming
Mood-dependent memory
emotions also serve as retrieval cues; what we learn in one state is most easily recalled when we are once again in that emotional state, state-dependent learning
Anterograde amnesia
patients with damage to the hippocampus could develop this; an inability to encode new memories
Retrograde amnesia
damage to the hippocampus could develop this; inability to recall information that was previously encoded
Proactive interference
when information previously learned interferes with the ability to recall information learned later
Retroactive interference
newly learned information interferes with the recall of information learned previously
Positive transfer
old information facilitates the learning of new information
Schema
the info we retrieve may be based more on a schema than on reality; it’s a mental blueprint containing common aspects of some part of the world
Misinformation effect
after people are exposed to subtle misinformation, they are usually susceptible to this tendency to misremember
False memories
inaccurate recollections for an event and may be the result of the implanting of ideas - can be created by repeatedly imagining that one did something
Source monitoring
when recalling info, people are also susceptible to forgetting one particular fact - the information’s source
