Cognition and biological influnces Flashcards
define learning
can be defined as any relatively permanent change in behaviour as a result of practise or experience in the environment.
Classical conditioning
learning where a response can be caused by a formerly neutral stimulus which prior to conditioning would evoke no response.
operant conditioning
learning where the reinforcement (reward) is dependant on the organism’s response. The action can be increased in frequency or decreased in frequency by reinforcement or punishment.
Thornidike’s law of effect
responses that satisfy are more likely to be repeated those that satisfy will be continued
reinforcement
is the procedure of following the occurrences of the correct response with reinforcing stimulus
observational learning
is sometimes called modelling or imitation and was developed by Albert Bandura. Observational learning takes place when a new behaviour is learned of modified as a result of watching others and copying their behaviours or after watching the consequences of the behaviour of others.
reciprocal determinism
an explanation of how a person’s behaviour is both influence by and influences the environment and personal factors such as thoughts and feelings.
Alfred bandura and bobo doll experiment
- He investigated whether observing or copying others could lead to aggressive behaviour.
- Bandura had three groups a control group which would not see the adult, an experimental group which would be shown the adult performing aggressive behaviour, and the other control group which saw a non aggressive adult playing with the toys.
- The results were that the experimental group exposed to the aggressive adult showed that they were more aggressive in their actions, in comparison to the control group who showed less aggressive tendencies.
maturation
is the unfolding of biologically predetermined patterns of behaviour as a result of ageing and interaction with the environment.
- Maturation is a developmental process which is partially dependent on genetic input
reflex
is a simple involuntary reaction.
- Designed to aid survival
- No conscious control
behaviour modification
reducing unwanted behaviour and strengthening desirable behaviours by the use of reinforcement (and sometimes punishment).
token economy
is as system of positive reinforcement derived from the principles of operant conditioning. The focus of token economy is on shaping and positively reinforcing desired behaviours and not punishing undesirable behaviours.
phobia
is an extreme, irrational fear or dislike of something that is not in reality causing a threat.
how to treat a phobia
- Expose their client to the least fearful aspect of the phobia while they are given relaxation techniques.
- Slowly the client is exposed to more fearful stimuli all the time being guided by a therapist to be using relaxation training.
Systematic desensitisation
the gradual replacement of fear reactions with a calm response by a series of graded exposures to the feared stimulus.
Primary functions of the central nervous system-
- Bodily functions/response
- Organising sensory information
- Deciding motor movement
- Planning and organising
Peripheral nervous system
The peripheral nervous system consists of all the neurons outside the CNS (the neurons in the rest of the body including muscles, organs, glands) The role of the PNS is to carry sensory information along afferent neurons, to and motor information from the CNS.
2 main functions of the peripheral nervous system
Two main functions-
1- To relay sensory information to the central nervous system
2- To receive motor information from the central nervous system
Somatic nervous system
- sub system for all voluntary movement
- Branch of the PNS governs our voluntary actions through its control of our skeletal muscles. It receives motor messages from the CNS and transports theses messages to muscles in specific body regions so that our response to stimuli are appropriate.
- Sensory neurons relay messages from the brain providing information of pain, vision, touch, and taste.
autonomic nervous sytem
for all movement that occurs automatically or without conscious awareness.
- Is the division of the PNS that controls involuntary functions of our internal muscles, organs, and glands such as heart rate and breathing rate.
- Activities controlled by the ANS are mostly automatic
sympathetic nervous system
- Is the branch of the ANS that dominates when we are highly aroused or needing a sudden burst of energy.
- Increases the arousal of the muscles, organs, and glands and prepare the body for vigorous activity.
- Physically prepared for action
- Fight or flight response
parasympathetic nervous system
is the branch of the ANS that is responsible for reversing the effects of the sympathetic nervous system and retuning the body’s internal systems to their natural level of functioning.
- Maintains body when threats are present (homeostasis)
fight or flight response
whether the body should run away from the danger (flight) of fight the danger. The parasympathetic nervous system activates it and increases the senses.
neurotransmitters
Serotonin:
- Plays a role in mood, sleep, appetite and impulsive and aggressive behaviour
- Too little serotonin is associated with depression and some anxiety disorders, especially obsessive-compulsive disorder. Some antidepressants medications increase the availability of serotonin at the receptor sites.
Dopamine:
- Is correlated with movement, attention and learning. Too much dopamine has been associated with schitozpherina, and too little is associated with some forms of depression as well as the muscular rigidity and tremors found in Parkinson’s disease.
Frontal lobe
- Involved in planning, initiative and voluntary motor control. The frontal cortex is a very highly developed area in humans compared to other animals.
- Micro-electrode stimulation of the primary motor cortex produces twitches of movement in body parts.
- Damage causes lack of insight, loss of primitive reflex suppression, behavioural inertia and an inability to adjust behaviour to make it appropriate to the situation.
Parietal lobe
- Involved in sensing and monitoring of body parts
- Micro-electrode stimulation to the primary sensory cortex produces sensations on various parts of the body.
- Contains many sensory association areas, such as visual association are necessary for object recognition
- Damage causes vidual agonisa, the inability to recognise the identity of whole objects by sight. Also integrates information fro different sensory areas to enable cross model matching.
Temporal lobe
- Contains important areas for hearing, language and memory.
- Micro-electrode stimulation of the of the temporal lobe association areas products ‘dream like’ memories of events.
- Damage to specific brain areas in and around the edge of the temporal lobe products specific deficits in language.
- Damage to Broca’s area leads to motor aphasia (the disruption of spoken language production), damage to Wernicke’s area leads to receptive aphasia (disruption to the comprehension of language) and damage to the angular gryus disrupts reading comprehension.