Early Contributors (Exam 1) Flashcards
Aristotle
Associationism - Memory dependent on the formation of linkage between pairs of events, sensations, or ideas, so that recalling or experiencing one member of the pair elicits a memory or anticipation of the other (e.g., cat —> dog)
Three Fundamental Principles aka
Universal Laws of Association
- Contiguity
- Frequency
- Similarity
Contiguity
Nearness in the time or space: events experienced at the same time (temporal contiguity) or space (special contiguity) tend to be associated.
Frequency
The more often we experience events that are contiguous the more strongly we associate them
Similarity
If two things are similar, the thought or sensation of one will tend to trigger a thought of the other.
Empiricism
philosophical school of thought which holds that all ideas we have are the result of experience
(Greek empiricus = experience)
Aristotle believed that each baby was born with a blank slate
Nativism
Philosophical school of thought which holds that the bulk of our knowledge is inborn (or native)
Plato’s theory
Empiricism vs. nativism
Nature vs. Nurture
What about animals?
Aristotle “Many animals have memory, and are capable of instruction, but no other creature except man can recall the past at will.”
Research has improved and found interesting data on animals, they do have memory but may not be able to communicate them
Learning
1.) The process by which changes and behavior arise as a result of an organism’s experience interacting with the world.
2.) Process of forming associations between the elements of an experience
Memory
an organism’s internal record of past experiences, acquitted through learning.
William James
Taught first psychology course
* memory networks - remembering an event involves a network of multiple connections between the components
* believed in associationism
Remember the most recent event you attended; you might remember the weather (hot/cold), the food you ate, and the songs you danced to.
10 tips for a better memory
- Pay attention
- Create association
- Create a picture
- Practice makes perfect
- Use multiple senses
- Reduce overload
- Time travel
- Get some sleep
- Try a rhyme
- Relax
Ivan Pavlov
Russian Physiologists known for studying animal learning accidentally discovered classical conditioning by training dogs to salivate for their food by ringing a bell.
Classical Conditioning aka
Pavlovian Conditioning
Type of learning by which the organism learns to respond to a previously neutral stimulus that has been repeatedly presented along with a biologically significant stimulus.
Stimulus
sensory event (door bell)
Learning curve
a graph showing learning performance (the dependent variable usually plotted on the vertical axis) as a function of training time (independent variable, usually plotted along the horizontal axis)
Dependent variable
the factor whose change is measured as an effect of changes in the independent variable
Independent variable
the factor that is manipulated in the experiment
Response
the behavioral consequence of perception of a stimulus
Extinction
process of reducing a learning response to a stimulus by ceasing the pair that stimulus with a reward or punishment
Generalization
transfer of past learning to novel events and problems
Edward Thorndike
The Law of Effect
Instrumental conditioning/Operant conditioning
- Showed that animals learn to associate given behaviors with desirable or undesirable outcomes
Operant Conditioning
the process by whereby organisms learn to make responses in order to obtain or avoid important consequences; also called instrumental conditioning