High-Yield Topics

Question 1

Memory

Answer 1

Storage and retrieval of information

Question 2

Learning

Answer 2

Change in behavior due to experience.

Question 3

Automatic processing

Answer 3

No effort or thinking required. Walking and talking. Riding a bike.

Question 4

Controlled processing

Answer 4

Effortful thinking required. Taking a test or writing a paper.

Question 5

Maintenance rehearsal

Answer 5

Repeating information back to yourself. Also know as rote rehearsal. i.e. repeating name of person you just me.

(NOT EFFECTIVE FOR LTM)

Question 6

Elaborative rehearsal

Answer 6

Creatively thinking about information to relate it personally or to something else you’ve already learned.

Question 7

Sensory memory

Answer 7

All of the information your senses are taking in.

“eye”conic: <.5s

“echo”ic: 3-4s

Question 8

Working (Short-term) memory

Answer 8

The information you’re working with right at this moment. Can hold around 7 pieces of information at time.

i.e. solving a math problem on the board

Question 9

Long-term memory

Answer 9

Has an unlimited capacity and length of time varies.

Explicit memory: Facts and events you can clearly describe

• Semantic and Episodic

Implicit: Things you know and can remember how to do but can’t necessarily explain it.

• Procedural and Priming

Question 10

Episodic memory

Answer 10

People, places, events. Like a movie or a tv series episode.

Question 11

Semantic memory

Answer 11

Words, facts, definitions. Like a book.

Question 12

Alzheimers Disease

Answer 12

Terminal disease that results in shrinking of cerebral cortex. Symptoms include loss of memory and abstract thinking. Eventually victims can’t recognize family/friends and lose control of bodily functions. Amyloid plaques around brain tissue.

Question 13

Korsakoff’s Syndrome

Answer 13

Caused by a thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency. Linked to malnutrition, especially alcoholism. Severe memory loss or “confabulation.”

Question 14

Parkinson’s Disease

Question 15

Habituation

Answer 15

decreased response to a stimulus. You tune out pen tapping during class

Question 16

Dishabituation

Answer 16

increase response after habituation has occurred. You begin to notice the pen tapping again.

Question 17

Sensitization

Answer 17

Increased response as the stimulus is presented. Pen tapping gets louder and louder throughout class

Question 18

Classical conditioning

Answer 18

Association with a stimulus to get a certain response. i.e. Pavlov’s dog

Question 19

Neutral stimulus

Answer 19

Bell before it was associated with food.

Question 20

Conditioned stimulus

Answer 20

Bell after it was associated with food.

Question 21

Unconditioned stimulus

Answer 21

food produces response before experiment

Question 22

Conditioned response

Answer 22

Dog now salivates to sound of bell

Question 23

Unconditioned response

Answer 23

Dog salivated when given food

Question 24

Acquisition

Question 25

Extinction

Answer 25

Bell ringing now longer makes dog salivate

Question 26

Spontaneous Recovery

Answer 26

Week later after extinction, without reconditioning, the dog salivates when he hears the bell.

Question 27

Generalization

Answer 27

Ex. 1) Dog salivates at the sound of a tone.

Ex. 2) Little Albert became scared of white mouse. Now is scared of all white creatures

Question 28

Discrimination

Answer 28

A whistle does not make the dog salivate

Question 29

Acquisition

Answer 29

Period of “acquiring” conditioned response to conditioned stimulus

Question 30

Operant conditioning

Answer 30

Typically used in humans or with dog training. Teaches a change in behavior. (Dog goes outside to pee, he gets a treat.)

Question 31

Positive reinforcement

Answer 31

If Buzz sits when I say sit, he gets a treat.

Question 32

Positive punnishement

Answer 32

If Buzz tries to bite my hand, I muzzle him with my hands. Adding a stimulus to stop undesired response.

Question 33

Negative Reinforcement

Answer 33

Taking away a negative stimulus to get desired behavior. i.e. Shocking a mouse until he presses the lever. If he presses the lever, the shocking stops

Question 34

Negative punishment

Answer 34

Taking away t.v. or cell phone when child has misbehaved.

Question 35

Fixed Ratio

Answer 35

I give Buzz a treat each time he sits on command.

Question 36

Variable Ratio

Answer 36

Buzz gets a treat every so often. He does not know when the treat is coming. Used to retain and maintain desired behaviors.

Question 37

Fixed interval

Answer 37

Reward is given after certain amount of time. Buzz sits for 30s and gets a treat, but won’t get a reward until after another 30s.

Question 38

Variable interval

Answer 38

Reward is given after various time intervals. Buzz gets a treat after 30s, 1 min, and then 5 minutes.

Question 39

Escape learning

Answer 39

Adopt a behavior to stop unpleasant stimulus.

i.e. Exiting a room that is on fire.

Question 40

Avoidance learning

Answer 40

adopt a behavior to avoid unpleasant stimuli in the future. i.e. Hearing the fire alarm and exiting the room to “avoid” the fire.

Question 41

Weber’s Law

Answer 41

Defines the minimum noticeable difference in a stimulus. i.e. moving from a 5 to 10 lb db compared to moving from 100 to 105 lb db

Question 42

Group think

Answer 42

Making decisions that will create the least amount of conflict even if the desicions are incorrect or illogical.

Question 43

Group Polarization

Answer 43

Tendency toward decisions that are more extreme than the individual inclinations to an individuals’ goals.