Introduction to Learning and Memory Flashcards
*What is learning and memory?
defines our behaviour and our individuality
3 Examples of learned behaviour
habits
preferences
skills
2 Examples of Memory
Facts
Personal information
*The relationship between learning and memory
- Encoding/Acquisition (brain encodes it)-behavioursm and learning
2.Retention and Organisation/Storage (retaining info)-half behavioursm/half cognitive
quarter of learning/quarter of memory
- Retrieval from Long Term Storage (retrieve info)-cognitive and memory
*Brief history of Psychology/Theoretic Debates
Structuralism VS Functionalism
STRUCTURALISM
GOAL
To look at how the mind is structured:
-basic elements of consciousness
-how are those elements organised?
MAIN PROPONENT Edward Tirchner (1867-1927)
MAIN CHARACTERISTICS
Emphasis on introspection-observation of one’s own conscious experience
*FUNCTIONALISM
GOAL
To look at how the mind functions:
-what is the purpose of consciousness
-how does it help our survival
MAIN PROPONENT William James (1842-1910)
MAIN CHARACTERISTICS
- Emphasis on action and application
- Observation of behaviour within environment
*Birth of Experimental Psychology
Herman Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)
Herman Ebbinghaus’ metronome:
- 1000’s of nonsense syllables (e.g. yat, baf, koj)
- contributions: -the retention curve
- concept of savings
- contiguity
- effect of practice
- order
*BehaviourIsm VS Cognitive Psychology
BEHAVIOURISM Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING PARADIGM- studied mechanism of DOG SALIVATION
neutral- bell-STIMULUS OF BELL related with STIMULUS OF MEAT
meat-unconditioned stimulus (causes salivation)
salivation-unconditioned response (no previous learning)
bell-conditioned stimulus (when paired with meat)
salivation-conditioned response
*BEHAVIOURISM John Watson (Radical Behaviourist)
WATSON AND A DOZEN BABIES-
Psychology =a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behaviour.
-not intersted in mental processes
-STIMULUS-RESPONSE (S-R) psychology
-Nature VS Nurture debate-people were born in clean slates. He believed that behaviour and phobias are learnt.
*BEHAVIOURISM
B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) Radical Behaviourist
S-R-C
OPERANT CONDITIONING=RATS!!!!!
- rat in a box, press the lever, dispenses food.
- positive reinforcement, more effective way to teach behaviour
- behaviour is acquired as a consequence of a behaviour
- did not believe in punishment
Positive reinforcement- get something, good behaviour increases
Negative reinforcement-something bad stops, increases behaviour
Punishment-some bad-decreases behaviour
Negative punishment-something good stops, decreases behaviour
*COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Noam Chomsky (1928-present)
CHOMSKY AND LANGUAGE=major in the field of Psychology/cognitive revolution
- mental processes (cognition)
- speed of language learning
- generative grammar
- universal grammar
*David Rumelhart (1942-2011)
RUMMELHART AND THE COMPUTER=people started to think that a brain is a computer.
- computational models-simple units connected in a lot of complex units.
- parallel distributed processing: explorations in the microstructure of cognition (Rumelhart & McClelland, 1989)
- Distributed-each neuron is distributed
- Parallel processing- more than one thing is happening at a time.
- Biological Plausibility
- Testable Models
Neuroscience
- animal experiments
- acquired brain damage patients
- double dissociations
- neuroimaging techniques: Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
- electroencephalography (EEG)
- Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI)
- Transactional Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
3 major Memory Systems
Procedural memory-reinforced response habits
Emotional memory-conditioned preferences & aversions
Declarative memory-episodic & semantic recollection
Memory system brain map
draw please
3 Neural Systems
-motor system
emotional system
-cognitive system
motor system
somatosensory cortex/motor cortex
- skills
- habits
- learned reflexes
- reinforced responses
emotional system
hypothalamus/thalamus/amygdala
- processing of rewards and punishment
- preferences
- emotional colour
- emotional expression
- linked to other memory systems (e.g. visual, auditory, and motor cortex)
cognitive systems
frontal cortex/hippocampus
- working memory
- semantic memory
- episodic memory
2 How does the brain learn?
- synaptic changes (long term potentiation-LTP) changes in synapse
- structural changes (myelination, neural plasticity, neurogenesis) changes in neurons
Long Term Potentiation (LTP)
neutrons fire together, wire together, Hebb, 1949)
LTP & LTD (long term depression)
LTP’s opponent process is called long-term depression (LTD)
How is LTP and LTD related to learning
-makes theoretical sense
-same associated brain regions
-limited behavioural evidence: drugs that block LTP found to impair an animal’s ability to learn//
genetically modified rats with enhanced LTP show better learning than normal rats.
Myelination
- the thicker the myelin sheath, the faster the propagation velocity of the electric pulse
- our brain continues to develop white matter throughout childhood and adolescence
- natural maturation + experience
- Paus et al (2000):computational analysis of structural MRI data of 111 children and adolescents=increased white matter in corticospinal and frontotemporal pathways
Neural Plasticity
- increased weight result of: increased number of dendrites/increased synaptic area
- neural pruning in first years of life
- visual cortex recruited for other processing for blind individuals
- london taxi driver: increased volume in hippocampus associated with spatial memories (Wollet&Maguire 2011)
- ***learn about rats
Neural Genesis 2 main areas
The sub ventricular zone
The hippocampus
