Introduction to Learning & Memory Flashcards
How are learning and memory related and what is the process?
Learning starts with ACQUISITION (encoding) -> then begins to turn into memory when it goes into STORAGE (retention & organisation) -> and finally becomes memory in RETRIEVAL (long term storage)
What are 3 examples of learned behaviour?
Habits, preferences and skills (HPS)
Behaviourists tend to lean towards which end of the learning and memory spectrum?
Learning
Cognitive Psychologists tend to lean towards which end of the learning and memory spectrum?
Memory
What were Edward Tirchner’s main focuses and coined terms?
To look at how the mind was structured- STRUCTURALISM
Key terms:
Introspection, observation of own conscious experience
What were William James’s main focus and emphasises?
To look at how the mind functions- FUNCTIONALISM
Key emphasis: action and application with an environment
What was Hermann Ebbinghaus’s main contribution?
The metronome, nonsense syllables and the retention curve
What is the retention curve?
Ebbinghaus’s concept that Renton was related to time in that memory was pretty concrete during immediate recall however rapidly dropped off in the first 9 hours and then the declined slowed to a plateau from 2 days onward
What experiment was Ivan Pavlov famous for?
Behaviourist experiment with salivating dogs
What are the 5 key terms used in the process of classical conditioning?
Neutral stimulus Unconditioned stimulus Unconditioned response Conditioned stimulus Conditioned response
Who is considered the first behaviouralist and founder of classical conditioning?
Watson
What are the two methods used to change behaviours?
Classical & operant conditioning
What would S-R refer to?
Stimulus response- classical conditioning
What experiment was Skinner famous for?
Skinners box- operant conditioning chamber for rats
Who was linked to radical behaviourism?
Skinner
What type of conditioning was Skinner associated with and what were his key ideas?
Operant conditioning
Neutral or negative outcome = reduction in behaviour
What was Chomsky known for?
The emphasis on language learning for cognitive processes.
What are of psychology was Rummelhart involved in?
Computational models and the microstructure cognition that could be measured
What was Tolmans experiment testing?
The T-maze tested the winner between cognitive (place learning) and behavioural learning (response learning)
What was the conclusion of the T-maze test?
That both cognitive learning and behavioural learning occur but the behaviour exhibited depends on other factors
What conditions affected whether learning was cognitive or behavioural in the T-maze experiment?
Visual cues
Times taken the maze
Condition of the hippocampus/ striatum
When has the study into Neuroscience been around since?
1950’s
What methods have been used in the past and now in the field of Neuroscience?
Animal experiments Brain Damage patients Double Dissociations Neuroimaging Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
What are 3 examples of neuroimaging techniques that have been used in the field of neuroscience?
Positron emission tomography (PET)
Electroencephalography (EEG)
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
What are the 3 major memory systems?
Procedural
EMotional
Declarative
What are the 3 areas of the brain (cortical association areas) that are linked to memory?
Striatum cerebellum
Amygdala
Hippocampus
What 2 parts of the Striatum cerebellum is involved with memory?
The brainstem & spinal motor outputs
What part of the amygdala is involved with memory?
Hypothalamus endocrine outputs
What is procedural memory?
Reinforced responsive habits
What is emotional memory?
Conditioned preferences & aversions
What is declarative memory?
Episodic & semantic recollection of conscience facts or events
What parts of the brain system are involved in motor memory? (4)
Somatosensory cortex
Motor cortex
Basal Ganglia
Cerebellum
What parts of the brain system are involved in emotional memory? (3)
Hypothalamus
Thalamus
Amygdala
What parts of the brain system are involved in cognitive memory? (2)
Frontal cortex
Hippocampus
What functions the motor memory responsible for? (4)
Skills
Habits
Learned reflexes
Reinforced responses
What functions the emotional memory responsible for? (4)
Processing rewards/ punishments
Preferences
Emotional expression
Attributing emotions to senses
What functions the cognitive memory responsible for? (3)
Working memory
Semantic memory
Episodic memory
What changes in the brain to allow us to learn?
Synaptic changes
Structural changes
What process happens in the synaps to allow us to learn?
Long term potential (LTP)
What 3 processes happen in the structure of the brain to allow us to learn?
Myelination
Plasticity
Neurogenesis
Today, learning is understood not to be the work of single neurons but…
Clusters and patterns of neural firing
What is Long term potentiation (LPT)?
“neurons that firs together wire together”
high frequency, repeated stimulation makes two neurons become more sensitive to each other
What is LTD?
Long term depression
How are LTP and LTD related to learning?
They help to make theoretical sense of how we learn in that they predict the processes of associated brain regions
What limited evidence is there to support the connection between LTP and LTD to learning?
Drugs used to block LTP impaired animal ability to learn
and
genetically modified rats with enhances LTP show better learning than normal rats
The thicker the ______ ________, the faster the propagation velocity of the ____________ ________.
myelin sheath
electric pulse
Our brain continues to develop ___________ __________ throughout childhood and adolescence.
white matter
When studying neural plasticity what types of environments were found to increase brain function and produce a heavier cerebral cortex?
Socially and sensorially enriched environments
What process happens in the first few years of life to help make brain functioning more efficient?
Pruning
When blind, what was the visual cortex used for?
Other processing areas
When has the study of Neural Genesis been around since?
1990’s
What happens in neural genesis?
Many new brain cells are produced over the lifetime
Which 2 areas of the brain does neural genesis occur most?
The sub-ventricular zone
The hippocampus
What are the 3 main effects of neural genesis?
Associative memory
Increased temporal information in episodic memory
Learning increases the survival of newly born cells
What are the 3 main arguments for using animals in research?
Shared evolutionary history and similar systems of learning
Conditions can be more tightly controlled
Some unethical procedures can be applied with animals
What are some examples of non-declarative memory?
Implicit things such as associative learning (fear conditioning) and skills, habits or muscle memory
