Kaplan — Behavioral Sciences Flashcards
Learning
Way in which we acquire behaviors
Stimulus
Anything to which an organism can respond, including sensory inputs
Habituation
Repeated exposure to the same stimulus can cause a decrease in response
Dishabituation
Recovery of a response to a stimulus after habituation has occurred
Normally the result of a second stimulus
Associative learning
Creation of a pairing/association between two stimuli or between a behavior and a response
Classical conditioning
Type of associative learning that takes advantage of biological, instinctual responses
Unconditioned stimulus
Any stimulus that brings about such a reflexive response
Unconditioned response
Innate or reflexive response to a stimulus
Neutral stimulus
Stimulus that does not produce a reflexive response
Signaling stimulus
Neutral stimulus that has the potential to be used as a conditioning stimulus
Conditioned stimulus
Neutral stimulus that has been conditioned to produce the unconditioned response
Conditioned response
Unconditioned response that has now been trained to respond to a neutral stimulus
Extinction
When the organism has become habituated to the conditioned stimulus and no longer responds with the conditioned response
Spontaneous recovery
When an extinct conditioned stimulus is presented again, a weak conditioned response can sometimes be exhibited
Generalization
Broadening effect by which a stimulus similar enough to the conditioned stimulus can also produce the conditioned response
Discrimination
Organism learns to distinguish between two similar stimuli
Operant conditioning
Links voluntary behaviors with consequences in an effort to alter the frequency of those behaviors
Behaviorism
Theory that all behaviors are conditioned
B. F. Skinner
Reinforcement
Process of increasing the likelihood that an individual will perform a behavior
Positive reinforcers
Adding a positive consequence or incentive to increase a behavior
Negative reinforcers
Removing an unpleasant thing to increase a behavior
Escape learning
Role of behavior is to reduce the unpleasantness of something that already exists
Avoidance learning
Meant to prevent the unpleasantness of something that has yet to happen
Primary reinforcer
Something that the organism responds to naturally
Conditioned reinforcer
Something that the organism has been trained to respond that they otherwise wouldn’t naturally
Secondary reinforcer
Conditioned reinforcer
Discriminative stimulus
A stimulus that has not been trained for the organism to respond to but has occurred incidentally
Punishment
Uses conditioning to reduce the occurrence of a behavior
Positive punishment
Adds an unpleasant consequence in response to a behavior to reduce that behavior
Negative punishment
Reduction of behavior when a stimulus is removed
Fixed-ratio (FR) schedule
Reinforce a behavior after a specific number of performances of that behavior
Continuous reinforcement
FR schedule where behavior is rewarded every time it is performed
Variable-ratio (VR) schedule
Reinforce a behavior after a variable number of performances of the behavior
Works the fastest for learning a new behavior and is also the most resistance to extinction
Fixed-interval (FI) schedule
Reinforce the first instance of behavior after a specified time period has elapsed
Works the slowest
Variable-interval (VI) schedule
Reinforce a behavior the first time that behavior is performed after a varying interval of time
Shaping
Processing of rewarding increasingly specific behaviors to allow for the training of extremely complicated behaviors
Latent learning
Learning that occurs without a reward but that is spontaneously demonstrated once a reward is introduced
Problem solving
Method of learning that steps outside the standard behaviorist approach
Trial-and-error approach
Preparedness
Predisposition of animals to learn behaviors based on their natural abilities and instincts
Instinctive drift
Difficulty imposed by training animals to behave opposite their instinct
Observational learning
Processing of learning a new behavior or gaining information by watching others
Mirror neurons
Neurons located in the frontal and parietal lobes of the cerebral cortex and fire both when an individual performs an action and when that individual observes someone else performing an action
Modeling
Showing individuals how to behave
Encoding
Process of putting new information into memory
Automatic processing
Information that is gained without effort
Controlled processing
Active memorization (e.g. studying)
Visual encoding
Visualizing to encode information
Weakest method
Acoustic encoding
Storing how it sounds
Semantic encoding
Putting information in a meaningful context
Strongest method
Self-reference effect
Our ability to recall information best when it’s in the context of our own lives
Maintenance rehearsal
Repetition of a piece of information to either keep it within working memory or store it in short-term and eventually long-term memory
Mnemonics
Acronyms or rhyming phrases that provide a vivid organization of the information we are trying to remember
Method of loci
Associating each item in the list with a location along a route through a building that has already been memorized
Peg-word system
Associates numbers with items that rhyme with or resemble the numbers (e.g. remembering you need to buy one egg by visualizing one egg being fried)
Chunking
Memory trick that involves taking individual elements of a large list and grouping them together into groups of elements with related meaning
Sensory memory
Shortest lasting memory and first reservoir
Consists of both iconic & echoic memory
Iconic memory
Visual memory
Echoic memory
Auditory memory
Whole-report
Asking participants in memory study to repeat everything that they remember in a set
Isn’t as accurate as partial-report
Partial-report
Asking participants to list a particular row or part of the stimulus presentation
Is more accurate
Short-term memory
Fades after 30 seconds
When we pay attention to some information that we are exposed to
7 +/- 2 rule
Short-term memory capacity
Location of short-term memory
Hippocampus
Working memory
Enables us to keep a few pieces of information in our consciousness simultaneously and manipulate that information
Location of working memory
Hippocampus primarily
Involvement of frontal and parietal lobes
Elaborative rehearsal
Association of information already stored in long-term memory
Implicit memory
Our skills and conditioned responses
Explicit memory
Memories that require conscious recall
Semantic memory
Type of explicit memory that consists of the facts we know
Episodic memory
Type of explicit memory that includes our experiences
Retrieval
Process of demonstrating that something that has been learned has been retained
Recall
Retrieval and statement of previously learned information
Recognition
Process of merely identifying a piece of information that was previously learned
Relearning
Another way of demonstrating that information has been stored in long-term memory
Previously learned memories are learned faster
Spacing effect
Longer amount of time between sessions of re-learning, greater the retention of information later on
Semantic network
The way that concepts are linked on the brain based on similar meaning
Spreading activation
When one node of our semantic network is activated, other linked concepts around it are also unconsciously activated
Priming
Recall is aided by first being presented with a word or phrase that is close to the desired semantic memory
Context effects
Memory is aided by being in the physical location where encoding took place
State-dependent memory
Being the same mental state as when learning information aids recall
Serial position effect
Higher recall for the first and last pieces of information in a list
Primacy effect
Being more able to remember the first items on a list
Regency effect
Being more able to remember the second items on a list
Alzheimer’s disease
Degenerative brain disorder thought to be linked to a loss of Ach neurons that link to the hippocampus
Marked by progressive dementia and memory loss with atrophy of the brain
Microscopic findings of Alzheimer’s
Neurofibrillary tangles and beta-amyloid plaques
Sundowning
Increase in dysfunction in the late afternoon and evening
Korsakoff’s syndrome
Form of memory loss caused by thiamine deficiency in the brain
Retrograde amnesia
Loss of previously formed memories
Anterograde amnesia
Inability to form new memories
Cofabulation
Process of creating vivid but fabricated memories