Learning Flashcards
Why are learning and memory important?
To be able to adapt to changes in the environment
Learning
Acquire and process information from the environment.
Changes the nervous system
Memory
Ability to retain this information.
Hypothesized Memory Processes
Incoming info; sight sound smell touch -> sensory buffer (accepts a lot of info, but nothing lasts long here unless we encode it, something you paying attention to) -> encoding ->
short term storage -> consolidation-> long term storage -> working memory-> retrieval -> performance
short term storage (recall info right away) -> working memory (memory you have rn that you need for a particular task) -> retrieval -> performance
Multiple Trace Hypothesis of Memory
sensory buffer- rly strong memory trace, can take a huge amount of info but dies away if you don’t pay attention
short term- smaller capacity but lasts a little bit longer
-> can’t rmbr as many things as you can absorb into sensory buffer
intermediate -> same as short term
long term -> can store lots of info for a long time bc of studying
Memory is…,
very flexible malleable process every time you rmbr a event you relearn it and store it again
Multiple Memory Systems Hypothesis
Memory can be divided into categories that reflect the type of information being remembered.
Each system primarily employs a distinct brain region.
Declarative → Hippocampus
Procedural → Basal Ganglia
Emotional → Amygdala
‘Working With’ Memory → Prefrontal Cortex
Declarative
→ Hippocampus
- can immediately recall and tell someone abt
Procedural
Basal Ganglia
- how to tie a tie, tie shoes, things you just do, don’t necessarily know when or how you learnt it
Emotional
Amygdala
- strongest memories in life are emotional
‘Working With’ Memory
Prefrontal Cortex
- planning and doing
What does long term memory include?
Declarative memory (explicit)
- events
- facts
non declarative memory (implicit)
- procedural
- perceptual
- classical conditioning
- nonassociative learning
Declarative memory
Knowledge we have conscious access to.
Often referred to as explicit memory.
=> can tell ppl abt it, filled with events or facts
ex- capital of MB what you did last summer
events
- episodic memory
facts
- semantic memory
Non declarative memory
stuff you don’t know how or when you learned it
hard to explain to others on how to do
Performance informed by implicit knowledge.
procedural memory
skills
- motor and cognitive
Operant / instrumental conditioning
Pressing a button provides a reward.
Increases the likelihood that the animal will press the button again
non associative learning
something occurring over and over again you stop paying attention to it
Habituation / sensitization
What does short term memory include?
sensory memory
short term/ working memory
What areas of the brain are involved in declarative memory?
Medial temporal lobe middle diencephalon neocortex prefrontal cortex - newer areas of cortex
What areas of the brain are involved in nondeclarative memory?
at low level systems
Sensory memory
Large capacity, but rapid decay.
Sensory association areas involved.
- hearing sight smell touch info
Example: Your mother is lecturing you and you aren’t paying attention, however, if asked, you can repeat the last sentence she said
Short-term memory (Working memory)
Lasts for seconds to minutes. Severely limited capacity. magical 7 ± 2 – digits, letters, etc. Available to conscious awareness. Prefrontal cortex involved. Example: remember a phone number. between looking it up and dialing.
Intermediate-term Memory
Lasts for hours and days.
May be transferred to LTM through rehearsal.
Example: remembering where you parked your car.
Decay theory
memory fades away with time, unless there is rehearsal.
Example: reviewing notes after class.
Interference theory
memory for other material interferes with information we are trying to remember.
Better recall when presentation of information is spaced.
Example: studying versus cramming.
spaced learning= do better on your test
primacy and recency
Better recall for items presented first (primacy) and last (recency) in a list.
Mechanisms of Primacy and Recency
Primacy:
Memory system has enough resources to transfer items at the beginning of a list into LTM.
Recency:
Items at the end of the list are still in STM and are therefore available for recall.
List Factors Affecting Primacy and Recency
A distractor task at the end of a list interfered with recency, but not primacy.
Interrupts rehearsal.
A faster presentation rate interfered with primacy, but not recency.
Increases load and effects transfer of information from STM to LTM.
Changing the length of delay between training and testing interfered with both primacy and recency.
Consolidation
Hippocampus and amygdala involved.
Memories are subject to modification during reactivation and reconsolidation.
-> not hardrive, or static
Memories are more likely to reflect how person perceived the event, rather than what actually happened.
Confidence is not correlated with accuracy.
Implications for eyewitness accounts, repressed memories of abuse.
How is memory described in video?
suggestive
subjective
malleable
Learning and memory involves
multiple processes, traces and systems
Processes
Encoding, consolidation and retrieval.
Traces
Sensory, short-, intermediate- and long-term.
Systems
Declarative, procedural, emotional, ‘working-with’.
Long-term memory
Lasts for months and years.
Takes a long time to consolidate.
Episodic
Personal experiences / events etc.
Canoeing on Lake Winnipeg, surfing in San Diego.
Often referred to as autobiographical memory.
Semantic
Conceptual knowledge
“Where is Lake Winnipeg, where is San Diego?”
“How do you canoe, how do you surf?”
- stuff you know how to do but don’t know the speciifc event
Classical Conditioning
association between stimulus-stimulus.
hippocampus is involved.
Unconditioned stimulus (US)
stimulus (puff of air) that produces UR.
Unconditional response (UR)
reflex (eye blink) to US.
Conditional stimulus (CS)
an arbitrary stimulus (tone) paired closely in time with an US.
Conditioned response (CR)
behaviour (blinking) now occurs in response to CS (without need for US).
Outline the experiment explained; classical conditioning
tube is strapped to head that is puffing little puff of air into eye- US
this produces UR
every time puff of air happens you play a tone: CS
turn air off and just play the beep and you will blink to beep b/c you have come to associate tone with puff of air don’t need US to produce response
Pavlovs experiment
bell is neutral before conditioning it doesnt produce any response
Food- US causes salivation; UR
Ringing bells; CS causes salivation; CR
Food; UR -> salivation; US
Bell; CS -> Food: US Salivation; UR
Bell: CS -> Salivation; CR
How general is this effect?
salivate to sounds similar to bell-> generalization
effect doesn’t persist b/c dog learns to discriminate between sounds-= discrimination
if it doesn’t receive food after hearing bell many times she’ll stop salivating= extinction
after some times passes and salivates again= spontaneous recovery
Hebbian learning: Mechanism for classical conditioning
If a synaptic connection is repeatedly active at the same time a post-synaptic neuron fires, then this will lead to changes in the structure or chemistry that strengthen the connection.
Emotional memory
Conditioned fear response
Perceptual memory
Priming
An alteration of response to a stimulus as a result of prior exposure.
= how we respond to a stimulus as a result of prior exposure
Can last for hours.
Not dependent on level of processing.
Reduced (but not eliminated) when presentation and test modalities are different.
Perceptual short-term memory involves the sensory association cortices.
Instrumental / Operant Conditioning
Association between stimulus-response. Stimuli following a behaviour can be either: Reinforcing: perceived as positive. Punishing: perceived as negative. Basal ganglia are involved.
Procedural Memory: Motor Learning
Series of connected movements that become automatic with practice.
Other examples: how to tie a shoe lace, ride a bike, drive a manual transmission, play piano.
Emotional Memory: Conditioned Fear
Association between stimulus-valence (pleasant-unpleasant).
Amygdala is involved.
Little Albert
Conditioned to fear rats – hammer hitting metal.
Extended to other furry animals and objects.
rabbit; CS -> noise; US -> fear; uR
Rabbit; CS -> fear; CR
extinction
If CS is repeated without US often enough, then the CR disappears
Non-associative Memory: Habituation
Ignore incoming information that is not relevant.
Most basic form of learning.
Even worms can do it.
Tap response
What distinct regions are involved in each of the categories of memory?
Short-term memory
Prefrontal cortex, sensory association areas
Declarative long-term memory
Hippocampus
Procedural long-term memory
Basal ganglia, motor association areas, cerebellum
Emotional long-term memory
Amygdala
Long-term potentiation
A long-term increase in the excitability of a neuron to a particular synaptic input caused by repeated high-frequency activity of that input.
EPSP’s are summated as successive EPSP’s occur and before past EPSP’s have dissipated.
Synaptic plasticity
LTP strengthens existing synapses and creates new ones.
Important for recovery of function post stroke.
1) In classical conditioning, an organism
A) learns the consequences of a specific behavior.
B) identifies and categorizes objects.
C) shows a species-typical behavior in response to a previously unimportant stimulus.
D) is able to recognize objects by the sounds they make.
E) forms an association between a response and a stimulus.
c
2) You are listening to a song on the radio while doing your homework. The phone rings. Your mother has called to tell you that your favorite uncle has died after being hit by a car. Three months later, you again hear the same song and suddenly feel very sad. In this example, the unconditional response is
A) the voice of your mother as she relays the bad news.
B) listening to the song.
C) your feeling about the song prior to the phone call.
D) your feeling about your uncle before he died.
E) feeling sad when your mother calls with the bad news.
E
3) The \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ states that a weak synapse will be strengthened if its activation occurs at the same time that the postsynaptic neuron fires. A) perforant path hypothesis B) law of effect C) all-or-none principle D) Hebb rule E) law of summation
D) Hebb rule
4) The ability to recall a series of events is referred to as A) serial memory. B) spatial learning. C) perceptual learning. D) episodic learning. E) observational learning.
D) episodic learning.
5) Intense electrical stimulation of axons within the hippocampal formation results in
A) long-term potentiation of postsynaptic neurons.
B) axoaxonic inhibition of presynaptic neurons.
C) recurrent inhibition of the stimulated axons.
D) long-term potentiation of presynaptic neurons.
A) long-term potentiation of postsynaptic neurons.
