Learning and Memory Flashcards
What is learning?
Relitavely permanent change in behavior, knowledge or attitude. It’s also an experience.
What are the types of learning? (3 types of conditioning)
Classical conditioning, operant conditioning, observational conditioning
What is classical conditioning?
Associating 1 stimulus with another
What is operant conditioning?
An association between behaviour and consequence
What is observational conditioning?
Watching others and imitating
Explain the class. cond. theory (Ivan P. Pavlov)
The hungry dog sees food. The food makes him salivate. When he hears the bell, he associates it to the food = salivation –> repeat. The bell = food for the dog.
What is unconditional stimulus? (US)
Already elicits a response
What is unconditional response? (UR)
Already elicited by a stimuli
What is conditioned stimulus? (CS)
New stimulus delivered at the same time as old stimulus
What is conditioned response? (CR)
An “old” response now elicited by a new experience
What are the factors of class. cond. in everyday life?
Can food & dogs
Beer commercials
Taste aversion
Fears & phobias
Class. Cond. & Drug Cravings
What happens if you’re always taking drug in the same E?
US: drug
UR: body compensation for drug (opposite effect)
CS: E cues
Class. Cond. & Drug Cravings
“After training” CR, CS,
CR: The tolerance/body compensates (now to just E cues)
CS: gets the same reaction as drug itself
What can all of this lead to?
Craving and overdose if in a new E
Class. Cond. & Drug Cravings
“Curing” fear (Watson)
What happened with the experiment?
3yrs old Peter is scared of rabbits.
Watson distracted him with candy (CS).
He then gradually brought the rabbit closer.
By the end, Peter wasn’t scared anymore.
This equals to a ‘systematic desensitization’
What factors influence the Class. Cond. ?
Number of pairings of CS & US
US intensity
How reliably CS predicts US
Temporal relationship b/w CS & US
What are the factors of operant conditioning?
B.F. Skinner
Learn through new voluntary behaviours
Rewards + punishments
Response = consequence
What are the factors of reinforcer?
Increase in probability of a response it follows
Positive reinforcement (reward) increases likelihood behaviour to be repeated
What are the schedules of reinforcement and what are they?
Continuous reinforcement : Each response is reinforced
Partial reinforcement : response is reinforced randomly intermittently
Fixed ratio : reinforcement given after a specific time interval has passed -> ‘FI scallop’
Variable ratio : reinforcement given after a varying number of responses
Variable interval : reinforcement given after a variable amount of time
What is shaping?
It’s rewarding “successive approximations” of desired responses. Ex. : bowling pigeons!
What is aversive stimuli?
It is unpleasant/painful
The result in a decrease probability of the behaviour, which —> punishment
Also: removing pleasant stimulus
What are the factors of negative reinforcement?
Remove aversive stimulus = negative reinforcement -> rewarding
Results in an increase probability of behaviour occurring
What are the factors of drawback punishments?
Often doesn’t work
Better techniques such as extinction, positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement (remove rewarding consequences)
What are the 3 things you should do if you punish?
Be consistent, good timing, intensity
What are the factors of influencing operant cond. ?
Magnitude of reinforcement
Immediacy of reinforcement
Level of motivation
Explain the Learned Helplessness experiment + conclusion
Done by Seligman : fear conditioning in dogs
Pair tone with mild shock while restraining the dog
Then the dog what put in a shuttlebox
Trained dog could’ve escaped but didn’t
The untrained dog tried to escape the shock
Conclusion: learn to act “helpless”
What is learned helplessness?
Model for depression
When depressed, you learn to be helpless and pessimistic
Help: cognitive therapy which makes patients optimistic!
What is cognitive learning? (Brodura’s theory)
The E depends on the behaviour, which is called “reciprocal determinism”
(Brodura’s theory)
What is observational learning/modeling?
The observer’s behaviour changes after viewing a model
(Brodura’s theory)
What is the “bobs doll studies”?
Kindergarteners viewed a video of an adult hitting a doll and then imitated the adult’s behaviour and attacked the doll
What is Hebb’s Law?
‘Neurons that fire together, wire together’
If one cell persistently activates another cell, the connections between them is stronger
What is an example of Hebbian Learning?
Practice = perfect! –> neural connection becomes faster, stronger and more efficient over time
What is synaptic plasticity?
It’s how the synapses change in strength over time due to the inscrease/decrease in activity
What are the 3 processes of memory?
Encoding: transforming info into from that can be stored in memory
Storage: maintaining info in memory
Retrieval: bringing the stored info to the mind
What are the 3 measures of memory called?
Recall: regenerates with little to no cues (essay qs/fill in the blanks)
Recognition: experience similar stimuli (multiple choice)
Relearning: learning something for a 2nd time (faster studying time if you read over your notes)
What are the factors of the Atkinson/Shiffrin Model? (Sensory Memory)
Initial 200-500 ms after an item is perceived
Sperling’s experiments: remember 12 items, but degrades quickly
Visual images: fraction of a second
Sounds: 2 seconds
What are the factors of STM?
Capacity: 5-9 bits if info (7+/2-)
Keep info longer through rehearsal
Last if distracted/info displaced
Increase in STM by chunking –> easier to remember if it’s more meaningful
What are the factors of LTM?
Unlimited capacity, relatively important
Info: LTM through rehearsal
Hippocampus essential to process of STM –> LTM
What are the subsystems of LTM? (Declarative memory)
Explicit memory - can bring to mind verbally/store as images
Episodic memory: events of your life
Semantic memory: general knowledge
Brain area: hippocampus
What are the subsystems of LTM? (Procedural memory)
Implicit memory - motor skills, habits, simple class. cond.
“Know how”
Brain regions: CR - cerebellum, skills/habits - cerebellum & motor areas of cortex
What are the factors of Early Memory Studies - Ebbinghaus?
Assumed memory = formation of new associations, strengthen with repetition
Nonesense syllables - CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) Ex. : CAZ
Tested his own memory : learning curve
Tested his own forgetting : forgetting curve
Overlearning effect: info. more resistant to disruption/loss
What are the 3 factors of Serial Position Effect?
Beginning of the list: easier to remember than middle = primacy effect
End of list: easier to remember than middle = recency effect
Middle of the list disadvantage = Von Restorf effect
What are the 3 causes of forgetting?
Forgetting = old memories are unable to be recalled
Decay theory
Interference –> proactive interference –> previous learning interfering with new one
–> retroactive interference –> new learning disrupts old learning
What are the 4 types of forgetting + retrieval failure?
Encoding failure
Consolidation failure
Motivated forgetting
Prospective forgetting
Tip of the tongue phenomenon
What is movie or reconstruction?
Evidence for reconstruction - piece together highlight, add in other pieces
BUT
Is it accurate?
Explain eyewitness memory + Loftus’ study + Solution.
It is treated as accurate by the courts
BUT: Loftus studies memory placed to LTM, then reconstructed. It is influenced by talking about the event, pictures, other life events, the way the question is asked
BUT: not aware of these changes.
Solution: ask neutral questions
