Learning and Memory Flashcards
Habituation
Repeated exposure to a stimulus can cause a decrease in response
Dishabituation
Recovery of a response to a stimulus after habituation has occurred
Associative learning
Creation of a pairing (association) between two stimuli or between a behavior and response
What are the two types of associative learning?
Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
Classical conditioning
Takes advantage of the fact that some stimuli can cause an innate or reflexive physiologic response
Unconditioned stimulus
Stimulus that causes a reflexive response
Unconditioned response
Reflexive response
Neutral Stimuli
Stimuli that do not cause an unconditioned response
Conditioned stimulus
Stimulus that was previously neutral but eventually causes a reflexive response
Conditioned response
Reflexive response developed through association with a conditioned stimulus
Extinction
Loss of a conditioned response to the conditioned stimulus without the presence of the unconditioned stimulus
Spontaneous recovery
Weak conditioned response sometimes reappears even after extinction
Generalization
When a stimulus close to the conditioned stimulus produces the conditioned response
Discrimination
Organism learns to distinguish between two similar stimuli
Operant conditioning
Links voluntary behavior with consequences in order to alter the frequency of behaviors
Who is the main person associated with behaviorism?
BF Skinner
Behaviorism
Theory that all behaviors are conditioned
Positive reinforcement
Add a positive incentive after a desired behavior
Negative reinforcement
Remove something unpleasant after a desired behavior
Does reinforcement increase or decrease the likelihood of a behavior?
Increases
Escape learning
Negative reinforcement in which the role of the behavior is to reduce something that is unpleasant and already exists
Avoidance learning
Negative reinforcement in which the role of the behavior is to prevent something unpleasant in the future
What are the two types of negative reinforcement?
Escape and avoidance learning
Does punishment increase or decrease the likelihood of a behavior?
Decreases
Positive punishment
Adds an unpleasant consequence after an undesired behavior
Negative punishment
Remove a pleasant incentive after an undesired behavior
Fixed-ratio schedule
Reinforce a behavior after a specific number of behaviors
Variable-ratio schedule
Reinforce a behavior after a variable number of behaviors (average to about the same as the fixed ratio)
Fixed-interval schedule
Reinforce a behavior the first time it is completed after a set amount of time
Variable-interval schedule
Reinforce a behavior the first time it is completed after a variable amount of time
What schedule is continuous reinforcement considered?
Fixed-ratio because the behavior is reinforced after every time it is completed
What schedule works fastest for learning a new behavior?
Variable ratio
Shaping
Process of rewarding increasingly specific behaviors - allows learning complex behaviors
Latent learning
Learning that occurs without a reward but then is done spontaneously when a reward is introduced
Instinctive drift
Difficult to overcome instincts when teaching behaviors
Preparedness
Capitalizing on natural instincts when teaching behaviors
Where are mirror neurons located?
Frontal and parietal lobes
What are mirror neurons?
Fire when an individual completes a task and when an individual watches someone complete a task, largely involved in motor processes
Encoding
Process of putting new information into memory
Automatic Processing
Information passively absorbed from the environment without effort
Controlled Processing
Active memorization
Semantic encoding
Put information into a meaningful contex
Self-reference effect
Semantic encoding is usually most effective when put in the context of one’s own life
Method of Loci
Associate each item in a list with a location along a route that is already known
Peg-word system
Associate numbers with items that rhyme with or resemble the number
Where is short-term memory housed?
Hippocampus
How many items can be stored in short-term memory?
7 +/- 2
Where is working memory housed?
Hippocampus
What are the two types of long-term memories?
Implicit
Explicit
What is nondeclarative memory also known as?
Implicit, procedural
What is procedural memory also known as?
Implicit, nondeclarative
What is implicit memory also known as?
Nondeclarative, procedural
What does implicit memory consist of?
Skills and conditioned responses
What does explicit memory consist of?
Memories that require conscious recall
What is explicit memory also known as?
Declarative
What is declarative memory also known as?
Explicit
What are the two types of explicit memory?
Semantic
Episodic
What are semantic memories?
Facts
What are episodic memories?
Experiences
What type of memories are semantic memories?
Long term, explicit
What type of memories are episodic memories?
Long term, explicit
Serial position effect
Higher recall for the first and last items on a list
Primacy effect
Tendency to remember early items in a list
Recency effect
Tendency to remember the last items in a list
Sundowning
Increase in dysfunction during afternoon and evening in patients with Alzheimers
Confabulation
Process of creating vivid but fabricated memories
What is the likely cause of Korsakoff’s Syndrome?
Thiamine Deficiency in the brain
What type of memory loss is associated with Korsakoff’s Syndrome?
Retrograde and anterograde amnesia (loss of old memories and inability to create new memories)
Agnosia
Loss of the ability to recognize objects, people, or sounds
Proactive interference
Old information interferring with new learning
Retroactive interference
New information causes forgetting of old information
Misinformation effect
Leading language or expectations can affect a memory
Source-monitoring error
Confusion between semantic and episodic memory such as remembering the details of an event but getting the context wrong
What is the meurophysiologic bases of long-term memories?
Long-term potentiation
Long-term potentiation
Strengthening of neuronal responses to a stimulus by repetition
