Learning and Memory Flashcards
Habituation
The phenomenon by which repeated exposure to the same stimulus can cause a decrease in response
Dishabituation
The recovery of a response to a stimulus after habituation has occurred. Often occurs when, late in the habituation of a stimulus, a second stimulus is presented. It is temporary and always refers to chages in response to the original stimulus, not the new one.
Associative learning
Creation of a pairing, or association, either between two stimuli or between a behavior and a response
Unconditioned stimulus
Any stimulus that brings about an innate or reflexive response
Unconditioned response
The innate or reflexive response to an unconditioned stimulus
Neutral stimuli
Stimuli that do not produce a reflexive response
Signaling stimuli
Neutral stimuli that have the potential to be used as a conditioning stimulus
Conditioned stimulus
A normally neutral stimulus that, through association, now cause a reflexive response
Conditioned response
A reflexive response caused by a conditioned stimulus
Acquisition
The process by which an unconditioned stimulus is used to turn a neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus
Extinction
The process by which a conditioned response is lost because an organism has become habituated to the conditioned stimulus
Spontaneous recovery
The process by which the representation of an extinct conditioned stimulus can cause the exhibition of a weak conditioned response
Generalization
A broadening effect by which a stimulus similar enough to the conditioned stimulus can also produce the conditioned response
Discrimination (behaviorism)
The opposite of generalization. The ability to distinguish between two similar stimuli
Behaviorism
The theory that all behaviors are conditioned
Escape learning
The role of behavior is to reduce the unpleasantness of something that already exists. A type of negative reinforcement
Avoidance learning
Mean to prevent the unpleasantness of something that is meant to happen (e.g. studying to avoid the unpleasant consequent of getting a bad MCAT score)
Primary reinforcers
Reinforcers that an organism responds to naturally
Conditioned/secondary reinforcer
A reinforcer that, though classical conditioning has become a reinforcer because it’s been associated with something that yields a positive response
Discriminative stimulus
One that indicates that reward is potentially available in an operant conditioning paradigm
Fixed-ratio (FR) schedule
Reinforces a behavior after a specific number of performances of that behavior
Variable-ratio (VR) schedules
Reinforce a behavior after a varying number of performances of the behavior, but such that the average number of performances to receive a reward is relatively constant. Works fastest and is most resistant to extinction.
Fixed-interval (FI) schedules
Reinforce the first instance of a behavior after a specified period has elapsed.
Variable-interval (VI) schedules
Reinforce a behavior the first time that behavior is performed after a varying interval of time
Shaping
The process of rewarding increasingly specific behaviors
Latent learning
Learning that occurs without a reward but is spontaneously demonstrated once a reward is introduced
Preparedness
Animals’ predisposition towards learning behaviors that coincide with their natural behaviors
Instinctive drift
A difficulty in overcoming instinctual behaviors when learninG
Observational learning
The process of learning a new behavior or gaining information by watching others
Mirror neurons
Neurons located in the frontal and parental lobes of the cerebral cortex and fire both when an individual performs an action and when that individual observes someone else perform that action
Encoding
The process of putting new information into memory
Automatic processing
Information that is gained without effort
Controlled (effortful) processing
The act of actively working to gain information
Visual encoding
Visualizing information
Acoustic encoding
Storing the way something sounds
Semantic encoding
Putting information into a meaningful context
Self-reference effect
We tend to recall information best when we put it into the context of our lives
Maintenance rehearsal
The repetition of a piece of information to either keep it within working memory (to prevent forgetting it) or to store it in short-term and eventually long-term memory
Method of loci
Involves 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
Chunking (aka clustering)
A memory trick that involves taking individual elements of a large list and grouping them together into groups of elements with related meaning
Sensory memory
The most fleeting kind of memory. Consists of both iconic and echoic memory. Lasts a very short time (about one second)
Short-term memory
Fades quickly, 30 s without rehearsal. Limited in capacity to seven items. Housed in hippocampus
Working memory
Enables us to keep a few pieces of information in our consciousness simultaneously and to manipulate that information. Allows us to do simple math in our heads
Long-term memory
An essentially limitless warehouse for the knowledge that we are then able to recall on demand, sometimes for the rest of our lives
Elaborative rehearsal
One of the ways information is moved into long-term memory. The association of the information to knowledge already stored in long-term memory
Implicit (non-declarative or procedural) memory
A type of long-term memory that involves our skills and conditioned responses
Explicit (declarative) memory
A type of long-term memory that involves those memories that require conscious recall. Consists of semantic and episodic memory
Semantic memory
Facts we know
Episodic memory
Our experiences
Retrieval
The name given to the process of demonstrating that something that has been learned has been retained
Recall
The retrieval and statement of previously learned information
Recognition
The process of merely identifying a piece of information that was previously learned
Relearning
A way of demonstrating that information has been stored. If you’ve learned something before, it doesn’t take as long to learn it subsequent times
Spacing effect
The phenomenon by which the longer the amount of time between sessions of relearning, the greater the retention of information.
Semantic network
Characterized by linkage of concepts based on similar meaning
Spreading activation
When one node of our semantic network, the other linked concepts around it are also unconsciously activated
Priming
Recall is aided by first being presented with a word of phrase that is close to the desired semantic memory
Context effects
The phenomenon by which memory is aided by being in the same place where encoding took place
State-dependent memory/effect
The phenomenon by which a person’s mental state when learning affects recall (e..g If you learn a task when drunk, you will have better recall when drunk than when sober)
Serial position effect
The phenomenon by which people show higher recall for the first few and last few items on a list
Alzheimer’s disease*
Linked to loss of acetylcholine in hippocampal neurons. Associated with neurofibrillary tangles and B-amyloid plaques
Dementia
A loss of cognitive function and memory loss with atrophy of the brain
Sundowning
An increase in dysfunction in the late afternoon and evening (as seen in AD)
Wernicke-Korsakoff’s syndrome
A form of memory loss caused by thiamine deficiency in the brain. Marked by retrograde and anterograde amnesia and associated with confabulation. Also characterized by loss of motor skills. Can be a consequence of alcoholism.
Agnosia
The loss of ability to recognize objects, people, or sounds, though usually only one of the three. Usually caused by physical damage to the brain caused by a stroke or a disorder like MS
Interference (effect)
A retrieval error caused by the existence of other, usually similar information
Proactive interference
Old information interfering with new learning
Retroactive interference
New information interfering with recall of ld information
Prospective memory
Remembering to perform a task at some point in the future.
Misinformation effect
incorporating misleading information into one’s memory of an event. Involves misattribution and suggestibility
Source-monitoring effect
Involves confusion between semantic and episodic memory. A person remembers the details of an event, but confuses the context under which those details were learned.
Neuroplasticity
A phenomenon in infants and young children in which, as the brain develops, neural connections form rapidly in response to stimuli
Synaptic pruning
The process by which, as we grow older, weak neural connections are broke, while strong ones are bolstered, increasing the efficiency of the brain’s ability to process information
Long-term potentiation
As a stimulus is repeated, these simulated neurons become increasingly efficient at releasing their neurotransmitters and receptor sites density increases. The theory for the neurophysiological basis of long-term memory
