Learning And Memory Flashcards
The way in which we acquire new behaviours
Learning
What is the basis of all behavioural learning
Stimulus and response
Habituation
Repeated exposure to the same stimulus can cause a decrease in response
Dishabituation
Recovery of a response to a stimulus - a second stimulus is usually presented which interrupts the process - it is always temporary and refers to a change in response to the original stimulus, not the new one
Associative learning
Creating of a pairing or association either between two stimuli or between a behaviour and a response
Eg. Classical and operant
Takes advantage of biological and instinctual responses to create association between two unrelated stimuli
Classical conditioning
Give an example of classical conditioning
Ivan Pavlov and his experiment with dogs, bells, food and salivation
A stimulus that brings about a reflexive physiological response is an ________ stimulus and the innate or reflexive response it causes is an _________ response
Unconditioned stimulus and unconditioned response
Stimuli that that do NOT produce a reflexive response are known as
Neutral stimuli
A normally neutral stimulus that through association can cause a reflexive response
Conditioned stimuli
A response that is turned reflexive through association
Conditioned response
Taking advantage of a reflexive, unconditioned stimulus to turn a neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus
Acquisition or classical conditioning
Using Pavlov’s experiment what is is the: Unconditioned stimulus Unconditioned response Neutral stimuli Conditioned stimuli Conditioned response
US - food UR - salivation NS - bell CS - bell CR - salivation
How do you tell conditioned and unconditioned responses apart
You need to look at the stimulus - that is what actually changed - US will cause UR and CS will cause CR
If the conditioned stimulus is presented without the unconditioned stimulus enough times the organism can be come habituated to the conditioned stimulus.
Extinction
Spontaneous recovery
If an extinct conditioned stimulus is presented a weak conditional response may be exhibited
A broadening effect by which a stimulus similar enough to the conditioned stimulus can also product the conditioned response
Generalization
Discrimination
Opposite to generalization - an organism learns to distinguish between two similar stimuli
Operant conditioning
Links voluntary behaviour wit consequences in an effort to alter frequency of those behaviours
Behaviourism
Theory by BF Skinner that all behaviours are conditioned
Thee process of increasing the likelihood that an individual will perform a behaviour
Reinforcement
Positive reinforcer
Increase a behaviour by adding a positive consequence or incentive following a desired behaviour
Negative reinforcer
Increases the frequency of a behaviour by removing something unpleasant
Role of a behaviour is to reduce the unpleasantness of something that already exists
Escape learning - type of negative reinforcer
Used to prevent the unpleasantness of something yet to happen
Avoidance learning - type of negative reinforcer
Conditioning to reduce the occurrence of a behaviour
Punishment
Positive punishment
Adds an unpleasant consequence in response to a behaviour to reduce it
Negative punishment
Reduction of a behaviour when a stimulus is removed . Eg. Punishing by not letting a child watch TV
Reinforces a behaviour after a specific number of performances of that behaviour
Fixed ration (FR) schedule
Continuous reinforcement
A fixed ratio schedule where behaviour is rewarded every time it is performed
Reinforces a behaviour after a varying number of behaviour but such that the average number of performances to receive the reward is similar
Variable ratio( VR) schedules
Reinforces the first instance of behaviour after a certain amount of time has elapsed
Fixed interval (FI) schedules
Reinforces the first time a behaviour is performed after a varying interval of time
Variable interval (VI) schedule
Which schedules work the fastest and are the most resistance to extinction
Variable ratio
VR > FR > VI > FI
Which schedules will have a brief moment of no response after a behaviour is reinforced
FR and FI
What time of reinforcement schedule is gambling
Variable - ratio
The process of rewarding increasingly specific behaviours (allows us to train complicated behaviour )
Shaping
Learning that occurs without a reward but that is spontaneously demonstrated once a reward is introduced
Latent learning
Problem solving
Avoiding trial and error learning by taking a step back , observing the situation and taking decisive action to solve the challenges they face
Being predisposed to learn or not learn a behaviour based on natural abilities and instincts
Preparedness
Difficulty in overcoming instinctual behaviours
Instinctive drift
Learning a new behaviour or gathering information by watching others
Observational learning
Eg. Albert Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment
** observational learning is not simply imitation because it can be used to teach individuals to avoid behaviour eg by seeing someone get punished
Mirror neurons
Located in the frontal and parietal lobes of the cerebral cortex and fire both when an individual performs an action and when they observe someone else performing that action
Largely involved in motor processes but also used with empathy and seen in imitative learning in primates
Observational learning through _______ is an important factor in determining an individuals behaviour throughout his or her lifetime
Modeling
How we gain the knowledge that we accumulate over a lifetime
Memory
What are the three major processes in formation of memories
Encoding, storage, and retrieval
Encoding
The process of putting new information into memory
Information that is gained without effort
Automatic processing
Actively working to get information or to memorize information
Controlled/effort full processing
With practice controlled processing can become automatic
What are three types of encoding and how strong are they?
Visual (weakest), acoustic, and semantic (strongest)
Semantic encoding
Putting something into a meaningful context wrt our own lives - works even better if vivid context
Self-reference effect
We tend to recall information best when we put it into context of our own lives
Repetition of a piece of information to either keep it within working memory to prevent forgetting or to store in short term and eventually long term
Maintenance rehearsal
Mnemonic
Way to memorize information using acronyms or rhyming phrases - provides vivid organization
Associating each item in the list with a location along a route through a building that has already been memorized
Method of loci - type of mnemonic technique
Associates numbers with items that rhyme or resemble the numbers
Peg-word system
Method of loci and peg-word are most useful for memorizing
Large lists of objects in order
Taking individual elements of a large list and grouping them together into groups of elements with related meaning
Chunking or clustering
Sensory memory
First and most fleeting kind of memory storage - generally lasts only a short period of time - under a second
Can be both iconic (visual ) and echoic (auditory )
Whole vs partial report
Short term memory
Fades quickly without rehearsal - usually over 30 seconds
Limited in capacity - usually limited to 7 +/- 2 items
Capacity can be increased by clustering and duration can be extended by using maintenance rehearsal
Working memory
Allows us to manipulate bits of short term memory by integrating it with attention and executive function - this allows us to do simple math in our heads
Long term memory
Short term memory moved here with enough rehearsal - limitless
Association of information to knowledge already stored in long term memory
Elaborative rehearsal
What are the two types of long term memory
Implicit (nondeclarative or procedural) - skills and conditioned responses
Explicit (declarative ) memories that require conscious recall
What are the two types of explicit memory
Semantic (facts we know) and episodic (our experiences)
Process of demonstrating that something has been learned or retained
Retrieval
Can be recall or reorganizing or quickly relearning information
Process of merely identifying a piece of information that was previously learned
Recognition - far easier than recall
The longer the amount of time between sessions of relearning the greater the retention of information later on
Spacing effect
Semantic network
Network of interconnected ideas that are linked together based on similar meaning
Spreading activation
When one node of our semantic network is activated other linked concepts are also unconsciously activated
Recall is aided by first being presented with a word or phrase that is close to the desired semantic memory
Priming
Memory is aided by being in the physical location where the encoding took place
Context effects (type of retrieval cue)
A persons mental state can also affect recall
State dependant memory (a type of retrieval cue)
Serial position effect
A retrieval cue when learning lists - primacy and recency effects (tenancy to remember first and last parts but not middle)
Recency fades before primacy as it was most likely just in short term memory on initial recall
A degenerative brain disorder thought to be linked to a loss of acetylcholine in neurons linking to hippocampus
Alzheimer’s disease Progressive dementia (loss of cognitive function) and memory loss with atrophy of the brain
Alzheimer’s tends to proceed in a _____ fashion where we lose ______ first
Retrograde - lost recent memories before distance ones
What are the microscopic findings of Alzheimer’s
Neurofibrillary tangles and B amyloid plaques
A phenomenon in middle to late stage Alzheimer’s where there is an increase in dysfunction in late afternoon and evening
Sundowning
Memory loss caused by thiamine deficiency
Korsakoff’s syndrome
Korsakoff’s syndrome is marked by
Retrograde amnesia (loss of old memories), anterograde amnesia (inability to form new memories) and confabulation (process of creating vivid fabricated memories in an attempt to fill in gaps of missing memories)
Loss of ability to recognize objects, people or sounds
Agnosia (usually caused by physical damage to the brain by stoke or MS)
Memory loss occurring naturally over time as neurochemical trace fades
Decay
Seen in ebbinghaus’s curve of forgetting
A retrieval error caused by the existence of other similar information - reason for memory loss - is directional
Interference
What are the two different types of interference
Proactive interference — old information is interfering with new learning
Retroactive interference - new information causes forgetting of old information - one way of preventing this is reducing number of interfering events
When is the peak period for encoding in a persons life
Teens and twenties
Prospective memory
Remembering to perform a task at some point in the future
Event based remains mostly in tact when we age but time based tends to decline (eg. Remembering to take meds at 7am)
Misinformation effect
Outside influences or factors can influence our memories and cause false memories
Memory construction error involving confusion between semantic end episode memory - a person remembers the details of an event bu confuses the context under which the details were gained
Often occurs when a person hears a story of something that happened to someone else and later recalls the store as happening to him or herself
Source amnesia
Brains develop neural connections rapidly in response to stimuli
Neuroplasticity (adult brains have way less plasticity than children’s brains )
As we grow older weak neural connections are broken while strong ones are bolstered increasing the efficiency of our brains ability to process information
Synaptic pruning
When a stimulus is repeated the stimulated neuron becomes more efficient at releasing NT and the receptor site increases receptor density
Long term potentiation - basis of long term memory
