Learning and Memory Flashcards
Habituation
The process of becoming used to a stimulus
Dishabituation
Can occur when a second stimulus intervenes, causing a resensitization to the original stimulus
Associative Learning
A way of pairing together stimuli and responses, or behaviours and consequences. Includes Classical and Operant Conditioning
Observational learning or Modeling
The acquisition of behaviour or gaining information by watching others
Classical Conditioning
An unconditioned stimulus that produces an instinctive, unconditioned response is paired with a neutral stimulus.
With repetition, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus that produces a conditioned response
Operant Conditioning
Links voluntary behaviours with consequences in an effort to alter the frequency of those behaviours
Reinforcement
Increases the likelihood of behaviour
Punishment
Decreases the likelihood of a behaviour
What are different types of Schedules of Reinforcement
Ratio (of behaviour to reward) or interval (reward after amount of time), and fixed (guaranteed schedule) or variable.
Behaviours learned through which schedule have the fastest response rate and are most resistant to extinction
Variable-ratio schedules
Encoding
The process of putting new information into memory
Is semantic encoding stronger or acoustic/visual encoding
Semantic (visual is the weakest)
Working memory
Requires short-term memory, attention, and executive function to manipulate information (involves frontal and parietal lobes). Supported by the hippocampus
Long-term memory
Requires elaborative rehearsal and is the result of increased neuronal connectivity and comes in 2 forms
Explicit (declarative) memory
Consists of those memories that require conscious recall; further divided into semantic and episodic memory
Implicit (non-declarative) memory
Consists of our skills and conditioned responses
Extinction
If the conditioned stimulus is presented without the unconditioned stimulus enough times, the organism can become habituated to the conditioned stimulus and conditioned response disappears
Spontaneous recovery
After some time, if extinct conditioned stimulus is presented again, a weak conditioned response can sometimes be exhibited
Generalization
A broadening effect by which a stimulus similar enough to the conditioned stimulus can also produce the conditioned response
Discrimination
Opposite of generalization; an organism learns to distinguish between two similar stimuli
Behaviourism
The theory that all behaviours are conditioned; B.F Skinner considered the father of behaviourism
Adding a stimulus is called….
positive (used for reinforcement or punishment)
Removing a stimulus is called….
Negative (used for reinforcement or punishment)
Escape learning
The role of the behaviour is to reduce the unpleasantness of something that already exists, like a headache.
Avoidance learning
Meant to prevent the unpleasantness of something that has yet to happen
Discriminative stimulus
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 behaviour
Continuous reinforcement
A fixed-ratio schedule in which the behaviour is rewarded every time it is performed
Variable-ratio (VR) schedule
Reinforces a behaviour after a varying number of performances of the behaviour, but such that the average number of performances to receive a reward is relatively constant
Fixed-interval (FI) schedule
Reinforces the first instance of a behaviour after a specified time period has elapsed