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P/S MCAT > Learning and memory > Flashcards

Learning and memory Flashcards

1
Q

Learning

A

way we acquire new behaviors

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2
Q

stimulus

A

anything to which an organism can respond

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3
Q

Habituation

A

repeated exposure to same stimulus may cause a decrease in response

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4
Q

Dishabituation

A

recovery of response to a stimulus after habituation has occurred

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5
Q

Associative learning

A
  • Creation of a pairing or association between two stimuli or between a behavior and a response
  • Classical and operant conditioning
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6
Q

Classical conditioning

A
  • Ivan Pavlov
  • Uses biological responses to create associations between two unrelated stimuli
  • Can cause innate or reflexive response
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7
Q

Unconditioned stimulus

A

event causes a reflexive response

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8
Q

Neutral stimuli

A

event that does not cause a reflexive response

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9
Q

Conditioned stimulus

A

normally neutral stimulus that now, through association, causes a reflexive response

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10
Q

Conditioned response

A

reflexive response caused by a conditioned stimulus

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11
Q

Acquisition

A

Process of taking advantage of a reflexive, unconditioned stimulus to turn a neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus

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12
Q

Extinction

A

may occur when a conditioned stimulus is presented without the
unconditioned stimulus enough times

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13
Q

Generalization

A

Effect where a similar stimulus to the conditioned stimulus can also produce the conditioned response

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14
Q

Discrimination

A

organisms learns to distinguish between two similar stimuli.

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15
Q

Operant Conditioning

A

links voluntary behaviors with consequences. Attempts to alter the frequency of
those behaviors

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16
Q

Behaviorism theory

A
  • B.F Skinner

- all behaviors are conditioned

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17
Q

Reinforcement

A

Process of increasing the likelihood that an individual will perform a behavior

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18
Q

Positive reinforcers

A
  • increase a behavior by adding a positive consequence/ incentive after the behavior is shown
  • Example: Money
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19
Q

Negative reinforcers

A

-increase the frequency of a behavior by removing
something unpleasant
-Example: taking medicine when sick to feel better

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20
Q

Escape Learning

A

-Type of negative reinforcer
-role of behavior is to reduce the unpleasantness of something
that already exists

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21
Q

Avoidance Learning

A
  • Type of negative reinforcer

- meant to prevent the unpleasantness of something that has yet to happen

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22
Q

Primary reinforcer

A

something that the organism would respond to naturally

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23
Q

Conditioned or secondary reinforcer

A

stimulus that would not normally cause a reinforcement

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24
Q

Discriminative stimulus

A

indicates that the reward is potentially available

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25
Punishment
Uses conditioning to reduce the occurrence of a behavior
26
Positive punishment
adds an unpleasant consequence in response to a behavior
27
Negative punishment
reduction of a behavior when a stimulus is removed
28
Reinforcement schedules
Rate at which desired behaviors are acquired is affected by the schedule being used to affect the behaviors
29
Fixed Ratio (FR) Schedules
reinforce a behavior after a specific number of performances of that behavior
30
Continuous reinforcement
FR schedule where behavior is rewarded every time it is performed
31
Variable-ratio (VR) Schedules
-reinforce a behavior after a varying number of performances of that behavior -average number of performances to receive a reward is relatively constant
32
Fixed-interval (FI) Schedules
reinforce the first instance of a behavior after a specified time period has elapsed
33
Variable Interval (VI) Schedules
reinforce a behavior for the first time that the behavior is performed after a varying time interval
34
Shaping
Process of rewarding increasingly specific behaviors
35
Latent Learning
learning that occurs without reward; However, learned behavior happens spontaneously when reward is introduced
36
Problem solving
trial and error approach in which behaviors are tested until reward is yielded
37
Preparedness
predisposition of learning certain behaviors more easily since its related to animal's natural tendencies
38
Instinctive Drift
difficulty overcoming instinctual behaviors
39
Observational learning
learning new behavior or gaining info by watching others
40
Mirror neurons
- located in frontal and parietal lobes of cerebral cortex. | - Fire when action is preformed or when action is observed being performed
41
Modeling
- form of observational learning that determines an individual's behavior throughout lifetime - learn acceptable behaviors by watching others perform them
42
Encoding
putting new information into memory
43
Automatic processing
information gained without effort
44
Controlled (effortful) processing
active memorization that requires work to gain information
45
Visual encoding
visualize it
46
Acoustic encoding
store the way it sounds
47
Sematic encoding
put into meaningful context
48
Self-reference effect
information best recalled when put into context of one's life
49
Maintenance rehearsal
repetition of a piece of information to keep in working memory or to store in short-term and eventually long-term
50
Method of loci
associating each item in a list with a location along the route of an already memorized building route
51
Peg Word System
associates numbers with items that rhyme with or resemble the numbers
52
Chunking (Clustering)
takes individual elements of a large list and groups them together into elements with the related meanings
53
Storage
Information from encoding must be stored if it needs to be remembered
54
Sensory Memory
- Consists of ionic (visual) and echoic (auditory) memory - Lasts only a very short amount of time, but eyes take in a very detailed representation of surrounds - forgotten unless it as attended to
55
Short-Term Memory
- Sensory information that is payed attention to - Fades quickly - limited by capacity of approximately seven items
56
Working Memory
- Enables us to keep a few pieces of information in our consciousness and simultaneously manipulate that information - Integrates short-term memory, attention and executive function
57
Long-Term Memory
- Information moves from short-term to long-term memory with rehearsal - limitless warehouse for knowledge that we are then able to recall on demand
58
Elaborative Rehearsal
association of the information to knowledge that is already stored in long-term memory
59
Implicit (non-declarative or procedural) memory
- type of long term memory | - skills and conditioned responses
60
Explicit (declarative) memory
- type of long term memory | - those memories that require conscious recall
61
Semantic Memory
facts that we know
62
Episodic Memory
experiences
63
Retrieval
Process of demonstrating that something that has been learned has been retained
64
Recognition
identifying a piece of information that was previously learned
65
recall
retrieval and statement of previously learned info
66
Relearning
Ability to rememorize information much more quickly than the first iteration
67
Spacing Effect
longer the amount between sessions of relearning, the greater the retention of information later on
68
semantic network
- Concepts are linked together based on similar meaning | - A way for the brain to organize information so that it can take advantage of environmental cues
69
Spreading Activation
when one node of a semantic network is activated, the other linked concepts around it are also unconsciously activated
70
Priming
spreading activation is the heart of this retrieval cue
71
Context Effects
memory is aided by being in the physical location where encoding took place
72
State-Dependent Memory (effect)
person’s mental state also affects recall
73
Serial position effect
retrieval cue that appears while learning lists
74
Primacy Effect
tendency to remember early items
75
Recency Effect
tendency to remember later items
76
Alzheimer’s disease
degenerative brain disorder thought to be linked to a loss of acetylcholine in neurons that are linked to the hippocampus
77
Sundowning
increase in dysfunction in the late afternoon and evening
78
Korsakoff’s Syndrome
memory loss caused by thiamine deficiency in the brain
79
Confabulation
process of creating vivid but fabricated memories
80
Agnosia
loss of the ability to recognize objects, people or sounds (usually only one)
81
Decay
Memories are simply lost naturally over time
82
Curve of Forgetting
a day or two after learning a list, the recall falls sharply but then levels off
83
Interference (interference effect)
Retrieval error that is caused by the existence of other, usually similar, information
84
Proactive Interference
old information is interfering with new learning
85
Retroactive Interference
new information causes forgetting of old information
86
Prospective Memory
remembering to perform a task at some point in the future
87
Misinformation Effect
of events or information can be heavily influenced by outside sources
88
Source-Monitoring error
confusion between semantic and episodic memory
89
Neuroplasticity
neural connection form rapidly in response to stimuli
90
Synaptic Pruning
Weak neural connections tend to degrade as one gets older, while the stronger connections are bolstered.
91
Long-Term potentiation
strengthening of memories through more efficient release of neurotransmitters from neurons.

P/S MCAT (12 decks)

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