Learning and memory (BS 3)

Question 1

habituation

Answer 1

a decrease in response caused by repeated exposure to a stimulus

Question 2

dishabituation

Answer 2

the recovery of a response to a stimulus after habituation

Question 3

associative learning

Answer 3

forming a connection between two stimuli or between behavior and response; examples are classical and operant conditioning

Question 4

classical conditioning

Answer 4

a form of associative learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus; neutral stimulus produces same response as unconditioned stimulus, neutral stimulus becomes conditioned stimulus

Question 5

generalization

Answer 5

a broadening effect where similar stimuli both produce a conditioned response

Question 6

discrimination

Answer 6

when an organism learns to distinguish between two similar stimuli

Question 7

operant conditioning

Answer 7

a form of associative learning in which the frequency of a behavior is modified using reinforcement or punishment

Question 8

positive and negative reinforcement

Answer 8

(to promote continuation of behavior) positive adds an incentive, negative takes away an unpleasant stimulus

Question 9

avoidance learning

Answer 9

a form of negative reinforcement in which one avoids the unpleasantness of something that has yet to happen

Question 10

escape learning

Answer 10

a form of negative reinforcement in which one reduces the unpleasantness of something that already exists

Question 11

positive and negative punishment

Answer 11

(to prevent behavior) positive is the addition of an unpleasant stimulus, negative takes away a desired stimulus in response to bad behavior

Question 12

variable ratio reinforcement

Answer 12

reinforcement happens after a varying number of performances (ex. gambling; continuous response); most effective

Question 13

fixed ratio reinforcement

Answer 13

reinforces a behavior at a specific number of performances

Question 14

variable interval reinforcement

Answer 14

reinforcement occurs the first time that behavior is performed after an interval, the interval constantly changes

Question 15

fixed interval reinforcement

Answer 15

reinforcement occurs at the first instance of behavior after a set time interval; least effective

Question 16

shaping

Answer 16

process of rewarding increasingly specific behaviors (a type of operant conditioning)

Question 17

instinctive drift

Answer 17

the tendency of animals to resist learning when a conditioned behavior conflicts with the animal’s instinctive behaviors

Question 18

observational learning

Answer 18

the process of learning a new behavior or gaining information by watching others (ex. Bandura’s Bobo doll); mirror neurons play a role

Question 19

encoding

Answer 19

the first step in creating a new memory; may be automatic or controlled (active memorization)

Question 20

sensory memory

Answer 20

visual (iconic) and auditory (echoic) stimuli briefly stored in memory; fades quickly unless attention is paid to the info

Question 21

short term memory

Answer 21

memories may fade within 30secs without rehearsal; limited in capacity to seven items (the 7±2 rule); mainly in hippocampus

Question 22

working memory

Answer 22

related to short-term memory and is supported by hippocampus, frontal, and parietal lobes; allows us to integrate short-term memory, attention, and executive function to manipulate information

Question 23

implicit long term memory

Answer 23

memory that does not require conscious recall, consists of skills and conditioned behavior

Question 24

explicit long term memory

Answer 24

memory that requires conscious recall, divided into facts (semantic memory) and experiences (episodic memory); aka declarative memory

Question 25

retrieval/recall

Answer 25

the process of demonstrating something has been learned and retained

Question 26

recognition

Answer 26

a retrieval process; identifying a piece of information that was previously learned (easier than recall)

Question 27

relearning

Answer 27

a retrieval process; learning something the second time through is quicker because information has been stored even if it is not ready for recall

Question 28

context and state dependent effects

Answer 28

memory is aided by being in the same place or same mental state as when the information was encoded

Question 29

primacy and recency effects

Answer 29

the tendency to remember early and late items from a list; primacy effect is stronger

Question 30

Alzheimer’s disease

Answer 30

a progressive dementia due to mis-folded proteins; retrograde memory loss (lose recent memories first)

Question 31

Korsakoff’s disease

Answer 31

memory loss caused by thiamine deficiency; retrograde amnesia (loss of recent memories) AND anterograde amnesia (can’t form new memories); includes confabulation

Question 32

agnosia

Answer 32

the loss of the ability to recognize objects, people, or sounds (usually only one of the three); may result from stroke

Question 33

interference effect on memory

Answer 33

a retrieval error caused by existence of other similar info; may be proactive (old info interferes with new) or retroactive (new causes forgetting of old)

Question 34

confabulation

Answer 34

generating vivid fabricated memories

Question 35

misinformation effect

Answer 35

memories are affected by outside influencers

Question 36

source monitoring error

Answer 36

confusion between semantic and episodic memory; remember the details of an event but confuse the context under which the details were gained

Question 37

neural plasticity

Answer 37

change in neural connections caused by learning or a response to injury

Question 38

synaptic pruning

Answer 38

adjustment of neural connections throughout life, involving breaking weak neural connections and bolstering strong ones