Learning & Cognition 1 Flashcards
Learning
The process by which changes in behavior arise as a result of experience and interaction with the world
Memory
Record of our past experiences, acquired through experience
Ways to improve memory
1) Pay Attention
2) Associations
3) Images
4) Repetition
5) Use different sensory modalities
6) Reduce overload
7) Time-Travel
8) Sleep
9) Rhyme
10) Relax
Aristotle - History
- Empiricist
- Studied his environment, formed hypotheses, and tested his hypotheses
- First western scientist
Associationism - Aristotle
- Memory depends on the formation of linkages between ideas
Principles of Associationism - Aristotle
Associations form for 3 reasons
- Contiguity: close in proximity (spatially or temporally)
- Frequency: repeated together a lot
- Similarity: Share similar traits
Descartes
- Cogito ero sum (I think therefore I am)
- Rational Nativist
- Dualism
- The body operates in a mechanical fashion. Stimuli enter in the brain and cause spirits to rush through the tubes of the body to one’s extremities. This causes a motor reflex.
- Through the human nervous system operated hydraulically
John Locke
- Borrowed the idea from Newton that wholes were composed of component parts.
- Complex mental functions are composed of smaller component parts
- Empiricism
- All knowledge is obtained through experience
- We are born as blank slates (Tabula Rosa)
- Locke’s philosophy was integral in the formation of the declaration of independence.
William James
- Father of American Psychology
- Believed in associationism: The activation of a certain thought (e.g. dinner party) led to the activation of other thoughts (e.g. dancing).
- Believed that mental associations would eventually be mapped directly on to the brain.
Darwin’s theory of natural selection
Trait must be
1) inheritable
2) variable
3) Improve reproductive success
Thorndike
Law of Effect
Instrumental conditioning
law of readiness
law of exercise
Law of Effect
When a behavior is performed in the presence of a satisfying stimuli, the connection between the two is strengthened.
Law of Readiness
ready to perform and acts = satisfying
not ready to perform and forced to act = frustrating
ready to perform and not allowed = frustrating
John Watson
- father of modern behaviorism
- studied rats in a maze and found that they learned to complete mazes faster over time. He theorized that this was due to a learned set of motor behaviors.
- thought psychology should be a purely objective science
Clark Hull
- Mathematical Model of learning
- Wanted to be able to predict learning
- Stimulus response learning
Tolman
- Latent learning
- Cognitive Maps
- Not simple stimulus response and muscle memory
Estes
- Mathematical Psychology: Used math to describe mental events that could not be observed.
- Stimulus Sampling: Random variation is essential for learning (the same events do not always occur when and organism is learning)
Gordon Bower
- Intuition: One step process of learning
- Must study the individual to understand learning
Miller
- Information Theory
- Magic Number: 5 +- 2
Herbert Simon
- Father of modern artificial intelligence
- cognitions can be understood by describing how the brain manipulates internal images and symbols
Ramelhart
- Nodes
- Connectionism
- PDP model
Theory of Equipotentiality
- Memory is not located in one area, but it is distributed throughout the cortex
- Karl Lashely
Glial Cells
- Astrocytes
- Oligodendrocytes
Acetylcholine
- Attention, memory, and muscle control
Dopamine
- voluntary movement, pleasure-seeking B, and pleasurable emotions
Norepinephrine
- increases arousal, and contributes to learning and memory
Epinephrine
- Excitatory
- Adrenaline
- Increases attention and concentration
serotonin
- mood, appetite, sleep, and aggression
Histamine
- sleep regulation and arousal
Glycine
- inhibitory
GABA
- inhibitory
Neuromodulators
- Affects neuronal functioning across the cortex
- ACh can lower the threshold for AP across the cortex
Long Term Potentiation
- A stable and enduring increase in the magnitude of neuronal responding following the delivery of a high frequency burst of electrical activity.
- Affected areas respond more strongly even when the electrical activity weakens
- The more this occurs, the stinger the connections between the involved neurons becomes
- Seen in hippocampal tissue and is thought to be the basis of memory formation.
Long Term Depression
- Synaptic Transmission becomes less effective and efficient following a lack of recent activity
Neural Plasticity
- Caused by LTP and LTD
Neurogenesis
- Found in Dentate gyrus of the Hipocampus
- Thought to be the basis of LTM formation
Classical Conditioning
US: Stimuli that elicits and innate response
UR: Innate response
CS: Biologically neutral stimuli
CR: Response that occurs following the pairing of the CS with the US
Extinction
- CS is continually presented without the US and the response disappears
Blocking
- If CS is paired with an additional stimuli that stimuli may not necessarily elicit the CR
Sensory Preconditioning
- The prior presentation of two stimuli together results in a tendency for learning about one to generalize to the other.
- e.g. tequilla is commonly drank with limes. person gets drunk and sick on just tequila. limes also make person sick
Respondent Acquisition Curve
- the more often the US and CS are presented together, the stinger the association becomes, and thus the stronger the response.
Renewal
- the reappearance of a response in the same context or situation where it was learned or extinguished
Reinstatement
- the reappearance of a response in a different context or situation than where it was learned or extinguished.
Factors that Affect Conditioning
- Contiguity: Closeness in time and space (gracia effect = exception)
- Contingency: How often CS and US are paired
- Stimulus features: stimuli that are relevant are more likely to lead to conditioning (e.g. taste is more associated with nausea than a light)
- Prior experience with CS: This decreases the likelihood of it becoming a CS (Latent Inhibition)
- Temperament: Some are more easily conditioned (e.g. anxious dogs).
Overshadowing
If two stimuli are potential CS than the one that is more salient will become the CS.
Sense organs determine the salience
Occasion Setting
an additional CS that tells whether the CS will be followed by the US.
Not extinguished
Opponent Process Theory
- Occasional a CR is an opposite response the UR
- EX: Heroine
- This occurs out of the body’s desire to maintain homeostasis
- Also occurs with emotions, as they are biphasic
Instrumental Conditioning
- learn to respond in order to obtain or avoid specific consequences.
- Thondike
Factors that Affect Punishment
- Discriminative Stimuli
- Concurrent Reinforcement
- Initial Intensity
Discriminative Stimuli
- Signals whether or not a specific stimuli will lead to a particular outcome
Negative Contrast
- When a preferred reinforcer is switched to a less preferred reinforcer
Timing Effects
- Closer consequence follows behavior the more easily an association is formed.
Self-Control (Delayed Gratification)
- Willingness to forgo a small reward in service of a larger reward
Precommitment
- Making a choice early on that makes it difficult to change later. Improves delayed gratification
Positive Reinforcement
- The introduction of a stimuli to increase a behavior
Negative Reinforcement
- The removal of a stimuli to increase a behavior
Positive Punishment
- The introduction of a stimuli to decrease a behavior
Negative Punishment
- The removal of a stimuli to decrease a behavior
Learning v.s. Performance
- Latent learning suggests that reinforcement is not necessary for learning to occur, but rather for learning to be expressed
Differential Reinforcement of Low Rates
- Reinforcement is given when a target behavior decreases to a criterion level
Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior
- Reinforcement is given when any other behavior besides the problem behavior occurs
Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior
- Reinforcement is given when a behavior that is incompatible with the target behavior is performed.
Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior
- Reinforcement is given to a specific alternative behavior other than the target behavior.
Behavioral Economics
- We allocate resources in the most efficient possible way to maximize our subjective satisfaction.
- Bliss Point: when our resources are distributed in a fashion that maximizes them and brings us satisfaction.
Response Deprivation Hypothesis
- By restricting one’s ability to produce any behavior, the opportunity to complete that behavior becomes reinforcing
Disequillibrium Hypothesis
- By disrupting the time distribution between activities, any return to the previous schedule will be rewarding.
Basal Ganglia
- Dorsal Striatum and Nucleus Accumbens may link associations between the sensory and motor cortex so that stimuli elicit the appropriate motor response.
VTA
- James Old (1954)
- Associated with anticipation of reward, not necessarily pleasure
- VTA projects into the Basal Ganglia and provides dopamine that reinforces motor behavior
