Learning & Memory Flashcards

1
Q

Why do humans want to understand behavior?

A
  1. Inform on ways to improve quality of life and performance
  2. crucial for survival, learning what to fear/avoid and seek
  3. Learning promotes survival
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2
Q

How does learning apply to behavior?

A

The acquisition, modification and suppression of previous of behaviors

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3
Q

Give examples of the acquisition, modification and suppression of behavior

A
  1. Acquisition: Learning to walk / language
  2. Modification: Eat properly / Grammar
  3. Suppression: Not throw food / not say tbnk
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4
Q

How has intelligence been defined in the past?

A

An individual’s ability to learn

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5
Q

Which individual’s case was important in understanding learning?

A

Henry Molaison

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6
Q

What happened to Henry Molaison?

A

Lost ability to learn and form new memories, but procedural memory intact

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7
Q

Definition of learning

A

an enduring change in behavior that results from experience
Performance of a new behavior or suppression of a previous behavior

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8
Q

Is performance a direct demonstration of learning?

A

No, performance depends on
Motivation, fatigue, drugs…

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9
Q

Does the absence of a change in performance indicate absence of learning?

A

No, learning is done through observation and can occur without immediately affecting performance

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10
Q

How is learning often measured?

A

through performance

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11
Q

Explain how fatigue can affect behavior but not learning?

A

poorer performance, but doesn’t mean the person forgot how to do something

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12
Q

Explain how aging can change behavior but not affect learning?

A

Slower abilities but still there. Cant recall info as well but they know it when we say it

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13
Q

What is memory

A

ability to respond on the basis of information that was acquired earlier

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14
Q

What are the stages of information processing?

A
  1. Acquisition/Encoding
  2. Retention/Storage
  3. Retrieval
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15
Q

Which stage of information processing is failing when we can’t remember someone’s name?
Explain example for each stage

A
  1. Acquisition/Encoding: cant remember after a few minutes of meeting someone, probably never encoded
  2. Storage: Remembered name at initial encounter but not a couple of days late
  3. Retrieval, can still recognize the name in a list of names
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16
Q

What are some examples of conscious and intentional learning?

A

school, driving

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17
Q

What are some examples of automatic learning?

A

social rules, navigating campus

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18
Q

What type of learning involves training?

A

conditioning

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19
Q

What can be involved during learning?

A

environment, motor and emotional responses

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20
Q

Which type of learning happens without conscious awareness?

A

procedural learning

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21
Q

Which type of learning happens with conscious report, reasoning and introspection?

A

Declarative learning

22
Q

How are different types of memory separated into categories?

A

memory
short-term long-term
explicit implicit
episodic sematic priming procedural

23
Q

What was the view on human behavior before René Descartes?

A

behavior is entirely determined by conscious intent and free will

24
Q

What was René Descartes’ view on human behavior?

A

people also respond automatically to external stimuli

25
Q

What is the Cartesian Dualism theory?

A

Suggested there are some voluntary (doesnt require stimulus) and involuntary (reflexes) behaviors

26
Q

How does learning happen based on principles from Aristotle?

A

learning derives from associations

27
Q

What are the rules of association?

A

contiguity, similarity, frequency, similarity between past and present associations

28
Q

What is contiguity and give an example

A

two events repeatedly occur together in space or time, they become linked or associated

Clouds and rain

29
Q

What is similarity and give an example

A

two things will become associated if they are similar in some respect

Ella & Tom

30
Q

What is frequency in relation to association and give and example

A

you will associate things together when they repeatedly happen together

Only associate clouds and rain if it rains where you live

31
Q

Are reflexes innate?

A

Not all, they can be learnt/conditionned

32
Q

What did Ivan Pavlov discover?

A

New reflexes to stimuli can be established through association
Stimulus–> Response relationships

33
Q

What is the premise of modern behavior theory

A

behavior comes from s–>r relationships and association

34
Q

Why are animal models used for learning research?

A
  1. Comparative cognition: understand evolution of the mind
  2. Functional neurology: Understanding structure and function of the nervous system
  3. Developing animal models: Studying learning and memory using experimental animal procedures (sketch for humans)
35
Q

What is comparative cognition?

A

study of animal behavior that focuses on the mechanisms by which animals acquire, process, store, and act on information from the environment
tracing evolution of cognition and behavior

36
Q

What was Charles Darwin’s view on human behavior?

A

our mental abilities had evolved from animals and non-human animals therefore possessed many of their precursors

37
Q

Ivan Pavlov initiated which part of science in particular and how?

A

funcitonal neurology
Examining how the nervous system controlled many reflexes

38
Q

What did Pavlov think about the nervous system in relation to learning?

A

studies of learning tell us a lot about functions of the nervous system
the nervous system has rules

39
Q

what is neuroscience founded on?

A

all of behavior and mental life has its origins in the structure and function of the nervous system

40
Q

advantages of animal models vs human

A
  • simpler, cheaper and more easily controlled conditions
  • can investigate problems that would be impossible to study in humans (emotional/aversive events: pain, pleasure)
  • similarities between animal and features of human behavior
41
Q

How have animal models contributed to our lives?

A

drug development: most drugs are tested on animal models to test for effect and secondary effects

machine learning/artificial intelligence: developing smart AI requires deep understanding of human and animal models of learning and memory

42
Q

what is the general-process approach? examples

A

extract universal rules that apply across species (fundamental behaviors shared through evolution)

We want food, water, avoid pain

43
Q

can the general-process approach be studied in any species?

A

Yes, rules can be seen using any species using certain conventional experimental paradigms

44
Q

What are the goals of learning studies?

A

identify critical components of training/conditioning required to learn

45
Q

How can we study learning?

A

with experimental approach, behavior is observed with and without causal factor

46
Q

Design experiment to see if coffee improves learning

A
  • 2 gr
  • within gr experiment
  • note if they normally have coffee or not
  • give 1/2 coffee
  • go to class
  • note 3 things they remember after class and next day
47
Q

What is within vs between subjects design?

A

within: compares subjects to themselves, exposed to +1 conditions
between: compares 2 separate groups, each only 1 condition

48
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of within subjects design?

A

more reliable, better statistical power
issues of order

49
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of between subjects design?

A

no order effects
possible group effects (variance), need more people

50
Q

What are the 3 R’s of animal research?

A

Replacement: not use animals as much as possible
Reducing: nb of animals and reuse
Refining: experimental procedures to cause minimal suffering