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VPSYC > Learning & Memory > Flashcards

Learning & Memory Flashcards

1
Q

What is memory and how does it operate?

A
  • The persistence of learning over time

- Operates through storage and retrieval (functions) of information and skills (content)

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2
Q

What are the processes for memory?

A
  • Recall: retrieve information previously learned and unconsciously stored
  • Recognition: identify stimuli that match your stored information
  • Relearning: measure of how much less work it takes you to learn information you had previously learned (mastery)
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3
Q

What are the elements for the processes of memory?

A
  • Encode: the information gets into our brains in a way that allows it to be stored
  • Long term potentiation: take senses and turn into neurological form
  • Store: the information is held in a way that allows it to later be retrieved
  • Retrieve: reactivating and recalling the information, producing it in a form similiar to what was encoded
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4
Q

What is the Atkinson-Shiffrin model?

A
  • External event that is noticeable, make it through “attention bottleneck”
  • Store accurate versions of sensory memory for a short period of time
  • Encode this memory into a short-term buffer through rehearsal
  • Effortful rehearsal encodes this into long term memory, which can be retrieved back into short term
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5
Q

What are the type of pathways?

A
  • Automatic (low-track) that go straight from event to long-term memory
  • Effortful (high track) described in Atkinson model
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6
Q

What are the forms of memory?

A
  1. Implicit memory
    - The ones we aren’t fully aware of and we don’t “declare”
    - Do not require attention or effort to encode and recall
  2. Explicit “declarative” memory
    - Facts and experiences that we consciously know and recall
    - Require attention and effort to encode and recall
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7
Q

What are the types of explicit memory?

A
  • Semantic: general knowledge (facts, rules, concepts)
  • Episodic: specific events that we experienced
  • Flashbulb: type of episodic memory, intense long-term memories of emotional events
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8
Q

What are the types of implicit memory?

A
  • Procedural: memory of learned motor skills

- Conditioned associations: associations learned through conditioning

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9
Q

What is automatic processing?

A
  • Go straight to long-term (implicit) memory
  • Procedural memory (eg. learning how to skate)
  • Conditioned associations (eg. ads with perfume with an actor)
  • Information about space, time, and frequency (eg. remember what happened this morning)
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10
Q

What is effortful processing?

A
  1. Sensory memory
    - Very brief recording of sensory information (varies depending on the sensation)
    - Longest ability to remember is hearing (3-4 seconds)
    - Waiting for attention, if attention is placed on part of the information it will move to short-term memory, otherwise it disappears
  2. Short-term memory
    - Attention moved to selection of information from sensory memory
    - Sent to short-term/working memory
    - 7 +/- 2 pieces of accurate information for approximately 20 seconds
  3. Techniques to move into long-term memory
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11
Q

What are the techniques to move into long-term memory?

A
  • Distributed practice and depth of processing
  • Groupings
  • Visualization
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12
Q

What are the distributed practice and depth of processing techniques for long-term memory?

A
  • Spacing effect: best to spread out study/learning time (distribute it) over multiple short sessions rather than cramming…combine with:
  • Testing effect: having to answer questions about the information to retrieve information learned, greatly increases memory, more effective than merely re-reading
  • Deep/semantic processing: linking information to something that relates to you, link into network of information (eg. Star Wars fans knowing a lot about the series will be able to answer a riddle about Star Wars easily)
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13
Q

What are the grouping techniques for long-term memory?

A
  • Chunking: create groups with the pieces of information, best when these groupings are familiar to us
  • Hierarchies: divide complex information into concepts, then sub-concepts
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14
Q

What are the visualization techniques for long-term memory?

A
  • Visualization: mental images are powerful aids to memory, especially when combined with semantic encoding
  • Visual cues: eg. visualize getting ready in the morning and link elements trying to learn to the morning routine
  • Method of Loci (memory palace): eg. take something you can easily visualize in your mind (eg. home) and in there, walk through different spaces and store information
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15
Q

What is working memory?

A
  • Holds information not just to rehearse it, but to process it
  • Sensory input into the episodic buffer
  • Go to executive functions
  • Auditory rehearsal
  • Visuo-spatial sketchpad
  • Decide whether shift to long term memory
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16
Q

How is working memory different from the Atkinson model?

A

Different from previous model because assumes you are constantly and simultaneously pulling information from sensory input and moving information from long-term memory.

Integrates information from long-term memory with new information coming in from sensory memory.

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17
Q

What is the brain’s capacity?

A
  • The brain’s long-term memory does not get full
  • Estimated 1000 billion to 1000000 billion bits of information
  • As you learn your long-term memory gets more elaborately rewired and interconnected
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18
Q

How are explicit memories created and used?

A
  1. Encoding and storage
    - Facilitated by hippocampus
    - Sleep (consolidation)
  2. Retrieval and use
    - Working memory (executive function) directed by frontal lobes
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19
Q

How are implicit memories created and used?

A
  • Basal ganglia: involved with encoding and storage of procedural memory and motor skills
  • Cerebellum: involved with encoding and storage of our conditioned responses
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20
Q

How do emotions affect our memories?

A
  • Emotional responses can accentuate/facilitate the encoding of information
  • Strong emotions (especially stress) can strengthen memory formation
  • Flashbulb memories are burned in
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21
Q

How do we recall information from long term?

A
  • When we recall our memories we filter or fill in parts (thinking) to make our memories more consistent
  • Each time we recall information our memories can change
  • Encode one version
  • Everytime you retrieve, you modify
  • When you encode it again, you changed the memory
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22
Q

What is the misinformation effect?

A

Incorporating misleading information in the memory of an event

eg. Police officer asking when the two cars violently hit each other, you change your information to say it was really fast

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23
Q

What is source amnesia?

A
  • Assign details of a memory to the wrong source
    eg. Forget the reason you thought the collision was violent was because the police asked you the question a certain way and start to believe you knew it because you saw it
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24
Q

What are false memories?

A
  • Often due to the confusion between an event that happened to you and that happened to someone else
  • Or the belief that you remember something that actually never happened

Likely to happen when

  • You thought of the event often
  • You imagined more details of tis event
  • The event is easy to imagine
  • Brings our attention to emotional reaction and not on facts
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25
Q

What are the perils of memory? How do you avoid it?

A
  • Lots of information available
  • We encode automatically at least part of everything we are exposed to for better or for worst
  • Once encoded into long-term memory, information affects all of our perceptions (top-down processing) or how you see the world
  • Because of cognitive biases we have the illusion that we control how the information we encode affects us
  • The current and perhaps only solution may be to consciously filter/select the information you expose yourself to
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26
Q

What is false memory syndrome?

A

A condition in which the identity and relationships of a person rest on memories that are false, but perceived as real traumatic experiences

Some cases induced by poorly trained and/or ill-intended therapists have been documented

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27
Q

What is associative learning?

A

Process by which behaviour or knowledge changes as a result of experience

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28
Q

What is classical conditioning?

A

Learning to link 2 stimuli in a way that helps us anticipate an event to which we have a reaction (associative learning)

Associate direct experiences

29
Q

What is operant conditioning?

A

Changing behavioural responses in response to consequences (contingencies)

Consequences of actions

30
Q

What is cogntive/latent learning?

A
  • Learning that can occur without reinforcement and without being directly observable
  • Learn by observing what is going around and think about consequences without having to directly experience it
31
Q

What is behaviourism?

A
  • Started with proponents that mental life was much less important than behaviour as a foundation for psychological science
  • Thoughts are not causily related to our behaviour
  • Most robust theories in terms of predicting behaviour along with operant conditioning
  • Accredited to Skinner, but started from the work of Ivan Pavlov who noticed that his dogs salivated at the sound of a bell
32
Q

What is a neutral stimulus?

A

A stimulus which does not trigger a response

33
Q

What is an unconditioned stimulus? What is a conditioned stimulus?

A
  • Unconditioned stimulus and response: a stimulus which triggers a response naturally without any conditioning
  • Conditioned stimulus: a stimulus that will trigger the learned conditioned response, paired with unconditioned stimulus
34
Q

What is a conditioned response?

A

The learned response triggered by the conditioned stimulus

35
Q

What is acquisition for classical conditioning?

A
  • Acquired: associated between NS and US
  • Can tell it has occurred when CS now triggers CR (UR has now become CR)
  • For association to be acquired, NS needs to repeatedly appear before US
36
Q

What is extinction for classical conditioning?

A
  • The diminishing of a CR that occurs when CS is presented without the US
  • After extinction and follow a rest period/break, presenting the CS alone often leads to a spontaneous recovery (response emerges again)
  • After multiple time gaps, the strength of response will decrease
37
Q

What is generalization for classical conditioning?

A

Tendency to have conditioned responses triggered by related stimuli

38
Q

What is discrimination for classical conditioning?

A

Learned ability to only respond to a specific stimuli, preventing generalization

39
Q

What are the applications for classical conditioning?

A
  • Conditioned emotional responses: consist of emotional and physiological responses that develop to a specific object or situation
  • Contextual fear conditioning: hippocampus reacts with amygdala
  • Preparedness: biological predisposition to rapidly learn a response to a particular class of stimuli, helped us survive
  • Conditioned taste aversion: acquired dislike or disgust of food/drink because paired with illness
  • Increase implicit self-esteem through classical conditioning
40
Q

What is operant conditioning?

A

Involves adjusting to consequences of our behaviours (functionalism, adjust to environment that reinforces or punishes you)

41
Q

How does operating conditioning work?

A
  • A behavioural response is followed by a reward or punitive feedback from the environment

Thorndike’s law of effect:

  • Reinforced behaviour is more likely to be tried again
  • Punished behavour is less likely to be attempted in the future

Different from classical, because this one is initiated by the organism

42
Q

What are the types of reinforcement?

A

Any feedback that makes a behaviour more likely to reoccur

  • Positive (additive) reinforcement: increase behaviour by adding something desirable
  • Eg. kid when they are having a tantrum and receiving candy will do it again
  • Negative (subtractive) reinforcement: increase bahaviour by removing something unpleasant
  • Eg. parent giving kid candy, removing judgement of tantrum at the store, makes parent more likely to do that again
43
Q

What is continuous reinforcement?

A

Subject acquires the desired behaviour quickly, get reward right away

44
Q

What is partial/intermittent reinforcement?

A

Target behaviour takes longer to be acquired/established but persists longer without reward

Eg. gambling, casino = the longer you’re at the machine, you think the more likely the payoff will come

45
Q

What are the types of partial reinforcement?

A

Schedule the reinforcements based on an interval of time that has gone by

  1. Fixed interval: slow, unsustained responding of behaviour
    - Rapid responding near time for reinforcement
    - Eg. payed every Thursday, bump in productivity that day
  2. Variable interval: slow consistent responding of behaviour

Plan for a certain ratio of rewards per number of instances of the target behaviour

  1. Fixed ratio: high rate of consistent responding
  2. Variable ratio: high rate of consistent responding
    - Very robust, will resist extinction even if reinforcement stops
    - Eg. slot machines, even when it stops paying back
46
Q

What are the types of punishment?

A

Make target behaviour less likely to occur in the future

  • Positive (additive) punishment: decrease behaviour by adding something unpleasant/aversive
  • Negative (subtractive) punishment: decrease behaviour by removing something pleasant/desired
47
Q

How do you make punishment as effective as possible?

A
  • Data shows that punishments aren’t that effective
  • Must occur immediately after the bahaviour
  • Need to be consistent, extremely important
    Intensity of punishment has little impact on outcome, rather it is frequency
  • For humans, if you want punishment to work, you need to provide explanation for punishment and what alternate action should have been done
  • Best when combined with positive reinforcement
  • By itself, punishment typically only inhibits the behaviour (suppressed, not forgotten), fails to provide direction
  • Physical punishment teaches kids to respond aggressively to frustration
48
Q

What is cognitive learning? Compare it to behaviourism.

A
  • Classical and operant behaviour is derived from behaviourism
  • No thinking, mindless learning
  • Skinner did not deny that thinking occurred, viewed thinking as unobservable and did not cause behaviour
  • Stimulus = response (S-R)

Cognitive: interprets the stimulus before responding
Stimulus = organism = response (S-O-R)

49
Q

Hoow would behaviourists explain

it bothers me that you’re never prepared for discussions.” How about cognitivists?

A

Behaviourists: explain difference by learning histories to preprogram you to respond positively/negatively to that sentence
- How each person has leaerned to react to critics through past experiences

Cognitive: say that differing reactions stem from how they interpreted the critic in that given situation

  • Constructive feedback vs personal attack
  • Important difference because allows for people to have will/self control, an ability to act differently than what they usually do or how they would impulsively would (change)
50
Q

What is observational learning?

A
  • Changes in behaviour and knowledge that occurs by watching others, typically role models
  • Learning that occurs without reinforcement
  • A form of latent learning (learning that is not directly and immediately observable), stored until you need knowledge
51
Q

What is the relationship between the brain and classical conditioning?

A
  • Classical conditioning is simple biological process
  • Relationship between unconditioned stimulus and unconditioned response is strong neural connections in temporal lobes
  • When weak connection between neurons is stimulated at same time as a strong connection, gets strengthened
52
Q

What are some examples of classically learning without awareness?

A
  • Things that accompany drug use can become conditioned stimuli that elicit drug cravings
  • Conditioned drug tolerance: setting conditions body for drug so over time, more of drug needed to override preparatory responses so desired effect is achieved
  • Conditioned sexual fetish can form if association between object (conditioned stimuli) and sexual encounters (unconditioned stimuli)
  • Humans are conditioned to believe sweet tastes has high calories
  • Artificially sweetened drinks is not followed by calories
  • Gut tells you to make up for calories
53
Q

What aer primary and secondary reinforcers for operant conditioning?

A
  • Primary reinforcers: reinforcing stimuli that satisfy basic motivational needs that affect individuals ability to survive and reproduce
  • Eg. food, water
  • Secondary reinforcers: stimuli that acquire their reinforcing effects only after we learn that have value
  • Eg. money and praise
  • Trigger release of dopamine in reward areas of brain in basal ganglia
54
Q

What is activated in the brain during operant conditioning?

A

Activates during processing of rewards, consists of dopamine-releasing neurons

55
Q

What is the discriminative stimulus for operant conditioning?

A
  • Cue or event that indicates that a response, if made, will be reinforced
  • Eg. asking parents for something if they are laughing
  • Determines whether we do something
56
Q

What is the difference between discrimination and generalization in classical and operant conditioning?

A
  • Discrimination: operant response made to one stimulus but not to another
  • Generalization: operant response takes place to new stimulus that is similar to stimulus present during original learning
  • In classical conditional, these processes occur due to strengthening of synapses due to simultaneous firing
  • In operant conditioning, mechanism appears to be dopamine-secreting neurons
57
Q

What occurs during reward devaluation and delayed reinforcement for operant conditioning?

A
  • Delayed reinforcement: occurs when reward is delayed (eg. drugs) but reinforcement is less strong
  • If reward does not come, extinction occurs
  • Reward Devaluation: behaviours change if reinforcer loses some of appeal
58
Q

What are some applications for operant conditioning?

A
  • Shaping: procedure in which specific operant response is created by reinforcing successive approximations of response
  • Eg. potty training
59
Q

What is working memory? What are the components?

A

Working memory: model of short term memory that includes combination of memory components that can temporarily store small amounts of information for short periods of time

  1. Phenological loop: storage component that relies on rehearsal and stores information as sounds
    - Word-length effect: people remember shorter syllable words
  2. Visuospatial sketchpad: storage component of working memory that maintains visual images and spatial layouts in visuospatial code
    - Based on colours, shapes, textures
    - Feature binding: combining visual features into single unit, chunking
    - Can accurately retain 4 whole objects
  3. Episodic buffer: storage component of working memory that combines images and sounds from other components into coherent, story-like episodes
    - 7-10 pieces of information
  4. Central executive: control centre of working memory, coordinates attention and exchange of information among the 3 storage components above
60
Q

How do you shift information from one memory store to another?

A
  • Attention: selects which information passed onto short term memory
  • Encoding: process of storing information in long-term memory
  • Retrieval: brings information from long-term memory back into short-term memory
61
Q

How is information stored?

A
  1. Sensory memory: perceptual information for brief amount of time
    - Iconic memory: visual form
    - Echoic memory: auditory form, held for longer
  2. Short-term memory: limited capacity and duration
    - Chunking: organizing smaller units of information into larger units
  3. Long-term memory: extended periods of time, no capacity limitations
    - Tip of the tongue phenomenon: retrieve similar sounding words but not the one your want occurs due to long-term memory being organized by sounds of word
    - Likelihood of retrieval of information depends on quality of encoding and factors to retrieve it
62
Q

What is anterograde amnesia?

A
  • Inability to form new memories for events occurring after a brain injury
  • Hippocampus involved with consolidating memories, enabling information from short-term memory to enter in long-term memory
63
Q

What is cross-cortical storage?

A

Long term declarative memories distributed throughout cortex of brain

64
Q

What is retrograde amnesia?

A

Condition in which memory for events preceding trauma or injury is lost

65
Q

What are the different levels of processing information?

A
  • Shallow processing: superficial properties of stimulus, such as sound or spelling
  • Deep: related to item’s meaning or function
  • Self-reference effect: think about information in how it relates to you
  • Survival processing: items are processed as they relate to survival
66
Q

How does retrieval work?

A
  • Recognition: identifying a stimulus or piece of information when it is presented to you
  • Eg. recognizing someone in the mall
  • Recall: retrieving information when asked but without information present during retrieval process
  • Eg. describing friend’s appearance
  • Retrieval cues: prompt our memory
  • Encoding specificity principle: retrieval is most effective when occurs in same context as encoding
  • Context-depending forgetting: if we believe the change in environment influenced forgetting
  • Context reinstatement effect: return to original location and memory comes back
    Strongest for declarative memory
67
Q

what is state and mood dependent learning?

A

State-Dependent Learning:
Retrieval is more effective when internal state matches state you were in during encoding

State-dependent memory: strongest for declarative memory
Eg. if you were drunk 2 nights, you remember things over people drunk only 1 night

Mood-Dependent Learning:

  • If type of mood at encoding and retrieval matched, memory was superior
  • Mood has small effect on recognition memory, better on recall-tests
68
Q

What are the different mnemonics?

A

Technique intended to improve memory for specific information

  • Method of Loci: mnemonic that connects words to be remembered along a familiar path
  • Acronyms: pronounceable words whose letters represent initials of important phrase
  • First-letter technique: uses first letters to spell out items that form a sentence
  • Dual coding: occurs when information is stored in more than one form (visual, verbal, sound)
  • Allows information to receive deeper due to additional sensory representation
  • Desirable difficulties: harder studying techniques are more fruitful
  • Testing effect: finding that taking practice tests can improve exam performance, even without additional studying
69
Q

What is latent inhibition?

A

Frequent experience with stimulus before paired with unconditioned stimulus makes it less likely that conditioning will occur after a single episode

VPSYC (13 decks)

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