Learning + Memory Flashcards
Memory Definition
a change in behaviour brought by expierence (the changed neural wiring)
Learning Defintion
the process by which memory is acquired
forming of asoociations and rewriign of neruons
3 key processes of memory
encoding
storage
retrieval
what is encoding
active process of selecting and summarizaing/writing sensory information into sensory stages (bringing memories into storage)
what is storage
funcional and atomical sub-systems where memory is retained
what is retrieval
active process of reconstructing information according to current needs
what is the simplest memory idea and what are its issues
storage of an entire perceptual uni
“remember everything”; no clear reasons why we have to remember everything as its INEFFECTIE and COSTLY
how does learning in neurons occur
by long-term potentation
common metaphors for memory
wax tabular
book
computer
theory of neural computation
neurons weight incoming signals according to the rules each has learned and fire as a result if a threshold has been reached
A NEURON BALANCES EXTICTATORY + INHIBITOTRY SIGNALS FROM MULTIPLE SOURCES TO DECIDE A COURSE OF ACTION
how is an action potential fired
the dendrites; collect electrical signals
the cell body: integrates the signals and forms input to output
axons= pass the electrical signals to the dendries of another cell
if the other cell gets excited= it fires and sends signal downcell
are signals on neurons fixed?
nope! modullated by weights (some neurons have a stronger influence on the central neuron than others)
what did donald hebb proporse
hebbs rule
Hebbs Rule
‘neurons that fire together wire together’; strength increases between neurons that fire/connet more
explain hebbs rule
strength of a connectino between two neurons can change depending on the frequeuncy that neuron is stimulated
apply hebbs rule to pavlovs dog experiment
connectinn occurs between the bell (conditioned stimulus) and the salivary response (conditionited response) due to repeated firing together
–> the dog ‘learns’ that the bell predicts food
what did Bliss & Lomo 2973 do
confirmed hebbs rule experimentally using rabbits
BLISS + LOMO experiment
placed electrons into the pre/post synaptic neurons in the hippocampus of a rabbit:
stimulated the PREsynaptic electron and recordered the output in the post synaptic electrode
found that a change in membranbe potential was reached as forced firing made connections stronger
long term potentation
pre-sypnaptic (input) neurons become more effective after repeated high-frequency stimulation
Key Researchers of Learning
Pavolv + Classiical Conditioning
Thormdike + Law of Effect
J.b. Watson and Behaviourist Manifesto
BG Skinner and Operant Contioning
what is classifical conditioning
a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired: a response which is at first elicited by the second stimulus is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone.
what is an unconditionited stimulus
something that automatically elecits a response
what is an unconditionited response
the reflexive resonse
what is a conditionted stimulus
some inititially behaviourally neutral thing
what is a conditionted response
same as the uncondiionted response but now in response to the conditionted stimulus
explain the phases of the learning curve
in regarsd to the strength of a condtiointed response:
1. increases with increased pairing/acquistioing
- decreases if stimuli is less unpaired leadining to extinction
- however partial recovery is faster (allows for stimulus to return after a break)
explain pavlovs dog experiment
UC= food
NS= belll
UR= Salivation
C= food and bell
After= bell becomes conditiontied stimulus to cause drooling in the dog
what is operant conditionign
a learning process through which the strength of a behavior is modified by reinforcement or punishment
by b.f. skinner
what did B.F Skinner do to study learning and what was his aim
aim= influence of rewards and punishments on learning
studied= developed a box to stick rats/pideons in whereby rewards/punishments were given (electrical shocks or food)
Positive vs Negative Reinforcenment
positive= something is added
negative= something is taken away
good vs bad reinforcenment
good= something nice
bad= something not nice
example: positive-good reinforcement
a rat gets food
example: postiive-bad reinforcement
a rat gets a shock
example: negative-good reinforcement
no shock is given to the rat
example: negative-bad reinforcement
no food is given to a rat
what is acquistiiong
performance of a selected behaviour that increase is reinforced or decreases if punished with the number of behaviour-consequence pairings
what is excintion
perfromance of a behaviour that returns to baseline if no longer paired with consequences (however sponteaneous recovery is possible)
describe the different schedules of reward
- intrevals
- variables
(can be fixed or variable)
contrast classical and operant conditioning (7)
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
- automatic/involuntary response of target
- the reinforcement is present regardless of response
- behaviour depends on physiological responses/(ELICITED)
- Russia
- Pavlov and dog bell
- also known as respondent conditioning
- signal before reflex
OPERANT CONDITIONIGN
- voluntary response of target
- reinforcement as a consequence of behaviour
- behaviour depends on skeletcal muscles (emitted)
- USA
- BF Skinner and Box
- Instrumental Conditiniong
- Stimulus occurs AFTER behaviour
what is ‘generalisation of learning’
whether you apply the same learned response to similar stimulus;
tendency to respond to stimuli that resemble the original conditioned stimulus
i.e. when we eat red berries that make us sick= we are also suspicious of purple berries
i. e. in classical; would different bell sounds also elicit salivation?
i. e. in operant= would different coloured levers elicit the same pressure?
what is ‘generalize’
apply learning to most situations
what is ‘discriminate’
apply learning selectively to situations
: tendency to respond differently to stimuli that are similar but not identical
i.e. dogs only respond to ONE type of tone when hearing bell
what does a sensible organism do in regards to learning-selectivity
somewhat generalizes/somewaht descirminates their learning
what did Shepard 1987 come up with
the universal law of generalization
what is the universal law of generalization
as a stimulus becomes super different from trained version the learning response expotnentially reduces
similitartie= generalization applies when similar fonduatino of concepts/caterogies
we create pyschosocial caterogiesin learning of similar concepts
what did jb watson suggest
tabula rasa 1930= championed BEHAVIOURISM; that humans ar blank slates at birth that acquire every skill by learning (nurture)
behaviourism
behaviour can be explained by environment (stimulus and response)
history of memory
- used to be seen as a monolithic procsss
- dissociation/localization events (broca and wernicke) in 1880s
- until 1960s= memory not seen as a specialized/localize function
damages to Broca area causes…
nonfluent aphasia
damages to Wernickes area causes…
fluent aphasia
tree of human memory
human memory split into different caterogies (sensory, short term and long term)
sensory memory
<1 min long
iconic (visual)
echoic (auditory)
etc
short term memory
< 1 min long
long term memory
throughout lifetime: split into explicit and implicit
explic memory
conscious; split ito declarative memory (facts and events)
declatative memory
splits into episodic and semantic memory
episodic= events/experiences
semantic= facts and concepts
implicit memory
unconcious memory; splits into preocedrual memory (skills and tasks)
what did penfield look at
architectural placement of memory in the brain
Penfields experiments
1940s; stimulated the temporal lobes of epileptic patients who then reported have vivid memories of the past
this sparked the idea memory was logalized in brain area
but people still skeptical untill amensia patients with localized lesions had memory issues
Who was Patient H.M.
henry molaison= the most studied neuroligcal patient ever
he had surgery for severe epilepy at age 27 where both his hippocampus, amygdalda and cortex of medial lobe where removed
and then had anterrogate amenia
What is wrong with Patient H.M.
he had anterrogate amensia (cant create new memories)
his motor/pereptual and regtrogate memories are all okay but he cane rmember new facts and remember people and events for very long
where does epilsely normally occur
in the lower temporal lobes
what DOES patient hm have
- motor function/long term memory
2. some ‘short term memory’
Digit Span Test
quantified short term memory
tells participants to repeat back a set of numbers (i.e. 1, 7, 2, 5, 6, —> 1, 7, 2,5, 6, 7, 7,… etc)
DV= number of digits
normal patients- 15
henry= 7
Digit Span test + HM results
could only get up to ‘7’ numbers
cant move stuff from short term to long term storage (disccoiation of memory)
how was procedural memory of patient hm quantified
using a mirror drawing test
mirror drawing test
method= patients trace an outline of a star and see hand in mirror; do this 10 times in 3 days
dvs= number of errors
mirror drawing test + HM
he got better as he kept doing the test (low quality initially) however he had no memory of ever having done the test before
shows he still had procedural memory (so he lasts EXPLICIT memory)
what did Drachman and Arabit do in 1996
digit span test on henry
What did Milner do in 1986
the mirror drawing test on henry
how was henry long term memory prservation affected
he lacks explicit, conscious learning memory but still retains implicit memory (unconcious, motor)
who was patient KC
- had a damaged medial temporal lobe
- still had perceptual, motor, cognitive abilities but no explicit memory
- had SEVERE RETROGADE AMNESIA
how was patient KC tested
old photos of childhood were shown by Rosenbaum and KC was asked to describe semantic info
semantic memory
who and what (facts)
episodic memory
whats happneing, why, when, etc.
retrograde amnesia
memories of EVENTS (semantic)
Rosenbaum 2005 test results
patient KC: can only remember episodic information (the WHAT) but not semantic (how/why, where, etc)
what is iconic memory
visual sensory memory that requires information in visual domain (sensory memor= fast storage of visual information)
hypothesis of iconic memory
we have brief but high capaticity for VISUAL memory but the problem is our memory will ahve decayed during the time it takes to report stimulus in experiments
what did sperling do
partial report method
explain the partial report method
participants identify a subset of characters from a visual display using cued recall
a cue is a tone at various time intervals prior to a stimulus
what brain areas of patient HM were affected
hippocampus
medial temporal lob cortex
amydalda
further evidence for localized memory in monkeys
With same lesions= have perserved cognition but anterrogate amneia
monkesy with just amygdalda lesion= decreased fear/learning capacity but preserved plac-object memory and learning
monkeys with himmpocampus/temporal lob lesions= impaired place-object learning
what is the hippocampus for
memory consodliatin
what brain area is for long term memory of storage
long term storage (face, object-specific)
what can patient HM still do
rembmer facts/episodes before event
cognitive and motor function
can still form IMPLICIT memoryes (motor, emotion, perceptual)
what did Loftus, Coan and Picnell 1996 look at
studied how retrieval functions by reconstructing infrmation from what we record
retreival construction of information studies
show people short stories of their childhood (1/4 are false) and ask them to return the next day and see what they remembered
eyewitness testimoites therefore questionable (as not facts and memory is unreliable)
Loftus-Coan-Picknell Study and Results
people who returned= 25% people remember ‘false details’ about fake stories
how does ‘mental time travel’ affect patient KC
patient kc cant imagine self doing stuff in the ftuure either= planining/ahead and imatation affected
types of associative learnign
classican and operant conditoining whereby brain adapts behaviour to environmental circumstances
issue with learning
synaptic placitiity= as learning can be ‘rewired’ (stroke victims)
types of learning
insight
trial and error
conditioning
teaching
Conditioning is evolutionary beneficial because…
- allows organisms to develop expectations to prep them for food or bad events
- i.e. knowing a certain food makes you sick (Cs= smell, US=food)
Second-Order Conditioning
when an EXISTING conditioned stimulus can serve as an unconditioned stimulus for a pairing with a new conditioned stimulus
i.e. presenting a black square with the sound; dogs salivate to black square alone even if it itself had never been presented with the food.
why do phobias occur
in nature: classical conditioning creates phobias!
Phobia—> “a strong and irrational fear of specific object/activitiy/situation”
—> phobias to snakes/spiders; are evolutionary concerns; so SOME PHOBIAS are more likely to develop associations than others as more of a concern.
Join Garcia et all 1996 Experiment
ood conditioning
- give a taste as neutral stimulus before giving rats a drug that makes them nauseous
- garcia; discovered that taste continuing is very powerful (rats learn to avoid taste associated with illness drug even if illness occurs MUCH LATER)
Thorndikes Puzzlebox:
researcher places cats in a box.
don’t know how to get out.
figure out that lever opens box= get out and claim fish!
second time cats put in box= less vicious attempts to get out
third time= cats just press lever and leave
Thorndikes law of effect
his law of effect; responses that typically create a pleasant outcome in a situation are more likely to occur again in as similar situation whereas responses that produce an unpleasant outcome are less likely to occur in the station.
fixed ratios
- behavior is reinforced after a specific number of responses (factory workers paid by amount of products produced)
- high levels of responsiveness
variable ratios
- behavior is reinforced after an average (but unpredictable) number of responses (payoffs from slot machines in games of change)
- produce higher rates of responding as reinforcement increases as number of responses increases
fixed intreval ratio
- behavior is reinforced for the first response after ra specific amount of time has passed (monthly salary)
- reinforces appear on an interval schedule but timing is varied around average interval, making actual appearance of reinforce unpredictable= produce slow/steady rates of responding
variable intreval ration
- behavior is reinforced for the first response after an average amount of time has passed (checking voice mail)
- reinforcement occurs for the first response made after a specific mouth of time has based= animals tend to slow down responding and increase behavior as next reinforcements gets closer
- a behavior is reinforced after a specific number of response: hence animal learns to act in accordance
what is insight learning
sudden understanding of a solution to a problem
what did Wolfgang Kohler do
bserved that when chimps are presented with a problem not easy to solve (i.e. placing food in an area too high in cage to be reached):
—> chimps engage in trial and error first
—> then fail; sit and contemplate
—> after contemplation: seem to known how to solve problem (use stick to knock food down or stand on chair)
Kohler—> calls this INSIGHT learning
Latent learning:
learning that is not reinforced/not demonstrated until there is motivation to do so.
what did Edward Tolman do
LATENT LEARNING:
Edward Tolman: looks at 3 rats navigating a maze:
- group 1= gets food award at end
- group 2= gets no reward
- group 3= get a reward but only on day 11
Rats in group 1= fasted (conditioning)
rats in group 2= wander aimlessly
rats in group 3= wander aimlessly for 10 days and then learn at day 11 and instantly catch up with group 1
Observation learning:
Observation learning: learning by observing others
why is observation learning useful
- useful for animals/people to learn what is risky and what is successfully
- i.e. monkeys see other monkeys be afraid of snake= become afraid themselves despite never seeing ga snake (Cook and Mineka, 1990)
persistant learning
information that has been stored and recalled
recall definition
a measure of memory in which th epreson must retrive information learned earlier
recognition
a measure of memory in which the prson needs only idefntify items previously learned
relearning
a measure of memory that assures the amount of time saved when learnign something again
what do Richard Takinson and Shiffard to
break memory into 3 stages of encoding, storage and retreival
what is working memory
rebised version of short term memory= the conscious active processing of information from auditory/visio-spatial information to long temr meory
- aditory
- central-execeutiv
- visual and spatial
explicti memory
memory of facts/edperiences one can consciously know and declare
implicit memory
retention indepdnent of conscious (behaviour or conditioning)
Pscyholinguistics:
ooks at psychology of language
Origins of language:
- 2 million years ago when Homo sapiens diverged
- Broca area already present in early hominoid brain
- humans ‘vocal apparatus adapted to make speech sounds’ [articulatory apparatus]
possible explanations for evolution of language
- evolution by selection= language as side effect to use more complexx manual gestures (like tool)
- arose as byproduct of increase of brain size (choosy)
- Paget: lagnague evolved due to connection of hand and vocal gestures connection or FREED hands from using gestures
what is language for?
- communication as a social activity
- shapes our perception and cognition (Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis)
semantic priming
bread and butter are associatioted
facilitation= priming increases semantic association
(inhibition= priming decreases semantic association)
