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MCAT-PSYCHOLOGY > Learning, Memory, and Behaviour > Flashcards

Learning, Memory, and Behaviour Flashcards

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1
Q

Nonassociative learning

A

occurs when an organism is repeatedly exposed to one type of stimulus, occurs in the absence of forming associations with specific stimuli, two types are habituation and sensitization

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2
Q

habit

A

an action that is performed repeatedly until it becomes automatic

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3
Q

habituation

A

the process of forming a habit

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4
Q

dishabituation

A

occurs when the previously habituated stimulus is removed

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5
Q

sensitization

A

increase in responsiveness due to either a repeated application of a stimulus or a particularly aversive or noxious stimulus

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6
Q

desensitization

A

occurs when a stimulus that previously evoked an exaggerated response (something that we were sensitized to) no longer evokes an exaggerated response

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7
Q

associative learning

A

a process of learning in which one event, object, or action is directly connected with one another

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8
Q

classical (respondent) conditioning

A

a process in which two stimuli are paired in such a way that the response to one of the stimuli changes

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9
Q

what are the components of classical conditioning?

A

neutral stimulus, unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, conditioned response

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10
Q

acquisition

A

the process of learning the conditioned response

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11
Q

extinction

A

occurs when the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli are no longer paired, so the conditioned response eventually stops occurring

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12
Q

spontaneous recovery

A

when an extinct conditioned response occurs again when the conditioned stimulus is presented after some period of time

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13
Q

generalization

A

the process by which stimuli other than the original conditioned stimulus elicit the conditioned response

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14
Q

discrimination

A

the opposite of generalization, and occurs when the conditioned stimulus is differentiated from other stimuli

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15
Q

what are the two types of associative learning?

A

operant/instrumental conditioning, classical/respondent conditioning

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16
Q

operant/instrumental conditioning

A

uses reinforcement (pleasurable consequences) and punishment (unpleasant consequences) to mold behaviour, associate with B.F. Skinner

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17
Q

reinforcement

A

anything that will increase the likelihood that a preceding behaviour will be repeated, can be positive or negative

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18
Q

positive reinforcement

A

some sort of desirable stimulus that occurs immediately following a behaviour

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19
Q

negative reinforcement

A

some sort of undesirable stimulus that is removed immediately following a behaviour

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20
Q

what brain structure is particularly important for negative conditioning?

A

amygdala

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21
Q

what brain structure is particularly important for positive conditioning?

A

hippocampus

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22
Q

primary (unconditioned) reinforcers

A

innately satisfying or desirable, generally integral to our survival

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23
Q

secondary (conditioned) reinforcers

A

learned to be reinforcers, neutral stimuli that are paired with primary reinforcers to make them conditioned

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24
Q

what does operant conditioning rely on?

A

a reinforcement schedule which can be continuous or intermittent

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25
Q

continuous reinforcement will result in:

A

rapid behaviour acquisition but also rapid extinction when reinforcement ceases

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26
Q

intermittent reinforcement will result in:

A

slower acquisition, but greater persistence or resistance to extinction over time

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27
Q

what are four times of intermittent reinforcement schedules?

A

fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, variable-interval

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28
Q

behaviour pattern of continuous reinforcement

A

SLOW response rate, FAST extinction rate, BEST WAY TO TEACH NEW BEHAVIOUR, but has the fastest rate of extinction

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29
Q

behaviour pattern of fixed ratio schedule

A

FAST response rate, MEDIUM extinction rate, post-reinforcement pause may be an analogue to procrastination

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30
Q

behaviour pattern of fixed interval schedule

A

MEDIUM response rate, MEDIUM extinction rate, long pause in responding following reinforcement, followed by accelerating rate

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31
Q

behaviour pattern of variable ratio schedule

A

FAST response rate, SLOW extinction rate, SLOWEST RATE OF EXTINCTION (behaviour persists longest despite lack of reinforcer)

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32
Q

behaviour pattern of variable interval schedule

A

FAST response rate, SLOW extinction rate, tends to produce a low to moderate steady state of responding

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33
Q

punishment

A

the process by which a behaviour is followed by a consequence that decreases the likelihood that the behaviour will be repeated, can be positive or negative

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34
Q

positive punishment

A

involves the application, or pairing, of an undesirable stimulus with the behaviour

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35
Q

negative punishment

A

involves the removal of a desirable stimulus after the behaviour has occurred

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36
Q

escape

A

an individual learns how to get away from an aversive stimulus by engaging in a particular behaviour

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37
Q

avoidance

A

occurs when a person performs a behaviour to ensure an aversive stimulus is not presented

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38
Q

behaviorism

A

all psychological phenomena are explained by describing the observable antecedents of behaviours and its consequences, most strongly associated with Skinner

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39
Q

cognitive psychology

A

focus on the brain; cognitions (thoughts) and their effects on how people navigate the world, do not see learning as simply due to stimulus pairing and reinforcement (there is thought involved in learning), supported by insight and latent learning

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40
Q

insight learning

A

describes when previously learned behaviours are suddenly combined in unique ways

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41
Q

latent learning

A

previously unseen behaviour can manifest quickly when required

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42
Q

what is the main difference between classical and operant conditioning

A

classical conditioning results in an involuntary/automatic response, operant conditioning results in a voluntary response

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43
Q

short-term memory

A

lasts for seconds to hours, can potentially be converted into long-term memory by consolidation

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44
Q

long-term potentiation

A

following brief periods of stimulation, an increase in the synaptic strength between two neurons leads to stronger electrochemical responses to a given stimuli, involves both pre- and post- synaptic neurons

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45
Q

observational/social/vicarious learning

A

learning through watching or imitating others

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46
Q

modeling

A

one of the most basic mechanisms of observational learning, an observer sees the behaviour being performed by another person and later imitates the behaviour observed ex. Albert Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment

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47
Q

mirror neurons

A

present in various parts of the human brain (premotor cortex, supplementary motor area, primary somatosensory cortex, inferior parietal cortex), fire when performing task or observing another performing the task, may be responsible for learning by imitation and vicarious emotions (empathy)

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48
Q

persuasion

A

one method of attitude and behaviour change, a means of influencing what people think and do

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49
Q

elaboration likelihood model

A

explains when people will be influenced by the content of the speech vs. when they will be influenced by more superficial characteristics such as appearance of orator or length of speech

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50
Q

what are the 3 key elements of the persuasiveness of a message?

A

1) message characteristics - includes logic of argument as well as the superficial length of speech and grammatical complexity
2) source characteristics
3) target characteristics of the person receiving the message

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51
Q

what are the two cognitive routes that persuasion follows under the elaboration likelihood model?

A

central route = people are persuaded by the content of the argument, longer-lasting persuasive outcomes, occurs when people are both interested and motivated to listen and focus on logic of argument
peripheral route - people focus on superficial or secondary characteristics of the speech or the orator

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52
Q

social cognitive theory

A

a theory of behaviour that emphasizes the interactions between people and their environment, behaviour (environment influences us) and cognition (how we process our environment) is important in determining behaviour, focus on how we interpret and respond to external events and how our past experiences/memories/expectations as well as social factors influence our behaviours

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53
Q

reciprocal determinism

A

the interaction between a person’s behaviour (conscious actions), personal factors (individual motivational forces or cognitions) and environment (situational factors), people both shape and are shaped by the environment

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54
Q

what are the 3 different examples of reciprocal determinism?

A

1) people choose their environments which in turn shapes them
2) personality shapes how people interpret and respond to their environment
3) a person’s personality influences the situation to which they then react

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55
Q

behavioural genetics

A

determines the role of inheritance in behaviour traits; the interaction between heredity and experience to determine an individual’s personality and social behaviour

56
Q

transgenesis

A

the introduction of an exogenous or outside gene or knockout genes to alter genotype while controlling for environment

57
Q

Francis Galton’s theory of intelligence

A

first proposed a theory of general intelligence in the mid 1800s, believed intelligence had a strong biological basis and could be quantified by testing certain cognitive tasks

58
Q

Alfred Binet (1900)

A

created the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test

59
Q

Charles Spearman (1900)

A

first coined the term general intelligence (g), believed that intelligence can be strictly quantified through cognitive tests

60
Q

Raymond Cattell (1950)

A

proposed two types of intelligence: fluid intelligence (Gf) “ability to think on your feet” and crystallized intelligence (Gc) “ability to recall and apply already-learned information”

61
Q

Howard Gardner (1980)

A

theory of multiple intelligences (8 different modalities: logical, linguistic, spatial, musical, kinesthetic, naturalist, intrapersonal, interpersonal)

62
Q

Edward Thordike (1920)

A

first proposed the idea of social intelligence

63
Q

developmental psychology

A

the study of how humans develop physically, cognitively, and socially, throughout their lifetime

64
Q

reflexes in newborns, originate in the CNS and are automatic behaviours:

A

moro (startle), rooting, sucking, Babinski, Tonic, Palmar grasp, Walking/stepping

65
Q

what is the outline of motor development throughout a lifetime

A

reflexive movement, rudimentary movement, fundamental movement, specialized movement, application of movement

66
Q

reflexive movements

A

primitive, involuntary movements that serve to “prime” the neuromuscular system and form the basis for more sophisticated movements to come

67
Q

rudimentary movements

A

birth-2, the first voluntary movement performed by a child, “pre-programmed” by genetics

68
Q

fundamental movement

A

2-7, learning to manipulate his or her body through actions such as running, jumping, throwing, catching, highly influenced by environment

69
Q

specialized movement

A

7-14 learns to combine fundamental movements and apply them to specific tasks, can be broken down into transitional substage (combination of movements occur) and application substage (conscious decisions to apply these skills to specific types of activity)

70
Q

lifelong application stage

A

14+, movements are continually refined and applied to normal daily activities as well as recreational and competitive activities

71
Q

neural networks

A

codified routes for information processing (the types that are generated in response to learning and experience throughout a lifetime)

72
Q

maturation

A

the sequence of biological growth processes in human development, largely genetic but still influenced by environment

73
Q

infantile amnesia

A

inability to remember much before 3.5 years old

74
Q

stranger anxiety

A

from 8-12 months of age, infants have developed schemas for familiar faces in this time, and when new faces do not fit an already developed schema, the infant becomes distressed. demonstrates importance of infant-parent attachment bonds as a survival impulse. peaks at 13 months and then declines

75
Q

Harlow experiments on social development in monkeys

A

infant monkeys were separated from mothers at birth, attached to blanket, demonstrated attachment was not a result of need for nourishment, rather there was a psychological/social element to infant/mother bonding

76
Q

Ainsworth’s strange situation experiments

A

mothers leave infants in an unfamiliar environment, securely attached infants will become distressed if mother leaves but will play and explore if mother is present, insecurely attached infants will be unlikely to explore if mother is present and become terrified if mother is not present

77
Q

what are the three types of parenting styles?

A

1) authoritarian-involves attempting to control children with strict rules that are expected to be followed unconditionally
2) permissive - few rules and demands, very responsive and loving but rather lenient
3) authoritative - listen to their children, encourage independence, place limits on behaviour and consistently follow through with consequences when behaviour is not met

78
Q

adolescence

A

the transitional stage between childhood and adulthood

79
Q

what are three major changes in the brain during adolescence?

A

cell proliferation in certain areas (prefrontal lobes and limbic system), synaptic pruning (of unused or unnecessary connections) and myelination (which strengthens connections between various regions)

80
Q

encoding

A

the process of transferring sensory information into our memory system

81
Q

serial position effect

A

occurs when someone attempts to memorize a series, the individual is more likely to recall the first (primacy effect) and last items (recency effect) on the list

82
Q

mnemonic

A

any technique for improving retention and retrieval of information from memory

83
Q

rehearsal

A

a simple process that aids memory through the use of the phonological loop

84
Q

chunking

A

a strategy in which information to be remembered is organized into discrete groups of data

85
Q

depth of processing

A

suggested to be important for encoding memories; where information thought about at a deeper level is better remembered

86
Q

dual coding hypothesis

A

indicates that it is easier to remember words with associated images than either words or images alone

87
Q

method of loci

A

an aid for memory, involves imagining moving through a familiar place and leaving a visual representation o a topic to be remembered

88
Q

self-reference effect

A

it is easier to remember things that are personally relevant

89
Q

sensory memory

A

the initial recording of sensory information in the memory system, a very brief snapshot that quickly decays

90
Q

what are the two types of sensory memory?

A

iconic memory and echoic memory

91
Q

iconic memory

A

brief photographic memory for visual information, which decays in a few tenths of a second

92
Q

echoic memory

A

memory for sound, which lasts about 3-4 seconds

93
Q

short-term memory

A

limited in duration and in capacity (7 plus or minus 2 items), retained for about 20 seconds or processed so that it can be transferred into long-term memory

94
Q

long-term memory

A

information that is retained sometimes indefinitely; it is believed to have an infinite capacity

95
Q

what is the distinction between short-term and working memory

A

short-term memory is correlated with hippocampus, working memory is correlated with prefrontal cortex

96
Q

implicit/procedural memory

A

refers to conditioned associated and knowledge of how to do something , memory without conscious recall

97
Q

explicit/declarative memory

A

involves being able to “declare” or voice what is known, can be subdivided into semantic and episodic memory, memory with conscious recall

98
Q

semantic memory

A

a type of explicit memory; memory for factual information

99
Q

episodic memory

A

a type of explicit memory; autobiographical memory for information of personal importance

100
Q

it is believed that long-term memory is stored in a network where individual ideas exist as:

A

nodes which are connected by associations of varying strength (strength is related to how frequently and deeply this connection is made)-processing material in different ways leads to establishment of multiple connections

101
Q

response threshold

A

a threshold that all input signals must reach before a node becomes activated, respond threshold is reached by summation of input signals from multiple nodes

102
Q

spreading activation

A

the activation of a few nodes that leads to a pattern of activation within the network that spreads outwards

103
Q

recall

A

the ability to retrieve information

104
Q

free recall

A

retrieving the item without cues or clues

105
Q

cued recall

A

involves retrieving the information when provided with a cue

106
Q

recognition

A

involves identifying specific information from a set of information that is presented

107
Q

relearning

A

involves the process of learning material that was originally learned

108
Q

priming

A

prior activation of these nodes and associations, hints may activate a closely related node

109
Q

what retrieval cues are most effective?

A

contextual cues that had associations formed at the time that the memory was encoding

110
Q

mood-dependent memory

A

a phenomenon in which what we learn in one state is most easily recalled when we are once again in that emotional state

111
Q

prospective memory

A

a type of recall where one remembers to do things in the future, stronger when there are cues in the environment

112
Q

role of hippocampus in memory

A

plays a role in the encoding of new explicit memories

113
Q

cerebellum role in memory

A

encoding implicit memories

114
Q

role of amygdala in memory

A

helping to tie emotion to memories

115
Q

anterograde amnesia

A

an inability to encode new memories

116
Q

retrograde amnesia

A

an inability to recall information that was previously encoded

117
Q

memory decay results in:

A

a failure to retain stored information

118
Q

retention interval

A

the time since the information was learned

119
Q

describe the forgetting curve

A

the longer the retention interval, the more information will be forgotten, with the most forgetting occurring rapidly in the first few days before levelling off

120
Q

what is the result of interference

A

failure to retrieve information that is in storage

121
Q

proactive interference

A

happens when information previously learned interferes with the ability to recall information learned later

122
Q

retroactive interference

A

when newly learned information interferes with the recall of information learned previously

123
Q

positive transfer

A

when old information facilitates the learning of new information

124
Q

schema

A

a mental blueprint containing common aspects of some part of the world

125
Q

misinformation effect

A

a tendency to misremember when exposed to subtle misinformation

126
Q

false memories

A

inaccurate recollections of an event, may be the result of implanting of ideas or repeatedly imagining that one did something

127
Q

error in source monitoring

A

when people forget the source of information when recalling information

128
Q

neural plasticity

A

refers to the malleability of the brain’s pathways and synapses based on behaviour, the environment, and neural processes

129
Q

neurogenesis

A

the birth of new neurons, has been found to occur in a small extent in the hippocampus and cerebellum

130
Q

schachter-singer theory of emotion

A

describes an event followed by a physiological response which is interpreted as emotion and perceived

131
Q

cannon-bard theory of emotion

A

describes an event which elicits simultaneous physiological response and perception of emotion

132
Q

james-lange theory of emotion

A

describes an event which elicits physiological response, interpretation of physiological response determines perception of emotion

133
Q

lazarus theory

A

interpretation happens before the simultaneous perception of emotion and physiological arousal

134
Q

extinction burst

A

original behaviour spikes dramatically

135
Q

preparedness

A

how predisposed a species is to learn a behaviour (i.e. birds naturally peck when looking for food, so rewarding them with food when they peck is natural for them, they were “prepared already”)

136
Q

instinctive drift

A

opposite of preparedness, difficulty in overcoming instinctual behaviours which goes against the response being encouraged

137
Q

social learning theory

A

analogous to observational earning and social cognitive theory, it is a type of learning theory that states that people will learn within a social context, and it emphasizes the importance of observing and modeling

MCAT-PSYCHOLOGY (11 decks)

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