Learning Theory & Behavior Therapy 5

Question 1

What are schemas/schemata and how do they effect memory?

Answer 1

Cognitive structures or frameworks influencing how we perceive; mental models of the world. Memory tends to be biased to conform with our schemata.

Question 2

What is eidetic memory?

Answer 2

The ability to retain a mental picture of something even after it is removed. More common in children than adults. A.k.a., photographic memory.

Question 3

What is the encoding specificity hypothesis?

Answer 3

The closer the relationship between encoding, storage, and retrieval of memory, the better the recall. A.k.a., encoding-retrieval interaction, transfer-appropriate processing, and state-dependent memory.

Question 4

What are context dependence and state dependence?

Answer 4

Part of the encoding specificity hypothesis. Context dependence refers to memory recall being aided by similarity of learning and retrieval environments. State dependence refers to memory recall being aided by similarity of emotional state. Similarity in physical state (influence of drugs) and sensory modality (learned verbally, recalled verbally) also affect recall.

Question 5

What is overlearning?

Answer 5

Practice of material to be remembered beyond the point of mastery. Best for simple tasks that have little inherent meaning, e.g., multiplication tables.

Question 6

Name two theories of forgetting.

Answer 6

Decay, suggesting that memories fade with disuse; useful for short-term memory, but not popular otherwise. Interference, suggesting that competing experiences produce memory loss; two types, retroactive and proactive.

Question 7

What is retroactive interference in memory?

Answer 7

A new experience interferes with recall of an earlier one.

Question 8

What is proactive interference?

Answer 8

Previous learning interferes with new learning.

Question 9

What is memory repression?

Answer 9

A dynamic and unconscious process in which recall of an experience, esp. a trauma, is inhibited due to its inherent pain. Evidence that this can occur in some victims of sexual abuse was found by Loftus and colleagues (1994).

Question 10

What are false memories?

Answer 10

Incorrect memory constructs of actual memories with externally sourced suggestions.

Question 11

What is the misinformation effect?

Answer 11

Incorporation of incorrect or inaccurate information received after an event into memory of that event. Susceptibility to misinformation is inversely related to one’s ability to notice descrepancies.

Question 12

What influences susceptibility to misinformation?

Answer 12

Susceptibility to misinformation increases as passage of time and length of retention increase. Young children and the elderly tend to be more susceptible to misinformation. Misinformation given close to testing tends to be more misleading than misinformation given close to the event. Awareness that post-information may be incorrect can reduce susceptibility by increasing vigilance for discrepancies.

Question 13

Define attention.

Answer 13

Cognitive process by which one selects environmental information or actively processes information from internal sources.

Question 14

What is selective attention?

Answer 14

Ability to focus on one event while filtering out irrelevant events.

Question 15

What is the cocktail party phenomenon?

Answer 15

A characteristic of selective attention in which hearing your name will still get your attention, even while focusing on a conversation.

Question 16

What is sustained attention?

Answer 16

Ability to direct and focus cognitive activity on specific stimuli over an extended period.

Question 17

What is divided attention?

Answer 17

Ability to focus on more than one event simultaneously.

Question 18

What is change blindness?

Answer 18

Difficulty in perceiving major changes to unattended-to aspect of something when they are introduced during brief interruptions in presentation of the thing in question.

Question 19

What is exogenous attention?

Answer 19

Attraction of attention by an external stimulus by properties of that stimulus, e.g., sudden appearance. A bottom-up process, not under conscious control.

Question 20

What is endogenous attention?

Answer 20

Attentional effort on the part of the individual attending. A top-down process, consciously directed.

Question 21

What is feature integration theory?

Answer 21

The process by which a thing is perceived as a whole, rather than its features (like color, shape, etc.). Features are processed rapidly and in parallel in a way that does not require focused attention. The object, however, entails serial processing and integration of its features.

Question 22

Define automaticity.

Answer 22

Ability to chunk or move data between working and long-term memory rapidly and efficiently enough to require no attention. Developed through overlearning.

Question 23

What are some advantages of automaticity?

Answer 23

Long-term retention of associated skills, robust performance under stress, low effort of performance.

Question 24

What are some of the limitations of automaticity?

Answer 24

Extended time for acquisition, little memory modification or new learning, difficulty of conscious control, difficulty of conscious analysis/understanding/explanation, difficulty of modification/suppression.

Question 25

At what age does metacognition become possible?

Answer 25

Early adolescence, conjunct with Piaget’s formal operation stage.