Lecture 1 - Intro Flashcards
learning - a broad definition
A CHANGE in mental (brain) states that is associated with some environmental or cognitive event (external or internal).
− Creating memories (implicit - behavior will change but you’re not aware of how or even that it’s changed at all - or explicit), behavioral tendencies, and external associations.
what situations do these definitions of learning, memory, attention fit and when do they seem
a little off?
where do we need to separate different types of learning, memory, or attention?
Memory: a broad definition
a store house? not inclusive enough
The total effects of your life experiences.
− Skills, facts, episodes… everything learned: that change how you behave and remember things
Attention
conduit bringing together learning and memory
The capacity for managing (manipulating) our limited cognitive resources, so that we use (and learn) what is most relevant.
• Concentrating, enhancing, selecting…
competing information
interfere with short term memory
especially if it’s of a similar nature
memory/learning techniques
- repetition
- ignoring competing info
- talking out loud, singing
- elaborating: adding something that you generate to make that item more special: visual, make it meaningful to you, or imagine something
- good night’s sleep
General tips for learning in all classes
- When studying… only study!
- Use chapter and lecture outlines. Make your own as well. = Schema where everything has a place and you can make your own narrative
- Be an active learner and elaborate.
- Distribute your study time (don’t plan to cram).
- Study in the way you will be tested. Test yourself often.
- Understand how specific examples express abstract principles.
- Limit the all-nighters. Sleep consolidation is critical to memory.
illusion of familiarity
as you’re reading through something you are familiar with it but when you have to produce it yourself you can’t do it
What is common to all three topics?
- Each is a dynamic process.
- They all have resource limitations (the brain is is not infinite - hard limits at the physical, neurological level).
- There is great variability between (and within) individuals.
- Each can be affected by experience/training.
- Each has some element of executive control.
- It is hard to study one without the others.
Examine competing models that explain and make predictions about these activities.
how many diff types of learning or memory?
do we have theories or models for them all or do we need to break them down?
Review some of the failures modes and diseases affecting these abilities.
what goes wrong
Occasionally discuss these abilities at a physiological level.
Marr’s level of analysis
Memory can….
change every time you retrieve those memories and you retrieve memories in different ways in different situations
based on attentional states
