MEMORY + LEARNING Flashcards
3 processes in memory
- Encoding – converting stimuli to a form that can be stored (visual, acoustic or semantic)
- Storage
- Retrieval
“Forgetting” can be due to a failure at any one of these three stages
3 components of working/short term memory
→ Central Executive: ‘attention’
→ Phonological Loop: holds info in speech-based form
→ Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad: holding visual + spatial info
Define retroactive interference
New info interferes with retention of old info in WM (e.g. trying to remember old number, having used your new number for a few months)
Define proactive interference
Old info interferes with recall of new info (e.g. mistakenly giving old phone number instead of new one)
Describe the primacy-recency or serial position effect
→ When presented with lots of info in serial order, we remember more from beginning and end of list, at expense of intermediate items
Term for storage into long term memory
Consolidation
Cellular foundation for memory
Long term potentiation: strengthening of synapses
Factors affecting memory retrieval - 3 listed
- Levels of processing → the more something is elaborated at time of encoding, the easier it will be to retrieve
- Organisation → of concepts in memory (associations between concepts stored in LTM may facilitate recall)
- Context → being in same place/emotional state as the time of encoding facilitates recall
Procedural vs declarative knowledge
Procedural knowledge
→ Memory for how to do things/skills
→ Often in absence of conscious recollection
e.g. How do you tie your shoelaces?
Declarative knowledge:
→ Memory for facts
→ Encompasses semantic and episodic memories
e.g. your birthday, capital of France
Semantic vs episodic memory
Both forms of Declarative Memory
→ Semantic memory: facts, ideas
→ Episodic memory: events, situations - centered around you
Main causes of forgetting
→ Passage of time: Rapid decay of info from WM. Cell death leads to loss of LTM (can be accelerated e.g. dementia)
→ Interference: to storage in WM e.g. pro-/retroactive. Connections are remolded over time in LTM, influenced by pro- and retroactive interference of info
Amnesia can be brought about by what? 5 causes listed
→ Damage → Chronic alcohol abuse → Disease → Reversible brain disease: tumours, hydrocephalus, subdural haematoma, deficiencies in B1, B6, B12, endocrine disease, syphilis → Psychogenic Memory Loss: Abuse, war
Anterograde vs retrograde amnesia
Inability to store new information vs
Retrograde amnesia → Inability to recall information prior to trauma
Factors affecting memory of information
→ Higher IQ
→ Higher anxiety levels: Leads to improved memory, but reduces capacity to solve problems
→ Age?
→ Info at start or at the end of consultation (primacy / recency effect)
→ Statements perceived to be self relevant
→ When total amount of info provided is less
→ When short words and sentences are used
→ When material is organised e.g. into categories
→ When material is repeated
→ Recalling info immediately after it has been stored has been shown to lead to good LTM retention
Describe classical conditioning
‘Neutral’ stimulus (e.g. sound) comes to elicit a ‘conditioned response’ (e.g. salivation) through being paired with an ‘unconditioned stimulus’ (e.g. food). Previously neutral stimulus becomes a ‘conditioned stimulus’
5 stages of learning (conditioning)
- Acquisition
- Reinforcement: play sound with food
- Extinction: stop presenting food with sound = stops learning
- Spontaneous recovery: playing e.g. year later
- Generalisation: transmits to something or someone else
What is operant conditioning?
Learning by consequences. Both reward/reinforcement and punishment can be used (N.B. don’t confuse punishment with removal of noxious stimulus)
What are the two types of reinforcers - give example of each
Primary reinforcers → Linked to survival and biological needs – e.g. food, water
Secondary reinforcers → Items that are reinforcing due to their association with other reinforcers e.g. money
→ These are learnt
Behaviour that is followed by what is very likely to be repeated?
Reinforcer
Avoidance Learning example
Dogs were held in escapable cages and jumped out when they heard a beep, because they had learned that this noise preceded an electric shock
Learned Helplessness example
Dogs were held in inescapable cages and exposed to shocks. Dogs were then moved to escapable cages, but did not try to avoid shocks they received
Define intelligence
Hypothetical mental ability that enables people to direct their thinking, adapt to circumstances and learn from experiences
Describe Howard Gardner’s modern theory of intelligence (1983)
Multiple intelligences - potentials rather than general underlying intelligence → Linguistic → Musical → Logical / mathematical → Spatial → Bodily- kinesthetic → Intrapersonal → Interpersonal
Describe intelligence tests
Valid & reliable psychological tests
→ correlate with performance on other tasks
→ stable over time
Consistency between tests infers an underlying level of general intelligence - g factor
Describe Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
Index of intelligence derived from scoring intelligence tests. Calculated using percentile rankings, which are projected on to a normal distribution curve
Common intelligence tests
Wechsler scales Raven’s Progressive Matrices Cattell’s Culture Fair IQ Test National Adult Reading Test (NART) Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) Dementia Rating Scale Bayley Scales of Infant & Toddler Development
Which intelligence test is useful for predicting prior intelligence of people after they have developed dementia?
National Adult Reading Test (NART)
Clinical uses of IQ tests
Extent of learning disability
Specific difficulties
Assessing impairment in trauma + disease processes
Assessing genetic or developmental disorders
Proportion of people with learning disability in the UK
Around 1 in 50 people
Extraneous influences on IQ tests - 6 listed
Familiarity with particular concepts and materials used
Motivation to do well
Distraction
Way the test is administered
Sensory problems
Cultural issues - language, difference in world view
Internal influences on IQ test - 3 listed
Emotional state: anxiety, depression, bereavement
Physical illness
Mental illness: psychosis, schizophrenia
Gender differences in IQ test
Designed to reduce sex differences
Males better at performance tasks, females better at verbal tasks
Greater variation in males scores - more spread out - more males at extreme ends. Females scores tend to cluster around mean
In the Scottish mental survey of 1932, lower IQ scores at age 11 were corrolated with what?
Mortality – shorter lifespan
More likely to develop lung cancer
More likely to experience psychiatric illness and/or dementia
Environmental influences on IQ - 7 listed
Socioeconomic factors
Education
Exposure to intellectually stimulating environment in childhood
Childhood nutrition
Exposure to environmental toxins (lead, mercury)
Exposure to certain drugs in utero (alcohol, cocaine)
Neurological injury/disease (zika virus, cytomegalovirus)
What is the Flynn effect?
IQ rises approximately 9 points each generation
