Module 5: Learning, Memory, and Cognition

Question 1

what is learning?

Answer 1

learning is the modification of behaviour through experience

Question 2

what are the 2 main modes of learning?

Answer 2

habituation and sensitization

Question 3

how do habituation and sensitization work?

Answer 3

they change the strength of an existing behaviour without changing any already existing behavior to the organism

Question 4

True or False
Through habituation and sensitization, new behaviours emerge and some are lost from the organism’s repertoire.

Answer 4

False. No behaviours appear nor disappear

Question 5

who studies neurology of learing? and on which animal?

Answer 5

Erik Kandel. He used sea slugs (aplysia californica)

Question 6

in terms of neurons, how different are aplysias and humans?

Answer 6

aplysia has 20,000 neurons, which is small neuronal system compared to humans who have 100 billion neurons

Question 7

what did eric kandel study on aplysia?

Answer 7

gill withdrawal effect

Question 8

what is the gill withdrawal effect?

Answer 8

it’s when the aplysia is disturbed, it retracts both its siphon and its gills closer to its body for protection

Question 9

what are the 2 important anatomical features of aplysia? indicate the function of each.

Answer 9

the gill for breathing and the siphon to expell waste.

Question 10

what did Kendel want to prove?

Answer 10

that the gill withdrawal effect can be modified through experience.

Question 11

how was the strength of the reflex measured?

Answer 11

calculating the difference of the gill’s extension at rest and when a jet of water is applied (disturbance)

Question 12

through habituation, what happened to the reflex?

Answer 12

through habituation, with each et of water application, the reflex became weaker.
habituation = weakening the reflex after repeated exposure.

Question 13

what does sensitization do to a reflex?

Answer 13

sensitization = the reflex to the same stimulus is strengthened.

Question 14

what did Kendel do to show sensitization?

Answer 14

apply jet of water on the siphon -> measure the strength of reflex.
then we apply another stimulus, electric shocks, to the tail. Electric shocks are stronger than water jet, the gill withdrawal response is stronger.
then we apply a water jet again to the siphon, the response is stronger than that of the first water application, and almost as strong as the response to the electric shock

Question 15

what can we say about these modes of learning?

Answer 15

they are adaptive ways of prioritizing different behaviours.

Question 16

what does habituation show?

Answer 16

responding unnecessarily to the same repetitive stimulus is energy-demanding, and that stimulus is learned to be ignored and deemed unimportant.

a part of the env. is annoying but not threatening -> ignored. Habituation shows that unimportant stimuli can be ignored.

Question 17

what does sensitization show?

Answer 17

it shows that something becomes more important and worth being recognized. we learn to become more vigilant about things in the environment.

If i don’t know whether it’s threatening or not -> better safe than sorry principle.Strong response.

Question 18

what are complex behaviors by definition?

Answer 18

they are the product of a network of associations between simpler concepts

Question 19

what are the 2 ways through which associations are formed?

Answer 19

classical conditioning and operant conditioning

Question 20

who discovered classical conditioning?

Answer 20

Ivan Pavlov (by accident)

Question 21

briefly describe how classical conditioning works.

Answer 21

we have a stimulus that produces a response, naturally, without being taught. Then, we pair the same stimulus with another neutral stimulus (which normally doesn’t elicit any response) to elicit the same response. then, the new stimulus alone will elicit that response.

Question 22

how many elements are there in classical conditioning, and what are they?

Answer 22

4 elements.
1) the unconditioned stimulus (food)
2) the unconditioned response (salivation to food)
3) the conditioned stimulus (metronome)
4) the conditioned response (salivation to metronome)

Question 23

explain what conditioned and unconditioned mean.

Answer 23

conditioned = needs to be learned. Not natural/automatic
unconditioned = natural. happens automatically without having to be learned.

Question 24

how does classical conditioning work?

Answer 24

we form associations between the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus.
presentation of the CS will activate information about the UCS and will elicit a response (CR)

Question 25

what is higher-order conditioning?

Answer 25

it’s when we associate more than 2 stimuli together.
we take the originals conditioned stimulus and pair with a new conditioned stimulus to elicit the reponse.

Question 26

qualify the power of higher-order conditioning.

Answer 26

it is not unlimited. with every new conditioned stimulus, the response is weaker.

Question 27

what does classical conditioning show?

Answer 27

it shows that feelings, thoughts and behaviours that are unrelated to the stimulus can be, nonetheless, evoked.

Question 28

what law is operant conditioning based on?

Answer 28

Thorndike’s law of effect

Question 29

what was Thorndike’s law of effect?

Answer 29

when behaviour is carried out, if the consequences are (+), the behaviour is repeated. if the consequences are (-), it is not repeated.

Question 30

what 2 elements is operant conditioning dependent on?

Answer 30

1) the behaviour of the organism
2) the consequences of those behaviours

Question 31

who experimented on operant conditioning?

Answer 31

BF Skinner with the operant chamber and the skinner box with rats

Question 32

what is the difference between punishment and reinforcement?

Answer 32

punishment is a consequence that will decrease the probability of repeating a behaviour.
Reinforcement increases the probability of repeating a behaviour.

Question 33

what are the 4 types of outcomes? explain each one

Answer 33

1) Positive reinforcement.
adding something pleasant

2) negative reinforcement
removing something unpleasant

3)Positive punishmen
adding something unpleasant

4)Negative punishment
removing something pleasant

Question 34

how are changes in behavior driven?

Answer 34

by reinforcement and punishment (positive = addition or negative = removal)

Question 35

In operant conditioning, what are the 2 types of reinforcements? and what do they relate to?

Answer 35

the reinforcement types are based on how consistent they are being administered.
partial reinforcement and continuous reinforcement

Question 36

elaborate on partial reinforcement and continuous reinforcement.

Answer 36

continuous reinforcement: every instance of the behaviour is being reinforced.

partial reinforcement: only a few instances of the behaviour are being reinforced.

Question 37

what do we call the consistency of reinforcement?

Answer 37

reinforcement schedule.

Question 38

which type of reinforcemnt makes for more robust and better learning?

Answer 38

partial reinforcemen

Question 39

what are the 2 types of partial reinforcement?

Answer 39

time based and response based

Question 40

what do we call the time based reinforcement schedule?

Answer 40

interval schedules

Question 41

what are the 2 types of interval scheudles?

Answer 41

fixed and variable interval schedule

Question 42

explain how the interval schedule works

Answer 42

we set a time interval, for example, 1 minute interval.

Question 43

for interval schedules, does it matter how many times the behavior occurred within the interval?

Answer 43

no. It’s a yes or no question. as long as it occurred, regardless of how many times, it’s reinforced.

Question 44

what is ratio schedule?

Answer 44

we split the observation periods into “numbers of behaviour”. So, for example if the ratio is 3:1, for every behavior repeated 3 times, at the 3 time, I offer reinforcement. REGARDLESS of how much time passes between each repetition.

Question 45

for both interval and ratio schedules, there is a “fixed” type and a “variable” type of schedule. Explain the difference between them.

Answer 45

fixed: the ratio (response based) and the time interval (time based) is fixed, held constant.

variable: the ratio changes each time and the time interval is not the same for each interval.

Question 46

what is one negative aspect of fixed schedules?

Answer 46

they are predictable.
the ratio is constant and the intervals are of same duration always.

Question 47

which type of reinforcement produces better learning?

Answer 47

variable reinforcement produces more steady responding.

Question 48

what kind of learning do fixed schedules produce?

Answer 48

scalloped “stop start patterns” because everything can be predicted.

Question 49

when is the rate of responding constant and why?

Answer 49

in variable schedules.
because the reinforcement’s occurrence is unpredictable.
the person will not want to miss a chance of getting the reinforcement, and so responding is better (no pauses)

Question 50

in the fixed ratio schedule, why is it not a straight line?

Answer 50

because the rate of responding is steady until the reinforcement is received, then here’s a pause until the reinforcement is wanted again.
Its available on demand.

Question 51

in fixed interval schedule, contrarily to fixed RATIO schedule, it’s not a “stop start” pattern with a pause. why?

Answer 51

the rate of responding is not steady. there isn’t a required number of repetition required, when the interval is near its end, the behavior will be done right before it ends just to get the reinforcement.

Question 52

set the reinforcement schedules from fastest to slowest.

Answer 52

variable ratio, fixed ratio, variable interval, fixed interval

Question 53

what are the 3 memory stores?

Answer 53

sensory, short-term and long-term memory.

Question 54

what are the 2 processes of memory formation?

Answer 54

encoding and retrieval.

Question 55

what is memory?

Answer 55

the retention of information over time
it’s made up of interacting component systems

Question 56

how are the modailities set in the sensory memory store?

Answer 56

each sense, each modality has a different unique store.
when watching a video, visual input and auditory input stored in 2 different stores.

Question 57

when do all the modalities get integrated together?

Answer 57

in the short-term memory store.

Question 58

is all the info transferred from sensory memory to short-term memory?

Answer 58

no. A lot of the info we are subject to is forgotten.

Question 59

the two most studied modalities are…..

Answer 59

visual (the Iconic memory) and auditory (echoic memory)

Question 60

what is the capacity and the duration of iconic memory?

Answer 60

12 items can be held at once in iconic memory. They stay there for less than a second before being forgotten.
time is important to transfer info from iconic memory to short-term memory.

Question 61

what is the capacity and the duration of echoic memory?

Answer 61

capacity = 5 items retained AT ONCE.
info last longer than in iconic memory = 5 - 10 seconds.