PSYCH Chp. 3 Learning & Memory

Question 1

What causes habituation?

Answer 1

repeated exposure to the same stimulus that causes a decrease in response

Question 2

What is dishabuation?

Answer 2

the recovery of a response to a stimulus after habituation has occurred, usually when a different stimulus has been presented. it is temporary and always refers to changes in response to the original stimulus, not a new one.

Question 3

What is associative learning?

Answer 3

the creation of a pairing, or association, either between 2 stimuli or a behavior and a response

Question 4

What is an unconditional stimulus and response?

Answer 4

any stimulus that brings about an instinctual or reflexive response

Question 5

What is an unconditional response?

Answer 5

The innate reflective response to an unconditional stimulus

Question 6

What is a neutral stimulus?

Answer 6

a stimuli that does not produce a reflective response

Question 7

What is a conditioned stimulus?

Answer 7

a neutral stimulus that through association causes a reflective response called a conditioned response

Question 8

What is classical conditioning?

Answer 8

the process of taking advantage of a reflexive, unconditioned stimulus to turn a neutral stimulus into a conditioning stimulus

Question 9

How does spontaneous recovery occur?

Answer 9

if an extinct conditioned stimulus is presented again, a weak conditioned response can sometimes be exhibited

Question 10

What is discrimination?

Answer 10

being able to distinguish between 2 similar stimuli

Question 11

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 11

links voluntary behaviors with consequences in an effort to alter the frequency of those behaviors

Question 12

What is behaviorism?

Answer 12

the theory that all behaviors are conditioned

Question 13

What is reinforcement?

Answer 13

the process of increasing the likelihood that an individual will perform a behavior

Question 14

What is the diff b/w pos and neg reinforcers?

Answer 14

positive reinforcers increase a behavior by adding a positive consequence or incentive following the desired behavior. negative reinforcers increase the frequency of a behavior by removing something unpleasant.

Question 15

What is the diff b/w negative reinforcement and positive punishment?

Answer 15

negative reinforcement is the removal of an unpleasant stimulus to encourage a behavior; positive punishment is the addition of an unpleasant stimulus to reduce a behavior. An example of positive punishment is spanking

Question 16

What is escape and avoidance learning?

Answer 16

the role of escape learning in behavior is to reduce the unpleasantness of something that already exists, whereas avoidance learning is behavior that is meant to prevent the unpleasantness of something that has yet to happen

Question 17

What is negative punishment?

Answer 17

the reduction of a behavior when a stimulus is removed

Question 18

What is the frequency of reward in a fixed-ratio schedule?

Answer 18

reinforces a behavior after a specific number of performances of that behavior

Question 19

What is the frequency of reward in a continuous reinforcement schedule?

Answer 19

a fixed-ratio schedule in which the behavior is rewarded every time it is performed

Question 20

What is the frequency of reward in a variable-ratio schedule?

Answer 20

reinforces a behavior after a varying number of performances of the behavior, but such that the average number of performances to receive a reward is relatively constant

Question 21

What is the frequency of reward in a fixed-interval-ratio schedule?

Answer 21

reinforces the first instance of behavior after the fixed interval has elapsed

Question 22

What is the frequency of reward in a variable-interval schedule?

Answer 22

reinforces a behavior the first time that behavior is performed after a varying interval of time

Question 23

Which of the reward schedules works best?

Answer 23

the variable ratio works best for learning new behavior and is also most resistant to extinction

Question 24

When is operant conditioning most efficient?

Answer 24

it allows for the training of extremely complicated behaviors

Question 25

What is latent learning?

Answer 25

learning that occurs without a reward but is spontaneously demonstrated once a reward is introduced

Question 26

Where are mirror neurons located?

Answer 26

in the frontal and parietal lobes of the cerebral cortex

Question 27

What are the diff b/w maintenance and elaborative rehearsal?

Answer 27

maintenance rehearsal is the repetition of a piece of info to keep it in working memory to prevent forgetting or to store it in short-term memory and eventually long-term memory. elaborative rehearsal is the association of info to other store knowledge and Is a more effective way to move info from short to long-term memory

Question 28

When is observational learning strongest?

Answer 28

when the model’s words are consistent with their actions

Question 29

What is the method of loci?

Answer 29

associating each item on a list with a location along the route through a building already memorized.

Question 30

What is the peg-word system?

Answer 30

associates numbers on an alist with images

Question 31

What is chunking/clustering?

Answer 31

taking individual elements of a large list and grouping them into groups of elements with related meaning

Question 32

Where is short-term memory housed and consolidated into long-term memory?

Answer 32

in the hippocampus

Question 33

Which memory allows us to do math in our head?

Answer 33

working

Question 33

What are the limitations of short-term memory?

Answer 33

limited in duration, limited to a capacity of 7 items (7 +/- 2 rule), and based on neurotransmitter activity

Question 34

Where are long-term memories stored?

Answer 34

in the back of the cerebral cortex

Question 35

What is the diff b/w implicit nondeclarative and explicit declarative memory?

Answer 35

implicit memory consists of skills and conditioned responses. explicit memory consists of memory that requires conscious recall such as facts we know (semantic) and stories (episodic)

Question 36

What are the primacy and recency effects?

Answer 36

the tendency to remember early and late items on a list

Question 37

What causes Alzheimer’s disease?

Answer 37

a loss of acetylcholine in neurons that link to the hippocampus, neurofibrillary tangles, and B-amyloid plaques (incorrect folding of amyloid proteins forming insoluble beta sheets)

Question 38

What is sundowning in middle to late-stage Alzheimer’s?

Answer 38

an increase in dysfunction in the later afternoon and evening

Question 39

What is Korsakoff’s syndrome?

Answer 39

a form of memory loss caused by thiamine deficiency in the brain. it is marked by confabulation, anterograde, and retrograde amenia

Question 40

What is retro and anterograde amenia?

Answer 40

retrograde amnesia - the loss of previously formed memories
anterograde amnesia - the inability to form new memories

Question 41

What is confabulation?

Answer 41

the process of creating vivid but fabricated memories

Question 42

What is agnosia?

Answer 42

memory loss caused by physical damage to the brain such as that caused by a stroke or a neurological disorder such as multiple sclerosis. It is marked by the loss of the ability to recognize objects people, or sound.

Question 43

What is decay?

Answer 43

memory loss causes naturally

Question 44

What is interference?

Answer 44

a retrieval error caused by the existence of other, usually similar, information

Question 45

What is the diff b/w retroactive and proactive interference?

Answer 45

proactive interference is when old information interferes with new learning. retroactive interference is when new info causes forgetting of old information

Question 46

What happens to memory as we age?

Answer 46

prospective memory - remembering to perform a task at some point in the future remains intact when it is event-based. on the other hand, time-based prospective memory such as remembering to take a medication every day at 7a declines with age

Question 47

What is a source-monitoring error?

Answer 47

involves confusion b/w semantic and episodic memory. it often occurs when someone hears a story of something that happened to someone else, and later recalls the story as having happened to him or herself

Question 48

What is the neuroplasticity phenomenon?

Answer 48

the rapid formation of neural connections from response to stimuli. decreases as we age

Question 49

What is synaptic pruning?

Answer 49

the removal of weak neural connections, and strengthening long-term potentiation through increased neurotransmitter release and receptor density, increasing the efficiency of our brain’s ability to process info

Question 50

What is the pathway of memory formation in the brain?

Answer 50

sensory memory in the projection areas of the brain –> short-term memory in the hippocampus in the temporal lobe –> working memory while in the hippocampus in tandem with the frontal and parietal lobes –> stored for later recall –> long-term memory is moved from the hippocampus to the back of the cerebral cortex

Question 51

What is encoding?

Answer 51

the process of putting new information into memory either through semantic, acoustic, or visual encoding

Question 52

Which is stronger, recall or recognition?

Answer 52

recognition of information

Question 53

How are facts stored?

Answer 53

via semantic networks

Question 54

What is generalization?

Answer 54

the process by which similar stimuli can produce the same conditioned response

Question 55

What is semantic encoding?

Answer 55

encoding based on the meaning of the information. it is the strongest method of encoding

Question 56

What are semantic networks?

Answer 56

the associations of similar concepts in the mind to aid in their retrieval