Psych U3 AOS2 Flashcards
*Learning
process of acquiring knowledge, skills or behaviours through experience
Behaviourist approaches
involves interaction between an individual and stimuli in their environment through conditioning
Social-cognitive approaches
involves understanding of social context and cognitive processes in learning
Classical conditioning
A learning process in which a NS is repeatedly associated with an UCS to produce a CS
- involuntary association
- Learner is a passive respondent
Stages of classical conditioning
Before conditioning
- NS produces no significant response
- only UCS produces an UCR
During conditioning
- NS is repeatedly paired with UCS and presented immediately prior, UCS continues to produce UCS
After conditioning
- NS becomes the CS and elicits a CR without the presence of the UCS
Operant conditoning
learning process where the likelihood of a behaviour occurring is determined by the consequences of that behaviour
Stages of operant conditoning
Antecedent/discriminative
- stim that precedes a behaviour and elicits a voluntary response
Behaviour
- voluntary response to antecedent
Consequence (to behaviour)
- stimulus that makes behaviour more/less likely to be repeated
Reinforcement
any stimulus that strengthens the likelihood of a behaviour reoccurring in the future
- Positive - addition of desirable stimulus
- Negative - removal of undesirable stimulus
Punishment
any stimulus that weakens the likelihood of a behaviour reoccurring in the future
- Positive - addition of undesirable stimulus
- Negative - removal of desirable stimulus
Comparison of classical conditoning and operant conditoning
Similarities
- Both behaviourist approaches to learning
- Both have 3 phases
- Both require several trials for learning to occur
Differences
- OC involves learning a voluntary behaviour, CC involves learning an involuntary behaviour
- Learners active during OC, passive in CC
- OC requires consequence, CC doesn’t
Observational learning
learning process that involves watching the behaviour of a model and the associated consequences of that behaviour
Stages of observational learning
Attention - learner actively watches model’s behaviour and its consequences
Retention - learner needs to be able to store a mental representation of the behaviour and its consequences
Reproduction - learner needs to have the physical and mental capability to perform the behaviour
Motivation - learner needs to have the desire to imitate the behaviour
Reinforcement - learner receives a positive consequence for the behaviour which makes them more likely to repeat it
Comparison of observational learning and OC
Similarities
- Both rely on consequences
- Learner is active in both
- Both involve learning a voluntary response
Differences
- Observational learning occurs indirectly/vicariously, OC’s consequences experienced directly
- In obs. learning, distinction made between acquisition and performance, in OC there’s observable evidence of learning
- Obs. learning has 5 stages, OC has 3
- Observational learning is a social cognitive approach to learning, operant conditioning is behaviourist
Systems of knowledge
knowledge and skills based on interconnected social, physical and spiritual understandings which informs survival and contributes to a strong sense of identity
- Situate learning within a system, whereby all information, knowledge and people are situated in a system
Country
traditional lands of a particular language/cultural group, including geographical boundaries and the spiritual emotional
Elements of Aboriginal ways of knowing
Story sharing
Non-verbal
Symbols and images
Land links
Deconstruct-reconstruct
Community links
Non-linear
Learning maps
Story sharing
- Learn and connect through narratives
- Yarning: learning built through real world experience
- Dreaming stories
Learning maps
- Learner creates deliberate visual plan to follow
- Picture paths of knowledge
- Explicitly map/visualise process
Non-verbal
- Kinaesthetic approaches
- Apply intrapersonal skills
Symbols and images
- Understand concepts through art and metaphor
- Some drawings simple/complex/long-lasting/ephemeral
Land links
- Place based learning
- Drawn from living landscape within framework of profound ancestral and personal relationships with place
Non-linear
- Learn in order that best suits moment / think outside the box
- Take knowledge from different viewpoints to build new understandings
- Understanding by thinking laterally/combining systems
Deconstruct-reconstruct
- Modelling and scaffolding
- Look at whole and individual parts of process
Community links
- Connect learning to local values and needs
- System of learning said to take place when learner brings new knowledge to help their mob
Sensory memory
Briefly store raw info detected by senses
Capacity - unlimited storage
Duration - 0.2 – 4 seconds
Sub types
- Iconic memory (visual memory, 0.2 - 0.4 second duration, allows us to perceive the world as continuous)
- Echoic memory (auditory information, 3 – 4 seconds, allows us to get meaning from sounds)
- Haptic memory (info specific to physical touch, <2 seconds)
Short term memory
Function
- Actively work on and manipulate information, encode info to LTM (manipulating ca involve updating, adding, changing info)
- Holds a limited amount of info that is consciously attended to and actively manipulated
Capacity
- 7 ± 2 (5 – 9)
- Displacement when STM is full, new items are added by ‘pushing’ old items
- Chunking grouping bits of separate info into larger parts
Duration
- 18 – 30 seconds
- By about 18 sec, almost all of the info disappears if it has not been renewed
- If after 30 sec, info no manipulated will be permanently lost (decay)
- Decay is prevented by rehearsal
Long term memory
Function
- Stores potentially unlimited amount of info (capacity) for a possibly permanent time (duration)
- Memories encoded from STM that exist in useable form
- Info can be retrieved from LTM and brought back to STM when needed
- Forgetting: unable to retrieve info from LTM store
Capacity
- Potentially unlimited
Duration
- Possibly permanent
Evaluating the Multi-store Model of Memory
Strengths
- Distinguishes between different stores involved in memory
- Outlines that each memory store has different capacity and duration
- Provides understanding of the structure and process of memory
- Other memory studies support the distinction of STM and LTM explains why amnesia patients struggle to retrieve memories from LTM/encoding info from STM to LTM
Weaknesses
- May be oversimplified
- STM is more complex than model suggests, Baddeley and Hitch (1974) propose that STM is not just a singular store but has different components within it
- Ignores factors like motivation and strategy, that facilitate learning and assist in encoding info from STM to LTM
- Model proposed that rehearsal was necessary for info to be transferred to LTM, studies now show that this can occur without rehearsal
Amygdala
primarily involved in encoding the emotional components of memories
- ‘fear centre’ of brain
- Detects emotionally arousing experience, signals to hippocampus that it is meaningful; enhances strength of memory
Neocortex
stores explicit memories
Basal ganglia
involved in encoding and storing implicit memories, specifically those related to habit formation, procedural sequences of movement and reward pathways.
- Encodes and stores memories that are unconsciously retrieved (habits)
- Encodes and stores memories related to reward processing, supporting learning that is driven by feedback
- Encodes and stores procedural memories related to motor skills and sequential movements through its connection with the cerebellum (Radhakrishnan et al, 2023)
Cerebellum
encodes and stores implicit memories, specifically those related to unconscious habits, simple reflexes or procedural sequences or precise movements
- brain structure that encodes and temporarily stores implicit procedural memories
- enables precise fine motor movements (balance and posture)
- encodes and stores memories of behavioural responses that have been acquired through classical conditioning (Thompson & Steinmetz, 2009)
Possible imagined futures
hypothetical situations or experiences that an individual can create and conceptualise in their mind
Findings of brain scans of brain sans for possible imagined futures and autobiographical memories
fMRI studies found damaged hippocampus affects memory of past events and imagining futures
Alzheimer’s disease
neurodegenerative disease characterised by the progressive loss of neurons in the brain, resulting in memory decline
Symptoms of Alzheimer’s
- Decreased cognitive function
- Personality change
- Mood changes
- Confusion/disorientation
- Early symptoms include anterograde amnesia - inability to encode and store new explicit memories
- Later symptoms include retrograde amnesia – inability to retrieve previously stored long term explicit memories
Amyloid plaques
accumulation of tiny fragments of the protein beta-amyloid which form insoluble plaques in the synapse (outside of neurons) which inhibits neural communication
Neurofibrillary tangles
abnormal build of tau protein which creates insoluble tangles that inhibits transportation of essential substances, leading to the death of neurons
Lack of acetycholine
low levels lead to memory impairment and cognitive deficiencies
Brain atrophy
neurons become damaged (from plaques and tangles) and brain tissue shrinks and eventually dies
Brain scans/research for Alzheimer’s
- fMRI, CT or MRI show loss of brain mass, particularly in hippocampus at first
- PET scans provide images of brain activity based on blood flow by injecting a dye into the bloodstream, oxygen consumption or glucose use which reveal neural abnormalities (plaques and tangles)
- These scans can’t show microscopic lesions
Aphantasia
phenomenon in which individuals lack the capacity to generate mental imagery
- affects 2-5% of the population
- No known cause
- Congenital (can be born with it) / Acquired
- No ‘mind’s eye’
Brain scans/research for aphantasia
- Visual imagery involves network of brain activity spanning from visual cortex areas at the back of brain, to cortex areas involved in attention and decision making
- fMRIs show connection between these areas is weaker
- Suggested visual cortex may be underactive
- Zeman, et al 2021 found aphantasia patients had less vivid and detailed autobiographical memories
- suggests autobiographical memory retrieval is dependent on vividness of mental imagery
Mnemonics
techniques used to assist the encoding, storage and retrieval of long-term explicit memories
- Require individuals to consciously organise and link new explicit info to fit in with existing info in LTM
- enhances organisation in long term memories
Method of loci
items to be remembered are converted into mental images and associated with specific positions or locations
5 steps of loci (Twomey and Kroneisen, 2021)
- Visualise familiar route
- Select several memorable places (landmarks) on the route
- Create visual imagery for each item needing remembering. Creating funny/bizarre imagery strengthens likelihood of the item being remembered (Varilias, 2019)
- Link each item to one of the identifiable memorable landmarks
- Imagine walking the familiar route and retrieving each item by observing the items at each landmark
Sung narratives
stories that share important cultural, ecological and survival information through use of singing, harmony and rhythm
- Performed in ritualistic way, shares important cultural elements moral teachings, law land use, astronomical, navigational and survival info
- Enhances encoding, transferring and retrieval of vital cultural information
Songlines/dreaming tracks
sequence of short sung narratives associated with specific locations that are linked by a physical or imagined walk through country
- knowledge is patterned on country
- Landscapes and portable objects act as retrieval cues for the songline, enabling sufficient encoding and retrieval of vital cultural knowledge from LTM, as well as the direction to travel
- Singing info in songs focuses its meaning and provides vivid descriptions which is more memorable than a list of isolated factors
Comparison of songlines and method of loci
Similarities
- both create associations between conceptual knowledge and spatial locations
- both use locations along a travelled route as a ‘spatial scaffold’ for encoding and retrieval of sequences of info
both excellent for retaining info about an order or sequence
Differences
- songlines encode info intimately related to landscape
loci involves arbitrary relationships between places and knowledge
- songlines encode through kinship networks
- loci involves encoding for the individual
