Psychology of Learning & Memory Flashcards

1
Q

What is memory?

A

Selective acquisition (learning) of new info & selective retention/storage of info for future use (memory)
-Shows plasticity of brain - ability to change in response to experience
-Involves synchronised brain region activity

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What are the stages of memory?

A

Encoding→Initial Storage→Consolidation→Retrieval

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What is forgetting?

A

Failed retreival process of a memory

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What are the 3 possible causes of forgetting (failed retrieval)?

A

-Unsuccessful storage
-Loss of the memory trace (fading ink)
-Failure to locate the trace at retrieval

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What are the 2 major categories of memory?

A

-Long-term
-Short-term - sensory & working

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What are the 2 forms of long-term memory?

A

-Declarative
-Non-declarative

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What is declarative memory?

A

Can be brought into conscious awareness & described

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What is non-declarative memory?

A

-Can not be brought into conscious awareness
-Can only be demonstrated & learnt through experience

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What are the 2 types of declarative memory?

A

-Episodic
-Semantic

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What is episodic memory?

A

-Memory of past events in a person’s life
-Stores accumulated events, an autobiography

-Memory of specific event e.g., holiday to Paris
-Tied to a particular time & place (context specific)
-Recalled (re-experienced) in 1st person - are specific to the individual

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What is semantic memory?

A

-Knowledge of the word: facts, concepts, vocabulary
-Doesn’t refer to temporal landmarks in a person’s life

-General knowledge e.g., Paris = capital of France, the meaning of words
-NOT tied to a specific context - i.e., we can’t recall where & when we learnt Paris is the capital of France
-Shared across individuals in a particular culture

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

How does semantic memory work?

A

There is a distributed network of categorical & feature based info
-Feature = has claws, roars
-Category = big cat or mammal

–> so accessing category or feature - facilitates access to linked info in the network
–> & this semantic system also facilitates for the generalisation of knowledge to new concepts & allows us to pick up an atypical features within categories (carrots = orange - but most veg = green)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What are the 4 types of non-declarative memory?

A

-Procedural
-Perceptual representation system
-Classical conditioning
-Non-associative learning

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What is procedural memory?

A

-Often acquire more slowly by trial & error process
-Stores info guiding beh e.g., how to drive, ride bike, train dog
-May be unable to verbalise these memories - have become 2nd nature
-How we remember these = based upon how we learn them

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What is perceptual (representation system) memory?

A

Ability to interpret incoming stimuli by recognizing individuals, by categorizing them & by noting relationships between such individuals & categories
–> i.e., ability to recognise an object is what it is

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What is classical conditioning & operant conditioning - as associative memory?

A

Classical
= Paired associations with neutral stimulus
-By repetition = forms associations

Operant
= learning by rewards (food) to reinforce or by punishments (electric shock) to inhibit beh
–> behs = strengthened or weakened based on consequences of that beh
-Behaviourists say - stored info guides beh = stimulus response
-Bio explanation = declarative memory - learning an food as an outcome because are hungry (rats - press correct button for food)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What is non-associative memory?

A

Simplest yet fundamental form of learning that does not require stimuli association or pairing

18
Q

Show all of the divisions of memory -> multiple memory system ‘tree’.

A
19
Q

What influences what information we store?

A

-Having meaning behind information makes it easier to store
-If the info we are attending to is important (may be subjective importance to the individual)
-Making judgements when forming attending to info/stimuli can assist with memory - e.g., deciphering the categories of words
-Cognitive schemas - can lead us to form ‘false’ memories - i.e., we falsely believe something based upon the other linking info
–> BUT schemas are useful - as these mental representations enables us to organize our knowledge into categories (can assist with retrieval)

20
Q

How are links made between information?

A

By strengthening synapses

21
Q

What is short-term memory?

A

= Memory for info currently held in mind

-Brief store
-& somewhere to hold material retrieved from the long-term memory –> this is called working memory

22
Q

What is working memory?

A

System for:
-Selection (from incoming sensory info)
&/or
-Retrieval (from long-term stores)
-Temporary storage
-Manipulation of info

-How we hold info we receive from our long term memory
-Provides interface between current perception, long-term memory & action
-Critical for successful completion of more demanding cognitive tasks
-Is ‘capacity constrained’

23
Q

What memory is used for a simple mathematical problem?

A

-Long term - for accessing maths ability & ability to recognise numbers & what their value is
-Working memory - to bridge the interface between perception, this long term memory retrieval & action -> so holds our thoughts

24
Q

Why are many memory complaints caused by interference with working memory?

A

BECAUSE - working memory is ‘capacity constrained’
–> meaning it can become ‘overwhelmed’
-Worry
-Rumination
-Poor sleep
-Excess alcohol
–> all have side-effects on our limited working memory - by consuming it
-Also - brain injuries & pathologies can disrupt working memory

25
Q

What is retrograde & anterograde amnesia?

A

Retrograde amnesia:
= loss of memories formed prior to brain injury - associated with damage to brain regions linked to declarative memory
-Can make new memories
-Can’t remember past memories

Anterograde amnesia:
= (lose ability to make new memories but retain old ones) difficulty forming new declarative memories after brain injury e.g., semantic facts & episodic meaning can’t make new memories of life events - but retain non-declarative memory e.g., procedural
-Can remember past memories
-Can’t make new memories
-Can’t assimilate & learn - as can’t form new memories

26
Q

Where is the hippocampus?

A

Medial temporal lobes - under cerebral cortex

27
Q

Role of the hippocampus?

A

-Plays a role in limbic system - responsible for beh & emotional responses
-Important role in learning, emotional responses, memory formation & storage

28
Q

What are the 3 major functions of the hippocampus?

A
  1. Influences memory formation –> influences ability to encode & retrieve info - a short-term memory is registered before transfer to long-term memory storage
  2. Informs beh responses –> drawing from stored info to influence our actions - as previous experiences play big part in how we form relationships & behave around others
  3. Helps spatial cognition –> direct pathway - hippocampus can express spatial memory - like remembering driving routes or processing info about location
29
Q

What can cause damage to the hippocampus?

A

-Encephalitis
-Stroke
-Alzheimer’s disease
-Other forms of dementia

30
Q

What signs of Alzheimer’s demonstrate underlying hippocampal pathology?

A

Difficulty forming new episodic memories & difficulty learning layout of unfamiliar environments
–> this occurs in early stages of Alzheimer’s

31
Q

What does bilateral damage to the hippocampi & other associated structures in the medial temporal lobes cause?

A

*Severe difficulty forming new episodic memories
*Severe loss of pre-existing episodic memories
-A temporal gradient may be seen with preservation of older memories (Ribot’s law)
*Severe difficulty forming new semantic memory
*Loss of pre-existing semantic memory
-A temporal gradient = often seen with relative preservation of older memories
-Difficulty navigating particularly in unfamiliar environments

32
Q

Who is Clive Waring & what happened to him?

A

-Was a musician & conductor
-Suffered herpes simplex encephalitis aged 47 (in 1985) = caused:
catastrophic bilateral damage to hippocampus / medial temporal lobes-particularly those areas responsible for memory retention
–> so he lived in a constant state of reawakening

33
Q

How was Clive affected?

A

-Could still play piano, read, conduct = procedural memory
-Lost many memories from before illness
-Could recognise his wife (perceptual memory) & hold info in mind during brief conversation (working & semantic memory) - but later = no recollection
-Profound inability to form new memories

34
Q

Summarise the functions of the hippocampus?

A

Episodic memory
-Combines sensory stimuli from an event in a specific context - visual, auditory, olfactory, emotional
-Knowing when an event had occurred = more linked to orbitofrontal cortex
-Allows for ‘mental time travel’ - place contextual detail in personal past

Facilitates system consolidation
-“Strengthening” episodic memories
-Forming semantic memories
–> so general themes & rules - extracted from context specific info & integrated into our general world knowledge

35
Q

What is the Garcia effect?

A

= the impact of gastro-intestinal illness upon food preferences
-e.g., chemo leads to people expressing dislike for food eaten before a session
= these are phobias - called preparedness-adaptions - causes avoidance

36
Q

After suggesting declarative memory may play a role in operant conditioning - how can a maze with rats further reinforce this?

A

Rats learn to take shortest route to the food
-When routes are blocked - rats show use of declarative memory by knowing food is at the end of other routes too (i.e., they can go other ways) - not just the conditioned route
-BUT -> if remove rat hippocampus = can’t do spatially dependent tasks like this

*Behaviourists may say the rat just learns the route which is why showing the rats can still find food when a route is blocked disproves this - showing declarative memory used

37
Q

What is retrieval?

A

-Often a quick, automatic effortless process - triggered by contextual cues
-But can also be slow, deliberate & effortful

38
Q

How does retrieval occur?

A

Prefrontal cortex:
-Monitors memories which we retrieve automatically
-Supresses irrelevant memories (for that specific context)
-Links episodic memories to the context acquired in (source monitoring) -> so can determine if a memory was real or imagined
-Locates memory in time (i.e., the temporal relationship to other memories)

39
Q

How can false memories occur?

A

-Failed monitoring functions of the pre-frontal cortex following damage

-Cognitive schemas

40
Q

How do we forget?

A

*Insufficient processing when encoding
-Active processing of info at time encoded = more likely to be recalled

*Retrieval induced forgetting
-Retrieving a memory causes active inhibition of similar competing memories - e.g., inhibiting memory of where parked car on a different day to remember where is parked today

41
Q

How does age impact some of the different types of memory?

A

-Memory processing declines with age
-Semantic memory = increases initially then begins to plateau then slightly decrease
–> because we gain more facts/general knowledge & educational knowledge in the majority of early to mid life.
-Episodic memory = declines then plateaus with age

42
Q

How does age impacting cognitive function impact our daily functioning & why?

A

= age associated decline in cognitive function does not impact our functioning in day to day life
-Rarely need to perform at max. cognitive function in life
-Most daily activities rely on knowledge & experience - not controlled & efficient processing
-We can accommodate decline in cognitive function - by changing beh = use reminders, change driving beh