Skill Memory (Exam 2)

Question 1

Skill

Answer 1

ability that can improve over time through practice

Question 2

perceptual motor skills

Answer 2

learned movement patterns guided by sensory inputs

[Operant Conditioning]

Question 3

Skill memory features

Answer 3

• are difficult to convey except by direct demonstration
• may be acquired without awareness
• require several repetitions —–> practice makes perfect

Question 4

Cognitive skill

Answer 4

skills that require problem-solving or the application of a strategy
[dependent on developed intellectual skills]

Question 5

Closed skill

Answer 5

involves performing predefined movements that, ideally, never vary

Question 6

open skill

Answer 6

where movements are made based on predictions and changing demands of the environment

Question 7

Encoding new memories

Answer 7

Repetition, Rehearsal, and practice are super important

Question 8

Knowledge of results (Feedback)

Answer 8

Feedback about the performance of a skill critical to the effectiveness of practice

Question 9

Power Law of Practice

Answer 9

a law stating that the degree to which each new practice session improves performance diminishes after a certain point, such that greater numbers of sessions are needed to further improve the skills; learning occurs quickly at first and then slows down

[observational learning can help improve performance at platuae]

Question 10

General Rules of Encoding New Memories

Answer 10

1.) The more times you perform a skill, the faster /better you’ll be able to perform it in the future.
2.) The extent to which practice can improve performance decreases as the amount of practice increases

Question 11

Massed practice

Answer 11

concentrated continuous practice of a skill

Question 12

Spaced practice

Answer 12

practice of a skill that is spread out over several session

Question 13

Constant practice

Answer 13

practice involving a constrained set of materials and skills

[dribbling a basketball while standing in one spot]

Question 14

Variable practice

Answer 14

practice that involves the performance of skills in a wide variety of contexts
[dribbling a basketball while running]

Question 15

Implicit memory

Answer 15

learning that occurs without the learner’s awareness of performance improvements or, in the case of individuals with amnesia, awareness that practice had occurred.

Question 16

Motor program

Answer 16

a sequence of movements that an organism can perform automatically (with minimal attention) to motor program (habits)

Question 17

Pitts three stages to skill learning

Answer 17

1. Cognitive stage
2. Associative stage
3. Autonomous stage

Question 18

Transfer of training

Answer 18

the transfer of skill memories to novel situations

Question 19

Transfer specificity

Answer 19

the restricted applicability of learned skills to specific situations

Question 20

Identical elements

Answer 20

Thorndike’s proposal is that learned abilities transfer to novel situations to the extent that depends on the number of elements in the new situation that are identical to those in which the skills were encoded.

Question 21

Learning set information

Answer 21

acquisition of the ability to learn novel tasks rapidly based on frequent experiences with similar tasks.

When memory fails…what you don’t use, you’ll likely lose

Question 22

Skill decay

Answer 22

loss of skill due to non-use

Question 23

Skill memory in the brain

Answer 23

Basal ganglia
cerebellum
cerebral cortex

Question 24

Ganglia

Answer 24

cluster of neurons

Question 25

Basal ganglia

Answer 25

cluster of neurons at the BASE of the forebrain (most forward part of the brain closest to the hippocampus)

Question 26

Learning deficits after brain lesions

Answer 26

• Hippocampal damage = impaired memory
• Basal ganglia damage = no impairment in memory doesn’t impact memories of past events, nor does it impact their necessary skills for foraging (rats)

Question 27

Musical dystonia

Answer 27

disorder in which extensive practice playing an instrument can lead to reduction or loss of motor control in the limbs or digits used to play rapid sequences.

Question 28

Cerebellum

Answer 28

• Coordinates movements
• controls posture, balance, & fine motor movement
• involved in motor learning
  [important for aiming and tracking]

Question 29

working memory

Answer 29

active and temporary representation of information that is maintained for the short term, available for manipulation

Question 30

cognitive control

Answer 30

manipulation and application of working memory for planning, task switching, attention, stimulus section, and inhibiting inappropriate behavior.
[AKA executive control or executive functioning]

Question 31

Short-term memory

Answer 31

a temporary memory that is maintained through active rehearsal (memorizing grocery store list)

Question 32

Long-term memory

Answer 32

permanent or near-permanent storage of memory that lasts beyond a period of conscious awareness (episodic and semantic and skilled memories)

Question 33

Transient memories

Answer 33

nonpermanent memory that lasts seconds or minutes and includes sensory and short-term memories

Question 34

Sensory memories

Answer 34

brief, transient sensations of what had just been perceived when someone sees, hears, or tastes something

Question 35

Visual sensory memory

Answer 35

the initial temporary storage for information perceived by the visual system

Question 36

Visuospatial sketchpad

Answer 36

hold visual and spatial images for manipulation

Question 37

Phonological Loop

Answer 37

Holds auditory memories, maintaining them utilizing internal (subvocal) speech rehearsal (much like a “loop” of a tape recording that goes around and around)

Question 38

Central Executive

Answer 38

monitors and manipulates both the visuospatial and phonological working memory buffers, providing cognitive control of working memory

Question 39

Word length effect

Answer 39

the tendency for a person to remember fewer words from a list as the length of words increase

Question 40

Prefrontal cortex

Answer 40

the frontmost anterior part of the frontal-lobe cortex essential for working memory and executive control

Question 41

Dysexecutive syndrome

Answer 41

a disrupted ability to think or plan

Question 42

Perseveration

Answer 42

failure to learn new responses, especially as demonstrated by continued adherence to an old response rule that is no longer valid