U3 AOS 2 Flashcards
Learning
A relatively permanent change in knowledge or behaviour that occurs as a result of experience
Neural plasticity
Brains ability to change structure and function in response to experience or damage
Enables us to learn and remember new things and adjust to new experiences
Long term potentiation
Long lasting strengthening of synaptic connections between neurons after repeated stimulation
Results in enhanced and more effective synaptic transmission
More neurotransmitters and more receptor sites
Long term depression
Long lasting weakening of synaptic connections which decrease synaptic efficiency
Decrease neurotransmitters and receptor sites
Similarities of neurohormones and neurotransmitter
Both chemical messengers produced by the body
Both are secreted at the terminal buttons
Neurotransmitters difference
Are secreted into the synaptic gap a deliver messages to adjacent target cells
More rapid message
Neurohormones difference
Secreted into the blood stream for transport to target cells
Messages travel more slowly
Glutamate in synaptic plasticity
Promotes the growth and strengthening of synaptic connections
More often glutamate can excite an adjacent Neuron, more LTP
LTP is an enduring form of synaptic plasticity
Adrenaline and consolidation of emotionally arousing memories
Adrenaline helps stimulate the amygdala
Amygdala regulates emotions such as fear and aggression
Involved in consolidation of emotional informational, especially fear
Classical conditioning
Repeated association of two different stimuli to produce a naturally/involuntary response
Learner is passive
Different parts of classical conditioning
Neutral Stimulus (NS) Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) Unconditioned Response (UCR Conditioned Stimulus (CS) Conditioned Response (CR)
Before conditioning
NS produces no response
UCS produces UCR
During conditioning (acquisition)
NS and UCS paired to produce UCR
After conditioning
CS produces CR
Classical conditioning: stimulus discrimination
Conditioned response only produced to conditioned stimulus
Classical Conditioning: Stimulus Generalisation
Stimulus similar to original conditioned stimulus will produce a response similar to the conditioned response
Classical Comditioning: Acquisition
Development of a CR through repeated association between UCS and NS
Classical Conditioning: Extinction
Disappearance of a CR following a lack of pairing of the UCS and CS
Classical Conditioning: Spontaneous Recovery
Following extinction and a rest period the CR reappears at the presentation of CS
Operant conditioning
Learning process by which likelihood of a particular behaviour occurring is determined by the consequence of the behaviour
Learner is passive
Three phases of operant conditioning
Antecedant
Behaviour
Consequence
Reinforcement
Any stimulus that subsequently strengthens the likelihood of the response that it follows
Positive reinforcement: plus something good
Negative reinforcement: minus something bad
Punishment
Delivery of an unpleasant stimulus following an undesirable response, reducing unwanted behaviour
Positive punishment: add something bad
response cost: minus something good
Operant conditioning: stimulus generalisation
Correct response made to another stimuli which is similar to stimuli where reinforcement is obtained
Operant Comditioning: stimulus discrimination
Response to a stimuli where reinforcement is obtained but not for other stimuli
Operant conditioning: spontaneous recovery
Response is shown after rest period in the absence of reinforcer
Observational Learning: Social Learning Theory
- emphasises the importance of the environment in which learning occurs
- observational learning involves crucial cognitive processes
- person does not simply see and reproduce
- sometimes what we learn remains latent
- produce it when we feel motivated
5 stages of observational learning
Attention Retention Reproduction Motivation Reinforcement
Attention
Focus is be paid to models behaviour and consequences
Cognitive
Retention
Learner stores mental representations of behaviour in memory
Cognitive
Reproduction
Learner must have the physical and intellectual ability to convert representations into actions
Motivation
Learner must want to imitate the learnt behaviour
Reinforcement
A positive outcome means the learner is more likely to repeat the behaviour
Sources of reinforcement
Model: model praises/punishes learner for imitating their behaviour
Third person: learner imitates model but praised/punished by another person
Personal: learner receives satisfying consequence for imitating models behaviour
Vicariously: viewing others being praised or punished
Little Albert as an example of classical conditioning
NS- White Rat UCS- Loud Noise UCR- Crying at loud noise CS- White Rat CR- Cry at White rat
Ethical implications of little Albert
- No harm principle: Albert suffered psychological harm that wasn’t reversed
- Informed Consent/Voluntary Participation: Albert stolen from hospital without mothers consent
- debriefing: experimenters made mo attempt to extinguish fear little Albert acquired
- withdrawal rights: Albert not allowed to leave experimental situation
Methods to retrieve information from memory
Recall
Recognition
Relearning
Reconstruction
Recall
Supply/reproduce information that is stored in LTM, using few or no cues for assistance
Types of recall
Cued: reproduce info but given cues or prompts to assist recall
Free: reproduce info from memory with no cues in any order
Serial: reproduce info without cues in specific order it was originally presented
Recognition
Identifying previously learnt information from a list/group of incorrect alternatives
Relearning
Learning info that has been previously learnt and stored in LTM as a means of assessing whether any info was retained from original learning
Methods of retrieval from most sensitive to least sensitive
Relearning
Recognition
Recall: Cued
Free
SerialSaving Score
Measures the percentage of information retained from original learning
Equation: [(trials for original learning minus trials for relearning) divided by trials for original learning] x100
Reconstruction
Combining stored information with other available information to form what is believed to be a more coherent/complete/accurate memory.
Context Dependent Cues
Aid retrieval by recalling info in the same environment in which the information was learnt.
- physical landmarks, smells, sounds act as cues
- returning to appropriate physical environment is not always possible
- use visual imagery to ‘recreate’ the physical environment
State dependent cues
Associated with your internal physiological and or psychological state at the time memory was formed
- easier to access a memory when in the same internal environment as when it was learnt
Maintenance rehearsal
- relies on the conscious recitation of information in a rote fashion
- easily affected by distractions which can displace info from STM
- every repetition provides an extra 20sec memory is held in STM
Elaborative rehearsal
Linking new info in some meaningful way with info already in LTM or with other pieces of new info.
Memory is more memorable
Self reference effect
Ties in new info with your own personal understanding and experiences. Makes new info personal and meaningful to you
Serial position effect
The superior, immediate, free recall of items at the beginning of at the end of a list compared to those in the middle
Primacy effect
Recency effect
Brain Surgery: Henry Molaison
HM suffered from severe epilepsy, traditional treatment didn’t work so he underwent brain surgery.
Medial temporal lobe from each hemisphere was removed (amygdala, hippocampus and cortical tissue)
Now suffered from anterograde amnesia
Retrograde amnesia
Memory loss for events prior to brain damage/trauma
Can’t access existing LTM but can form new ones
Anterograde amnesia
Inability to encode and store new memories
Memories prior to brain damage are still intact
STM is affected and hence ability to encode LTM is compromised
Alzheimer’s disease
- Neurodegenerative disease characterised by gradual
widespread degeneration of brain neurons causing memory got decline in cognitive, social skills and personality changes - typically starts in the hippocampus
-loss of neurons in hippocampus=memory loss and personality change
Causes of Alzheimer’s disease
- Amyloid Plaques: proteins that form among axon terminals and interfere with neural communication
- neurofibrillary tangles: abnormal build up of protein inside Neuron
- reduced acetylcholine: in areas of brain associated with learning, memory and intellectual fucntioning
- cortical shrinkage: damages areas involved in thinking, planning and memory
Symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease
- memory loss, especially declarative
- personality change due to frontal lobe shrinkage
- confusion and disorientation
- repetition
Eye witness testimony
- requires people who have viewed an event to give their personal account of the event
- can be influenced by leading questions and language used
Lofters First Experiment: Speed
- 45 volunteers, watched car accidents, 5 different conditions, each condition had a different word to complete specific question
- “about how fast were the cars going when they__ each other?”
- smashed, collided, bumped, hit, contacted
Results of lofters first experiment on speed
- indicated the wording of the question influenced the speed estimations given by participants
- a misinformation effect occurred: participants incorporated misleading info into their memory of event
Lofters Leading Question Experiment: Glass
- participants viewed crash again
- 3 groups, smashed/hit/control (not asked about speed of car)
- one week later, asked critical question ‘did you see any broken glass?’
- THERE WAS NO BROKEN GLASS IN TH FILM
Results of lofters leading question experiment
- participants recollection of seeing glass was influenced by how speed question was asked
- mixed memory of accident with new false info
- suffered source confusion: unable to distinguish real info from false info given after event
Traditional model of recall
- Original Experience
- Integration of experience into LTM
- Questions asked about original experience
- Re-Creation of original experience
- Response to question
Loftus Model of Recall
- Original experience
- Integration of experience into LTM
- Integration of new info into memory of original experience
- Questions asked about original experience
- Recall of reconstructed memory with new info
- Response to question
Capacity and duration of sensory, short and long term memory
Sensory: C- Relatively unlimited
D- 0.2-4 seconds
Short: C- 7 +/- 2 items
D- around 20secs
Long: C- relatively unlimited
D- relatively unlimitedSensory memory (relates to memory within our sense organs)
Iconic: stores visual info in the form of an icon for less than half a second, just enough for encoding to begin. Visual info changes constantly we must deal with it quickly
Echoic: storage of acoustic info is temporary and remains as an echo for 3-4 seconds, long enough for sounds to be encoded and selected for attention, provides smooth, integrated and continuous auditory info
Short term memory
Holds info in awareness for a short period of time, long enough to be used for mental tasks
Displacement
Individual can only store a finite amount of info. For new info to be stored, another piece of info must leave
Improving capacity: chunking
Grouping of seperate items of info into a larger, single item
Can be made up of numbers, words, letters, phrases
Can effectively increase STM normal storage capacity
Long Term memory
Holds info in semantic networks making it available for retrieval at a later time
Retrieve info by locating it in LTM and returning it to conscious awareness
Explicit memory
Involves memory with awareness and a deliberate attempt to retrieve info
Hippocampus
Declarative memory
Store for factual info such as names and dates and words
Semantic: knowledge about facts and concepts about world
Episodic: info about specific events or personal experience
implicit memory
Remembering involves unconscious or unintentional retrieval, without awareness
Amygdala
Procedural memory
Beyond conscious control, automatic
Tend to not forget
Cerebral cortex
- processing STM
- memories are linked to other memories, creating meaning
- storage of memories
Amygdala
- processing emotional memories
- retrieves explicit (declarative) memories
Hippocampus
- encodes explicit (declarative) memories
Cerebellum
- encodes implicit (procedural) memories (temporary storage)
