Week 1 Lecture 1 - Learning Flashcards
Are learning and memory interrelated?
Yes
What is the total time hypothesis?
the amount learned is a function of the time spent learning
What did Ebbinghaus study?
Studied memory and learning on himself
True or false
In Ebbinghaus’ study of learning lists, he found that learning linearly related to amount of study?
True
Does practice drive brain and structural plasticity?
Yes
Brain undergoes structural changes in response to learning or env. changes
Give two examples of studies exploring changes in the brain due to expertise or new learning
1.) Posterior hippocampus consistently larger in London taxi drivers - size correlated significantly with time spent as a taxi driver
2.) Medical students brains scanned before, during and after exam season - increase grey matter volume in parietal cortex and in the posterior hippocampus. These changes remained even 3 months after studying
What are the structural plasticity changes in the brain due to practice assumed to be?
Assumed to be part of a process that optimises learning
Are structural brain changes perpetual?
Structural changes aren’t perpetual
Over time the brain renormalizes the volume in the regions enhance by practice
Some structural changes may be selected and others dropped
Does simple repetition lead to learning?
No
Especially if the info is complex and not seen as useful
What is distributed practice/ spacing effect?
- Distributed learning trails sparsely across period of time.
- Faster improvement rates of learning and less forgetting.
What are some caveats of distributed learning?
- takes longer i.e. more actual days
- not always practical or convenient
- individuals may feel ‘less efficient’
What are 3 theories as to why distributed learning works?
- Deficient processing
- Encoding variability
- Study phase retrieval
What is deficient processing?
Less attention payed to recently encountered stimuli
After longer delay, stimuli attract more attention
What is encoding variability?
Multiple encoding instances create richer associates
Variety of ways stimulus has been encoded
What is study-phase retrieval?
Second presentation is a reminder of the previous occurrence
This act strengthens memory for the item
Bigger benefits when memory is not recent (more effortful)
What is the lag effect?
Benefit of repeated study increases as long as lag between study occasions increases
Which theory of distributed practiced did evidence from neuroimaging support?
Study-phase retrieval - retrieval of previous encounter was indicated by the replication of the same basic patterns in subsequent viewings of images
What is the Testing effect/ Generation effect?
Shows that having to retrieve the answer leads to greater retention
What did Korpicke and Roediger find?
The presence of tests had a major effect on what was remembered 1 week later
Why is feedback important?
- Errors in recall when training may affect later recall unless corrective feedback is provided
- erroneous retrieval may be strengthened in memory
When is feedback most beneficial?
both immediately or delayed
What is the expanding retrieval method?
Uses both the spacing effect and testing effect
- spaced presentation enhances memory
- successfully generating items strengthens memory
Motivation to learn makes learning more effective in which two ways?
- automatic way
- strategic way
What is the automatic way of learning?
external or internal motives prior to exposure to stimuli improves memory even when time spent studying or strategies used are controlled
What is the systematic way of learning?
People use deeper and more elaborate memorisation strategies for high value items
How is curiosity linked to learning?
you are able to absorb more info from the environment when you are curious, even is the info is irrelevant
What is Hebbian learning?
learning involves strengthening the connections of co-active neurons
How are the connections of co-active neurons connected?
- neurons repeatedly excited in synchrony
- chemistry of synapse changes
- each one becomes more likely to have AP when the other does
- neurons that fire together, wire together
