5. Learning

Question 1

The total time hypothesis

Answer 1

The proposal that amount learned is a simple function of the amount of time spent on the learning task.

So: if you double the learning time, you double the amount of information stored.

(Not really the case though…)

Question 2

Nonsense syllables

Answer 2

Pronounceable but meaningless consonant-vowel- consonant items designed to study learning without the complicating factor of meaning.

Question 3

Change blindeness

Answer 3

The failure to detect that a visual object has moved, changed, or been replaced by another object.

EX: turist byts ut när några byggarbetare går förbi med ett plank –> många märker inte bytet

Question 4

Distributed practice (effect)

Answer 4

Breaking practice up into a number of shorter sessions; in contrast to massed practice, which comprises fewer, long, learning sessions.

• har visat sig mest effektiv pluggtaktik!

Question 5

Expanding retrieval

Answer 5

A learning schedule whereby items are initially tested after a short delay, with pretest delay gradually increasing across subsequent trials.

So if the learner fails an item in the vocabulary list, it should be presented after a shorter delay; whenever the learner is correct, the delay should be increased.

A method where two basic principles, derived from the laboratory study of verbal memory, are combined:

• the distribution of practice effect and
• the generation effect

Question 6

Latent inhibition

Answer 6

Classical conditioning phenomenon whereby multiple prior presentations of a neutral stimulus will interfere with its involvement in subsequent conditioning.

Question 7

Mere exposure effect

Answer 7

A tendency for a neutral stimulus to acquire positive value with repeated exposure.

So simply increasing our exposure to a novel stimulus will increase its rated pleasantness

Question 8

Amygdala

Answer 8

An area of the brain close to the hippocampus that is involved in emotional processing.

Question 9

Hippocampus

Answer 9

Brain structure in the medial temporal lobe that is important for long-term memory formation.

• known to be important for episodic memory

Question 10

Stem completion

Answer 10

A task whereby retention of a word is tested by presenting the first few letters.

• tests implicit memory
• by presenting the first few letters and inviting the patient to “provide” a word that would fit

EX: present STAMP and test with ST– – –

Question 11

Fragment completion

Answer 11

A technique whereby memory for a word is tested by deleting alternate letters and asking participants to produce the word.

• test explicit memory
• a previously presented word such as ELEPHANT is tested by giving the word with half the letters omitted

EX: presenting – L – P – A – T and asking what word would fit that fragment.

Question 12

Immersion method

Answer 12

A strategy for foreign language teaching whereby the learner is placed in an environment where only the foreign language is used.

• attempting to learn in a context in which only the second language is spoken

Studies have shown that learning a language by the immersion method is NOT possible. However, this is clearly not the case, as this is how we learn our native language.

Question 13

Consolidation of memory

Answer 13

A process whereby the memory becomes more firmly established. It is commonly now divided into two processes, synaptic consolidation a process that is assumed to involve the hippocampus and operate over a 24 hour timescale, and systems consolidation. This is assumed to operate over a much longer period, and to involve the transfer of information from the hippocampus to other parts of the neocortex.

Question 14

Cell assembly

Answer 14

A concept proposed by Hebb to account for the physiological basis of long-term learning, which is assumed to involve the establishment of links between the cells forming the assembly.

Question 15

The generation effect

Answer 15

= if you succeed in remembering an item for yourself, this strengthens the memory more than if you have the item provided for you, i.e. producing the answer from memory rather than being given it!

The implications of this are exactly the opposite to the distribution of practice effect. The sooner an item is tested, the greater the probability that you will be able to successfully retrieve it, and hence the greater the probability that learning will be strengthened

Question 16

Latent inhibition

Answer 16

Classical conditioning phenomenon whereby multiple prior presentations of a neutral stimulus will interfere with its involvement in subsequent conditioning.

Presenting an initially unconditioned stimulus several times before introducing the association-stimulus (without reward) will lead to impairment of the capacity to condition the response

So sounding the bell alone for many times before introducing the association with food impairs the capacity to condition the salivating response. Presenting the bell alone, whether before or after the food, breaks the clear link between bell and food.

Question 17

Cell assembly

Hebb, 1949

Answer 17

A concept proposed by Hebb to account for the physiological basis of long-term learning, which is assumed to involve the establishment of links between the cells forming the assembly.

Hebb’s proposal that long-term learning is based on the development and growth of further synaptic connections, known as “Hebbian learning,”

! “Neurons that fire together wire together” !