Learning
Relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience
Adaptability
Capacity to learn new behaviors so we can change with our circumstance
Associative learning
Learning that events occur together
Conditioning
Learning associations
Classical conditioning
Association of 2 stimuli to anticipate something
Operant conditioning
Association of our behavior with someone/something else’s response to it
Seeks positive results or the removal of negative ones
Behaviorism
View that psych
- Should be an objective science that
- Studies behavior w/o reference to mental processes
Most agree with 1 but not 2
Unconditioned response
Natural response to unconditioned stimulus (salivation when food is in the mouth)
Unconditioned stimulus
Stimulus that naturally triggers a response
Conditioned response
Learned response to a previously natural stimulus
Conditioned stimulus
Originally irrelevant stimulus that comes to trigger a conditioner response
Acquisition
Associating a neutral stimulus with a natural stimulus so that the neutral stimulus comes to cause a conditioned response
Extinction
Diminishing of a conditioned response when a natural response doesn’t follow a conditioned response
Spontaneous recovery
Reappearance, after a period of time, of an extinguished learned response
Generalization
Tendency, once a response has been learned, for similar stimuli to cause a similar response
Discrimination
Learned ability to distinguish between a learned stimulus and stimuli ha don’t signal a natural response
Expectancy
Awareness of how likely it is that the natural response will occur
Respondent behavior
Occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus
Operant behavior
Operates on the environment, producing consequences
Law of effect
Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely and vice versa
Operant chamber (Skinner box)
Chamber containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food reinforcer
Shaping
Procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior
Successive approximations
Rewards responses that are ever-closer to the final desired behavior and ignore all other responses
Discriminative stimulus
Signals that a response will be reinforced
Reinforcer
Any event that strengthens the behavior it follows
Positive reinforcement
Increasing behaviors by presenting a positive stimuli
Negative reinforcement
Increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli
Takes a way an unwanted stimulus
Primary reinforcer
Innately reinforcing stimulus (such as one that satisfies a biological need)
Conditioned reinforcers (secondary reinforcers)
Stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer
Continuous reinforcement
Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs
Partial (intermittent) reinforcement
Reinforcing a response only part of the time
Results in slower acquisition but creates resistance to extrinction
Fixed-ratio schedule
Reinforcement schedule that reinforcers a response only after a specified number of responses
Variable-ratio schedule
Reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses
Fixed-interval schedule
Reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed
Variable-interval schedule
Reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals
Punishment
An event that decreases the behavior that it follows
Cognitive map
Mental representation of the layout of one’s environment
Latent learning
Learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it
Intrinsic motivation
Desire to perform a behavior for its own sake
Extrinsic motivation
Desire to perform a behavior due to promised rewards or threats of punishment
Observational learning
Learning by observing others
No shit.
Modeling
Process of observing and imitating a specific behavior
Mirror neurons
Frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so
Prosocial behavior
Positive, constructive, helpful behavior
Memory
Persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information
Flashbulb memory
Clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event
Encoding
Processing of information into the memory system
Storage
Retention of encoded information over time
Retrieval
Process of getting information out of memory storage
Sensory memory
Immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system
Short-term memory
Activated memory that holds a few items briefly (a few seconds)
Long-term memory
Relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system; knowledge, skills, and experiences
Working memory
Newer understanding of short-term memory that involves conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial info, and of information retrieved from long-term memory
Rehearsal
Conscious repetition of info
Spacing effect
Tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice
Serial position effect
Our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list
Visual encoding
Encoding of picture images
Acoustic encoding
Encoding of sound
Semantic encoding
Encoding of meaning
Imagery
Mental pictures; powerful aid in effortful processing
Rosy retrospection
Tendency to recall events more positively than they evaluated them at the time
Mnemonics
Memory aids
Chunking
(Often automatically) organizing items into familiar, manageable units
Hierarchies
Hierarchies composed of a few broad concepts divided and subdivided into narrower concepts and facts
Iconic memory
Momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli
Echoic memory
Momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli
Long-term potentiation
Increase in a synapse’s firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation
Amnesia
Loss of memory
Implicit (procedural) memory
Retention independent of conscious recollection
Explicit memory
Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and declare
Hippocampus
Neural center that is located in he limbic system and helps process explicit memories for storage
Recall
Measure of memory in which the person must retrieve info learned earlier
Recognition
Measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned
Relearning
Memory measure that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time
Proactive (forward-acting) interference
Disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new info
Retroactive (backward-acting) interference
Disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of new info
Repression
Basic defense mechanism that banishes consciousness from anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories
Misinformation effect
Incorporating misleading info into one’s memory of an event
Source amnesia (misattribution)
Attributing to the wrong sources an event we have experienced, heard, read, or imagined
Priming
Activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory
Mood-congruen
Tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with ones’ current good or bad mood
Absent-mindedness
Inattention to details produces encoding failure
Transience
Storage decay over time
Blocking
Inaccessibility of stored info
Suggestibility
Lingering effects of misinformation
Bias
Belief-colored recollections
Persistence
Unwanted memories