Chapter 1: Introduction

Question 1

What is psychology?

Answer 1

the science of behavior and mind

Question 2

What is science?

Answer 2

an objective way to evaluate hypotheses

based on observable facts (data) and well described and repeatable methods

construct a model of the world that is the best we have at a moment in time

Question 3

What is behavior?

Answer 3

observable actions of a person or animal

Question 4

What is the mind?

Answer 4

thoughts, feelings, sensations, memories, dreams, motives and other subjective experiences

internal representation that we experience and assume others have

not directly observable

Question 5

How can one study an unobservable concept/process/entity like the mind?

Answer 5

through observation of physical and bodily phenomena (i.e. behavior)

there is plenty of evidence to suggest that organisms store and use knowledge

this process is at the crux of what we will study in this course

Question 6

What is neurobiology?

Answer 6

study of the structure and operation of the nervous system

Question 7

What is the nervous system?

Answer 7

the physiological system comprising the CNS (brain, spinal cord) and PNS (nerve) which controls the dynamic and adaptive operations of the body, both overt and covert

Question 8

What is behavioral neuroscience?

Answer 8

aka physiological psychology, psychobiology, neuropsychology

the overlap of psychology and neurobiology

study of how the brain operates to produce behavior

Question 9

What is cognitive neuroscience?

Answer 9

aka neuropsychology

the specifics of human behavioral neuroscience of the interface of cognitive psychology and neurobiology

study of how the brain operates to produce mind/cognition

Question 10

What is learning?

Answer 10

behaviorist definition: process by which the environment modifies behavioral expression

cognitive definition: process by which knowledge is acquired

Question 11

What is memory?

Answer 11

process by which environmental modifications upon behavioral expression (i.e., learning) are maintained

process by which knowledge is maintained

retaining the process of learning

Question 12

What is the first premise of the neurobiology of learning and memory?

Answer 12

the operation of the nervous system is completely responsible for behavior and mind

Question 13

What is the second premise of the neurobiology of learning and memory?

Answer 13

environmental influences that modify behavior or thought must reflect functional (& structural) changes in the nervous system

Question 14

What are the brain mechanisms of learning and memory?

Answer 14

the brain is plastic, it exhibits activity-dependent changes in structure (anatomy) and function (physiology)

learning involves making plastic changes in the brain, these changes affect neural responses and thus influence ongoing behavior

memory involves the retention of these plastic changes, possibility to influence future behavior

Question 15

What is the theme of connection in the textbook?

Answer 15

memory is a function of the modified connections between the units of the nervous system (neurons)

Question 16

What is the theme of cognition in the textbook?

Answer 16

memory is defined and constrained by higher order psychological aspects that can manifest themselves as complex associations in both humans and animals

Question 17

What is the theme of compartmentalization in the textbook?

Answer 17

different brain systems are differentially involved in different forms of memory

Question 18

What is the theme of consolidation in the textbook?

Answer 18

permanent (long-term) memory traces require a process separate from that of short-term traces

Question 19

What are the aspects of the psychological approach to learning and memory?

Answer 19

“black box” approach

don’t look inside the structure, just the function of memory

Question 20

What are the aspects of the neurobiological approach to learning and memory?

Answer 20

look inside the structure at brain systems, synapses, molecules

Question 21

What concepts are associated with Aristotle?

Answer 21

importance of association

associate concepts to remember

as objects on a familiar path

Question 22

What concepts are associated with Ebbinghaus?

Answer 22

forgetting, savings, massed vs spaced training

used himself as subject

nonsense syllables; if you don’t study it you won’t remember

savings: took less time to re-learn

massed vs. spaced; intense, quick (massed) vs. took his time (spaced), spaced less likely to be forgotten (time between is important)

Question 23

What concepts are associated with Muller and Pilzecker?

Answer 23

rehearsal, interference and consolidation

after learning a list, subjects couldn’t help but replay it in their minds, to prevent they got subjects to do something else to stop this, interfered with rehearsal process, decreased memory

Question 24

What concepts are associated with William James?

Answer 24

flavours of memory

phases: temporal staging (short vs. long-term)

types of memories (habits vs. memories)

Question 25

What concepts are associated with Pavlov?

Answer 25

conditioned reflexes

stimulus-response learning

Question 26

What are the influences of philosophy on psychology?

Answer 26

Greeks proposed idea of mind (spirit-self), divided into components (sensation and memory), location (brain and heart)

adopted by western religions, mind (soul) and body (brain) separate, dualism, scientific study of mind not possible, mind-body problem

current scientific theory: mind generated through operation of the body (brain), materialism, scientific study possible

Question 27

What was Ivan Pavlov’s reflexive conditioning?

Answer 27

Nobel laureate: physiology of digestion, discovery of conditioning incidental (accidental)

father of S-R (learning) theory: association of stimuli to responses; conditioned, unconditioned stimuli and responses

led to behaviorism, Watson, Skinner

Question 28

What are is learning and memory in the view of behaviorist theorists?

Answer 28

Pavlov/Watson (S-R learning theory) all behaviors and behavioral modification are reflexive

Thorndike/Skinner (Operant conditioning): influence of the consequences of behavior upon future behavior

Tolman (Latent learning): place learning in mazes

Question 29

What concepts are associated with Ramon y Cajal?

Answer 29

neuron theory, synapses site of intercellular communication and modifications

neurons are the building blocks, used the Golgi method to determine this

the connections (synapses) was the site of modification

Question 30

What concepts are associated with Ribot, Alzheimer, and Korsakoff?

Answer 30

brain related memory disorders, recent vs. remote

head trauma, age, and alcohol are all causes

memory disorders impaired recent memory, not remote

Question 31

What concepts are associated with Hebb?

Answer 31

theory of neuronal association

“cells that fire together, wire together”

experience contingent brain modification

synaptic model for associative learning - Hebbian synapse

Bliss and Lomo - LTP

Question 32

What concepts are associated with Kandel?

Answer 32

theory into reality: memory is long-lasting changes of synaptic efficacy

showed Hebb’s idea was right

direct link between learning and synaptic change

aplysia and simple learning

Question 33

What concepts are associated with Brenda Milner?

Answer 33

HM and memory systems

demonstrated memory had different forms, declarative vs. procedural

multiple memory systems in human

HM and the importance of the medical temporal lobe in explicit vs. implicit memory

Question 34

What role did Ribot play in the search for the engram in the brain?

Answer 34

Ribot: brain damage causing retrograde amnesia, idea of lability and consolidation

Korsakoff/Alzheimer: neural degeneration causing anterograde amnesia and graded retrograde amnesia

lack of learning

Question 35

What role did Lashley play in the search for the engram in the brain?

Answer 35

physical location of the engram

went looking for memory location, don’t exist in just one spot

90% rule: mass action theory, if you’re missing 90% of brain then stuff will go wrong

Question 36

What concepts are associated with Olds and P. Milner?

Answer 36

reward circuits in the brain

brain mechanism for operant conditioning