Chapter 5.1 and 5.4: Learning and Memory

Question 1

Nonassociative learning

Answer 1

when an organism is repeatedly exposed to one type of stimulus
ex. habituation and sensitization

Question 2

Habituation

Answer 2

habit is an action that is performed repeatedly until it becomes automatic; a person learns to automatically “tune out” a stimulus

Question 3

Dishabituation

Answer 3

when the previously habituated stimulus is removed; the person is no longer accustomed to the stimulus

Question 4

Sensitization

Answer 4

the opposite of habituation; instead of being able to “tune out” or ignore the stimulus, the stimulus produces a more exaggerated response

Question 5

Associative learning

Answer 5

one event, object, or action is directly connected with another
ex. classical conditioning and operant conditioning

Question 6

Classical conditioning

Answer 6

two stimuli paired in such a way that the response to one of the stimuli changes
ex. Ivan Pavlov and his dogs; paired a bell with food, eventually dogs salivate at the sound of a bell

Question 7

Neutral stimulus

Answer 7

initially does not elicit any intrinsic response - sound of bell for Pavlov’s dogs

Question 8

unconditioned stimulus (US)

Answer 8

elicits an unconditioned response (UR), like a reflex; not a learned reaction, but a biological one - food is US and salivation is UR

Question 9

conditioned stimulus

Answer 9

originally a neutral stimulus (bell) that is paired with an unconditioned stimulus until it can produce the conditioned response (salivating) without the unconditioned stimulus (food)

Question 10

Conditioned response

Answer 10

the learned response to the conditioned stimulus (bell); it is the same as the unconditioned response (salivating), but now it occurs without the unconditioned stimulus (food)

Question 11

Acquisition

Answer 11

the process of learning the conditioned response; when the bell and food are always paired

Question 12

Extinction

Answer 12

the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli are no longer paired, so the conditioned response eventually stops occurring; if the bell is presented without food multiple times, the dog will stop salivating

Question 13

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 13

extinct conditioned response occurs again when the conditioned stimulus is presented after some period of time

Question 14

Generalization

Answer 14

stimuli other than the original conditioned stimulus elicit the conditioned response; if the dogs salivate to the sound of a chime or doorbell

Question 15

Discrimination

Answer 15

opposite of generalization, when the conditioned stimulus is differentiated from other stimuli, thus the conditioned response only occurs for conditioned stimuli; the dogs don’t salivate at the sound of chime or horn

Question 16

Operant conditioning

Answer 16

uses reinforcement (pleasurable consequences) and punishment (unpleasant consequences) to mold behavior and eventually causes associative learning; BF Skinner

Question 17

Reinforcement

Answer 17

anything that will increase the likelihood that a preceding behavior will be repeated
positive - positive stimulus that occurs immediately following a behavior (food pellet for rats pushing lever)
negative - a negative stimulus that is removed immediately following a behavior (electric shock removed after rats push lever)

Question 18

Primary (unconditional) reinforcers

Answer 18

innately satisfying or desirable; integral to our survival

Question 19

secondary (conditional) reinforcers

Answer 19

learned to be reinforcers; neutral stimuli that are paired with primary reinforcers to make them conditioned

Question 20

Reinforcement schedules

Answer 20

operant conditioning relies on this; can be continuous or intermittent - continuous reinforcement results in rapid behavior acquisition but also in rapid extinction, intermittent results in slower acquisition of behavior but greater persistence

Question 21

Fixed-ratio schedule

Answer 21

reinforcement provided after a set number of instances of behavior
ex. every 10 times a wanted behavior is performed

Question 22

Variable-ratio schedule

Answer 22

reinforcement provided after an unpredictable number of occurrences; this is the best

Question 23

fixed-interval schedule

Answer 23

provides reinforcement after a set period of time that is constant, behavior will increase as the reinforcement interval comes to an end; this is the worst

Question 24

variable-interval schedule

Answer 24

provides reinforcement after an inconsistent amount of time, produces a slow but steady behavior response rate

Question 25

Shaping

Answer 25

a way to learn more complex behavior by breaking them down and reinforcing the "pieces of the puzzle" ex. a baby learning how to walk

Question 26

Punishment

Answer 26

the process by which a behavior is followed by a consequence that decreases the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated positive - applying a negative stimulus with the behavior negative - taking away a positive stimulus after the behavior has occurred

Question 27

Escape

Answer 27

an individual learns how to get away from an aversive stimulus by engaging in a particular behavior - this reinforces that particular behavior ex. child throwing tantrum to escape eating veggies

Question 28

Avoidance

Answer 28

a person performs a behavior to ensure an aversive stimulus is not presented ex. child faking to be sick to avoid eating veggies

Question 29

Behaviorism

Answer 29

associated with Skinner; all psychological phenomena are explained by describing the observable antecedents of behaviors and its consequences - not concerned with unobservable events in the mind, brain is "black box"

Question 30

Cognitive psychology

Answer 30

a reaction to behaviorism; began to focus on the brain, cognitions (thoughts), and their effects on how people navigate the world

Question 31

Insight learning

Answer 31

a part of cognitive psych - they thought not all learning is due to stimulus pairing and reinforcement; when previously learned behaviors are suddenly combined in unique ways

Question 32

Latent learning

Answer 32

part of cognitive psych; something is learned by not expressed as an observable behavior until it is required

Question 33

Short-term to Long-term memory

Answer 33

short-term lasts for seconds to hours, and can potentially be converted into long-term through a process called consolidation

Question 34

Long-term potentiation

Answer 34

occurs when, following brief periods of stimulation, an increase in the synaptic strength between two neurons leads to stronger electrochemical responses to given stimuli - results in increased potential for neural firing

Question 35

Observational learning

Answer 35

aka social learning or vicarious learning - learning through watching and imitating others ex. modeling

Question 36

Modeling

Answer 36

one of the most basic mechanisms behind observational learning - an observer sees the behavior being performed by another person, later the observer imitates the behavior he observed

Question 37

Encoding

Answer 37

the process of transferring sensory information into our memory system

Question 38

Serial position effect

Answer 38

when someone attempts to memorize a series, such as a list of words; in immediate recall, the person is more likely to remember the first and last words Primacy effect - first word is easily recalled because they have had most time to be encoded and transferred to memory Recency effect - last word is recalled because may still be in phonological loop and may be readily available

Question 39

Working memory

Answer 39

information is maintained temporarily as part of a mental activity - includes a phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, central executive, and episodic buffer correlated with prefrontal cortex - a storage bin to hold memories (short and long term) that are needed to process info or solve a problem

Question 40

Mnemonic

Answer 40

any technique for improving retention and retrieval of information from memory

Question 41

Rehearsal

Answer 41

aids memory through use of phonological loop ex. don't have a way to write down phone number, so you repeat digits over and over again in head; remembering Pledge of Allegiance after multiple rehearsals

Question 42

Chunking

Answer 42

a strategy in which information to be remembered is organized into discrete groups of data ex. memorizing phone numbers in groups of 3 and a group of 4

Question 43

Hierarchies

Answer 43

people make use of these for organization while memorizing info; recall improves when words are organized into a group

Question 44

Depth of processing

Answer 44

important for encoding memories; info that is thought about at a deeper level is better remembered

Question 45

Dual coding hypothesis

Answer 45

indicates that it is easier to remember words with associated images than either words or images alone

Question 46

Self-reference effect

Answer 46

easier to remember things that are personally relevant

Question 47

Sensory memory

Answer 47

initial recording of sensory information in the memory system; two types: Iconic memory - brief photographic memory for visual information Echoic memory - memory for sound which lasts a few seconds ex. have trouble hearing someone, but then hear and make sense of what was said a second later

Question 48

Short-term memory

Answer 48

also limited in duration and capacity; adults can recall about 7 items and memory is retained only for 20 seconds, until it is actively processed correlated with pre-frontal cortex and hippocampus

Question 49

Long-term memory

Answer 49

retained sometimes indefinitely; believed to have an infinite capacity correlated with the hippocampus - where new information is sought to be remembered resides temporarily and is then encoded into long-term memory

Question 50

Implicit/Procedural memory

Answer 50

type of long-term memory; conditioned associations and knowledge of how to do something without conscious recall; procedural - motor skills, actions

Question 51

Explicit/declarative memory

Answer 51

type of long-term memory; being able to declare or voice what is known, explaining concepts; includes semantic and episodic ex. explaining basketball is explicit, demonstrating on the court is implicit

Question 52

Semantic

Answer 52

memory for factual information; semantic memory deteriorates before episodic

Question 53

Episodic

Answer 53

autobiographical memory for information of personal importance; memory for events experienced personally

Question 54

Hippocampus

Answer 54

encoding of new explicit memories; associated with short term memories

Question 55

Cerebellum

Answer 55

involved in learning skills and conditioned associations - implicit memory

Question 56

Amygdala

Answer 56

associating emotion with memories, particularly negative memories

Question 57

Semantic networks

Answer 57

information is stored in long-term memory as an organized network; individual ideas are called nodes (cities on a map), connecting the nodes are associations (roads); stronger associations depend on how frequently and how deeply the connection is made

Question 58

Spreading activation

Answer 58

when trying to retrieve info, we start at one node, then the activation spreads to other nodes around it to an extent related to the strength of association between that node and others

Question 59

Retrieval

Answer 59

process of finding information stored in memory

Question 60

Recall

Answer 60

the ability to retrieve information free recall - retrieving the item out of thin air cued recall - retrieving info when provided with a cue prospective recall - remembering to do things in the future

Question 61

Recognition

Answer 61

identifying specific information from a set of information that is presented ex. multiple choice questions

Question 62

Relearning

Answer 62

process of learning material that was originally learned; able to relearn it more quickly than when it was originally learned

Question 63

Priming

Answer 63

retrieval cues provide reminders of information; hints activate nodes, and prior activation of nodes and associations is called priming

Question 64

Mood-dependent memory

Answer 64

emotions also serve as retrieval cues; what we learn in one state is most easily recalled when we are once again in that emotional state, state-dependent learning

Question 65

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 65

patients with damage to the hippocampus could develop this; an inability to encode new memories

Question 66

Retrograde amnesia

Answer 66

damage to the hippocampus could develop this; inability to recall information that was previously encoded

Question 67

Proactive interference

Answer 67

when information previously learned interferes with the ability to recall information learned later

Question 68

Retroactive interference

Answer 68

newly learned information interferes with the recall of information learned previously

Question 69

Positive transfer

Answer 69

old information facilitates the learning of new information

Question 70

Schema

Answer 70

the info we retrieve may be based more on a schema than on reality; it's a mental blueprint containing common aspects of some part of the world

Question 71

Misinformation effect

Answer 71

after people are exposed to subtle misinformation, they are usually susceptible to this tendency to misremember

Question 72

False memories

Answer 72

inaccurate recollections for an event and may be the result of the implanting of ideas - can be created by repeatedly imagining that one did something

Question 73

Source monitoring

Answer 73

when recalling info, people are also susceptible to forgetting one particular fact - the information's source