Learning, Attention & Memory

Question 1

Learning

Answer 1

enduring change in behaviour, resulting from experience

•learning associations

Question 2

Conditioning

Answer 2

process environmental stimuli + behavioural responses become connected
–Classical/Pavlovian: learn 2 types of events go together
–Operant/Instrumental: learn behaviour leads to particular outcome

Question 3

Classical Conditioning

Answer 3

neutral stimulus elicit a reflexive response because associated with stimulus already produces that response
neutral: no reactions, no reflexive response
• pair it with something that produces response

Question 4

Unconditioned stimulus (US) + Unconditioned response (UR)

Answer 4

US: automatic have reaction to, automatically elicits response
UR: salivating, automatic response

Question 5

Conditioned stimulus (CS) + Conditioned response (CR)

Answer 5

CS: neutral becomes paired with US
CR: looks similar to UR, reaction to CS, but not identical

Question 6

Classical Conditioning

Answer 6

US (food) produces UR (salivation)
neutral produces no salivation response
US presented just after neutral repeatedly, US continues to produce UR
neutral stimulus alone produces CR

Question 7

Acquisition

Answer 7

gradual formation of an association between the conditioned + unconditioned stimuli
•Best when US presented right after CS

Question 8

Extinction

Answer 8

process in which the conditioned response is weakened when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus
take pairing away, eventually response extinguished, now learning tone doesn’t = food anymore

Question 9

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 9

process in which a previously extinguished response re-emerges following presentation of the conditioned stimulus
we wait, present CS again, produces some CR still

Question 10

Stimulus generalization

Answer 10

stimuli that are similar but not identical to the conditioned stimulus produce the conditioned response
not a specific stimulus, but also any identical stimulus
• Not just the tone, but any tone

Question 11

Stimulus discrimination

Answer 11

differentiation between two similar stimuli when only one of them is consistently associated with the unconditioned stimulus
know 1 tone leads to food, but other doesn’t

Question 12

Second-order conditioning

Answer 12

something is consistently paired with the conditioned stimulus, without the unconditioned stimulus, and leads to a conditioned response
associating some other stimulus with CS, then this other stimulus starts eliciting CR

Question 13

Phobias

Answer 13

acquired fears that are out of proportion to the real threat of the object or situation
•little albert: came to associate all white things with terrified response
•paired white rat + loud noises
•amygdala crucial for fear conditioning

Question 14

Classical Conditioning: Later Developments

Answer 14

• Not all CS-CR pairings are the same!

* Some associations are easier to learn than others

Question 15

Conditioned food aversion

Answer 15

Associating a particular food with an unpleasant outcome (i.e., illness). Can be formed in one trial, even if the illness doesn’t occur right away.
•even if food isn’t the thing that makes you sick

Question 16

Biological preparedness

Answer 16

animals are genetically programmed to fear some objects more than others
we’re programmed to fear particular objects that makes sense we are afraid of them. They pose much more of a realistic threat
– E.g., phobias about snakes and heights are more common than phobias about squirrels and staplers

Question 17

Prediction

Answer 17

In order for learning to take place, the CS must

accurately predict the US

Question 18

Rescorla-Wagner model

Answer 18

cognitive model of classical conditioning which states that the strength of the CS-US association is determined by the extent to which the US is unexpected or surprising
– Because this leads to greater effort by the animal to understand why the US appeared
when US unexpected/surprising, it makes us wonder what caused it
•More unexpected, more encouragement to look for cues

Question 19

Operant Conditioning

Answer 19

learning process in which the consequences of an action determine the likelihood that it will be performed in the future

Question 20

Thorndike’s law of effect

Answer 20

behaviour that leads to a “satisfying state of affairs” will more likely occur again, and any behaviour that leads to an “annoying state of affairs” will less likely recur.

Question 21

Operant Conditioning

Answer 21

-cat in the box
if cat hits lever, door opens, get food
•Eventually accidentally press the lever
•After a while cat learns what to do to get out of box

Question 22

Reinforcer

Answer 22

stimulus that occurs after a response and increases the likelihood that the response will be repeated
–Primary: satisfy biological need
secondary: money that associate with rewards

Question 23

Shaping

Answer 23

reinforcing behaviours that are increasingly similar to the desired behaviour
–Reinforcing successive approximations eventually produces the desired behaviour by teaching the animal to discriminate which behaviour is being reinforced
•We can’t just wait around for them to accidentaly do it
•Everytime animal gets a little bit closer to the trick, we reward them

Question 24

Positive + Negative reinforcement

Answer 24

• Positive reinforcement: Increases the probability of a behaviour being repeated by the administration of a (positive, rewarding) stimulus
adding positive stimulus
• Negative reinforcement: Increases the probability of a behaviour being repeated by the removal of a (negative, aversive) stimulus
taking away negative stimulus

Question 25

Positive + Negative punishment

Answer 25

• Positive punishment: Decreases the probability of a behaviour being repeated by the administration of a (negative, punishing) stimulus by adding negative stimulus • Negative punishment: Decreases the probability of a behaviour being repeated by the removal of a (positive, pleasurable) stimulus removal positive stimulus

Question 26

Continuous reinforcement

Answer 26

results in fast learning,but also fast extinguishing as soon as the reinforcement is removed when association is there everytime, learn faster • When take away reinforcer, so it’s easily extinguished

Question 27

Partial reinforcement

Answer 27

behaviour is reinforced intermittently some of the time •Variable ratio most effective (slot machine)

Question 28

Types of Partial reinforcement

Answer 28

– Ratio schedule: Based on number of times the behaviour occurs (e.g., you get paid for every 10 toys you build) # of times behaviour occurs – Interval schedule: Based on the passage of time (e.g., you get paid for every hour of work)Rewarding based on time – Fixed schedule: Reinforcement is consistent and predictable, always the same – Variable schedule: Reinforcement is variable and unpredictable (occurs after a varying number of behaviours, or a varying amount of time) unpredictable

Question 29

Biological Constraints

Answer 29

Animals have a difficult time learning behaviours that are incompatible with innate, adaptive behaviours – Conditioning is most effective when the association between the behavioural response and the reinforcement is similar to the animal’s built-in predispositions hard to get animal to do something if it’s opposite something it does naturally

Question 30

Latent learning

Answer 30

Learning that occurs without reinforcement • Edward Tolman argued that reinforcement had more impact on performance than acquisition/learning – Showed that rats could learn a path through a maze without reinforcement (latent learning), but not reveal their learning until it is reinforced (red line below) animals learn without reinforcements •Once you add reinforcement, they perform better + faster •Evidence shows that it has more to do with performance

Question 31

Insight learning

Answer 31

occurs without reinforcement | aha moments, no need reinforcement

Question 32

Observational Learning

Answer 32

behaviours are acquired or modified following exposure to others performing the behaviour • E.g., Bobo Doll Experiment – Vicarious reinforcement •See others engaging in behaviour, whether they get reward/punished •Vicarious: seeing others being reinforced/punished for behaviour

Question 33

Superstitious Behaviour

Answer 33

tendency to associate chance events with other events that occur together in time can lead us to associate chance events unrelated to reinforcements or punishments

Question 34

Biological Basis of Learning

Answer 34

• The experience of pleasure usually results from activation of dopamine neurons in the nucleus accumbens – More dopamine is released under deprived conditions (e.g., getting food when you are starving is more rewarding then getting food when you are not starving) • More dopamine!more reinforcement • More deprived = more dopamine release

Question 35

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

Answer 35

strengthening of a synaptic connection so that postsynaptic neurons are more easily activated – Neurons that fire together (e.g., those that signal the CS and US), wire together (synapses become strengthened, so that when one fires, the other fires automatically) •Synapses become strengthened •After LTP: more receptors + neurotransmitters

Question 36

Attention

Answer 36

selective –It has to be selective because it is limited – Selective attention is adaptive no need to pay attention for vast majority of thing •No need to encode a lot of things/details

Question 37

Change blindness

Answer 37

common failure for people to notice large changes in their environment -directions test don’t notice it’s a diff person

Question 38

Visual search tasks

Answer 38

– Searching for one feature is fast and automatic (parallel processing: effectively blocking further processing of others) • The target will “pop out” at you – Searching for two (or more) features is slow and effortful (serial processing) • Must examine each target one-by-one we have to scan through, so it takes longer

Question 39

Models of Memory: information processing model

Answer 39

Encoding: Information is acquired and processed into a neural code that the brain can use Storage: The retention of encoded information (whether it is for a second or a lifetime) Retrieval: Recalling or remembering the stored information when we need it

Question 40

modal memory model:

Answer 40

Sensory input – sensory memory (unattended info lost) – [attention] – short term (unrehearsed info lost) – [encoding] – longterm (some memory may be lost over time) – [retrieval] – short term

Question 41

Sensory memory

Answer 41

Memory for sensory information that lasts only a fraction of a second. We are not usually even aware of it •Occurs when light, sound, odour, taste/tactile impression leaves vanishing trace on nervous system fraction of a second •Allow us to experience world as continuous stream rather than discrete sensations

Question 42

Short-term or Working memory

Answer 42

Memory that will remain for only about 20-30 seconds, unless you actively think about or rehearse it • E.g., remembering a phone number or licence plate

Question 43

Working Memory

Answer 43

7 (plus or minus 2) (though some argue for less) | • Chunking: Organizing information into meaningful units to make it easier to remember

Question 44

4 components of WM

Answer 44

– Phonological loop: Auditory information, repeating – Visuospatial sketchpad: Visual and spatial information, remembering where things are – Episodic buffer: Information about oneself, personal, autobiographical info – Central executive: Coordinates information between each component as well as long-term memory

Question 45

Long-term memory

Answer 45

relatively permanent storage of information • Differs from working memory in terms of both duration and capacity

Question 46

Long-term memory: Explicit memory

Answer 46

processes involved when people remember specific information!information that we are consciously aware of – Declarative memory: Knowledge that can be declared info we know we have access to

Question 47

Long-term memory: Implicit memory

Answer 47

system underlying unconscious memories! memories we acquire without awareness or intention and do not even know that we know might not even know you know it

Question 48

Types of Explicit Memory: Episodic memory

Answer 48

Memory of your personal past experiences that includes information about the time and place the experiences occurred autobiographical – E.g., What you did on your last birthday

Question 49

Types of Explicit Memory: Semantic memory

Answer 49

Memory for knowledge about the world – things that you know, even though you may not remember where or when you learned it knowledge of the world – E.g., The capital of France

Question 50

Types of Implicit Memory: Classical conditioning

Answer 50

Knowing that certain music is associated with bad things | associating certain music with certain outcomes

Question 51

Types of Implicit Memory: Repetition priming

Answer 51

– Improvement in identifying or processing a stimulus that has been experienced previously • E.g., Complete the word: ___ory habitual, automatized

Question 52

Types of Implicit Memory: Procedural memory

Answer 52

– Motor skills, habits, and other behaviours that we remember how to do without thinking about it – E.g., Clive Wearing: worst case of memory loss, lasts 30 sec

Question 53

Memory

Answer 53

construction, not accurate •Memories are mental representations, stored in networks of neurons in the brain – Organized by meaning and function

Question 54

Long-term Memory: Information Organization - Association networks

Answer 54

item's characteristics + associates linked to it closer nodes are, the stronger the association activating a node increases likelihood that closely associated nodes will also be activated • Activated red, name vehicle, firetruck comes to mind easily because red is activated, so firetruck already activated

Question 55

Long-term Memory: Information Organization - Schemas

Answer 55

Hypothetical cognitive structures that help us perceive, organize, process, and use information process new info in light of that schema • Fitting it in with what we already know o Coat hangers, structure already • Without it, you don’t know what you should remember

Question 56

Long-term Memory: Information Organization - Context dependent memory

Answer 56

Memory enhancement that occurs when the recall situation is similar to the encoding situation – May be similar in terms of physical location, background music, odours, etc. room acts as retrieval cues, similar context as situation when encoding •Learning list of words underwater/on land and recalling them underwater/on land •When context match in learning + recalling = better memory

Question 57

Long-term Memory: Information Organization - State dependent memory

Answer 57

Memory enhancement that occurs when one’s internal state during the recall situation is similar to the encoding situation – E.g., mood if mood same during encoding + recall situation = better memory

Question 58

Biology of Memory

Answer 58

• Memories are stored in multiple regions of the brain and linked through memory circuits – Different memory systems use different brain regions •Memory for visual linked to visual system •Depends on type of memory linked to particular memory system

Question 59

Medial temporal lobes

Answer 59

Important for the consolidation of new declarative memories – Responsible for coordinating and strengthening the connections among neurons when something is learned (but not the storage of memories) – E.g., Patient H.M., Clive Wearing important for consolidation of new memories • Transfering WM – LTM

Question 60

Reconsolidation

Answer 60

occurs every time a memory is activated: may differ from the original memory gets reconsolidated after recalling •Suceptible to mistakes •H.M got medial temporal lobe taken out

Question 61

Hippocampus within medial temporal lobe region

Answer 61

Particularly important for spatial memory!memory for the physical environment (location of objects, direction, cognitive maps) –Rats and the Morris Water Maze: rat placed in water + learns to swim to platform hidden just below surface •Place cells: neurons that fire only when rat returns to a specific location •As rats become familiar, place cells acquire links to aspects of surroundings

Question 62

Forgetting

Answer 62

Our ability to forget is actually surprisingly adaptive! You may owe a lot of your well-being to your ability to forget – E.g., Jill Price (“The Woman Who Could Not Forget”) •Ability to forget adaptive for happiness + well being •Means that we relieve everything all the bad

Question 63

Most forgetting occurs because of interference

Answer 63

– Proactive interference: When prior information inhibits the ability to remember new information – Retroactive interference: When new information inhibits the ability to remember old information

Question 64

Memory Distortion: Suggestibility

Answer 64

Misremembering after being told misleading information – E.g., “How fast were the cars going when they ________ into each other?” when we’re told some info which influences our remembering •Memory distorted based on misleading info (wording)

Question 65

False memories

Answer 65

easy to plant | – E.g., “Remember the time you got lost in the mall?”

Question 66

Memory Distortion: Misattribution

Answer 66

misremembering of the time, place, person, or circumstances involved with a memory –sleeper effect: arguments that initially not persuasive because they come from questionable sources become more persuasive over time false fame effect: remember name you heard before, likely assume they’re famous

Question 67

Memory Distortion: Cryptomnesia

Answer 67

Believing an idea is new (and yours), when really it is based on something you have come across previously (e.g., something you read, something you heard) –Unintended plagiarism

Question 68

Eye Witness Testimony

Answer 68

• It is very difficult to distinguish an accurate eyewitness from an inaccurate one • Confidence unrelated to accuracy –Just because someone is very confident in their account of a crime does not mean that they are remembering correctly • People tend to focus on weapons, or actions, not minor details (clothing, appearance) •Suspect lineups •Show them sequentially, more accuracy, reduces likelihood of falsely recognizing someone •Difficult to distinguish accurate/inaccurate eyewitness •Can’t use confidence level to gage accuracy •Focus on weapons + behaviour, bad at remembering minor details

Question 69

Retrieval cues

Answer 69

* helps person sort through vast data in LTM to access right info * easier to recognize than recall info

Question 70

Counterconditioning

Answer 70

expose to small dose of feared stimulus while they engage in pleasant task

Question 71

Systematic desensitization

Answer 71

taught how to relax muscles, asked to imagine feared object/situation while continuing to use relaxation exercises

Question 72

Gender Differences in Learning

Answer 72

* W tend to learn route from map/experience rely on landmarks * M keep track of compass direction, make fewer errors in getting to destination, but F better at recalling landmarks

Question 73

Blocking effect

Answer 73

CS can prevent acquisition of new CS

Question 74

Occasion setter

Answer 74

stimulus associated with CS can be trigger for CS

Question 75

Reinforcer Potency

Answer 75

* Determined by amount of time engages in specific associated behaviour when free to do anything * Premack principle: more valued activity can be used to reinforce performance of less valued activity

Question 76

Behaviour Modification

Answer 76

* Use of operant conditioning to eliminate unwanted behaviours + replace them with desirable ones * Secondary reinforcement * Token economies: ppl earn tokens for completing tasks + lose token for behaving badly, can later trade tokens for objects/privileges * Monitoring can identify potential triggers of unwanted behaviour + more conscious of it

Question 77

Optimal foraging theory

Answer 77

animals in wild choose own reinforcement schedules

Question 78

Mirror Neurons

Answer 78

* Neurons activated during observations of action * Likely to be activated when observes movement that has some goal * May help us explain + predict others’ behaviour * Neural basis for empathy

Question 79

Habituation

Answer 79

decrease in behavioural response following repeated exposure to nonthreatening stimuli •Reduction in neurotransmitter release

Question 80

Sensitization

Answer 80

increase in behavioural response following exposure to threatening stimulus •Increase in neurotransmitter release

Question 81

cocktail party phenomenon

Answer 81

you can focus on single convo in midst of chaotic cocktail party + hear your name •personally relevant info can get thorugh filter of attention

Question 82

primacy effect + recency effect

Answer 82

* primacy effect: better memory for items presented at beginning (LTM) * recency effect: better memory for most recent items, at end of list (WM)

Question 83

levels of processing model

Answer 83

more deeply item encoded, more meaning it has + better it is remembered

Question 84

bias encoding

Answer 84

culture heavily influence schemas

Question 85

Seven sins of memory

Answer 85

``` •Transcience: interference -absentmindedness: Inattentive/shallow encoding + blocking: forgetting •Misattribution, suggestibility + bias •Persistence: ptsd ```

Question 86

Confabulation

Answer 86

* Unintended false recollection of episodic memory * Honest lying: no intention to decieve + unaware that it’s false * Recall mistaken facts + when questioned try to make sense of their recollections by adding facts to make story more coherent

Question 87

Memory bias

Answer 87

ppl’s memories change over time to be consistent with current beliefs/attitudes •Tend to remember events casting tem in prominent roles/favourable lights