Learning & Memory Flashcards
Why do humans want to understand behavior?
- Inform on ways to improve quality of life and performance
- crucial for survival, learning what to fear/avoid and seek
- Learning promotes survival
How does learning apply to behavior?
The acquisition, modification and suppression of previous of behaviors
Give examples of the acquisition, modification and suppression of behavior
- Acquisition: Learning to walk / language
- Modification: Eat properly / Grammar
- Suppression: Not throw food / not say tbnk
How has intelligence been defined in the past?
An individual’s ability to learn
Which individual’s case was important in understanding learning?
Henry Molaison
What happened to Henry Molaison?
Lost ability to learn and form new memories, but procedural memory intact
Definition of learning
an enduring change in behavior that results from experience
Performance of a new behavior or suppression of a previous behavior
Is performance a direct demonstration of learning?
No, performance depends on
Motivation, fatigue, drugs…
Does the absence of a change in performance indicate absence of learning?
No, learning is done through observation and can occur without immediately affecting performance
How is learning often measured?
through performance
Explain how fatigue can affect behavior but not learning?
poorer performance, but doesn’t mean the person forgot how to do something
Explain how aging can change behavior but not affect learning?
Slower abilities but still there. Cant recall info as well but they know it when we say it
What is memory
ability to respond on the basis of information that was acquired earlier
What are the stages of information processing?
- Acquisition/Encoding
- Retention/Storage
- Retrieval
Which stage of information processing is failing when we can’t remember someone’s name?
Explain example for each stage
- Acquisition/Encoding: cant remember after a few minutes of meeting someone, probably never encoded
- Storage: Remembered name at initial encounter but not a couple of days late
- Retrieval, can still recognize the name in a list of names
What are some examples of conscious and intentional learning?
school, driving
What are some examples of automatic learning?
social rules, navigating campus
What type of learning involves training?
conditioning
What can be involved during learning?
environment, motor and emotional responses
Which type of learning happens without conscious awareness?
procedural learning
Which type of learning happens with conscious report, reasoning and introspection?
Declarative learning
How are different types of memory separated into categories?
memory
short-term long-term
explicit implicit
episodic sematic priming procedural
What was the view on human behavior before René Descartes?
behavior is entirely determined by conscious intent and free will
What was René Descartes’ view on human behavior?
people also respond automatically to external stimuli
