Lecture 7: Learning and Memory Flashcards
(54 cards)
What is learning?
Process by which experiences change our nervous system and hence our behaviour
What are the theories of learning?
■ Classical Conditioning
■ Operant Conditioning
■ Statistical Learning
■ Perceptual Learning
■ Relational Learning
What is Classical Conditioning?
- Learning through association
- Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) → triggers a natural response
- Neutral Stimulus (NS) becomes a Conditioned Stimulus (CS) when paired with UCS
- Eventually, the CS triggers a Conditioned Response (CR)
Can a conditioned behaviour be de-conditioned?
Yes! Because of Extinction..
If the conditioned stimulus (CS) is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), the conditioned response (CR) will gradually weaken and disappear.
Example: If Little Albert were exposed to the white rat without the loud noise, over time his fear response would fade.
What was Pavlov’s proposal?
After training, excitation in CS centre flows to UCS centre, which elicits the
same response as UCS.
What is an Engram?
Physical representation of what has been learned.
What did Karl Lashley propose about engrams?
He proposed that if memories were connections between brain areas, they could be severed with a knife
What did Lashley do in his engram research?
He trained rats on mazes and tasks, then made cuts to the cortex to try to disrupt performance
What were the results of Lashley’s research?
■ Cuts did not impair performance…Learning did not depend on connections across the cortex
■ Learning did not depend on a single area of the cortex…Taking out a chunk of cortex impaired performance, but it was
about the chunk taken, not the cortical area itself.
What are the two key principles about the nervous system?
- Equipotentiality
- Mass action
What is Equipotentiality?
All parts of the cortex contribute equally to
complex functioning behaviors (e.g., learning) and any part can substitute for any other
What is Mass Action?
The cortex works as a whole and more cortex is better
What was Thompson’s modern search for the engram?
Thompson’s research identified one nucleus of the cerebellum, the lateral interpositus nucleus (LIP), as essential for learning. He found that lesioning the interpositus nucleus of the cerebellum completely eliminated the conditioned eyeblink response.
Which nucleus is required to demonstrate the learning?
Red nucleus is required to demonstrate the learning (i.e., execute the eye-blink)
What is Short-term memory?
Short-term memory requires rehearsal. If you read the letter sequence DZLAUV and then something distracts you, your chance of repeating the letters declines rapidly
What is long-term memory?
Once you have forgotten something from short-term memory, it is lost. With long-term memory, a hint might help you reconstruct something you thought you had forgotten.
What is the Skinner Box?
“Skinner Box”, this is a controlled environment where an animal (like a rat or pigeon) can interact with a lever, button, or other device to receive a consequence (like food or a shock).
Giving a child a sticker, What kind of conditioning?
positive reinforcement
Spanking a child, What kind of conditioning?
positive punishment
Allowing child to stay up past their bedtime after the child had tantrum, what kind of conditioning?
positive reinforcement
What was Continuous Reinforcement?
The desired behavior is reinforced every single time it occurs.
What is Intermittent Reinforcement?
Once the response is established. The
response is reinforced only part of the time.
■ Fixed-ratio or Variable ratio (# responses)
■ Fixed interval or Variable interval (amount of time)
What are the two main differences between
operant and classical conditioning?
Review Picture
What is Statistical Learning?
The ability to perceive and
learn regularities
E.g, in language, such as the
speech sounds that comprise a word
