Psych/Soc: Memory Flashcards
Limbic System -> what does it include?
Where does sensory info go/what happens next?
Thalamus (sensory relay), Hippocampus (memory consolidation getting short to long term, train brain to store info so if damage our already stored memories intact but formed new memories difficult), Hypothalamus (body regulation), Amygdala (fear and aggression responses, vivid memory of trauma bc of how activated amygdala was) and it can communicate with the hypothalamus which controls the physiological aspects of emotion, such as sweating and racing heart, it also communicates with prefrontal cortex (not part of limbic system) which controls approach and avoidance behaviors -the behavioral aspects of emotion
First, sensory info arrives at the thalamus, if there is no need to process further, the thalamus filters out the sensory input
Structural vs Functional techniques for imaging
Measurement techniques allow us to measure the function and structure of brain
Function techniques -> measure what brain regions are doing so use PET, fMRI, EEG
Structural Techniques -> Measure what the brain looks like so use MRI, CT Scan
page 270 -272 in psych/soc book for more info
Neural Plasticity
Changes in synaptic connections in brain due to learning, thinking, behavior, emotions, etc, Change can occur from cellular level to the anatomical level
Long Term Potentiation
What is it and what is it important for?
What does long-term memory storage physically look like?
When something is learned, the synapses b/w neurons are strengthened and the process of long-term potentiation begins
Synaptic strength is thought to be process by which memories are consolidated for long-term memory (so learning can occur)
Connections b/w neurons strengthen and neurons reorient themselves to increase the likelihood of firing within the connectio, leading to an increase in synaptic strength b/w two neurons, increased sensitivity, and increased potential to fire and stronger electrochemical responses to a given stimuli (what “fires together, wires together”
Following brief stimulation, an increase in synaptic strength between neurons leads to increase in electrochemical response to a stimuli due to increased sensitivity (the sending neuron needs less prompting to fire its impulse and release its neurotransmitter), which results in increased potential for neutral firing after a connection has been stimulated
Long-term memory storage involves more permanent changes to the brain:
- > new synaptic connections b/w neurons
- > permanent changes to in pre- and postsynaptic membranes, and a permanent increase or decrease in neurotransmitter synthesis
- > greater branching of dendrites
- > NO CHANGE in number of neurons
Encoding, Storage, Retrieval
Encoding -> Transfer of sensations into our memory system
Storage -> Retaining information in short-term or long-term memory
Retrieval -> Extracting info that has been stored
Multi-store Model:
Sensory, Short-Term, Long Term Memory
On MCAT, what is another word for Short-Term Memory?
Sensory = the initial recording of sensory info in the memory system, is a very brief snapshot that quickly decay
Sensory input (unattended info lost) -> Short-Term (Do maintenance rehearsal to remember, and unrehearsed info lost) -> Long Term Memory (can have retrieval of this info branches off into Explicit memory (declarative memory and conscious recall) and Implicit Memory (nondeclarative and non conscious recall) -> Explicit memory splits into semantic memory and episodic memory, while implicit memory splits off into procedural memory, priming, and classical conditioning
Info from sensory memory decays rapidly if it is not passed through Broadbent’s filter into short-term memory
Short-Term Memory = Working Memory
Long-term memory is believed to have infinite memory
Serial Position Effect
The order in which words were said affects whether you are able to memorize them
Two effects: Primacy Effect (Beginning of list easier to remember) and
Recency Effect (End of list easier to remember)
Baddeley’s Model of Working Memory
Central Executive
Then short term memory -> phonological loop, episodic buffer, visuospatial sketchpad
Then goes to longterm memory
Episodic memory
Subdivision of explicit memory
autobiographical memory for information of personal importance
Amygdala plays a role here due to intersection of emotions and memories
Semantic memory
Explicit Memory that contains factual information which deteriorates first.
Procedural memory
Implicit/Procedural memory = Knowledge of how to do something, primarily in the cerebellum. Remains unconscious.
Encoding, Storage, Retrieval
Encoding -> Process of turning sensory information into memory
Then get storage and then can retrieve info when want
Explicit/Declarative Memory Implicit/procedural memory/non-declarative memory
Explicit or declarative memory involves being able to “declare” or voice what is known (ex. explaining how to shoot a basketball after reading a book about it)
More conscious and active in the hippocampus
Two types -> semantic memory and episodic memory
Implicit or procedural memory refers to conditioned associations and knowledge of how to do something
Remains unconscious
ex. having shot a basket ball before
Retrieval Cue
Provide reminders of info
Within the network model of memory, hints may activate a closely related node, making it easier to retrieve the node being searched for
For example, you are shown several red objects then asked to name a fruit so you say apple, also best retrieval cues are often contextual cues that had associations formed at the time the the memory was encoding, such as tastes, smells, and sights
Intrusion Errors
Substitution of an often semantically meaningful word during free and serial recall
ex. asked to remember Bear, Wig, and Gate but you say Dog, Hair, and Fence (words related but not perfect recall)
Intrusion errors can also occur in episodic memories when information that is consistent but did not actually occur is appended during memory retrieval. This is due to retrieval of both related episodes and generic info previously stored that is consistent with that type of event (retell story and say the door was red instead of blue)
Interference
When competing material makes it more difficult to encode or retrieve information
Can result in failure to retrieve info that is in storage
The passage of time may create more opportunity for newer learning to interfere with older learning, which is especially common if the learned info is similar
Habituation
Occurs when response diminishes as the organism becomes accustomed to a repeated stimulus “tune it out”
Sensitization
When demonstrate increasing responsiveness to a repeated stimulus or a particularly aversive or noxious stimulus. Sensitization is usually associated with increased arousal
Ivan Pavlov Describe his experiment with the following words: Unconditioned stimulus Unconditioned response Conditioned stimulus Conditioned Response Neutral stimulus Signaling stimulus
1) Present dog with food (unconditioned stimulus), they begin salivating (unconditioned response)
2) Present dogs with food along with bell (neutral stimulus), they still salivate in response to the food
3) Over time/after conditioning, the bell (is now conditioned stimulus instead of the neutral stimulus like before), will produce salivation (conditioned response) even without food
4) The neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus with it alone can elicit the conditioned response
Signaling stimulus = refers to bell, whether the bell is technically neutral or conditioned
Dopamine Reward Pathway:
Where does it begin? Where dopamine released? What other areas related?
The reward pathway begins in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and connects to the nucleus accumbens
Rewards activate this pathway and lead to dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens
Addictive drugs stimulate the release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens and thus reinforce drug use
Other regions implied in reward -amygdala, hypothalamus
Unconditioned stimulus Unconditioned response Conditioned stimulus Conditioned Response Neutral stimulus Signaling stimulus
Unconditioned stimulus -> stimulus that elicits an unconditioned response, like a response reflex, not a learned reaction, but a biological one ex. the presentation of food is the unconditioned stim in Pavlov’s experiment and salivation is unconditioned response
Unconditioned Response -> natural response
Conditioned Stimulus -> is an originally neutral stimulus (bell) that is paired with an unconditioned stim (food) until it can produce the conditioned response (salivation) w/o the unconditioned stim (food)
(Neutral Stimulus is paired with this until it creates a response)
Conditioned Response -> Learned Stimulus is paired with this until it creates a response (Learned response to a conditioned stimulus)
Neutral stimulus -> a stimulus that initially does not elicit any intrinsic response. For pavlov’s dogs, this was the sound of the bell prior to the experiment
Signaling stimulus -> the bell, whether the bell is technically neutral or conditioned
bell makes transition from neutral stim to conditioned stim
Generalization
Applies to classical or operant conditioning?
Applies to both classical and operant conditioning
Process by which stim other than the original conditioned stimulus elicit the conditioned response. So, if the dogs salivate to the sound of a chime or a doorbell, even though those were not the same sounds as the conditioned stimulus, the behavior has been generalized
Discrimination
Applies to operant or classical condiitoning?
Applies to both classical and operant conditioning
Opposite of generalization
Conditioned stimulus is differentiated from other stimuli explicitly
Thus the conditioned response only occurs for conditioned stimuli. If the dogs do not salivate at the sound of a buzzer or a horn, they have differentiated those stimuli from the sound of the bell
Operant Conditioning
BF Skinner
demonstrated that behavior which is reinforced tends to be ______; behavior which is not reinforced tends to:______
A process in which reinforcement (pleasurable consequences) and punishment (unpleasant) are employed to mold behavioral responses
BF Skinner (one of founders of Behaviorist perspective)
He invented an operant conditioning chamber (the Skinner box) to test how animal behavior can be conditioned with reinforcement and punishment, believed that psychology should focus only on observable behavior, demonstrated that behavior which is reinforced tends to be repeated (strengthened); behavior which is not reinforced tends to die out or be extinguished (weakened)
Reinforcement & Punishment
See diagram for pos/neg reinforcement
Pos/neg punishment
(written with Positive & Negative)
Reinforcement is anything that increases likelihood of the desired behavior
Punishment is anything that decreases the likelihood of the undesired behavior
Positive & Negative (operant conditioning)
What brain structures are related to negative vs pos conditioning?
See diagram for pos/neg reinforcement
Pos/neg punishment
(Written with reinforcement and punishment)
Positive -> adds something
Negative -> takes something away
Neg conditoning -> amygdala (makes sense bc this is where trauma processed)
Pos conditioning -> hippocampus
ex of negative reinforcement os taking away chores
Primary (unconditioned) reinforcers/punishers vs Secondary (conditioned) reinforcers/punishers
See the diagram for different combos
Primary reinforcers/punishers -> change the response WITHOUT previous learning
Secondary reinforcers/punishers -> are stimuli LEARNED to be rewarding or punishers (society taught us that good/bad)
Reinforcers = innately desirable, punishers = innately undesirable
Ex. Primary reinforcement can be food, affection, etc
Secondary reinforcement can be money
Primary punishment can be spanking, sprayed with hose
Secondary punishment can be losing a job, criminal record
Token Economy
World Economy
A system in which behaviors are reinforced with tokens (secondary reinforcers) and can later be exchanged for desirable stimuli, such as playing time, screen time, or toys
A token economy has been found to be very effective in managing some psychiatric disorders and is also regularly used with children both at school and at home
ex. money is a special type of token
Token economy = Go to school and complete school tasks -> Initial outcome = earn tokens -> Final outcome = exchange tokens for activities and tangible items (toys, games,etc)
World economy = Go to work and complete job tasks -> Initial Outcome = Earn Money -> Final outcome = Exchange money for activities and tangible items (e.g. car, house).
Fixed vs Variable
Ratio vs Interval
Fixed = consistent/predictable
Variable = inconsistent/unpredictable
Ratio: number of behaviors b/w delivery or the reinforcer
Interval: amount of time in b/w delivery of reinforcer
Which combos of fixed/variable and ratio/interval produce the greatest response rates?
Which one has the slowest extinciton rate?
Instrumental conditioning studies show that variable-ratio schedules of reinforcement lead to the quickest increase in rate of desired responses.
Variable-ratio schedules provide a reward for an ever-changing quota of desired responses. The unpredictability inherent in this schedule prompts subjects to produce the desired response quickly and steadily in constant anticipation of reward.
Ratio schedules – those linked to number of responses – produce higher response rates compared to interval schedules. As well, variable schedules produce more consistent behavior than fixed schedules; unpredictability of reinforcement results in more consistent responses than predictable reinforcement
Ratio schedules = highest response rates
(variable ratio seems best for responses overall)
Fixed interval schedule is like an employee learns that their boss only walks in at the end of the hour so she is lazy until the end of the hour comes up
Variable interval -> for the worker and boss example, if boss comes in at unpredictable times, the employee will work in a steady, efficient manner throughout the day, but not very quickly bc potential reinforcement is attached to an unpredictable amount of time
Variable-ratio has fast response rate and SLOWEST rate of extinction
Insight Learning
Latent Learning
Insight learning -> A process in which the solution to a problem suddenly comes to us in what might be described as a “flash of insight”
Wolfgang Köhler showed the power of insight learning by conducting studies with chimpanzees in which tempting food was placed out of reach and they were given two boxes, none of boxes were big enough to use alone so chimps ran around angry until in a sudden flash of insight, one would pile the boxes on top of each other, climb up, and grab the banana
(book says Insight learning is when previously learned behaviors are suddenly combined in unique ways)
ex. child figures out he can combine two behaviors to get his toy out from under the bed like sliding on his belly and using a tool to grab the toy
Latent learning -> something is learned but not expressed as an observable behavior until it is required ex. if a child in middle school always receives a ride to school from his dad, he may latently learn the route to school, even if he never demonstrates that knowledge. One day, when his dad is on a a business trip, the child is able to navigate to school along the same route by bike
Ventral Tegmental Area
The reward pathway begins in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and connects to the ______ (see next card for answer)
Rewards activate this pathway and lead to dopamine release in the _______
Addictive drugs stimulate the release of dopamine in the _______ and thus reinforce drug use
Nucleus Accumbens
The reward pathway begins in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and connects to the nucleus accumbens
Rewards activate this pathway and lead to dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens
Addictive drugs stimulate the release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens and thus reinforce drug use
Thalamus
Sensory relay
First, sensory info arrives at the thalamus, if there is no need to process further, the thalamus filters out the sensory input
Hypothalamus
body regulation
Amygdala
Cerebellum
Prefrontal cortex
Involved in associating emotion with memories, particularly negative memories, for example, a fear response to a dentists’s drill involves fear conditioning
PRIMARILY associated with negative emotions
Cerebellum ->involved in motor skills and conditioned responses (implicit/unconditioned/nondeclarartive memory-> procedural memory/conditioning)
Prefrontal cortex -> emotional control (increased activity here means improved emotional control and positive emotionality)
Hippocampus
necessary for coding new explicit /declarative/conscious memories (semantic, episodic) into long term memory
ex. hippocampus (for longterm memory) not fully developed until 4 so you have no explicit memories before then
Levels of Processing Model/Depth of processing
Focuses on depth of processing involved in memory; predicts the deeper info is processed, the longer a memory trace will last
More something is thought about, the better it is remembered
ex. Easier to remember plot of book than individual words
Reminiscence Bump
Older adults generally remember events they experienced from 10 to 30 years old better than any other time period, including more recent time periods
