Wk 1 - Intro Flashcards
Learning def… (x3)
Adaptive process
Permanent-ish change in behaviour or potential behaviour resulting from practice/experience
Learning situation is important
Habituation/sensitisation is… (x1)
And involves… (x2)
Getting used to a novel stimulus, not a result of any associations
Orienting response - head turns toward stimulus. Prolonged exposure leads to lack of orienting response - stimulus has no positive/negative outcomes
Three key scholars in associative learning, plus dates
Ivan Pavlov, 1849 - 1936
John Watson, 1878 - 1958
B F Skinner, 1904 - 1990
Key principles of behavioural approach to associative learning (x4)
Measure behaviours, not thoughts, representations
Infer learned association between stimulus/response
Behaviour = organism, environmental demands, internal states
Simple behaviours follow same laws as complex, ie rats and humans = same processes
Five changes in behaviours that don’t stem from associative learning (distinguishing learning from related phenomena)
Habituation
Innate response tendencies (reflex, instinct)
Maturation
Fatigue
Any from physical/motivational state or evolution
We learn basic principles of acquisition/maintenance of learned behaviours so that we can apply them to…
Behaviour modification
Cognitive psych involves the study of…
And defines psych as…
Using methodology based on the…
Mental processes such as perceiving, attending, remembering, reasoning
The science of the mind
Scientific approach - data gathering through experimentation/observation, draw hypotheses, attempt to disprove
Three key scholars on cognitive psych
Wilhelm Wundt (1879) introspection: first to call himself a psych; got students to report thoughts/internal states; introspection didn’t really catch on… Hermann Ebbinghaus (1885) empirical study of memory: taught himself lists of nonsense syllables, measured recall; found the ‘forgetting curve’ William James (1890) and principles of psych: philosopher, observed own internal processes, analysed them; many ideas that are still useful
Behaviourism rose out of introspection because of… (x4)
Lack of progress through introspection - honesty, accuracy issues
Watson = psych as objective study of behaviour not mind, parsimonious theories
Metaphor of black box: environmental input, behavioural output can be measured, actions in the box can’t
Belief in tabula rasa/blank slate rather than nativism/genetics dispositions
Three issues of behavioural approach to learning
Can’t be tabula rasa - diff species have diff genetic predispositions that determine behaviour
Doesn’t explain fixed-action patterns: stereotyped mating behaviour, nest building etc
Or critical periods
Cognition rose out of behaviourism, thanks to which researcher and which metaphor?
Chomsky: generatively of human language can’t be explained by it
Serial processor/computer model: input, processor, output/storage (turned out to be parallel processor)
Four approaches to the study of the mind
Experiments
Neuroscientific investigations - imaging/recording
Modeling - computer sims
Comparative - performance across age, clinical conditions, species groups
Lower level cognitions are…
And include… (x3)
Those that are close to the input from the senses
Perception
Attention
Memory
Higher level cognitions are…
And include… (x3)
When input has been reprocessed by cognitive system
Imagery
Language
Intelligence
Modern view of the interaction between behavioural/cognitive approaches… (cognitivist and learning theorist views)
Learning theorists: appreciate biological constraints/preparedness; acknowledge utility of cognitive constructs in theory/practice eg cognitive-behavioural therapy
Cognitivists: see utility/power of learning principles; apply associationism in theories of the mind; research brain/cognition relationships (no more box/arrow models)
