The process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviors
Learning
Associative Learning - learning that certain events occur together. Classical Conditioning - A type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events. Operant Conditioning - A type of learning in which behavior is strengthe
What is Associative Learning (Classical and Operant Conditioning and both forms of associative learning)?
Any event or situation that evokes a response
Stimulus
The acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language.
Cognitive Learning
His early twentieth-century experiments�now psychology's most famous research�are classics, and the phenomenon he explored we justly call classical conditioning; experiment with dogs and bell
Ivan Pavlov and Classical Conditioning:
In classical conditioning, a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning.
Neutral Stimulus (NS)
In classical conditioning, an unlearned, naturally occurring response (such as salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus
Unconditioned Response (UR)
Triggers an automatic, natural response.
Unconditioned Stimulus (US)
In classical conditioning, a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus.
Conditioned Response (CR)
In classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
Losing the learned response.
Extinction
The reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response.
Spontaneous Recovery
The tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses.
Generalization
In classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus.
Discrimination
John B. Watson focused on associative learning; Little Albert learned to fear a white rat after repeatedly experiencing a loud noise as the rat was presented
John B. Watson and Little Albert Experiment
He repeatedly insisted that external influences (not internal thoughts and feelings) shape behavior
B.F. Skinner and Operant Conditioning:
Thorndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely.
Edward Thorndike's Law of Effect
In operant conditioning research, a chamber (also known as a Skinner box) containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal's rate of bar pressing or key pecking.
Operant chamber or Skinner box (Figure 7.9)
An operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.
Shaping
Reinforcement - in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows. Positive - increasing behaviors by presenting positive reinforcers. Negative - increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli.
What is reinforcement? Types of reinforcement (table 7.)
Primary reinforcer - an innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need. Conditioned reinforcer - a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer
Primary and Conditioned reinforcers
An event that tends to decrease the behavior that it follows.
What is Punishment? (Table 7.3)
1. Punished behavior is suppressed, not forgotten. This temporary state may (negatively) reinforce parents' punishing behavior. 2. Punishment teaches discrimination among situations. 3. Punishment can teach fear. 4. Physical punishment may increase aggres
Four major drawbacks of physical punishment
1. State your goal in measurable terms, and announce it. 2. Monitor how often you engage in your desired behavior. 3. Reinforce the desired behavior. 4. Reduce the rewards gradually
Applications of Operant Conditioning At Home: Steps to Reinforce your own desired behavior
Basic Idea - Organism associates events vs. Organism associates behavior and resulting events; Response - Involuntary, automatic vs. Voluntary, operates on environment; Acquistion - Associating events (NS paired with US and becomes CS) vs. Associating res
Contrasting Classical and Operant Conditioning (table 7.4)
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
Cognitive Processes and Operant Conditioning:
A desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake.
Intrinsic Motivation
A desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment.
Extrinsic Motivation
The pioneering researcher of observational learning; Compared with children not exposed to the adult model, those who viewed the model's actions were more likely to lash out at the doll
Albert Bandura and Observational Learning (the Bobo Doll experiment)
Learning by observing others
Observational Learning
The process of observing and imitating a specific behavior
Modeling
We look, we mentally imitate, and we learn. Models - in our family or neighborhood, or on TV - may have effects - good or bad.
Applications of Observational Learning:
Positive, helpful, nonviolent
Prosocial Effects
Aggressive, violent
Antisocial Effects
The persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information.
Memory
A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.
Recall
A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test.
Recognition
A measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time.
Relearning
Encoding, Storage and Retrieval
Information Processing Model of Memory:
The processing of information into the memory system - for example, by extracting meaning.
Encoding
The retention of encoded information over time.
Storage
The process of getting information out of memory storage.
Retrieval
Sensory Memory, Short Term Memory and Long Term Memory
Atkinson and Shiffrin Three stage model of Memory: (Figure 8.2)
The immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.
Sensory Memory
Activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while dialing, before the information is stored or forgotten.
Short Term Memory
The relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.
Long Term Memory
A newer understanding of short-term memory that focuses on conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory.
Working memory (figure 8:4)
Memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare.
Explicit Memory
Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort
Effortful Processing
Retention independent of conscious recollection
Implicit Memory
Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings.
Automatic Processing
Space, time and frequency
What information do we automatically process:
While studying, you often encode the place on a page where certain material appears; later, when you want to retrieve information about automatic processing, you may visualize the location of that information on this page.
Space
While going about your day, you unintentionally note the sequence of its events. Later, realizing you've left your coat somewhere, the event sequence your brain automatically encoded will enable you to retrace your steps.
Time
You effortlessly keep track of how many times things happen, as when you suddenly realize, "This is the third time I've run into her today.
Frequency
A momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second.
Iconic Memory
A momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds.
Echoic Memory
7 + or - 2, short term memories have a limited life. Working-memory varies on age and other factors, and seems to reflect intelligence levels.
Capacity of STM and Working Memory
Chunking, mnemonics, Hierarchies, distributed practice and mass practice
Effortful processing strategies:
Encoding that requires attention and conscious effort
Effortful Processing
Organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically
Chunking
Memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices
Mnemonics
Composed of a few broad concepts divided and subdivided into narrower concepts and facts
Hierarchies
Distributed - produces better long-term recall. After you've studied long enough to master the material, further study becomes inefficient. Massed - cramming, can produce speedy short-term learning and feelings of confidence
Distributed practice and mass practice
Theoretically unlimited
What is the Capacity of LTM?
Explicit Memory - memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare." Hippocampus and Frontal Lobes - a neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit memories for storage; conscious
Explicit memory - Frontal Lobes and Hippocampus
Implicit Memory - retention independent of conscious recollection. Cerebellum and Basal ganglia - in charge of automatic/unconscious memory
Implicit memories - The Cerebellum and Basal ganglia
Amygdala - emotion-related memory formation. Flashbulb Memory - a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.
Emotion related memory - Amygdala; flashbulb memories
Recall, recognition and relearning
The 3 measures of retention:
A measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.
Recall
A measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test.
Recognition
A measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material for a second time.
Relearning
Priming, Context-dependent, state-dependent and serial Position Effect
Retrieval Cues:
The activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response.
Priming
Putting yourself back in the context where you experienced something can prime your memory retrieval.
Context-dependent
What we learn in one state - be it drunk or sober - may be more easily recalled when we are again in that state
State-dependent
Our tendency to recall best the last and first items in a list.
Serial Position Effect
Anterograde and Retrograde amnesia, encoding failure, storage decay and retrieval failure (proactive and retroactive interference)
Forgetting:
An inability to form new memories.
Anterograde Amnesia
An inability to retrieve information from one's past
Retrograde Amnesia
Much of what we sense we never notice, and what we fail to encode, we will never remember
Encoding Failure
Even after encoding something well, we sometimes later forget it. The course of forgetting is initially rapid, then levels off with time
Storage Decay
Often, forgetting is not memories faded but memories unretrieved. We store in long-term memory what's important to us or what we've rehearsed. But sometimes important events defy our attempts to access them; tip-of-the-tongue forgetting
Retrieval Failure
The disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information.
Proactive Interference
The disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information
Retroactive Interference
Study repeatedly; make the material meaningful; activate retrieval cues; use mnemonic devices; minimize interference; sleep more; test your own knowledge, both to rehearse it and to find out what you don't yet know
Strategies for Improving memory - pg. 332/333