Learning
relatively permanent change in knowledge/behavior arising from experience
Classical Conditioning
we learn to associate two stimuli and thus to anticipate events
Pavlov
classical conditioning, putting food in a dogs mouth caused the animal to salivate. dog began salivating at the sight of food
Unconditioned Response
naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus (salvation in response to food)
Unconditioned Stimulus
stimulus that unconditionally (naturally and automatically) triggers a response (food in mouth triggers salvation)
Conditioned Response
the learned response to a previously neutral stimulus (salvation in response to the tone was conditional upon the dog's learning the association between the tone and food)
Conditioned Stimulus
an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response (tone stimulus now triggers the conditional salvation)
Little Albert
taught to be afraid of things that are white. he sees a white rat, they bang a metal pole and he gets afraid. they do it continuously and he eventually starts crying at the sight of the rat.
Tolerance
diminished response to a drug after repeated use
Clever Hans
horse that learned to do math by picking up on signals from his master
Extinction
the diminished responding that occurs when the conditioned stimulus (tone) no longer signals the impending unconditioned stimulus (food)
Spontaneous Recovery
the reappearance of the conditioned response triggered by the conditioned stimulus after a pause
Response Generalization
tendency for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to trigger the conditioned response
Stimulus Discrimination
in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between the conditioned stimulus and other irrelevant stimuli
Higher-Order Conditioning
conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus (dog knows that tone=food=salvation, may learn light=tone=food=salvation)
Scapegoat Food (Classical Conditioning)
cancer patients receiving chemotherapy can learn to associate the nausea with a new food. patients ate hospital food and kept their weight (experiment worked). us=chemotherapy, ur=nausea, cs=mapletoff ice cream, cr=nausea
Associative Learning
certain things occur together. the events may be two stimuli (classical conditioning) or a response and it's consequences (operant conditioning)
Operant Conditioning
we learn to associate a response and its consequences and thus repeat actions followed by good results.
Operant Behavior
behavior that operates on the environment to produce consequences
Law of Effect
rewarded behavior is likely to recur.
Skinner
Operant Conditioning experiments. Taught pigeons to walk, play ping-pong and keep a missile on course.
Skinner's Box
operant chamber, has a bar or key that an animal presses or pecks to release a reward of food or water, and a devise that records the responses.
Shaping
Operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations
Negative Reinforcement
positive behavior followed by removal of negative consequences
Positive Punishment
decrease in a negative behavior followed by positive consequence
Observational Learning
learning by observing and imitating others
Vicarious Conditioning
learning the consequences of an action from observing its consequences from someone else (Bandura BoBo doll experiment)
Rocky and Johnny Study
children that saw rocky get away with negative behavior were more likely to act similarly (vicarious conditioning)
Primary Reinforcers
an innately reinforcing stimuli, such as one that satisfies a biological need (having food when hungry)
Conditioned Reinforcers
(secondary reinforcers) get their power through learned associations with primary reinforcers (rat in skinners box learns that the light signals that food is coming, the rat will work to turn the light on)
Continuous Reinforcement
reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs
Partial Reinforcement
only reinforcing a response sometimes (results slower) leads to much greater resistance to extinction
Fixed-Ratio Schedules
in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses
Fixed-Ratio Example
free burrito after purchasing 10 burritos
Variable Ratio Schedules
rewards responses after unpredictable number of responses
Variable Ratio Example
slot machines
Fixed Interval Schedules
reinforces only after a specified time has lapsed
Fixed Interval Example
checking frequently for mail as mail time approaches
Variable-Interval Schedules
reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals
Variable Interval Example
you've got mail" finally rewards persistent rechecking for email
mirror neurons
frontal lobe neurons that fire when observing another doing something, enables imitation
Premark Principle
the opportunity to engage in preferred behavior can be used as a reward for engaging in less preferred behavior
Premark Example
eat your vegetables and you get dessert
Classical Conditioning
an organism associates different stimuli that it does not control and respond automatically
Operant Conditioning
an organism associates its behaviors with their consequences
Latent Learning
learning that is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it
Latent Learning Example
rats in maize
Garcia & Koelling Experiment
taste aversion, rats avoid flavored water because they associated it with sickness.
Steps of Information Processing
encoding, storage and retrieval
Encoding
getting information into the memory system
Storage
retaining information
Types of Storage
sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory
Retrieval
getting the info back out of memory storage
Connectionism
specific memories arise from particular activation patterns within interconnected newtorks
Primacy Effect
more likely to remember words at the beginning of the list (store in long term memory)
Recency Effect
more likely to remember most recent words, less likely to remember words in the middle of the list
Serial Position Effect
our tendency to recall best the last and first items on a list
Causes of Forgetting
decay and interference
Decay
memory traces fade over time (forgetting what you learned in HS)
Interference
proactive and retroactive. other items in storage get confused with what you're trying to recall
Proactive Interference
previously stored information interferes with new information you're trying to remember
Retroactive Interference
newly stored information interferes with retrieval of old information
Reconstructive Nature of Memory
we use various stages to "rebuild" our original experiences
Elizabeth Loftus
car crash experiment, "implanted memories
Loftus Implanted Memories
lost in mall experiment
Amnesia
the loss of memory. retrograde, anterograde and event
Retrograde Amnesia
lack of memory for events that occurred just before a brain trauma
Anterograde Amnesia
lack of memory for events that occur just after the brain trauma
Event Amnesia
can't form any new memories after brain trauma occurs
Intrinsic Motivation
a desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake
Extrinsic Motivation
a desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment
Hermann Ebbinghaus
1st experimental studies of memory, studied his own learning and forgetting of novel verbal materials
Nonsense Syllables
Ebbinghaus experiment. the more you practice learning syllables one day, the easier it is to relearn them the next.
Short-Term Memory
activated memory that holds a few items briefly before information is stored and forgotten
Temporary Memory, Encodes Info Through Rehearsal, Decisions, Retrieval Strategies
ST Memory
Sensory Memory
the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system (visual and auditory) unlimited capacity.
Long-Term Memory
permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system, includes knowledge, skills and experiences.
George Sperling
experiment where he showed people 3 rows of 3 letters for 1/20th of a second, followed letters with H/M/L tone which directed participants to report the letters from the top, middle or botom row. people rarely missed a letter.
Iconic Memory
a momentary sensory memory of useful stimuli. a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second.
Echolic Memory
a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli, if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled for 3 or 4 seconds
Working Memory
focuses on conscious active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial info, and of info retrieved from long-term memory
Spacing Effect
the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through cramming
Levels of Processing
visual, acoustic and semantic encoding
Visual Encoding
shallow processing, the encoding of picture images
Acoustic Encoding
shallow processing, the encoding of sound, especially the sound of words
Semantic Encoding
the encoding of meaning, including the meaning of words. produces better recognition later than does shallow processing.
Chunking
organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically (acronyms)
Flashbulb Memories
a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment
Hippocampus
helps process explicit memories for storage (memories of facts and experiences); a neural center that is located in the limbic system
Recall
a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier (fill-in-the-blank test)
Recognition
a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned (multiple choice test)
Priming
the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory
Mood Congruent
the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with ones current mood
Jenkins and Daltenbach
found that more forgetting occurred when a person stayed awake and experienced other new material
Repression
the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety from consciousness (motivated forgetting)
Types of Long-Term Memory
Implicit and Declaritive
Implicit Memory
retention independent of conscious recollection. classical conditioning, priming effects, procedural memory
Priming Effects
if you're exposed to stimuli over and over again, you remember it easier. insidious advertising and propaganda effect.
Procedural Memory
hard to verbalize procedure but you can show how to do it (playing piano)
Declarative Memory
things you can describe to others (conscious). Episodic and Semantic
Episodic Memory
personal events, things that happen to you. requires context (time and place). the "gateway" to semantic memory.
Semantic Memory
facts and knowledge, can influence the information of episodic memories
Alzheimers Disease
early patients lose episodic memory first, starts around hippocampus and progresses to frontal lobe
Atrophy
in alzheimers, shrinking of the volume of the brain
Enlargement of Ventricles
in alzheimers, more empty fluid space
Senile Plaques
in alzheimers, dense and insoluble deposits of protein and other molecules outside and around neurons, clumped together glial cells