chapter 3: learning and memory

Memories influenced by outside information and mood at encoding and recall

Memory susceptibility

Learning and memory rely on changes in brain chemistry and physiology; neuroplasticity decreases with age

Neurobiology of learning and memory

Strengthening of neuronal connections from increased neurotransmitter release and adding receptor sites; converts short-term to long-term memory

Long-term potentiation

Process of becoming used to a stimulus

Habituation

Resensitization to original stimulus after second stimulus intervenes

Dishabituation

Pairing stimuli and responses, or behaviors and consequences

Associative learning

Unconditioned stimulus producing instinctive response paired with neutral stimulus; neutral becomes conditioned stimulus producing conditioned response

Classical conditioning

Behavior changed through consequences

Operant conditioning

Increases likelihood of a behavior

Reinforcement

Decreases likelihood of a behavior

Punishment

Rate of behavior affected by schedule of reinforcement; schedules based on ratio or time, fixed or variable; variable-ratio hardest to extinguish

Schedules of reinforcement

Acquisition of behavior by watching others

Observational learning (modeling)

Process of putting new information into memory; can be automatic or effortful

Encoding

Semantic encoding stronger than acoustic and visual encoding

Encoding strength

Sensory and short-term memory are transient and based on neurotransmitter activity

Sensory and short-term memory

Working memory requires short-term memory, attention, and executive function to manipulate information

Working memory

Long-term memory requires elaborative rehearsal and results from increased neuronal connectivity

Long-term memory

Stores facts and stories

Explicit (declarative) memory

Stores skills and conditioning effects

Implicit (nondeclarative) memory

Facts stored via semantic networks

Semantic networks

Recognition stronger than recall

Recognition vs. recall

Retrieval often based on priming interconnected nodes of semantic network

Priming