Kaplan MCAT Behavioral Sciences Ch. 3 Learning and Memory

habituation

repeated exposure to the same stimulus can cause a decrease in response. So it's like getting use to the BART train that passes your house everyday.

dishabituation

The recovery of a response to the original stimulus and after habituation has occurred

sensitization

the opposite of habituation. There is an increase in the responsiveness due to either a repeated application of a stimulus or a particularly aversive or noxious stimulus.

Explain Ivan Pavlov's experiment with dogs. Define unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, neutral stimuli, conditioned stimulus, conditioned response, acquisition

Pavlov explained how classical conditioning works.

unconditioned stimulus: any stimulus that brings about a reflexive response. example: Presentation of food

unconditioned response: response to the unconditioned stimulus either innate or reflexive. Example: salivating to food.

neutral stimuli: a stimulus that initially does not elicit a reflexive response. For Pavlov's dogs this was the sound of the bell prior to the experiment

conditioned stimulus: a normally neutral stimulus (bell) that through association, now causes a reflexive response

conditioned response: a reflexive response to the conditioned stimulus (salivation)

acquisition: where taking a neutral stimulus and turning it into a conditioned stimulus

extinction

When the conditioned stimulus(bell) is repeatedly given without the unconditioned stimulus (meat), so the conditioned response stops occurring. In Pavlov experiment, if the bell (CS) rings often enough without the dog eating the meat, the dog may stop salivating when the bell sounds.

spontaneous recovery

in classical conditioning the re-occurence of conditioning after it had appeared to be extinct. so the conditioned response was spontaneuouly recovered. Example, Little Albert had a conditioned response every time he saw something white.

generalization

for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit a conditioned response.

discrimination (classical conditioning)

is the opposite of generalization. One is able to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus from other stimuli

taste aversion

A classically conditioned dislike for and avoidance of a particular food that develops when an organism becomes ill after eating the food.

Name the psychologists that proved classical conditioning and operant conditioning

1) Ivan Pavlov

2) B.F. Skinner

positive reinforcement

increase a behavior by adding a positive consequence or incentive following the desired behavior. Example; going to work and then collecting a paycheck.

negative reinforcement and name two types with examples.

When behavior increases because there is a removal or termination of stimulus. Example, escape learning, taking an asprin to escape a bad headache. Second example is avoidance learning, studying for MCAT to avoid a bad score on the MCAT exam

positive punishment

Decreasing(or stopping) behavior by presenting (adding) some negative stimuli. Example if a person steals from a store and they go to jail.

negative punishment

the reduction of a behavior when a stimulus is removed. Example, when a child behaves badly so you take the cell phone away from them, so that the bad behavior stops.

primary reinforcer

an innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need

secondary (condition) reinforcer

Reinforcement paired with primary reinforcer

aversive control

a behavior that is motivated by the threat of something unpleasant. Escape learning and Avoidance learning falls under aversive control

escape learning

Through operant conditioning, this is the process of learning to engage in a particular behavior in order to get away from (terminate) a negative or aversive stimulus

avoidance learning

The process by which one learns to perform a behavior in order to ensure that a negative or aversive stimulus will not be present.

What are ratio schedules based on?

the number of instances of a desired behavior

Continuous Reinforcement

Reward after every performance

What are interval schedules based on?

based on time

Fixed Ratio Schedule

Reinforce after a specific number of performances

Variable-Ratio Schedule

Reinforce after a variable number of performances such that the average is constant.

Fastest, Most resistant to extinction

Fixed-Interval Schedule

Reinforce first instance of behavior after specified time period. slowest and fastest way to extinction

Variable-Interval Schedule

Reinforce first performance after a variable time such that the average is constant

Shaping

Process of rewarding increasingly specific behaviors. like giving a dog a treat

Problem-Solving

Trial and error followed by analyzation

Preparedness

Predisposition to behavior based on instinct. Example, birds naturally peck when searching for food, so rewarding them with food in response to a pecking-behavior works well.

Instinctive Drift

Difficulty in overcoming instinctual behviors

Define the action of Mirror Neurons. Where are they located?

Neurons are located in the frontal and parietal lobes of the cerebral cortex and fire both when an individual performs an action and when that individual observes someone else performing that action.

Modeling

People learn acceptable behaviors by watching others

Encoding

put new information into memory

Automatic Processing

Information gained without effort

Semantic Encoding

Putting knowledge into meaningful context. The strongest while visual is the weakest. Acoustic in the middle

visual encoding

visulize information

acoustic encoding

store information by the way it sounds

semantic encoding

store information by meaningful context. This is the strongest way to remember something.

Controlled (Effortful) Processing

actively work to gain information

Self-Reference Effect

remember information best when put into the context of our own lives

Maintenance Rehearsal

Repetition of information to keep within working memory or to store it in long-term memory

Mnemonics

Acronyms

Method of Loci

Association of each item in a list with a location along a route

Peg-word

Associates numbers with items that rhyme with the numbers. Example, two with a shoe, three with a tree

Chunking (clustering)

Taking individual elements of a list and grouping them together

For example, consider the following list of 16 letters: E-N-A-L-P-K-C-U-R-T-R-A-C-S-U-B. Memorizing the list in order by rote might prove difficult until we realize that we can reverse the items and group them into meaningful chunks: BUS, CAR, TRUCK, PLANE.

Name the 4 types of memory stroage

1) sensory memory

2) working memory

3) short term memory

4) long term memory

Sensory memory

Very short term storage (under 1 sec)

consists of both iconic (visual) and echoic (auditory) memory

Detailed representation of environment

Iconic memory

Sensory, visual

Echoic memory

Sensory, auditory

Short-Term Memory

fades quickly if not rehearsed (after 30 sec)

Memory is limited to remembering only 7 +/- 2 items

the capacity of short-term memory can be increased by clustering information, and the duration can be extended using maintenance rehearsal.

Working Memory

Keep a few pieces of information in consciousness and manipulate that information

Integration of short-term memory with executive function

Allows us to do mental math

Long-Term Memory

Rehearsal increases recallable knowledge

Implicit (Nondeclarative/Procedural)

Explicit (Declarative)

One of the ways that information makes it into long term memory, is?

Elaborative Rehearsal

Name the three types of long-term memory? Describe each.

1) Implicit Memory (Nondeclarative/Procedural)

-((unconscious))

-consists of skills, tasks and conditioned responses

2) Explicit Memory (Declarative)

-((conscious))

-consists of facts and events

a) Semantic: the facts/concepts that we know

b) Episodic: events and experiences

What type of memory is habit learning and where is it located in the brain

Procedural memory that is stored in the basal ganglia

Which of the following encoding strategies would be most useful in enhancing long-term memory?

a) rote rehearsal alone

b) rote rehearsal and mnemonic devices

c) chunking and self-referencing

d) self-referencing and mnemonic devices

D) self-referencing and mnemonic devices

combining encoding strategies is more useful than using only one. Rote rehearsal is simply repeating information and it requires the least amount of effort.

Retrieval

something has been learned can been retained

Recall

Statement of learned information

Recognition

Identifying information that was previouly learned

Relearning

ability to relearn is quicker

Spacing Effect

spacing out study sessions you are able to learn things better

Semantic Network

is the way our brain organizes our ideas in which concepts are linked together based on similar meaning

Spreading Activation

when you think of one concept, other related concepts come to mind

Priming

Priming is like giving a "hint". Recall is aided by being presented with a word or phrase conceptually linked

Context Effects Cue

A common retrival cue

Memory is aided by being in the physical location of where encoding took place

Context effects can go even further than this; facts learned underwater are better recalled when underwater than when on land.

State-Dependent Memory

A retrival cue. Mental state affects recall;

People who learn facts or skills while intoxicated, for example, will show better recall or proficiency when performing those same tasks while intoxicated than while sober

Emotions work in a similar way

Serial Position effect

greater recall for first and last couple of items within a list

Primacy effect

tendency to remember early items in a list

Recency effect

tendency to remember late items in a list

dual-coding effect

Paivio proposes that the human mind operates with two distinct classes of mental representation (or "codes"), verbal representations and mental images, and that human memory thus comprises two functionally independent (although interacting) systems, verbal memory and image memory.

So both visual and verbal codes can be used when recalling information

Alzheimer's

Degenerative brain disorder

Loss of Acetylcholine

Dementia

Neurofibrillary Tangles and Beta-amyloid Plaques

Sundowning

Dementia

Loss of cognitive function and memory

Sundowning

a decrease in cognitive function during late afternoon and evening

Korsakoff's Syndrome

Severe memory loss caused by Thiamine (Vit B1) Deficiency. Characterized by

Retrograde, Anterograde Amnesia, and Confabulation

retrograde amnesia

inability to remember memories prior to accident

anterograde amnesia

an inability to form new memories

Confabulation

Creation of vivid but fabricated memories

Agnosia

inability to recognize objects, people, or sounds

Usually only one of the three

Decay

Natural loss of memory over time

What types of memory remain strong for elderly people?

Semantically meaningful material can be easily learned and recalled, most likely due to older individuals having a larger semantic network than their younger counterparts

Event-based prospective memeory

Interference (of memory)

blocking our ability to get information

Proactive Interference

new learning is interfered by old information. So something you learned in the past keeps you from learning new information.

Retroactive Interference

Not remembering old information because new information is getting in the way

Prospective Memory

Remembering to complete a task in the future.

Event based (buying milk when walking past a grocery store) and time-based (remember to take meds at a certain time). Elderly people are better at event based

Source Amnesia

Confusion between semantic and episodic memory

Remembers details of event but not the context under which they were learned

Misinformation effect

when we witness an event and then get some incorrect information about that event, we incorporate that incorrect information (misinformation) into our memory of the event. The result in an altered memory of the event.

So our memory can be affected by outside sources

Neuroplasticity

Development of neural connections inresponse to stimuli

When is neuroplasticity the greatest?

As young children

Synaptic pruning

Weak neural connections are broken, while stronger ones are reinforced to increase processing efficiency

Long-Term Potentiation

strengthening of neurotransmitter release and reception following repetition of stimuli

These neurotransmitters continue to stimulate activity until degradation, reuptake, or diffusion out of the synaptic cleft. In the interim, this neural activity forms a ________ that is thought to be the cause of _______. As discussed earlier, if the stimulus isn't repeated or rehearsed, the memory trace disappears, and the consequence is the loss of the short-term memory.

memory trace; short term memory

Negative reinforcers can be subdivided into _____ and _____, which differ in the _______ of the unpleasant stimulus.

escape learning and avoidance learning; timing

How can classical and operant conditioning be used hand in hand?

The classical conditioned stimulus and response can in turn reinforce behavior.

Example: Dolphin trainers take advantage of reinforcers when training dolphins to perform tricks. Sometimes, the trainers will feed the dolphin a fish after it performs a trick. The fish can be said to be a primary reinforcer because the fish is a treat that the dolphin responds to naturally. Dolphin trainers also use tiny handheld devices that emit a clicking sound. This clicker would not normally be a reinforcer on its own, but the trainers use classical conditioning to pair the clicker with fish to elicit the same response. The clicker is thus a conditioned reinforcer, which is sometimes called a secondary reinforcer.

How are negative reinforcement and punishment different?

Negative reinforcement still increases behavior, while punishment reduces behavior

What is the fastest working and most resistant to extinction schedule?

Variable Ratio

VR stands for Variable-Ratio, but it can also stand for Very Rapid and Very Resistant to extinction.

Gambling (and gambling addiction) is so difficult to extinguish because most gambling games are based on variable-ratio schedules. While the probability of winning the jackpot on any individual pull of a slot machine is the same, we get caught in the idea that the next pull will be the "right one."

Describe the relationship between node link strength and association in learning in regards to processing time.

Node link strength is a function of exposure. Increased exposure increases node link strength. Increasing the node link, the degree of association increases and this reduces the processing time.

A researcher is interested in fear and explicit memory. He recruits a sample of undergraduate students, divides them into three groups, and shows each group of participants a different video. Group A watches a neutral video that reliably induces boredom, group B watches a video that reliably induces mild fear, and group C watches a video that reliably induces overwhelming fear. The participants are tested a week later to determine how much of the video they are able to remember. Given the design of the study and what you know about emotion and memory, which group(s) probably remembers the most about the video?

a) Group B

b) Group C

c) Group A and C

d) Group A

a) Group B

The relationship between long term memory and fear follows a Yerkes-Dodson curve, this means that extreme emotional responses usually impact memory negatively as well as boredom. Both of these emotional are on total opposite ends of the spectrum.

Learning-Performing distinction

one may have learned a behavior, is doesnt mean they will perform that behavior.

Fixed action patterns are responses to a particular type of stimuli that result from which of the following?

a) innate learning

b) classical conditioning

c) cognitive responses

d) operant conditioning

A) innate learning

A fixed action pattern is considered "hard-wired" or innate. An automated process that is NOT a learned behavior