Psych 1010 Final

Ch.6.10-8

shaping (operant conditioning)

Consists of reinforcing behaviors that are increasingly similar to the desired behavior

* Used to train animals to perform extraordinary behaviours

successive approximation (shaping)

An explanation for the acquisition of complex behavior. Behavior such as learning to speak will be reinforced only as it comes to approximate or approach the final desired behavior.

primary reinforcer

an innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need or necessary for survival

Secondary reinforcers

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learned reinforcers, such as money, that develop their reinforcing properties because of their association with primary reinforcers

* Established through classical conditioning; do not satisfy biological needs like the primary reinforcer

Premack principle

A more-valued activity can be used to reinforce the performance of a less valued activity

* Commonly used by parents to their children

Holstein & Premack

- Theorized how a reinforcer's value could be determined by the amount of time a person willingly engages in a specific behavior associated with the reinforcer

Temporal discounting

When the value of a reward diminishes over time & is seen as less valuable

* impacts the effectiveness of operant conditioning bc the longer the delay between the action & its consequences, the worse the learning

continuous reinforcement

a type of (fast) learning in which behavior is reinforced each time it occurs

Partial reinforcement

reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement

Ratio schedule

a schedule in which reinforcement is based on the number of times the behavior occurs

Interval schedule

reinforcement is provided after a specific unit of time

fixed-interval schedule

reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed

* EX: a worker receives a paycheck every Friday

Variable interval schedule

a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals

Fixed ratio schedule

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses have been made

Variable ratio schedule

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses

Partial-reinforcement extinction effect

behavior lasts longer under partial reinforcement than under continuous reinforcement

Equipotentiality

suggests that any behavior can be learned as long as it's reinforced

taste aversion learning

A biological tendency in which an organism learns, after a single experience, to avoid a food with a certain taste, if eating it is followed by illness.

biological preparedness

explains why animals tend to fear potentially dangerous things rather than objects that pose little threat

wanting-and-liking theory

Explanation holding that when a drug is associated with certain cues, the cues themselves elicit desire for the drug; also called incentive sensitization theory.

Wanting vs. Liking

(1) Dopamine functions with wanting, craving, desire and motivation; wanting can be measured by operant conditioning

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(2)Endorphins function with liking, pleasure and euphoria.

What D-amphetamine does to our brain

* Increases the release of dopamine
* Blocks the re-uptake of dopamine

prediction error

* the difference between what was predicted and what actually occurred
* Alert us to important events in our environment

phobia

an acquired fear out of proportion to the real threat of an object or of a situation

Tolerance

* A progressive decrease in a person's responsiveness to a drug.
* The greatest when the drug is taken in the same physical location where previous drug use occurred

Habituation or tolerance with repeated drug use

decreases drug effects over repeated administration

Facilitation or sensitization with repeated drug use

* Increases the drug effects over repeated administration
* When stimulated repeatedly, the DA system becomes sensitized & so does behavior which increases wanting

what can lead to a relapse for drug abuse?

* Exposure to the environment of previous drug use
* Taking a drug again
* stress

observational learning

* learning by observing others; also called social learning
* Contains 2 types: modelling & vicarious learning

Modelling

Observing, identifying with and copying the behaviour of a role model.

Vicarious Learning/Modeling

* learning by observing the outcomes of others' behaviors and adjusting your own behavior accordingly
* In children, without any direct rewards involved, they are less likely to reproduce a (-) behavior they've observed

instructed learning

* learning associations and behaviors through verbal communication
* occurs throughout one's lifespan & is not limited to learning about social associations

3 ways of how fear can be learned

classical conditioning

observational learning

instructed learning

seizure

A sudden uncontrolled random firings of neurons in the brain that affects how a person feels or acts for a short time

Amnesia

the inability to retrieve vast quantities of info from memory as a result of TBI or psychological trauma

2 types of Amnesia are?

Retrograde and anterograde

retrograde amnesia

* an inability to retrieve information from one's past before the injury. This includes events, facts, people or even personal info
* Common type of amnesia seen in TV shows

anterograde amnesia

* the inability to transfer/form new information from the short-term store into the long-term store after brain injury
* Most common type of amnesia in real life

Case of HM

* Epileptic surgery that removed the hippocampus of the brain that left him unable to encode info into LTM
* Has anterograde amnesia

implicit memory vs explicit memory

* Explicit memory: Conscious, may be visualized, may be verbally described; involves the medial temporal lobe
* Implicit memory: Evident in physiological and behavioral responses; refer to unconscious or automatic memory; involves the basal ganglia

2 types of explicit memory

episodic (events) and semantic (facts that's independent from personal experience)

* "knowing that"

types of implicit memory

procedural, priming, conditioning, non-associative

procedural memory (implicit)

the gradual acquisition of skills as a result of practice, or "knowing how" to do things

priming memory

* unconscious memory processing in which prior exposure to stimulus items may aid subsequent learning
* Can be perceptual (meaning of a stimulus) or conceptual (form of a stimulus)

3 stages of memory processing

1. Encoding/Acquisition: experiencing an event


2. Storage: memory of the experience is formed & maintained
3. Retrieval: when the memory of past experience is expressed

Encoding

the processing of information into the memory system; can be automatic or effortful

dual coding theory

info that can be coded verbally & visually will be remembered more easily than info coded only verbally

maintenance rehearsal

repeating stimuli in their original form to retain them in short-term memory

elaborative rehearsal

a method of transferring information from STM into LTM by making that information meaningful in some way

Schema

* a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
* Guides our attention to relevant features by helping us percieve, organize, understand & use info

Chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

mnemonics

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices

sensory memory

A type of storage that holds sensory information for a few seconds or less.

iconic memory vs echoic memory

iconic is visual input (decays in 1-2 seconds), echoic is auditory input (decays in 5 seconds)

Inner voice vs. inner eye

V: Mistakes made during short term recall tend to sound like, but not look like, the correct items

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E: Judgements made based on mental images are similar to those based on actual pictures

working 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

how does working memory relate to attention?

Information enters and is held in working memory via attention, actively thinking about it, or rehearsing it.

long-term memory

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.

* Has a longer duration & far greater capacity than STM

serial position effect

our tendency to recall best the last (a recency effect) and first items (a primacy effect) in a list

How can the distinction between long-term memory and working memory explain the primacy and recency effects?

* Primacy effect occurs bc items presented earlier have been encoded into LTM
* Recency effect occurs bc items presented later are still available in working memory

Consolidation

* the changes that take place in the structure and functioning of neurons when a memory is formed
* Enhances connections between neurons through memory replay and emotions

long-term potentiation

* gradual strengthening of the connections among neurons from repetitive stimulation (they fired together so they're wired together)
* Makes the postsynaptic neurons more easily activated by presynaptic neurons

memory replay

Memories are rehearsed both while awake and asleep when the neural circuit representing the memory fires again

Why is a slow consolidation of memories beneficial?

* It allows for reminders, replay, & emotions AFTER the event to influence the consolidation process
* Increases the likelihood that more important & consequential events are remembered

reconsolidation

a process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered (either modified or strengthened) before being stored again

arguments about the 2 functions of reconsolidation

* Memory modification: provides a mean for memories to be dynamic & to change over time


* Memory strengthening: may be beneficial for retrieval practice for learning

memory retrieval

the process of accessing and bringing into consciousness information stored in memory

encoding specificity principle

the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it

context dependent memory

The theory that information learned in a particular situation or place is better remembered when in that same situation or place.

* Physical/situational factors act as retrieval cues

state-dependent memory

The theory that information learned in a particular state of mind (e.g., depressed, happy, somber) is more easily recalled when in that same state of mind.

* Internal conditions act as retrieval cues

prospective memory

remembering to do things in the future

retrieval-induced forgetting

a process whereby retrieving an item from long-term memory impairs subsequent recall of related items in the future

proactive interference

old information (that we already know) hinders the recall of newly learned information

retroactive interference

new information causes forgetting of old information

Blocking

the temporary inability to remember something (tip of the tongue phenomenon)

absentmindedness

* lapses in memory that are caused by breaks in attention or our focus being somewhere else
* results from shallow encoding of events

persistence

* the intrusive recollection of events that we wish we could forget
* PTSD may be caused by this

Memory Bias (Distortion)

the changing of memories over time so that they become consistent with current beliefs or attitudes

source misattribution

the inability to distinguish an actual memory of an event from information you learned about the event elsewhere

source amnesia (source misattribution)

attributing to the wrong source an event we have experienced, heard about, read about, or imagined

cryptoamnesia

Unconscious plagiarism of the work of others. This has been associated with errors in source monitoring.

suggestibility

the development of biased memories from misleading information

free recall

a testing condition in which a person is asked to remember information without explicit retrieval cues

cued recall

a testing condition in which people are given an explicit retrieval cue to help them remember

Thinking

the mental manipulation of representations of knowledge about the world

analogical representations

an idea that shares some of the actual characteristics of the object it represents

symbolic representation

abstract mental representations that consist of words or ideas

Categorization

grouping things based on shared properties

concept

* a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people
* ensures we don't have to store every instance of an object individually

script

a schema for the typical sequence of an everyday event

Heuristic

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms & can result in biases

Anchoring

The tendency for individuals to rely too heavily on a single piece of information.

Framing

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments.

loss aversion

the tendency to care more about avoiding losses than about achieving equal-size gains

representative heuristic

assumption that any object (or person) sharing characteristics with the members of a particular category is also a member of that category

affective forecasting

* efforts to predict one's emotional reactions to future events
* people are poor at predicting this & overestimate the extent of how (-) events may affect them in the future

endowment effect

the tendency to value things we own more than we would pay to buy them

Appraisal tendency framework

specific emotions give rise to specific cognitive and motivational properties, both at the biological and behavioral level

* Opposite of the endowment effect

restructuring

a new way of thinking about a problem that aids its solution

functional fixedness

the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions; an impediment to problem solving