Psych Unit 3 Aos 2

Behaviourist approach

Behaviour learned by interacting with environment. Emphasis on stimulus and response

Social-cognitive approach

Learning occurs through watching others, looking at their behaviour and the consequences.

Classical conditioning

• Behaviourist approach to learning

• Learning to elicit an involuntary (reflexive) behaviour to a stimulus that isn’t usually responded to

• Involves pairing two stimulus together, association formed between stimuli

CC Phase One - Before conditioning

• Neutral stimulus does not evoke a reflex

• Unconditioned stimulus evokes reflex naturally

• Unconditioned response is the reflex that occurs when UCS presented

CC Phase Two - During conditioning

• Present NS then immediately after present the UCS. UCS evokes reflex of UCR

• Repeated many times for association to occur. Closer together the faster learning occurs, reduces interference of other stimuli

CC Phase Three - After conditioning

• Conditioned stimulus, previously the NS, has acquired the capability to evoke the reflex

• Conditioned response is the learned response similar to/the same as the reflex. Produced on presentation of CS alone

• An association has been formed

CC Stimulus Generalisation

A stimulus similar to CS may also trigger the conditioned response

CC Stimulus Discrimination

Only the CS and no other similar stimulus trigger the CR

CC Extinction

After learning has occurred, if the CS is presented repeatedly without the UCS, the strength of the CR will decrease over time.

CC Spontaneous Recovery

Even if a CR has been extinguished, it may occasionally and temporarily reappear.

Operant conditioning

Learning process where likelihood of voluntary behaviour is determined by consequences. Used when wanting to increase or decrease behaviour in the future.

OC: Antecedent

Event/stimulus that is present just before the target behaviour occurs

OC: Behaviour (voluntary)

Observable target behaviour

Consequence

Occurs as a result of the behaviour to increase or decrease likelihood of it occurring next time antecedent occurs.

Reinforcement

• Consequences that increase the likelihood of a behaviour occurring.

• Positive involves adding something you don’t have

• Negative involves subtracting something

Punishment

• Consequences that decrease the likelihood of a behaviour occurring

• Positive involves adding something

• Negative involves subtracting something

OC extinction

• When reinforcement no longer provided, target behaviour decreases. When punishment no longer given, target behaviour returns.

• Partial reinforcement can reduce how quickly extinction occurs

OC spontaneous recovery

Brief return of target behaviour after extinction even when consequence not given. May be weaker response than first conditioning.

OC stimulus generalisation

Tendency to do behaviour in similar antecedent conditions

OC stimulus discrimination

Only do behaviour in same antecedent

Observational Learning

Social-cognitive approach to learning

Occurs when learner observes someone’s actions and consequences to guide their future actions

ARRMR

OL - Attention

Observer actively watches the model closely to observe behaviour & consequences

OL - Retention

Observer needs to remember the behaviour of model & store as mental representation so they can replicate

OL - Reproduction

When models behaviour has been closely attended to & retained, observer can attempt to reproduce it if they have the ability to do so

OL - Motivation

Learner must want to imitate behaviour, have the desire to reproduce unless the behaviour is useful or provides incentive

May be extrinsic (external factors) or intrinsic (internal factors)

OL - Reinforcement

Influences motivation to reproduce observed behaviour, increases likelihood of reproduction in future.

Through vicarious (model praised and observer sees), personal/internal (receives consequences), or external (observer praised)

8 Ways of Learning Framework

• Story sharing

• Learning maps

• Non-verbal

• Symbols & images

• Land links

• Non-linear approach

• Deconstruct & reconstruct

• Community links

Memory

• Info processing system that actively receives, organises, stores & recovers info. Not passive

• Encoding - converts sensory info into a usable form to be processed. Must pay attention to happen

• Storage - retention of info in memory stores

• Retrieval - locating & recovering stored info so we are consciously aware of it. Relies on right cues to retrieve right info

Atkinson-Shiffrin Model

• Multiple levels to memory

• 3 independent stores that function simultaneously

• Store varies in role, capacity & duration

Sensory Memory

• Initial register for incoming sensory info. You must pay attention for it to be processed

• Unlimited capacity

• 0.2 - 4 seconds duration

• Filters unnecessary info out to prevent being overwhelmed

• Info held long enough to decide importance. If important transferred to STM

• Stores info long enough to overlap so we perceive word as continuous

Short-term memory

• Info has been attended to & transferred to STM. Not in raw form but encoded. Info is conscious & actively manipulated so it can be retained to be used

• 7 plus or minus 2 items capacity

• 12 - 30 seconds duration

• Once in STM, encoded info can be manipulated. STM retrieves info from LTM and compares it

Forgetting

• Over capacity - displacement. New items added and old items pushed out of STM. Chunking involves grouping items together to form larger single info e.g. phone number digits

• Over duration - decay. If info not manipulated after 30 secs, it fades and is lost. Rehearsal is when info is consciously manipulated to be kept in STM for longer.

Maintenance rehearsal

Info repeated out loud or in head to preserve in STM. Info can be kept in STM for as long as you repeat & not interrupted

Elaborative rehearsal

Meaning given to info & associations made with info in LTM

Long-term memory

• Relatively permanent memory system that holds info for an extended period. When transferred to LTM, undergoes further encoding according to meaning, becomes unconscious. Prevents being overwhelmed

• Unlimited capacity

• Permanent duration

• Info organised semantically, meaning encoded rather than sensory info. Info organised by meaning

Explicit LTM

• Can be communicated verbally e.g. facts or past experiences

• Requires effort to be retrieved

Episodic memory

Memory of specific events or personal experiences

Semantic memory

Memory of facts, worldly knowledge or general knowledge

Implicit memory

• Memory of stored routines, emotional responses, communicated by showing

• Does not require conscious retrieval

Procedural memory

Knowledge of skills, habits or actions. Takes practise

Classically conditioned reflex/emotional response

Reflexes or learned emotional response through cc

Hippocampus

• In temporal lobe

• Encodes, consolidates and retrieves explicit memory

• Transfers new encoded explicit memories to relevant parts of the brain for long-term storage

• Interacts with amygdala to link emotions to explicit memory

• If damaged, unable to transfer memories to LTM

Amygdala

• Near hippocampus in temporal lobe

• Storage of memory influenced by fff response & stress hormones

• Works with hippocampus to encode and consolidate emotional part of explicit memory

• Helps retrieve emotional content associated with explicit memories

• Encodes implicit memories with emotion, e.g. classically conditioned emotional responses

• If damaged, may not be able to fear new things due to conditioning, not properly consolidate new emotional experiences to LTM

Neocortex

• In cerebral cortex with 4 lobes

• Top layer of cerebral cortex involved with high-order mental processes

• Stores explicit memories for a long time

• Memories distributed through cortex and usually stored where sensory input first processed

• When required, separate parts of memory brought together and reconstructed as a single memory

• Damage can impair STM and LTM, affect ability to learn and recall.

Basal Ganglia

• Centre of the brain

• Encoding, consolidation and retrieval of implicit procedural memory, e.g. habits

• Form habits by associating movement with reward/reinforcement

• Responsible for fine motor control in a sequence of goal directed behaviour

• Damage can cause speech, movement and posture problems. Also can damage incentive motivation, impacting habit formation

Cerebellum

• Hind brain

• Encoding & temporary storage of implicit procedural memories for motor skills, specifically created by classical conditioning

• Coordinating muscle movements, regulating posture & balance

• Damage can cause no development of conditioned reflexes, as well as no recall of sequences of movement

Autobiographical events

• Episodic and semantic memory can work together to form these events

• Episodes in someone’s life that use both elements (episodic and semantic)

• Support sense of identity

• Episodic is a series of past events, whereas autobiographical links past events together into a personal history of past, present & future

• When we retrieve this, episodic memory recalls past experiences, and reconstruction combines stored info with available info to form a believed accurate memory

Constructing possible imagined futures

• Episodic and semantic memory help us do this

• Called episodic future thinking, involves projecting yourself forwards in time to pre-experience an event that may happen

• Rearrange past memories to put together a vision of future

• Occurs in same brain region as autobiographical memories

• Active construction of events that haven’t occurred yet but based on past events/knowledge

Aphantasia

• Impaired ability to visualise

• Struggle to remember/relive autobiographical events, difficulty imagining future events, have problems with factual memory, dream less, have decreased imagery involving senses and have trouble recognising faces

• Have no “mind’s eye”

• Can describe and object/concept, but no mental image

• Rely on non-visual semantic & episodic info in memory

Causes of aphantasia

• May be due to brain regions involved in visual imagery may be underactive

• May be due to mental imagery not being able to be accessed in conscious thoughts

• Congenital aphantasia is present from birth and acquired is present after brain injury/significant psychological event

• Not considered disability - daily functioning not impaired

• Retrieval of autobiographical events/imagined futures is altered

Mnemonics in written culture

• Techniques enhancing memory

• Active during encoding stage

• Encodes retrieval cues making it easier to find info at same time as encoding of info

• Helps organise info in LTM

• Organises info into a cohesive whole, connects new and existing info, makes info more meaningful

• Retrieval of part of it is retrieval of all of it

• Helps memorise info but not understand

Acronyms

• Word formed from first letter of each word

• Needs to be pronounceable

• Letters act as retrieval cues

Acrostics

• Phrases where first letter of each word acts as a cue for recall (e.g. Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit)

• Useful for specific order

Method of loci

• Involves committing a familiar location to memory, visually linking these locations with info to be memorised

• Each location acts as a retrieval cue

• Locations should be familiar to an individual

• Items number matches location number

• Memory in set order, e.g. lists

Mnemonics in oral cultures

• Before reading and writing was common, info spread through word of mouth, song & sound

• Sung narratives are stories, knowledge or ideas expressed through song, music, sounds & rhythm. Encoding a song involves story/idea, music, sound & rhythm, which act as retrieval cues

• Performing can enhance encoding/storage of info by evoking emotions

Songlines

• Sequences of song narratives linked to specific locations on Country, allowing significant places to be known

• Type of sung narrative

• Involve learning/remembering important info by linking it to landscape/skyscape on Country

• Someone can find their way through Country by singing the songline, which describes landmarks/locations

• Can cross language boundaries, so in multiple languages

• Little variation across time periods

Iconic vs echoic memory

• Iconic is visual info

• Echoic is auditory info

• Echoic lasts longer than iconic memory

Alzheimer’s Disease

• Progressive deterioration of brain neurons causing memory loss, decrease in cognitive & social skill, personality changes

• Neurodegenerative disease

• Diagnosis can only be confirmed post-mortem

• Initially impairs explicit memory, then both explicit & implicit

Causes of Alzheimer’s

1. Amyloid plaques occur. Abnormal build-up of beta-amyloid forms plaques between synapses, interfering with neural communication

2. Neurofibrillary tangles occur when tau protein builds up inside the neuron & are associated with cell death. Interferes with flow of info between neurons

3. Lack of important memory neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Systematic destruction of neurons that produce acetylcholine

4. Brain atrophy occurs. Amyloid plaques & neurofibrillary tangles progressively damage neurons, which die, causing brain tissue to shrink