psy100 term test 2

Learning

relatively permanent change in thoughts, feelings and behaviour resulting from experience

• develop memory of event AFTER event has occured

S-S association (stimuli association)

allow us to predict events and adjust response (tend to tgt to allow us to predict response)

• dark clouds (S1) + Rain (S2)

  • expect rain, get unbrella

Classical Conditioning (CS)

• 2 stimuli repeatedly paired tgt

• S1 becomes a signal that S2 is coming (see clouds, expect rain)

  • response only occur after learning (bring umbrella!)

strong pairing

frequent overlap over time

Neutral stimulus (NS)

no response from animal

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and unconditioned response (UCR)

have response naturally

• no training needed

Classical conditioning method

let dog associated NS sound with UCS (food) and this will cause it to salivate. overtime a response to neutral stimuli will occur and NS will become CS to cause CR

higher order conditioning (chains of CS)

after first round CS1 evoke stronger CR and CS1 and CS2 paired tgt, CS2 will evoke weaker CR

• can repeat for several times but response gets weaker

in advertising

Ads make something meaningful to you and let it relate to their product (christmas, coke, feeling good)

Adverse learning

• rapid, strong and resilient (may lead to phobias)

  • very strong as bad things make you remeber best, learn things that dangerous to you increase survival.

  • NS evoke CR

Fear conditioning (learning model)

• overlap shock (UCS) with environment (CS1, blue box) and tone (CS2)

• when reexposed to CS1 or 2 animal expects UCS

Freezing behaviour

The anticipation of the UCS

• indicate association has been learned

drug dose and location

• when introduced to new location, overdose may happen even with same dose as normally, familiar places preps our body for drug by being in environment,

Stimulus generalization

the greater the similarity (physically) the greater the tendency for a response

case of Little Albert

• liked albino rats

• study paried loud noises that made albert cry

• boy became scared of rats and anything else that was white and furry

  • generalization

CS-UCS pairings

• some more likely to occur than others

Conditioned taste aversion CTA

• Animals learn food (CS) and illness (UCS) associations, which in turn can lead to avoiding foods

  • get food poisoning —> would not likely eat that food again

other stimuli paired with illness

other stimuli may be difficult to pair with illness and make poor CS

preparedness

prepared to learn them

• we may be genetically hardwired for certain cs-ucs associations

Latent inhibition

• stimulus experienced many times in neutral context is not suitable for conditioning

  • past might prevent current conditioning difficult to pair with UCS

• use unfamiliar stimulus

Blocking of CC

• once UCS has been paired with a CS1 its hard to pair that same ucs with other CS2 in the future

  • cs1 pairing created learning history

  • no suprise for cs2 —> blocked

learning requires suprises

• 1st time hearing sound, you get suprised

• 2nd time the animal will already predict for food bc of history with stimuli, they wont pay attention to cs2

extinction

if we stop UCS CS pairings, the CR will decline (NOT FORGETING just supressed memories)

• bell (CS)+ food (US) —> saliva (CR)

• extinction

  • Bell (CS) = no response

evidence of extinction: reinstatement

• after extinction, the CR can return to full stregth following a single UCS-CS repairing

  • CR never fully removed

evidence of extinction: Spontaneous recovery

return of CR after period of time (NOTHING ELSE — just time)

• fear doesnt disappear just inhibited

evidence of extinction: Renewal

• extinction very SPECIFIC to context

• even if you extinguish cs-ucs pairing in one context (green box) CS will still evoke CR in new context (Purple)

Extinction in therapy: exposure therapy

• in phobias there is CLEAR triggers for anxiety or fear

• repeated exposure to triggers in a safe environment may reduce fear

Operant conditioning (S-R associations)

frequency of a behaviour is linked to its consequences

• things you do that get you rewarded —> you will do more often and vice versa

OC VS CC

CC - development of phobias

OC - avoidance of phobic stimuli to preserve mood

Positive Reinforcement

• add something, increase a behaviour

  • child clean room and get cookie —> more likely to clean again

Positive Punishment

• add something to decrease a behaviour

  • student cheats on test and get failing grade —> less likely to cheat again

Negative reinforcement

• remove something to increase a behaviour

  • driver buckles seatbelt to stop annoying alert —> promote seatbelt use

Negative Punishment

• remove something to decrease a behaviour

  • athlete arrives late to practice and is benched —> stops lateness

Token economies in hospitals and classrooms

• tokens exchanged for goods and services

• good behaviour gets token bad behaviour cost token

Applied behaviour analysis (ABA)

• teach new skills

• study of behavioural patterns with goal of encouraging certain behaviours through personalized behaviour modification program

  • oftenly used in children with autism

Why is a mix of reinforcement and punishment the best?

• P alone is problematic

  • only tell you what NOT to do doesnt say what you should do

    • tend to make ppl hide/lie what they do

Schedules of reinforcement: Continuous

mostly theoretical

• do good —> get award all times

Schedules of reinforcement: Partial

• irregular not all the time

  • real world

Schedules of reinforcement: Partial - fixed interval

• exact amount of time

  • assignment due at X

Schedules of reinforcement: Partial - variable interval

• response after varying period of time (average)

Schedules of reinforcement: Partial - fixed ratio

• exact amount of responses

  • buy 4 get 1 free

Schedules of reinforcement: Partial - variable ratio

• after certaain average amount of responses, ur likely to get reward (game of CHANCE)'

  • gambling

comparing fixed vs variable schedules

• fixed: have post reinforcement pause

  • steady response rate (do it until get reward, THEN STOP

• variable: steady response rate (highest for VR)

  • any response can get rewarded

Observational learning (BANDURA)

• organism learn through witnessing experiences of another

• bandura’s studies agression

  • children who watch aggressive videos are more likely to be agressive after

Latent Learning (LAZY)

• learning not being expressed bc of lack of incentives

  • always knew how to do task, too lazy to do until reward (TOLMAN + HONZIK’s studies)

memory

• process where info is stored, consolidated and retreived

  • sensory, short term, long term (IN THIS ORDER - SERIAL PROCESSING)

Duration

length of time info can be stored without rehearsal (limited by decay)

• 1sec or less for visual memory

capacity

amount of info that can be stored

• 5 for visual

properties of sensory memory

• very short duration (1s or less)

• capacity is theoreticaaly large but functionally small

  • can only report on few stimuli (4/100)

Short term memory

• decays unless mentally rehersed

  • 15-30s without, minutes with

• capacity: 5-9 items

  • decay of info and interference(new with old) cause to be shorter

emotionally salient

stressful events that your never have to try and remember, you just do remember

two forms of rehersal: maintenance and elaborative

maintenance: simple repetition

elaborative: complex, relate info to other concepts (something meaningful/personal)

• more effective

STM capacity (digit span)

• longest string of digits you can remember without error

  • usually 7

Chunking

• divide body of info into meaningful groups

• increase stm capacity to 7 chunks instead of items

limits to stm model

• multitasking hard to explain

  • single STM would expect bad multi tasking (interference)

  • but we can do it they are just processed differently in diff parts

Working memory (WM) —> newer STM model

• several process that work tgt to manage info

  • 3 vs 1

• manipulates info

• OSPAN test

  • track words while doing math

primacy/recency effect or serial position effect

in short list of items, first and last part are better remebered

types of LTM - declarative (things yk that you can tell others)

• hippocampus dependent

• episodic: unique memory of an event from their pove

• semantic: general knowledge (rivia_

types of LTM - Non declaritive (things yk you can show by doing)

• hippocampus independent

• memory ur not aware that ur accessing

  • skill learnng (bike riding)

  • priming —> using specific words

  • conditioning

LTM retrieval failures: tip of tongue

sometimes we have memory but cant retrieve it

• one hint can trigger retrieval (related to priming)

misconceptions ab memory

• memory cant be retreived from the past and re experience it in the present

  • this idea presumes that memory is stored in permanent form that doesnt change

• HOWEVER, your never experiencing the same OG event

View: Memory is (Re)constructed

• not retrieved but actively assembled

• we build mental representation of it

  • feature memory form today that wasnt present in that event

    • influence of current self (goals, expectations)

• change everytime its recalled

Schemas

• learned cognitive framework that fills memory gaps (feel like certain events happened here becasue it usually does)

  • eg. script which is a sequence of events predicted by individuals

Source monitoring

• try to find source of information (dk who told you)

• often schema based

• erros may lead to plagiarism

  • think source is themsleves

Memory for arousing experiences

• everyday and arousing memories become inaccurate overtime, though confidence in arousing memories remain high

  • memory for key events is good, rest is poor

patterns in LTM

• reminscence bump

  • talk ab youth more

  • many firsts —> contribute to identiyt

  • very plastic brain

  • repeating same events daily

Eyewitness testimony

• pivital role in legal system (NOT reliable perfectly)

  • due to confidence

misinformation effect

• after crime, eyewitness memory can be modified by interviews, media coverage etc

• more in young children and older adults

• link to high empathy and low intelligence

false memories

• inadvertently created by interactions with law enforcement, media, therapist

• lead to wrongful convictions

repressed memories

• some aversive events too traumatic for one to handle, hidden under contiousness

  • may reemerge later in lufe

memory wars

a controversial idea in which repressed memories were disputed as false by some psychologists

context dependent memory

best memory when encoding and recall in same context

state dependent memory

bets memory when encoding/recall in same physiological state

mood dependent memory

in depresssion, more likely to recal negative info

What is a gene?

unit of hereditiy from parent to offspring (50-50 from each parent)

what is a gene?

• encode for proteins

• influence structure of nervous system and its functional output

order of dogma

dna - rna - protein - biological process in nervous system - trait

• have environmental influences that may cause epigenetic influences

genetic variation

• 20k-25k diff genes that may have serveral versions (alleles) with diff functions

Genetic similarity → trait similarity

Family members have trait similarity partly because of gene similarity

genetic differences in twins

monozygotic: 100% identical genetically

Dizygotic: 50% identical genetically

Heritability (simple view)

traits may vary within pop (phenetypic variation Vp)

• due to genetic factors (Vg) or environmental factors (Ve)

  • Vp = Vg+Ve

• Heritability (H2)

  • H2 = VG/Vp

Heritability according to twin studies

• psychologiccal traits (personality, intelligence, religiosity) may be heritable

• gene, environment, randomness play a role

heritability is considered an abstraction

• estimate — can be inaccurate/misleading\

• based on assumptions

• context specific

  • estimate in 1 group may not apply to other group

Nature (genetics) vs Nurture (env)

• not real debate

• both ARE significant and interact with eachother

why traits become common: reproductive fitness

• certain traits are associated with more offspring

  • disease resistance

  • physical features that are attractive to potential mates (sexual selection)

• these traits reporduce more —> become more common (is selected for)

twin studies vs molecular heritability

• early h2 estimate were from twin studies at around 0.4-0.5

• today we use molecular heritability which use actual genetic variation and h2 is around 0.1-0.2

Ability to predict traits from genes alone is “not great”

• trait influenced by MANY gene —> each gene explain small part of variablilty

• context dependent

gene and environment interaction

• common

• gene might affect attraction, access and response to environment

  • eg. genes for creativity attract you to artistic films

what is intelligence

• conceptual variable

• capacity to acquire and apply knowlege and skills

The idea of g (positive manifold)

• idea of how ppl tend to get similar scores in seemingly different psychometric tests ( vocab, comprehension and arithmetric)

  • positive correlation

Why do we see positive correlations?

• tests might be related in some way

  • look like theyre testing for different traits but could be all measuring parts of the SAME trait

    • driven by the G factor

g

• statistical creation

• something that is correlated with other abilities

  • eg. academic ability

General intelligence (g) theory: cons

• not all cognitive abilities are driven by g (ENTIRELY)

• correlation between g and one cogn. ability not perfect

  • portion not explained by g

    • explained by specific factor (S)

Barriers in Cognitive testing

• language ability and culture are concern

• test for 1 group might no apply to another

Raven’s Matrices

reduce influence of language and culture by making test based on pattern reconization

Intelligence Quotient (IQ) “normal” distribution

1. more impaired cases in reality

2. many places ISNT random

   1. eg. testing done at uoft might have higher IQ as its at a school campus

Evaluating ourselves

• not great r = 0.2 for esitmated IQ

• some proposed that low cognitive ability have inflated confidence (criticized)

  • dunning kruger effect

Why do people care about IQ (or Intelligence)?

1. preductor of success: TERMAN

2. related to highly complex profession and better performance

Why do people care about IQ (or Intelligence)? correlation

1. + with longevity and hight

2. - with criminal behaviour and divorce rate (better finanical standings)

ONLY 1 PREDICTOR, MANY OTHER VARIABLES TO CONSIDER

“Too Smart For Your Own Good”

• correlated with ledarship performance

  • high IQ —> worse ledarship