Unit 2: Learning and Cognition

Behaviourist psychology (aka Behaviourism)

An area of psychology concerned with studying the relationship between interaction with the environment and resulting behaviours (conditioning)

Learning

relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that results from experience

Classical conditioning

Learning by association.

Neutral Stimulus (NS)

A stimulus that does not naturally elicit a specific response

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response without prior learning.

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

The automatic and unlearned reaction to the unconditioned stimulus, occurring without any prior conditioning.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A neutral stimulus that, after repeated pairings with the unconditioned stimulus, starts to evoke a response similar to the unconditioned response.

Conditioned Response (CR)

The learned reaction to the conditioned stimulus, that is now triggered by the conditioned stimulus alone.

Pavlov's dogs

Classical conditioning experiment demonstrating learned responses (salvating) to previously neutral stimuli (Bell/footsteps)

Little Albert study

Classical conditioning study showing that fear for previously neutral stimuli (fluffy animals) can be learned by repeated association with a previously unconditioned stimulus (loud clang).

Operant conditioning

Learning through consequences of behavior.

Positive (+) Reinforcement

when a desirable stimulus or reward is added to increase the likelihood that a behavior will be repeated in the future

Negative (-) Reinforcement

the removal or avoidance of an aversive stimulus to strengthen a behavior (e.g. fridge beeping to encourage you to close it)

Positive (+) Punishment

when an aversive stimulus is added to decrease the likelihood of a behavior recurring in the future.

Negative (-) Punishment

the removal of a desirable stimulus to decrease the likelihood of a behavior occurring again in the future.

Extinction

the gradual weakening and disappearance of a previously learned behavior

Social Learning Theory

Argues we also learn indirectly from our environment through observational learning

Vicarious reinforcement / punishment

learning from the consequences of other people's behaviour

attention, retention, self-efficacy and motivation

cognitive factors affecting the extent to which we will learn from observing models

Bandura's bobo doll

experiment looking at learned aggression towards an inflatable toy due to observation of models

MSM

Model depicting memory as being split into 3 different stores, each with different capacity, duration, encoding and types of forgetting

Memory Capacity

How much information a memory store can hold at one time (e.g. STM = 7 +/-2 items)

Memory Duration

How long a memory can be stored for (e.g. STM = 20-30 seconds)

Serial position effect

Phenomenon whereby people remember the first items (primacy effect) and last items (recency effect) in a list

Patient HM

Case study of a unique patient with anterograde amnesia due to a radical surgery removing his entire hippocampus

Localisation

the idea that behaviour, thoughts and emotions emerge from a particular, fixed place in the brain

Relative localisation

The idea that some functions are specifically localised in the brain but many functions are widely distributed across the brain, especially complex ones like memory

anterograde amnesia

the inability to make new declarative LTM (linked to hippocampus damage)

Procedural LTM

remembering 'how to' do something (e.g. HM improving at the mirror drawing)

Declarative memory

A type of (conscious) LTM allowing us to remember things that have happened and learn new facts about the world

Working Memory Model

Cognitive model of short term or 'working' memory. Breaks STM down into subcomponents that process visualspatial and phonological (auditory) information separately

central executive

The control system of working memory that is responsible for monitoring and directing attention and other mental resources.

phonological loop

the part of working memory that holds and processes verbal and auditory information

Articulatory loop/ Control Process

verbal subcomponent of the phonological loop. A limited time-dependent capacity allowing us to rehearsal words in our heads

visuospatial sketchpad

A component of working memory allowing us to hold, create and manipulate mental images to remember visual information

episodic buffer

a storage component of working memory that combines the images and sounds from the other two components into coherent, story-like episodes. Links to conscious experience.

Patient KF

Had a motorcycle accident and afterwards had a normal visual STM capacity, but an abnormally low verbal STM capacity, suggesting separate processing of these types of information.

Dual tasks

Where participants perform two tasks at once. Two tasks requiring the same component of working memory (e.g. Visual + Visual) are typically harder to do than two tasks each using a separate component (e.g. visual + verbal)

Value of cognitive models: visualisation

Makes complex ideas/processes easier to understand

Value of cognitive models: testability

provides testable hypotheses that drive research

Value of cognitive models: progressive

can be adapted and refined as new evidence emerges

Schema

linked mental representations of the world, built by our experience

Assimilation

interpreting our new information experiences in terms of our existing schemas

Accomodation

adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information

Schema activation

activating relevant prior knowledge to help aid processing of related knowledge

Bransford and Johnson

Experiment showing that knowing context prior to hearing information helps us process and recall that info better

Emic approach

a way of studying culture using an 'insider view', using tools developed by and for a specific culture

Etic approach

a way of studying culture focusing on making cross-cultural comparisons often using the same research tool

Imposed etic

inappropriately applying a tool from one culture to another

Kearin's study

showed that Aboriginal Australian children outperform white Australian children on visuo-spatial focused memory tests

Cognitive Load Theory

the idea that we have limited working memory capacity and will underperform when overloaded with cognitive demands

Intrinsic cognitive load

the cognitive resources required by the task itself, regardless of other stimuli

Extraneous cognitive load

cognitive capacity you use on processing information/ stimuli not related to the task at hand

Germain cognitive load

the mental effort devoted to processing new information and integrating it into existing knowledge structures to create deeper understanding and long-term memory