455

Short-Term Memory

Stores a limited amount of info for about 20 sec without rehearsing it.

Long-Term Memory

Stores an unlimited amount of info for perhaps a lifetime.

Declarative (Explicit) Memory

Facts or events

1. Episodic - when and where of your life happenings; autobiographical

2. Semantic - persons knowledge about the world; facts

Non-Declarative (Implicit) Memory

no conscious recollection; how to ride a bike, classical conditioning; implicit attitude formation

Sensory Memory

lasts up to several seconds

Echoic - auditory

Iconic - visual

Memory

I. Encoding

II. Storage

III. Retrieval

Encoding

-Automatic vs. Effortful

-Rehearsal - amount learned \= time spent learning

Spacing Effect

rehearsal works best when spaced out

Encoding Strategies

1. Meaning - think of examples that are personally meaningful

2. Imagery - mental images help us remember better - mnemonics

Long-Term Potentiation

Increase in synaptic efficiency

- RNA synthesis increases during learning

- enriched rats

Storage

In Brain:

-Hippocampus

-Amygdala - emotional memories

-Cortex

-Cerebellum - implicit (riding a bicycle)

Factors that Affect Retrieval

1. Distinctiveness - flashbulb memories, von Restorff effect

2. Testing effects - retrieval is helped by previous retrieval

3. Retrieval cues - (Priming -"wakening of associations")

Distinctiveness

flashbulb memories, von Restorff effect

Testing Effects

retrieval is helped by previous retrieval

Retrieval Cues

(Priming -"wakening of associations")

Encoding Specificity

Cues present at encoding will help with retrieval

Forgetting

-Ineffective coding

-Proactive and retroactive interference

Misinformation

incorporating misleading info into one's memory of an event

Source Amnesia

attribution of a wrong source to an event

False Retrieval

-Mistaken recall of some stimulus or event that did not actually occur

-Elizabeth Loftus - reconstruction of memory

- Eyewitness testimony

Repressed Memories

- younger than 3 - don't believe it

- drugs or hypnosis - don't believe it

4 Stages of Neural Development

1. Proliferation

2. Migration (8-16 weeks)

3. Differentiation

4. Continued Differentiation - Synapse formation, myelination

Post-Natal

Myelination, synaptic pruning

Teratogen

-Any disease, drug, or other noxious agent that causes abnormal prenatal development.

1. Tobacco - SIDS, slowed cognitive development, ADHD

2. Alcohol - Fetal alcohol syndrome

Critical Period

a period when an organism's exposure to stimuli or experiences promotes or hinders proper development

Social Responsiveness

babies prefer sights and sounds (high-pitched) that are human-like

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

1. Sensorimotor Stage (0-2)

2. Preoperational Stage (2-7)

3. Concrete Operational Stage (7-12)

4. Formal Operational Stage (12 and up)

Sensorimotor Stage (0-2)

- Experiencing the world through senses and actions

- Object permanence (objects continue to exist when not perceived) develops gradually until about 18 months

Preoperational Stage (2-7)

- Representing things with words and images but lacking logical reasoning.

- Lack of conservation (quantity remains the same despite changes in shape)

- Egocentrism - inability to perceive things from another's point of view

Concrete Operational Stage (7-12)

- Thinking more logically about concrete events

- Can now perform conservation and math transformations

- Can classify objects on several dimensions

Formal Operational Stage (12 and up)

Abstract, logical, systematic, and reflective thinking begin

Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory

Cognitive dev is fueled by social interactions and culture influences this development. Language acquisition is key to cognitive development.

Attachment

1. Body Contact

2. Familiarity

3. Responsive Parenting

Familiarity

a. Critical period

b. Imprinting (Konrad Lorenz)

Responsive Parenting

Secure, avoidant, or anxious/ambivalent attachment

Secure Attachment

resilience, competence, self-esteem, leadership, better peer and romantic relationships

Importance of Early Nutritioning

1. Philadelphia Study (2010) - nurturing and hippocampal size at age 4, IQ, and memory

2. Effects of low socioeconomic status

a. Brain growth

b. IQ

c. Spoken words

3. Face to face interaction

Classical Conditioning

The simplest mechanism whereby organisms learn about relations between stimuli and alter their behavior accordingly.

Unconditioned Stimulus

a stimulus that naturally triggers a response.

Conditioned Stimulus

an originally irrelevant stimulus that after association with the US, comes to trigger a conditioned response.

Unconditioned Response

the naturally occurring response to the US

Conditioned Response

the learned response to the previously neutral CS

Ivan Pavlov and his dogs

-Originally studied to learn about digestion

-Technicians noticed increase in stomach juice secretion at sight of food or even person who fed them

Acquisition

-The stage where the CS-US relationship is being learned

1. Temporal contiguity - except taste aversion

2. Spatial contiguity - except auditory conditioning

3. CS must precede US

4. Biology is a limiting factor

Extinction

the diminishing of the CR - accomplished by the CS not being followed by the US

Generalization

the tendency for stimuli similar to the CS to elicit similar responses.

50 Hz tone Food

50 Hz tone Salivation

75 Hz tone Salivation

Second-Order Conditioning

the ability of stimuli that predict the CS to elicit the CR

Operant Conditioning

Presentation of a US depends on the subject's behavior. A particular response (instrumental response) is required to obtain a specific stimulus or consequence.

Primary Reinforcer

innately reinforcing stimulus (biological)

Conditioned Reinforcer

a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer

Shaping

development of a new response through positive reinforcement of successive approximations