psychology chapters 6-8

learning

relatively consistent change in knowledge and/or behavior

founder of classical conditioning

Ivan Pavlov - physiologist in Russia

characteristics of classical conditioning

Done by learning an association between the two stimuli

Basic form of learning

Can happen without us trying to learn

Pavlov’s dogs

Pavlov was studying the digestive systems of dogs and accidentally discovered learned behaviors (“psychic secretions”)

basic process of classical conditioning

predict one stimulus because of another stimulus

2 requirements of classical conditioning

contiguity and association

contiguity (classical conditioning)

must be presented and noticed by the organism close in time

association (classical conditioning)

must be an apparent link between the two stimuli

4 necessary elements of classical conditioning

unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, conditioned response

unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

stimulus that elicits a reflexive response

Naturally occurring, no learning

unconditioned response (UCR)

natural and unlearned behavior to a given stimulus

conditioned stimulus (CS)

begins as a neutral stimulus, is paired with the UCS (must be contiguity and association), elicits a response eventually due to being paired with the UCS

conditioned response (CR)

learned response caused by the CS

relationship type between UCS and UCR

reflexive (automatic)

relationship type between CS and CR

learned

requirements for classical conditioning

must have a series of stages

CS must be presented before the UCS

acquisition

formation of a learned response via classical conditioning

extinction

decrease of an acquired response

Repeatedly present organism with CS and no UCS

Teaches that nothing is being predicted

weakens performance, does not eliminate original learning

spontaneous recovery

return of a previously extinguished conditioned response

Occurs after a break from extinction process

must redo the extinction process

stimulus generalization

demonstrating the CR to stimuli that are similar to the CS

stimulus discrimination

ability to respond differently to similar stimuli

biological preparedness

organisms learn associations to facilitate their survival better than others

taste aversion

If an organism ingests something and then gets sick, it will learn to avoid that food or drink

Can occur in one trial

helps survival by avoiding poison

prepared fear

We are predisposed to learn fear to stimuli that were dangerous to our ancestors (ex: snakes, spiders, small animals)

operant conditioning

learning in which the probability of a response changes due to a change in its consequences

operant

behavior of an organism

Characterized in terms of observable effects it has on the environment

law of effect

behaviors followed by desirable consequences will happen again, behaviors followed by aversive consequences will happen less

who came up with the Law of Effect?

E.L. Thorndike

who came up with shaping by approximation?

B.F. Skinner

shaping by approximation

giving the organism rewards in succession as it gets closer and closer to the desired behavior

acquisition (operant learning)

the process of learning new behavior

extinction (operant conditioning)

when behavior is “unlearned” because no reinforcement

stimulus generalization (operant conditioning)

the organisms responds to stimuli similar to original reinforcer

stimulus discrimination (operant conditioning)

the organism only responds to the original reinforcer

discriminative stimuli

cues in the environment that tell us what will and will not be reinforced

difference between classical conditioning and operant conditioning

cc is passive learning, oc is active learning (must behave and notice consequences)

reinforcement

increases the likelihood that a behavior will be repeated

reinforcer

a stimulus that is presented to strengthen a response

positive reinforcement

adding something to the situation to increase the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated

negative reinforcement

subtracting something from the situation to increase the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated

punishment

decreases the likelihood that a behavior will be repeated

positive punishment

adding something to the situation to decrease the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated

negative punishment

subtracting something from the situation to decrease the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated

is reinforcement or punishment less effective?

punishment is less effective because it does not offer an alternative behavior

continuous reinforcement

every single instance of target behavior is reinforced

rapid acquisition, rapid extinction

partial schedules of reinforcement

not every instance is reinforced

slower acquisition, slower extinction

observational learning

we can learn by watching other people be rewarded or punished for their behavior

4 conditions that must be met for observational learning

1.     pay attention to the behavior

2.     remember the behavior

3.     physical ability to perform the behavior

4.     motivated to perform the behavior

vicarious reinforcement

If someone saw that a model was reinforced for their behavior, they will be more motivated to copy them

vicarious punishment

if someone observed the model being punished, they would be less motivated to copy them

models (observational learning)

the individuals performing the imitated behavior

primary reinforcer

reinforcers that have innate reinforcing qualities, not learned

secondary reinforcer

no inherent value and only has reinforcing qualities when linked with a primary reinforcer

reflexes

a motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment

instincts

innate behaviors that are triggered by a broader range of events, such as maturation and the change of seasons

associative learning

when an organism makes connections between stimuli or events that occur together in the environment

encoding

forming mental representations of info from the outside world

storage

maintaining info in the memory system

retrieval

recalling stored info

Ebbinghaus’ work with memory (1885)

determined the capacity of memory using nonsense syllables

semantic encoding

the encoding of words and their meaning

visual encoding

the encoding of images

acoustic encoding

the encoding of sounds

self-reference effect

the tendency for an individual to have better memory for information that relates to oneself in comparison to material that has less personal relevance

Atkinson & Shiffrin’s three stages of memory

sensory memory, short term memory, long term memory

characteristics of sensory memory

sensory info is filtered in from the environment

accurate representations are stored for a few seconds or less

to stay, it must be attended to

short, easily displaced by new info

iconic memory

visual images, last about ½ second

George Sperling’s experiment

present rows of digits for 1/20 of a second, whole report group are instructed to report all digits, partial report group are instructed to report one row

results of George Sperling’s experiment

in whole report group, participants were able to recall about 4.5 items; in partial report group, participants were able to recall 3.3 letters (did not know which row to report)

implications of George Sperling’s results

Evidence that the sensory store can hold a lot of info

The whole report group show us that it fades rapidly

Large capacity but fades rapidly

echoic memory

auditory stimuli, lasts a few seconds (up to 4)

short term memory

If sensory memory is attended to, it will go to STM

Info can stay for 10-30 seconds without rehearsal

Capacity: can hold 7 + or – 2 pieces of info

Recent research - updated capacity of STM: 4 + or – 1 pieces of info

chunking

reconfigure items by grouping them into meaningful pieces

maintenance rehearsal

repeating info over and over

Relatively ineffective for long term storage

elaborative rehearsal

relating new info to info already stored in LTM

Effective for encoding to LTM

long term memory

Well-rehearsed info will move to LTM

Constitutes each person’s total knowledge of the world

Unlimited capacity

Unlimited duration

explicit/declarative memory

those we consciously try to remember

episodic memory

specific memory for specific events from your life

semantic memory

general memory for ideas, rules, and general concepts

implicit/non-declarative memory

learned outside of our awareness and cannot be consciously recalled (ex: riding a bike)

procedural memory

memory of how to do things

types of implicit memories

Conditioned responses, emotional memories, priming

node (semantic memory)

encoded material

link (semantic memory)

connection between nodes

spreading activation (semantic memory)

go into the semantic network and find the info you are looking for based on what it is related to

working memory

a resource used to accomplish tasks such as reasoning & language comprehension

components of working memory

phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, central executive, episodic buffer

phonological loop (working memory)

holds and manipulates speech-based info

visuospatial sketchpad (working memory)

for visual and spatial info

central executive (working memory)

controls attention

episodic buffer (working memory)

limited capacity store that allows the various components to integrate info

Serves as an interface between WM and LTM

primacy effect

tendency to remember the first few items because they were rehearsed and moved to LTM

recency effect

tendency to remember the last items on a list because the info is still in STM

serial position effect

The differences in STM and LTM cause different effects when trying to remember a list

primacy effect, recency effect, items in the middle were not rehearsed and thus forgotten

recognition

gives retrieval cues

More sensitive

recall

have to come up with the info all by yourself

Less sensitive

trace decay theory of forgetting

info must be used or it will fade away

motivated forgetting theory of forgetting

we repress unpleasant and painful memories because we do not want to remember them (Freud)

interference theory (theory of forgetting)

storage or retrieval of info is impaired by the presence of other info

Accounts for most forgetting

proactive interference

info that we already know interferes with something new

Old interferes with new