Psych 111 Midterm 2

Chapters 17-32

Working Memory

The form of memory we use to hold onto information temporarily

Chunking

The process of grouping information together using our knowledge

Habituation

Occurs when the response to a stimulus decreases with exposure

Sensitization

occurs when the response to a stimulus increases with exposure

Encoding

The process of converting information into a form that can be stored in memory.

Metacognition

thinking about your own thinking and learning so you can study more effectively

distributed practice

space out learning over time

massed practice

cramming big chunks of learning at once

Implicit Learning

You learn something automatically without realizing you’re learning it, and you can’t easily explain what you learned

Non-associative learning

Your behavior changes because you repeatedly experience the same thing

Perceptual Learning

your brain starts interpreting the same information differently because of your past experiences

Incidental Learning

Any type of learning that happens without the intention to learn

Intentional learning

any type of learning that happens when motivated by intention

Transfer-Appropriate Processing

memory is better when we learn in a similar environment to how we will be tested on the memory

Retrograde Amnesia

Cant remember the past

Anterograde Amnesia

Can’t remember the future

Unconditioned Stimulus

Naturally occurring stimulus that leads to an involuntary, unlearned response

Unconditioned Response

An involuntary unlearned response to a naturally occurring stimulus

Neutral Stimulus

stimulus that has no effect on the desired response prior to condition

conditioned stimulus

An initially neutral stimulus (like a bell) that elicits a conditioned response after it has been associated with an unconditioned stimulus

conditioned response

the response that is elicited by the conditioned stimulus after classical condition has taken place

Extinction

Extinction is the gradual weakening and eventual disappearance of a learned behavior because it is no longer reinforced or associated with the expected outcome.

Operant

a behavior that is controlled by its consequences (rat pressing lever and getting cheese)

Positive reinforcement

reinforce by giving positive stimulus

Negative reinforcement

reinforce by removing negative stimulus

primary reinforcers

basic needs (hunger, thirst)

secondary reinforcers

something that can be paired with past experiences of primary reinforcers (money, tokens)

Coercive cycle

a repeated pattern in which a parent and child reinforce each other's negative behaviors. The child resists, the parent escalates, the child escalates further, and the parent eventually gives in or loses control, making both behaviors more likely to happen again.

Latent learning

you can learn a behavior by watching it even if you don’t perform it you can do it later on

habit

Behavior that becomes automatic and continues even when the reward is no longer valuable

Law of effect

behaviors followed by positive consequences become more likely to happen again, while behaviors followed by negative consequences become less likely to happen again

Classical conditioning

learning by association, where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a natural stimulus and eventually produces the same response on its own. (dogs drool when they hear a bell)

Operant conditioning

type of learning in which behavior is influenced by its consequences, such as rewards and punishments.

Four components of observational learning

attention, retention, initiation, motivation

Recall

retrieval pulled with few external cues

recognition

match information to stored image/fact

engrams

changes in nervous system representing event

misinformation effect

bad info presented after event alters memories of the event

hindsight bias

tendency to think that you would have predicted the correct outocmeen

encoding-specificity principle

says that the effectiveness of retrieval cues come from the ways that things were encoded

Echoic memory

auditory memory (2-4 secs)

iconic memory

visual memory (part of a second)

eidetic imagery

memory that lasts after only a few exposures

working memory

short term memory- ability to hold information in our minds for a breif time and work with it

episodic memory

events in a particular time and place

semantic memory

permanent storage of knowledge

flashbulb memory

types of automatic encoding that happens when unexpected event has strong emotional associations to you

Three stages of memory

encoding, storage, retrieval

Encoding

Active system that receives information from senses and puts information into a useable form

Storage

organizes and stores information away

retrieval

retrieves information from storage

Serial Position effect

tendency to remember info from beginning and end of body of info

primary effect

remembering 1st info

recency effect

remembering last/end info

Photo Spreads

a selection of normally small photographs of faces given to a witness for the purpose of identifying a perpetrator

foils

any member of a lineup other than the suspect

false memories

memory for an event that never actually occurred, implanted by experimental manipulation or other means

schema

a memory template, created through repeated exposure to a particular class or objects or events

misinformation effect

A memory error caused by exposure to incorrect information between the original event and later memory test