Psychology Units 3 and 4-AoS 2: Learning and Memory

What is conditioning?

* The process by which certain kinds of experience make particular actions more or less likely
* Its a type of associative learning
* Its a theory that a response to a stimulus by a person or animal can be modified by “learning” or “conditioning”

What is learning?

* The biological, cognitive, and social processes through which an individuals makes meaning from their experiences, resulting in long-lasting changes in their behaviour, skills and knowledge
* The process of acquiring knowledge, skills or behaviour through experience
* Learning is generally a permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of experience
* It can be intentional or unintentional
* Learners can be active or passive

What is a passive learner?

* When the learner is learning without the intention of learning, and learns through exposure to information or behaviour


* Involved in classical conditioning

What is an active learner?

* When the learner is intentionally learning and is engaging with the information, through discussion or problem solving
* Involved in operant learning

What is classical conditioning?

* A fundamental form of associative learning shared across species in which an organism learns to associate an originally neutral stimulus, such as any environmental sound, with the occurrence of a naturally rewarding or threatening event (unconditioned stimulus) that causes a reflex response (unconditioned response), such as the presence of a predator causing fear; through repeated experiences of the neutral stimulus preceding or co-occurring with the unconditioned stimulus, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus that on its own caused an automatic conditioned response similar to the unconditioned response, as if the unconditioned stimulus had occurred
* An association is made between a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus becomes conditioned stimulus that can cause a conditioned response
* The learner is passive
* The response is a reflex, so involuntary
* The stimulus is presented before the response

What is a neutral stimulus?

* A stimulus (internal or external) that does not naturally cause a reflex response
* In the case of Pavlov, the bell was the neutral stimulus (it was external) that does not naturally cause the dogs to have an involuntary response, this being salivating
* A neutral stimulus transforms into a conditioned stimulus once it causes a conditioned response, without the presences of the unconditioned stimulus
* Abbreviated it is NS

What is an unconditioned stimulus?

* A biologically significant stimulus, such as food or a sudden loud sound, that causes a reflex response
* In the case of Pavlov, the food naturally caused a reflex response, that being salivating
* Abbreviated it is UCS

What is an unconditioned response?

* An involuntary reflex response to a biologically significant stimulus (also known as an unconditioned stimulus)
* In the case of Pavlov, the salivation is the involuntary reflex response
* Abbreviated it is UCR

What is a conditioned stimulus?

* A previously neutral stimulus that acquires the ability to cause a reflex response through its association with an unconditioned stimulus
* In the case of Pavlov, the bell progressed from a neutral stimulus to a conditioned stimulus when the bell was able to cause the dogs to salivate
* Abbreviated it is CS

What is a conditioned response?

* A reflex response to a conditioned stimulus in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus that would usually cause it
* In the case of Pavlov, the conditioned response was when the dogs salivated at the sound of the bell (conditioned stimulus)
* Abbreviated it is CR

What are the phases of classical conditioning?

* Phase 1: Before conditioning
* Phase 2: During conditioning
* Phase 3: After conditioning

What occurs before classical conditioning?

* This phase describes the relationship that exists between stimuli and response before any conditioning trials occur

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* In the case of Pavlov, the bell is the neutral stimulus (NS) because it does not naturally cause salivation
* The food is the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) because it naturally causes salivation
* Salivation is the unconditioned response (UCR) because it is a reflex (or involuntary behaviour) that occurs naturally in response to the unconditioned stimulus, that being food
* In this stage mention what is the neutral stimulus, the unconditioned stimulus and the unconditioned response

What occurs during classical conditioning?

* This phase describes the process of learning the associations between the neutral stimulus (NS) and the unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

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* In the case of Pavlov, Pavlov sounded the bell (neutral stimulus) immediately before the presentation of the food (unconditioned stimulus response) and the natural salivation response (unconditioned response)
* In this stage mention when the neutral stimulus is presented in relation to the unconditioned stimulus and its relation to the unconditioned response

What occurs after classical conditioning

* This phase describes the process used to test whether the neutral stimulus has become the conditioned stimulus

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* In the case of Pavlov, he did this by sounding the bell on its own, without the food (unconditioned stimulus) and measuring the salivation response (unconditioned response)
* If the dogs produce saliva in response to the bell, then the bell has transformed from a neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus because it caused a conditioned response of salivation
* In this stage mention the neutral stimulus, conditioned stimulus and conditioned response

What is spontaneous recovery?

* The reappearance of a conditioned response after a period of apparent extinction

What is extinction?

* Extinction occurs when the conditioned stimulus is applied repeatedly without being paired with the unconditioned stimulus

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* In Pavlov’s scenario, the bell (conditioned stimulus) was presented without the presentation of food (unconditioned stimulus), meaning that the dogs no longer salivated at the sound of the bell, meaning the salivation response became extinct

What is learnt in classical conditioning?

* Classical conditioning produces a learned involuntary association between the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus that produces an automatic conditioned response to the conditioned stimulus
* This learning is automatic and outside of the learner’s conscious control
* This learning is represented implicitly in the learner’s nervous system by the strengthening of neural connections between neurons that fire in response to the neutral stimulus and the neurons that fires in response to the unconditioned stimulus and unconditioned response
* This learning is represented through long-term potentiation

What is the survival value of conditioning?

* A learned association between a conditioned stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus, the conditioned response prepares our body for what is to happen next
* Learning about stimuli that predicts damage is important for survival
* Fear is an adaptive emotional response as it may help us stay away from danger

What is the Little Albert experiment?

* Watson believed that all human learning and development could be explained as the result of learned associations between environmental stimuli and innate emotional responses
* Watson selected a white rat that was initially a neutral stimulus that would become a conditioned stimulus
* When Albert touched the rat, a bar was struck behind his head making a loud noise
* Later on when Albert was presented the rat, without the sound, he was cautious
* Once it was presented with the sound another three times, Albert become startled and distressed when he interacted with the rat
* Albert had been conditioned with a strong fear response to the white rat when it was presented alone
* After 1 month, with no further conditioning, Albert was still wary of the rat (CS), but the conditioned response was weakened

How is classical conditioning used in advertising?

What is Thorndike’s law of effect?

Behavioural responses that were closely followed by satisfying results were most likely to become established patterns and to occur again in response to the same stimulus. 

What is operant conditioning?

* A learning process in which the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated is determined by the consequences of that behaviour
* Based on Thorndike’s law of effect
* Behaviour is more likely to be repeated if it is followed by desirable consequence
* Behaviour is less likely to be repeated if it is followed by an undesirable consequence, or it the behaviour leads to losing a desirable consequence


* Role of learner:  Active


* Timing and stimulus response: Stimulus (reinforcement) after the response


* Nature of response: Voluntary

What are the phases involved in operant conditioning?

* There are 3 phases
* Antecedent (A)
* Behaviour or Operant response (B)
* Consequence (C)

What occurs in the antecedent or stimulus phase?

* The antecedent comes before the behaviour
* A stimulus that occurs before a voluntary behaviour and its consequence that serves to cue the behaviour
* The events that precede the behaviour
* During this phase, the antecedent is that which initiates, stimulates or triggers the behaviour  
* Antecedent is important if we want to control when the behaviour occurs as it is what triggers the behaviour


* The stimulus that causes the behaviour
* For example, an upcoming psychology exam
* In the case of Skinner’s box, it was the red light being turned on

What occurs in the behaviour or operant phase?

* A response or set of responses that acts on the environment to produce an effect
* The behaviour or operant response is the voluntary behaviour produced by the learner
* An operant is a response or behaviour that generates consequences.


* The behaviour is also known as the operant response. This is where an individual acts upon their environment.


* Behaviour is the voluntary actions that occur in the presence of the antecedent
* For example, as a result of the psychology exam (antecedent), an individual would study a lot (the behaviour)
* In the case of Skinner’s box, it was the behaviour of pressing the lever

What occurs in the consequence phase?

* The environmental stimulus or event that follows the operant response
* The consequence is the outcome that follows the behaviour
* The consequence is that which shapes or guides future behaviour


* The outcome of the behaviour, which determines the likelihood that it will occur again


* The consequences can be positive or negative reinforcement (encourage the behaviour to be repeated)


* Or the consequence can be positive or negative punishment (discourage the behaviour to be repeated)


* For example, getting a great score on the psychology exam (consequence: reinforcement) will encourage more studying for future assessments
* In the case of Skinner’s box, the outcomes of lever-pressing is that food is released into the rats food bowl (consequence was positive reinforcement)

What is observational learning?

* A form of social learning in which the learner attends to the behaviours of another person, encodes the behaviours in memory, and is motivated to rehearse and/ or reproduce the behaviour based on their interpretation of the reinforcing consequences of the behaviour
* It is a form of social learning unlike associative learning in classical and operant conditioning
* The person being observed is called the model
* The model can be live/real or symbolic such as a cartoon character, a television actor or a character in a book
* The more similar the learner is to the model, the more likely the learner will pay attention
* The less self-esteem and confidence of the learner, the more likely they are to imitate the model
* There are four principles of observational learning
* Learning occurs by observing actions and consequences
* Learning can occur without an immediate change in behaviour, meaning the learning can be latent (dormant or underdeveloped) and the change in behaviour can occur at a later time
* Cognition (thought, understanding, reasoning) is important. The learner is aware of future consequences
* There is a link between operant condition theory and cognitive learning theory

What are the stages of observational learning?

* There are 5 stages
* Attention
* Retention
* Reproduction
* Motivation
* Reinforcement

What occurs in the attention stage?

* The cognitive process used to focus awareness on a model
* The learner is focusing their awareness on the behaviour’s of the model
* Learning cannot occur without attending to the model


* The learner must actively attend to the behaviour being observed
* They must actively pay attention
* Attention is influenced by
* How perceptive is the learner?
* How motivated is the learner?
* Interest level of the learner
* The distracters present during the observation process

What occurs in the retention stage?

* Cognitive process used to encode and store knowledge of observed behaviour in a memory as a meaning mental representation
* Involves the process of forming memory representations for the behaviours we observe
* The learned behaviour must be stored in memory as a meaning mental representation in two forms
* Learner encodes visual, auditory and motor imagery of the situation and behaviours
* The learner encodes symbolic (language-based) representations as they think about the meaning of the behaviour, the situation and the consequences
* Learned behaviour may not be needed until sometime after learning has occurred

What occurs in the reproduction stage?

* Cognitive process used to re-enact an observed behaviour or to rehearse it mentally
* The process that occurs when the observer rehearse the behaviour the have observed in their mind, and when they practice the behaviour by physically performing the sequence of actions that was observed
* The learner must have the physical and intellectual ability to reproduce what has been observed

What occurs in the motivation stage?

* The cognitive processes that influences whether the learner decides to reproduce an observed behaviour
* The learner must be motivated and want to copy the learned behaviour
* This will depend on the consequences or reinforcement

What occurs in the reinforcement stage?

* A consequence of behaviour that strengthens the likelihood of the behaviour being reproduced  
* The prospect of a positive reward will increase the likelihood that the behaviour will be imitated
* The observation of a punishment for the behaviour will decrease the likelihood of the behaviour being imitated

What was Bundura’s Bobo Doll Experiment?

* This was an independent group design
* The participants were split up into the experimental and control group
* Those in the experimental control group were shown a model (in some variations of the model was a person or a cartoon character) acting violently towards the bobo doll
* The control group were shown a model (in some variations of the model was a person or a cartoon character) playing appropriately with the bobo doll
* It was observed that children in the experimental group shown then model displaying violent behaviour with the bobo doll imitate the violent behaviour with the bobo doll
* In variations the gender of the model and the participant had an effect on whether the participant would imitate the behaviour. If model and participation are the same gender, the participant is more likely to imitate the behaviour

What is positive?

* The *addition* of a reinforcer or punisher
* Adding good (reinforcement)
* Adding bad (punishment)

What is negative?

* The *subtraction* of a reinforcer or punisher
* Taking good (punishment)
* Taking bad (reinforcer)

What is reinforcement?

* Any stimulus (an event or actions) that strengthens or increases the likelihood of the response (behaviour) that it follows
* The reinforcer comes *after* the response (behaviour)
* More likely to produce behaviours that have been associated with pleasant consequences
* Reinforcement makes the behaviour stronger regardless if it is positive or negative

What is punishment?

* A consequence of behaviour that weakens the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated
* The punisher makes the behaviour weaker regardless if it is positive or negative punishment
* Less likely to produce behaviours that have been associated with unpleasant consequences

What is positive reinforcement?

* The addition of a rewarding stimulus (reinforcer) as a consequence of a behaviour, making the behaviour more likely in the future
* A stimulus which strengthens a response by providing a pleasant or satisfying consequence
* Examples include: Money, grades, applause, in Skinner’s experiment=food pellets

What is negative reinforcement?

* The removal of an aversive stimulus (punisher) as a consequence of a behaviour, making the behaviour less likely in the future  
* A stimulus that strengthens a response by the reduction, removal or prevention of an unpleasant stimulus
* The behaviour that removes, reduces or prevents an unpleasant stimulus is strengthen by the response.  
* Example includes: taking Panadol for a headache, driving slowly to avoid a speeding fine, Skinner’s experiment=electric shock

What is positive punishment?

* The addition of an aversive stimulus (punisher) as a consequence of a behaviour, making the behaviour less likely in the future
* Delivery of a bad stimulus following an undesirable response
* For example, being given more homework if a student misbehaves

What is negative punishment?

* The removal of a rewarding stimulus (reinforcer) as a consequence of a behaviour, making the behaviour less likely in the future
* Removal of a rewarding, valued stimulus
* For example, your licence being taken away for drink driving

What is memory?

* Memory is an active information-processing system that receives, organises, stores and recovers information
* It does 4 things
* Receives information
* Organizes information
* Stores information
* Recovers information
* Human memory deals with information in a sequence which involves 3 key processes
* Encoding
* Storage
* Retrieval

What processes does memory go through?

* encoding
* storage
* retrieval

What is encoding?

* encoding: The processing of information in short-term memory to transfer it to long-term memory
* Encoding can either be
* Automatic: Little to no mental effort
* Effortful: Deliberate conscious effort

What is storage?

* The retention of information in memory over time

What is retrieval?

* The process of bringing to mind knowledge of events or facts stored in explicit memory or of initiating and executing an implicit procedural memory
* Brining memory from long term to short term

What is maintenance rehearsal?

* Also known as Rote rehearsal
* Mainly concerns short term memory
* This is the process of repeatedly saying or thinking about a piece of information
* This rehearsal only temporarily maintains information in short term memory
* Not the best technique to store memory

What is elaborative rehearsal?

* Makes the memorized information meaningful
* Mainly concerned with long-term memory
* Involves thinking about the meaning of the term to be remembered
* Relate the new meaning to prior knowledge, make the information personally meaningful, when then leads to a much stronger long-term memory
* This helps store the memory

What is attention?

* Focusing awareness on to said sensory information

What is sensory memory?

* Entry point of new information and the information is in its original sensory form (it is not encoded) and stores all sensory experiences for a brief time
* It includes what we see, hear and feel
* Incoming sensory information is stored in separate sub-systems called sensory registers
* Information that is not attended to is lost
* What we see is known as iconic memory
* What we hear is known as echoic memory
* Capacity: Unlimited
* Duration: 0.2-4 seconds

What is iconic memory?

* This is visual memory.  It takes the form of raw visual images in the original sensory form.  
* Capacity: All the objects in a visual field


* Duration: 1/3 of a second (0.33)- Duration is very brief so that images do not overlap for too long and blur one’s perception

What is echoic memory?

* This is auditory memory. It takes the form of raw sounds of speech, objects and nature. It plays an important role in speech and language comprehension. Enables the storage of all sounds that make a word so it can be processed as a whole and allows and entire sequence of worlds to be held (sentences) so meaning can be formed.
* Capacity: Stores al the sounds within our range if hearing or provided by the sensory receptor (ear)
* Duration:  3-4 seconds

What is short term memory?

* A temporary memory store that represents information that is the current focus of attention, with limited capacity (72 items) and a duration of several seconds or for as long as information can be actively rehearsed
* Information that is actively processed in short-term memory through the process of encoding, can be transfer to long-term memory
* Maintenance rehearsal is used to help retain the information temporally, and creates weak long-term memory traces
* On the other hand, interpreting information in short-term memory by relating it to information retrieved in long-term memory results in the storage of this new information into long-term memory
* Sensory information that is attended to during sensory memory passed on to short term memory
* Information can entre short term memory through sensory memory and from long term memory through retrieval


* Unrehearsed information decays rapidly
* Or information is overwritten due to interference form subsequent items
* Capacity: 7 give or take 2 items (5-9 pieces of information)
* Duration 12-30 seconds

What is chunking?

* Grouping together separate items into a single, larger chunks of information
* Allows us to increase the capacity of short term memory
* For example, capacity is still 7, but now its 7 bits or chunks of information, that contain more information within these chunks      


* W N V D C E I V D C S V
* NSW, VIC, VCE, DVD

What is long term memory?

* The set of memory storage systems that enables us to store and retrieve knowledge and skills acquired over a lifetime with apparently unlimited capacity.
* Ability to retrieve any given long term memory trace depends on how it was encoded and the cue that are available when we want to remember it
* The deeper the level of encoding, the increase in storage strength and would make retrieval more likely
* As long as there are correct cues, information can be retrieved
* Information in long term memory is encoded by its meaning (semantically) and stored in semantic networks
* There are two types of long-term memory
* Implicit (procedural)
* Explicit (declarative)
* Capacity: Unlimited
* Duration: Unlimited

What are retrieval cues?

* These are stimuli that assist in retrieving memories
* Retrieval cues assists memory through reminding us of past experiences
* Are particularly useful when the cues available match the cues that were present at encoding

What is the serial position effect?

* Ability to retrieve information is affected by the position of the information in the sequence

What is explicit memory?

* Also known as declarative memory
* The kind of long-term memory we use when consciously remembering information about facts (semantic) or events (episodic)

What is the primacy effect?

* When the first few pieces of information are remembered better
* This occurs because the first few words are repeatedly rehearse, which increases the likelihood they are transferred into long-term memory
* While poor recall in the middle is explained by decay due to lack of maintenance rehearsal, the last few pieces of information remain in short term memory, which displaces earlier items from short term memory and interferes with their retrieval

What is the recency effect?

* When the last few pieces of information are remembered better


* Occurs because the items near the end of the list are still contained in sensory and short-term memory

What is episodic memory?

* Part of explicit memory
* The component of explicit long-term memory used for storing and retrieving memories of personally experienced events and for imagining ourselves experiencing further events, accompanied by the feeling of mental time travel; also called episodic-autobiographical memory
* Your experience this memory, rather than remember it
* Memory of life events, personal experiences, autobiographical (episode). Personal knowledge
* You experience episodic memory, rather than remember it
* For example, remembering the fight time I bought a piano

What is semantic memory?

* A type of explicit memory that consists of general knowledge or facts
* The component of explicit long-term memory that we used when we encode, store and retrieve factual and conceptual knowledge, and to recognise objects, people or places; accompanied by awareness of knowing without a feeling of reliving the past
* You remember this memory, rather than experience it
* Information we have about the world, Areas of expertise, academic knowledge, important places, meaning of words, rules, famous people or events etc. Facts that do not rely on specific time or place

What is implicit memory?

* Form unconsciously
* Also known as procedural'
* The kind of long-term memory that is demonstrated through changes in behaviour and adaptive responses as a result of repetition or practice, without conscious recollection of the knowledge that underlies the performance; can operate independent
* Memory of actions and skills that have been learned previously and involves knowing how to do something. How to do something
* For example, remembering how to play the piano
* Knowing how to do something

What is Dadirri

* It is a way of knowing
* Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann, Elder of the Ngangikurungkurr people defines Dadirri as the practice of silent still awareness
* Dadirri allows people to notice the relationships between the entities and events that occur within Country
* Observing closely the interrelationships that exist between entities gives people a profound knowledge of the living system of which they are a part

What is country?

* An Indigenous Australian understanding of place as a system if interrelated living entities, including the leaner, their family, communities and interrelationships with land, sky, waterways, geographical features, climate, animals and plants
* ***Country*** refers to the living systems of all entities that exist in the universe, created by our ancestors (and these ancestors still live within Country in different forms)
* People are only one part of country and are embedded in relationships with the more-than-human-entities within this system (more than human entities include, sky, geographical features and so on)

***Country*** is a multimodal system that includes:
* people
* entities such as artwork, ceremonial objects and tools
* laws, philosophies, medicines, songs, ceremonies … and many more.

How is kinship displayed in Aboriginal and Torre Strait Islander culture?

* A person’s relationships within Country is defined within the kinship system
* Kinship system defines the relationships that people have with each other, the knowledge that are responsible for and the entities within Country that they have a responsibility to care for
* The distribution of knowledge and responsibility ensure that all aspects of Country are maintained, and that everyone plays their part within the wider knowledge system
* A kinship system – the relationship that people have with each other, the knowledges and the entities within ***Country.***
* This is more than just ‘blood’ relationships.


* Terms like mother, father, cousin are used for relationships within and across generations of multiple families.
* Knowledge is distributed throughout these kinship structures, allowing knowledge to be passed on

What are the five ways of knowing?

* Aboriginal ways of knowing through engaging in cultural practice, may include drawing, painting or carving visual symbols and the practice of yarning
* The Sand talk symbols for knowing are
* Kinship mind: improving learning and memory through relationships and connectedness. There are no isolated variables
* Story mind: Role of narrative in memory and knowledge transmission
* Dreaming mind: Using metaphors to understand ideas
* Ancestor mind: Connecting with a timeless state of mind that is optimal neural state for learning. It is characterised by complete concentration, engagement, immersion and losing track of time. Can be achieved through engaging in cultural activities and immersing themselves in the process
* Pattern mind: Seeing entire systems and the trends and pattern within in them and using these to make accurate predication and find solutions to problems within those systems

What is yarning?

* It is a way of knowing
* It is an Aboriginal cultural practice used for sharing knowledge between people
* Takes the forms of a conversation in which people seek to deepen their understanding of an idea, experience or process
* Structure of a yarn is a free-flowing conversation
* Based on open questioning rather than being analytic
* When yarning each speaker should build upon what previous speakers have said rather than seeking to defeat them in debate

What is situated multi-model systems approach?

* The situated multimodal systems approach to learning recognises that the culture we grow up in, the landscapes that surround us, and the languages we speak strongly influence how we come to understand the universe and our place within it
* The **situated** component refers to the importance of the **location** of the learner in relation to other learners and all other entities within a culture. **Situated learning** occurs in authentic settings (situations), rather than in a formal classroom.
* The **multimodal** component refers to the **different formats** used for **sharing knowledge** within a culture and how these reinforce each other.
* The **systems** component refers to the **networks of people, places and living and non-living entities** that together encode the knowledge stored within a culture.

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What does Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people ways of knowing being and doing mean?

* Although there are many distinct languages and cultural practices amongst the many different Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural groups within Australia, there are some common ways of **knowing, being and doing** that broadly define the situated **multi-modal systems approach**.
* **Ways of knowing, being and doing** is a phrase that refers to distinctive Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural ways of understanding (knowing), relating (being) and acting (doing).

What is symbolic learning?

* Symbols: objects or signs that are used to represent (or mean) something else. They allow us to express ideas about concepts that go beyond stimuli that are immediately present in the environment.
* Symbolic learning: occurs through language and cultural practices such as stories, songs, dance, art and ceremonial practices, as well as through formal texts.
* Symbolic communication: allows us to share culturally important knowledge, such as laws, biological, geographical and astronomical knowledge, land-management practices, medicinal knowledge, how to make and operate new technologies, and skills for survival.
* Symbolic learning is multimodal in that knowledge can be communicated and interpreted through different sensory modes.
* For example, Western education values the written word as the primary mode for storing and sharing knowledge across generations. In contrast, many of the world’s First Nations (Indigenous) cultures are oral cultures that use modes other than writing to store and communicate knowledge across generations.

What are the ways of knowing?

* Learn through Country
* In a systems model of learning, people learn from, with and through other entities, not about them.

What are Songlines?

* It is a way of knowing
* **Songlines,** sometimes called Songspirals or Dreaming tracks, refer to the trade and ceremonial routes that cross Country, and to the sung narratives that encode knowledge of creation stories about aspects of Country.
* These stories contain knowledge of plants, animals and other natural resources as well as knowledge of the cultural laws that govern how people interact with Country and the complex system of kinship relationships that determine how knowledge is shared.
* Songlines represent the body of ancestral knowledge that has been passed down over thousands of generations known as the Dreaming in English.
* *This knowledge is ‘patterned on Country’ – knowledge is stored within the landscape, in constellations in night sky, in art and cultural objects and in the system of kinship relationships.*
* *These physical places, objects and relationships become the libraries in which knowledge is stored and provide powerful contextual cues for knowledge encoded in stories, songs and dances.*
* **Within this situated multimodal systems approach**, different people within the community hold different kinds of knowledge depending on their role within the system of kinship relationships.
* The knowledge is not fixed in the past – it is constantly evolving
* Songlines contain narratives that provides information that help with survival and knowledge about a place, plants, animals and all that is necessary to help survive
* Songlines also help in someway map out

What are the ways of being?

* Australian First Nations peoples’ ways of being are relational and located (i.e. situated). This means that an individual’s role as a knowledge holder is determined by their relationship to family, community and to Country.



* **Being** refers to the ways that an individual attends to and interacts with other entities within the system.
* One way of being within Indigenous Australian cultures is a practice that the Ngangikurungkurr people of the Daly River in the Northern Territory call Dadirri. In English, Dadirri translates as ‘deep listening’.
* *However, listening deeply and observing closely, the interrelationships that exist between all entities goes further than behavioural models of learning – it gives people a profound knowledge of their environment as a living system of which they are a part.*

What are the ways of doing?

* **Ways of doing** refers to **multimodal cultural practices** used to convey knowledge.
* These practices embody and communicate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ ways of knowing and being.
* They include storytelling in traditional languages; creating art (drawing, painting, crafting objects); performing songs and dances; collecting and hunting traditional foods and medicines; astronomical knowledge, and traditional land management practices such as cultural burning.
* The structure of the story provides a memorable framework in which to embed knowledge.   The stories tell of journeys across Country that encode places that are significant for finding   water, food  and medicines, as well as containing knowledge about things that are dangerous   and about the consequences for people’s behaviours.
* The stories encode knowledge in layers, with deeper levels of understanding relating to   cultural  laws and knowledge being revealed at different stages of learning.
* Singing stories and linking them to dance, drawn symbols, objects and places helps to make the  knowledge more memorable.
* Songs, dances and images have a physical structure that allows each phrase or action to serve as a  cue for the next. Embedding knowledge in procedural forms of learning and memory ensures that  the knowledge is encoded deeply and in multiple formats.

What brain structures are involved in memory?

* Neocortex
* Hippocampus
* Amygdala
* Basal ganglia
* Cerebellum

What is the role of the hippocampus?

* Plays a crucial role in binding together the different elements of our experiences and consolidating thee explicit memories in the neocortex
* It is involved in explicit memory
* When the hippocampus is damaged some problems include
* Amnesia- can’t make or remember memories that are explicit
* However, they are still able to remember and create implicit memories
* Information about our experience is sent from the neocortex to the hippocampus, which then binds the separate source of information about the episode into an integrated memory trace, which it then feeds back to the neocortex
* It encodes explicit memories
* Degeneration in the hippocampus is a leading contributor to the development of Alzheimer’s disease

What is the role of the amygdala?

* Processes emotional memories and retrieves explicit memories (specifically ones that are emotional driven)
* Plays an important role in the rapid and unconscious processing of emotions (implicit memory) and feeds this information to the hippocampus so that emotional information can be integrated into explicit memories
* It is involved in explicit memories
* Consolidates the emotional component of memories
* Adrenalin also aids in the formation and strength of emotional memories
* Found in front of the hippocampus
* When both amygdala are damaged, individuals are unable to experience the emotions associated with episodic memories and do not acquire implicit fear responses
* Emotional memories are more memorable than non-emotional memories

What is the role of the neocortex?

* It is responsible for attention, thought, perception- all which influence memory. Specifically it stores episodic and semantic memories one that are encoded and transferred from the hippocampus
* Stores explicit memories and influences attention to create episodic memory
* It process the sensory, motor and perceptual information hat we become aware of
* Prefrontal cortex controls the higher cognitive functions of attention, thought and language that allows is to reflect consciously on our experiences
* It is involved in explicit memory
* It is the outer layer of the cortex
* Also involved in higher order brain functions and is also heavily linked to processing and recognition of auditory stimuli
* Once the memories are fact or known in the amygdala and hippocampus, it goes to the neocortex

What is the role of the role basal ganglia

\
implicit

habit formation, dopamine

* WHAT HAPPENS WHEN DAMAGED
* WHERE IS IT FOUND?

What is the role of the cerebellum?

implicit

movement, balance

* WHAT HAPPENS WHEN DAMAGED
* WHERE IS IT FOUND?

What is amnesia?

* **Amnesia** A general term for memory disorders that cause difficulty with learning new information or remembering the past.

What is anterograde amnesia?

* antero means before or forward
* It is a type of memory loss in which new memoires cannot be made
* Damage to the median temporal lobe system (this includes the hippocampus and amygdala) and hippocampus causes this
* A form of memory loss in which explicit knowledge of events and facts experienced after the amnesia-causing event cannot be consolidated.

What is the neural basis for episodic memory?

1. Prefrontal cortex directs attention to the regions of the neocortex that are processing the sensory-motor and perceptual aspects of the experience
2. This information is then sent to the hippocampus, which then binds the sperate sources of information about the episode into an integrated memory trace (a long term change in the brain that represents and stores memory) which it then feedback to the neocortex. The feedback between the hippocampus and neocortex strengthens the activation of neocortical neurons, also known as long-term potentiation
3. Long term potentiation is the mechanism that consolidates long-term episodic memoires in the neocortex
4. Retrieval of episodic memoires occurs when the connection between the hippocampus and neocortex are reconstructed in response to a cue

What is the neural bass of semantic memory?

* Semantic knowledge is distributed throughout the sam regions of the neocortex that

What is retrograde amnesia?

* retro means back or backwards
* Form of memory loss that causes an inability to remember the past

What is mnemonics?

* Systems, techniques or strategies implemented to consciously improve memory
* Helps with encoding, storing and retrieving information by turning it into something more meaningful
* Essentially devices or techniques used to aid the encoding, storage and retrieval of information

What are the types of mnemonics?

* In written cultures, there are three main mnemonics
* Acronyms
* Acrostic
* Method of Loci

What is an acronym?

* *Acronyms:* A mnemonic device in which the first letter of each item to be recalled is placed together to create a word.
* The first letters of items to be remembered form a pronounceable world to aid memory
* Makes a word

What is an acrostic?

* *Acrostics:* A mnemonic device in which the first letter of each item to be recalled become the first letter of a new word, and these worlds are then put to together into a phrase, rhyme, or poem to aid memory
* Makes a phrase or sentence

What is the method of loci?

* *Method of loci or memory palace*: A mnemonic device that convert items into mental images and associates them with specific locations to aid memories
* 1. Begin with a well known place
* 2. Attack each word or concept to be remember to each location
* 3. Take a walk physical or mentally through the space to recall each of these items
* This method of remembering allows individual to expand on information and order and sequence things as well

What is aphantasia?

* *Aphantasia*: A phenomenon in which individuals lack the capacity to generate mental imagery
* Mental imagery is done through the visual cortex and not our eyes
* People can be born with it and can have it after brain injury
* Implications
* People with aphantasia are unable to generate mental imagery, reduced ability to recall episodic memories and have a hard time imagining the future
* Because mental imagery is a crucial part of autobiographical memory, not being able to have that visual image means there is a reduced ability to recall episodic memoires and autobiographical memories  and because autobiographical is needed to image future events, since people with aphantasia have reduced ability to recall autobiographical memory, they have a reduced ability to image the future
* In fMRI studies shows that the hippocampal-neocortical network is active during retrieval of autobiographical memoires and episodic future thinking
* Due to aphantasia reducing this ability, fMRI studies on individuals with aphantasia will show reduce hippocampal-neocortical network activity

What is Alzeihmer’s Disease?

What happens in the progression of Alzeihmer’s disease?

What brain strucutres are affected by Alzeihmer’s disease?

What is autobiographical memory?

* Autobiographical memory: A component of explicit memory that represents our memories of personally experienced events and self-knowledge
* Autobiographical memory includes
* Episodic biographical memory
* Semantic autobiographical memory

What is episodic autobiographical memory?

* Abbreviated to EAM
* Provides first-person experience of remembering events from the past and imagining ourselves in the future

What is semantic autobiographical memory?

* Abbreviated to SAM
* Builds a stable core of self-knowledge and identity over time. SAM is generalised from EAM

Does autobiographical memory affect mental imagery?