Week 8 (Learning and Memory, Types of Learning and Memory

Learning and Memory

Learning

  • The acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught

  • How the brain changes in response to experience

Memory

  • The faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information

  • How learning is stored and used

We often measure learning by testing memory

Types of Learning

Classical Conditioning

  • Happens regardless of what the learner does

  • Subconscious

    • Pairing a conditioned stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to get some kind of conditioned response

    • Can sometimes occur with only one pairing

Operant Conditioning

  • The learner’s behavior controls the presentation of reinforcement of punishment

  • Also known as instrumental conditioning

    • Reinforcement any event that increases the future probability of the response

    • Punishment any event that suppresses the frequency of a response

Types of Memory

Short-Term Memory

  • Memory for events that have just occurred

  • Sometimes also called working memory

    • Working memory is slightly different because you can manipulate the information

    • The prefrontal cortex plays a big role in working memory and damage to the PFC can lead to deficits in the working memory

  • Smaller capacity for items

  • Depends on rehearsal

  • Once something is forgotten it is lost

Long-Term Memory

  • Memory for events from further back

  • Larger capacity for items

  • Not dependent on rehearsal

  • If something is forgotten a hint can bring back memory

Information to be remembered is first processed in short-term memory then goes into long-term memory storage

  • Called consolidation

Explicit vs. Implicit Memory

Explicit Memory

  • Conscious memories

    • Memory for items you recognize as a memory and can recall whenever you want

  • Episodic memories

    • Everyday life

  • Semantic memories

    • For facts

Implicit Memory

  • Procedural Memory

    • Memory for motor skills and habits

Consolidation

Process where information for short-term memory is converted into long-term memory

  • If rehearsal is interrupted during short-term memory information cannot be consolidated

The time for this varies

  • Stressful or emotionally significant memories are formed quickly

  • Boring information can take longer to consolidate

  • Chronic stress can impair memory