PSYCH EXAM 2 NOTES

Week 4

Memory

• Definition: The ability to retain knowledge.

• Key Processes: Memory formation involves attention, sensation, perception, and learning.

• Usage: Memories are essential for thinking and problem-solving.

• Information Processing: The continuum from attention to problem-solving includes memory.

Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of Memory

• Components:

  • Sensory Memory: Initial stage, brief retention of sensory information.

  • Short-Term Memory (STM): Holds a small amount of information (7±2 bits) for a short time (30 seconds or less).

  • Long-Term Memory (LTM): Information stored for long durations.

• Maintenance Rehearsal: Process to keep information in STM.

• Attention: Important for transitions from sensory memory to short-term memory.

• Retrieval: Process of recalling stored information; some may be lost over time.

Stages of Memory

• Three Steps:

  • Encoding: Taking information and putting it into memory.

  • Storage: Retaining encoded information.

  • Retrieval: Recovering information stored in memory.

Types of Memory

• Sensory Memory: Brief holding area for sensory information.

  • Types include visual, acoustic, haptic.

• Working Memory: Active manipulation of information; includes:

  • Visuospatial Sketchpad: Visual images.

  • Phonological Loop: Auditory information.

  • Central Executive: Directs attention.

  • Episodic Buffer: Links different types of information.

• Long-Term Memory: Key types include:

  • Episodic: Personal experiences.

  • Semantic: General knowledge.

  • Procedural: Skills and tasks.

Forgetting

• Definition: Decrease in ability to retrieve memories.

• Adaptive Purpose: Helps focus on more important information.

• Interference: Competition between new and old memories can distort recall.

  • Proactive Interference: Old memories hinder the recall of new information.

  • Retroactive Interference: New memories hinder recall of old information.

• Motivated Forgetting: Deliberate lack of memory for negative experiences.

Memory Biological Basis

• Neural Changes: Long-term potentiation (LTP) enhances neuron communication.

• Engram: Biological traces of memory in the brain.

• Acetylcholine: Important for memory formation; drugs affecting ACh can impact memory.

Memory Improvement Techniques

• Context Dependency: Better recall in the environment where the information was learned.

• Distributed Practice: Spreading out learning is more effective than cramming.

• Pomodoro Technique: Study intensely for set periods followed by breaks.

• Interleaving: Mixing different subjects in study sessions improves retention.

• Mnemonics: Memory aids that associate new information with known concepts.

• Self-Testing: Testing oneself improves retention and learning.

Week 5

Learning

• Definition: A relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience.

• Types of Learning:

  • Associative Learning: Forming connections between stimuli and behavior (Classical and Operant Conditioning).

  • Nonassociative Learning: Changes in response magnitude to a stimulus (Habituation and Sensitization).

Reflexes and Instincts

• Reflexes: Automatic responses to stimuli (e.g., knee-jerk).

• Instincts: Inherent behaviors observed in species without training (e.g., imprinting).

  • Reflexes may lack flexibility; instincts can determine behavior sequences.

Operant Conditioning

• Definition: Behavior strength is influenced by its consequences.

• Law of Effect: Behaviors followed by satisfying outcomes are more likely to occur again.

• Reinforcement: Strengthens behavior, can be positive (adding a stimulus) or negative (removing a stimulus).

• Punishment: Weakens behavior, can also be positive (adding a stimulus) or negative (removing a stimulus).

Observational Learning

• Definition: Learning by observing others.

• Key Factors: Attention, memory, reproduction, motivation are necessary for effective observational learning.

• Bandura's Bobo Doll Experiment: Demonstrated children imitate aggressive behavior.

Cognitive Processes

• Thinking: Internal manipulation of information for problem-solving.

• Heuristics: Mental shortcuts in problem-solving, although they can lead to biases.

• Evolutionary Psychology: Understanding how human behavior evolved to solve problems encountered by our ancestors.

• When talking with my friend recently, he told me about how last weekend he saw his son take his toys and put them in two groups. In one group were the things that were “alive” (like dolls, stuffed animals etc.) and in the other group were things that were not alive (ping pong rackets, toy furniture etc.). What was my friend’s son demonstrating he has a grasp of with regard to things being “alive” vs. “not alive”?

   

  Mental images

   

  Exemplars

   

  Concepts

   

  Heuristics

   

  Framing

• In an art class, the teacher instructed his students to “draw an airplane.” Though there are many types of airplanes, most students drew their ________________, which resulted in a lot of pictures of a typical or standard plane.

   

  Heuristic

   

  Anchor

   

  Frame

   

  Prototype

   Archetype

Whenever he thinks of dogs, William always thinks of the first dog he had while growing up. This first dog of his is a(n) ______________ of the category of “dog” for William.

Prototype

Exemplar

Anchor

Heuristic

Archetype

What’s the main advantage of using algorithms for solving problems?

They tend to be very fast compared with other methods.

They tend to be very accurate compared with other methods.

They tend to be easier to use than other methods.

They tend to be easier to imagine compared with other methods.

They tend to be less expensive than other methods.

Which of the following is an example of the availability heuristic?

I make a general estimate of how much a car should cost based on my past car-shopping experience.

I’ll tend to be more likely to help someone in the future who has helped me, compared with someone who has not helped me.

Even though my spouse and I agree and disagree on things roughly equally, I more easily remember the times we disagree, and therefore think that we disagree more often than we do.

I thought changing my job would make me happy, but after a few months at the new job, I’m not as happy as I thought I’d be.

I tend to like to buy things on sale so I feel like I'm getting a deal.

When meeting her daughter’s new boyfriend for the first time, Josie decided she liked him before she even got a chance to know him. She just had a feeling that he was a nice guy based on a few short e-mail exchanges they had. What is this an example of?

The availability heuristic

The representativeness heuristic

The recognition heuristic

The affect heuristic

Framing

On a television show the other day, there was an older white man from a southern state being interviewed because he was running for local office. Given his demographics, most people watching the show assumed he was a republican, but he was actually a democrat. What is this an example of?

The availability heuristic

The representativeness heuristic

The recognition heuristic

The affect heuristic

Framing

While traveling abroad recently, I was given the choice of rental cars. I could get either a Peugeot, or a Nissan. Because I’ve head of Nissan but I hadn’t heard of Peugeot, I chose the Nissan, even though the cars are very similar in most respects. What is this an example of?

The availability heuristic

The representativeness heuristic

The recognition heuristic

The affect heuristic

Framing

When shopping for a new car, the first thing Dave noticed was the MSRP (manufacturer’s suggested retail price). When the salesperson came over and told him that the price she could offer was several thousand dollars below MSRP, Dave felt like he was getting a good deal, and decided to buy the car. What is this an example of?

The availability heuristic

The representativeness heuristic

The recognition heuristic

The affect heuristic

 Anchoring

When meeting with her clients, an investment advisor decides to tell potential investors that they have an 80% chance of making money with a particular investment, rather than focusing on the fact that the same investment had a 20% chance of losing money. What is the investment advisor using to try to convince her clients to invest?

The availability heuristic

Framing

The representativeness heuristic

The recognition heuristic

Anchoring

Evolution is:

What happens when individuals change as the result of maturing.

A change in gene frequencies in a population over time.

A process that always leads to large scale changes in species over time.

The same thing as natural selection.

The result of mutation alone

A friend of yours has been studying schizophrenia for many years, and has come to the conclusion that schizophrenia has a heritability of about 0.8. Since you know how heritability works, you know that this means that:

80% of the differences we see in people with regard to schizophrenia are due to differences in their environments.

If a person has a parent with schizophrenia, she’ll have an 80% likelihood of inheriting schizophrenia.

80% of people with schizophrenia have it because of genes, and about 20% of people with schizophrenia have it because of their environment.

80% of people with schizophrenia inherited it from a parent, while 20% of people with schizophrenia do not have a parent with schizophrenia.

80% of the differences we see in people with regard to schizophrenia are due to differences in genes.

Which of the following traits in humans is a heritable trait?

Having a heart

Having 2 arms

Hair color

Having a nose

Having a mouth

Which of the following is NOT one of the assumptions made by behavioral geneticists?

Behavior is a phenotype like any other.

Behavior can be heritable.

Behavior is influenced by genes.

Behavior can be an adaptation.

Behavior can’t evolve like other traits.

Which of the following is an example of reciprocal altruism?

You mow your grandmother’s lawn for $10 when you normally charge the neighbors $20.

You offer to watch your neighbor’s child when he has to stay late at work, and he lets you borrow his car when you need it.

You run into traffic to save a dog from being hit by a car.

You make a $5,000 donation to a charity and claim the deduction on your taxes.

You let your friend borrow your car, but you won’t let your sister borrow your car.

What is the coefficient of relatedness (the r value) between a parent and offspring?

1

0.75

0.5

0.25

0.125

Evolutionary psychologists refer to ___________________, which is when an individual engages in a behavior that is detrimental to another party, but also him or herself.

Selfishness

Cooperation

Altruism

Spite

Romanticism

Which of the following statements about sexual selection is true?

Males tend to have much greater variance in their reproductive success compared with females.

Females tend to compete with one another for access to males.

Males tend to be more choosy about mates compared with females.

In many species, females have elaborate traits, and males do not.

You are walking through a park and see a flock of birds you think are the same species.  Three of these birds are small and have gray feathers.  Three other birds are larger and have brightly-colored feathers.  Given what you learned about sexual selection, which of the following predictions would you make about this flock?

They migrate in winter.

The brightly colored ones are juveniles.

The brightly colored ones are male.

It's actually impossible for them to be the same species.

The more brightly-colored birds are better parents.

Why is the MHC important?

Human females appear to be able to differentiate males with different MHC genes by smell.

It’s the type of communication that allows individuals of the same species to be able to coordinate their efforts, like with hunting.

It can help us determine if something is heritable or not.

It helps us to determine whether an action potential will fire or not.

It forms a mesh in which neurons are suspended, giving them support.