Psych 111 - Exam 3
Memory
Steps
Encoding - we are taking external stimuli and turning it into information to create memory from
Storage - taking that information and putting it away for later use
Engram - mostly imaginary idea that there's a singular place in the brain where each memory is stored (myth)
Retrieval - need to pull that information from storage in order to use it
Cues - triggers that we use for retrieval
Levels of Processing
Structural - Focus on more visual components of the information (mainly occurs in the occipital lobe)
Phoemic - Focusing on the sound of information (mainly occurs in the temporal lobe)
Semantic - focuses on the meaning of the information. Ex. How do you define a rose? (uses the frontal lobe)
Organizational - encoding the information by connecting it with other pieces of information. Connecting it with feelings or other living things. (Uses the frontal lobe).
*More likely to remember something if you use the semantic or organizational processing)
Craik & Tulving, 1972 - had participants examine a list of about 60 words. They either had them examine it structurally (uppercase or lowercase), phoemically (does it have this word in it), or semantically (is this thing alive). The semantic processing beat the other two processing levels.
Dual Track Processing
Effortful - conscious processing. Actively trying to process information.
Automatic - unconscious processing.
*effortful processing becomes automatic. Ex. tying your shoes
Mnemonics - strategies that are used to improve memory
The role of interpretation - Easier to understand our own interpretation of things. Our own interpretation will go into our memory.
Encoding Specificity Principle - whatever we encode during the encoding stage will be the easiest key to use during retrieval.
Elaboration - when you add information to a stimuli, it will add more retrieval cues. This will be easier to later retrieve that memory because of the additional information. By adding these cues, you are also adding information at a deeper level.
Dual-Coding Theory - one of the best ways to encode information is to use two different modalities so that if one fails you, you have the other to back you up. (Ex. verbal and smell)
Self-Referent Encoding - when we can connect information to ourselves, we tend to remember it better.
Cocktail party phenomenon - Looking for references to ourselves (paying attention to our names). Our names stand out from all other types of stimuli. We will always hear it despite a chaotic sound environment
Improving encoding
Motivation to remember - Works to serve as a retrieval cue. The motivation helps you to retrieve that memory.
Pegwords - creating a strong visual image by combining 2 visual images. Unusual images help us to remember information better. (ex. One is a bun)
Method of Loci - taking a location that you are very familiar with and charted a path within that location. Along that path you will place the items that you need to remember. You will walk down that path and pick up the items
Chunking – Breaking things into smaller chunks (ex. Phone numbers). Makes it easier for us to remember
Hierarchies - More formal version of organizational encoding. You look at where things fit in the big structure of information that you have.
Spacing effect- we remember information when we space out the encoding effect. Trying to remember the information all at once we are not as successful.
Testing effect - we remember information better when we are tested on it. Uses retrieval cues
Atkinson-shiffrin model of memory
Sensory memory → short term memory → long-term memory
Sensory - memory for sense information. Very short lasting memory
Sperling, 1960 - Flashed a grid of letters then asked participants to recall all the letters in the grid. They typically only got the first row. Or the participants heard a tone and they had to describe multiple tones after hearing them. Sperling found that the duration for sensory processing is very short, but the capacity is big.
Short term - Lasts 30 seconds. If it’s beyond 30 seconds, part of it has turned into long-term memory.
Miller 7+_ 2 - The capacity of short term memory is 5-9 pieces of information.
Long term memory - could last decades. The capacity of long term memory is endless.
Procedural - something you typically dont have to think about
Positive transfer - the mastery of one procedure helps you master another procedure (ex. If you already know how to play the violin, it will be easier to learn to play the viola).
Negative transfer - the mastery of one procedure interferes with your ability to master another procedure (ex. Switching between video games)
Declarative - searching for information and constantly recalling it
Semantic- ex. Playing jeopardy
Episodic - personal memory for events
Autobiographical - Includes your episodic memory. Most personal memory
HSAM - people who can remember virtually every component of their lives (ex. The person will be able to tell you what they had for lunch on a certain date). These individuals have a highly autobiographical memory. Many people have had a lot of negative experiences because of their HSAM (embarassing memories)
Prospective - remembering to do something in the future.
Retrospective - Memory from the past. What most of our memories are. Better at retrospective than prospective
Working memory - how you are using the information in your short term memory
Alan Baddeley - first suggested working memory
Maintenance rehearsal - will maintain information in your short term memory
Elaborative rehearsal- will transition that memory to long term memory.
Visuospatial sketchpad - what you will use for visual and spatial information (ex. Learning a dance)
Phonological loop - will be for auditory or language based information.
Central executive - coordinate between different parts of the working memory as well as determine where to send cognitive resources.
Episodic buffer - focuses on temporal information and keeping the information in order.
Benefits - we see that working memory tends to peek at young adulthood. People with better working memory have better reading comprehension, and higher intelligence.
Consolidation - creates/ turns things into stable long term memory
Hippocampus - critical for consolidation. Damage to the hippocampus can disrupt consolidation
REM - rapid eye movement. Consolidation happens the most during sleep.
Reconsolidation - taking previously retrieved memory and putting it back into long term memory.
Retrieving memory
Implicit vs explicit
Implicit - long-term memory that doesn’t require any conscious retrieval. involves the cerebellum and the basal ganglia. More procedural memory process.
Explicit - long-term memory that requires conscious retrieval. typically involves the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.
Context Dependent retrieval - The room is acting as a retrieval cue (if you are currently mad, it is easier to remember previous instances that made you mad.)
Aaaociative network - chain of connections that make things easier to recall.
Schemas - a cluster of knowledge of an object/event that we can use to fill in gaps of our memory.
Testing memory
Recall - asking people to retrieve information without giving them any specific cues. Ex. an essay test
Recognition - you must recognize previously learned items. Ex. multiple choice exams
Relearning - Measure how long it takes someone to relearn a task. The quicker it is for someone to relearn a task, the more memory they have.
Amnesia
Retrograde - where you forget everything prior to the event that gave you amnesia.
ex/ after the event, you wouldnt remember your name, family, who you were, etc
Anterograde - where you have an inability to form new memories (significantly more common)
Memory issues
Serial Positioning Effect - depending on where the item is in a list, you may be more or less likely to recall that item
Primacy - we tend to remember the first items in the list
Receny - we tend to remember the last items in the list (seems to happen bc we still have those items in short term memory)
Simons & Levine (1998) - 50% of people didn’t realize that the person had changed. Wasn’t paying attention so wasnt able to encode information to standing memory.
Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton - Jen was assaulted and identified Ronald from two separate lineups. He ended up going to prison for 16 years and thru dna he was eventually released. Actual offender was just another black person.
Own race bias - we are better at distinguishing between people of our own race rather than members of another race.
Source monitoring - we don’t remember where we heard information from.
Cryptoamnesia - accidental plagiarism. You don’t remember where you got the info from so you assume that you created it.
Processing errors - you are incorrectly using your cognitive resources to retrieve or process information. Long term memory mistakes is semantics
Tip-of-the-tongue - where you know the information but you can't seem to pull it out (pull out game weak)
Redintegration - using one retrieved memory as retrieval cues for other memories
Forgetting
Beneficial - good for us to forget things. Makes our cognitive processing healthier
Inability - inability to forget have a difficult time thinking abstactly and logic making
Ineffective encoding - if you are not paying attention to that information, you can’t encode that information
Decay/Transience - as you become more distant from that memory, the memory becomes less detailed and harder to remember
Absentmindedness - any time your failure of attention leads to failure of memory
Blocking - inability to retrieve information that is in memory
Misattribution - forgetting where you are familiar with something. Assigning a recollection to the wrong source.
Interference - information is interfering with other information in your memory
Proactive - old information is interfering with new information
Retroactive - new information interferes with our ability to retrieve old information
Suggestibility - changing our memory based on outside information (galighting)
Bias - more likely to remember information that we agree with and forget information that we dont agree with
Persistence - memory that is more persistent becomes more focused in the details. Ex. if you experience something traumatic, you remember more dramatic things
Learning
Types of learning
Learning styles - people have different learning styles
Synaptic pruning - as you learn information, you decrease the number of neuronal connections. This makes your brain more efficient
Associative - learning by pairing stimuli.
Classical conditioning - Pavlov. Stimuli that indicated food was on the way made the dogs drool. Stimulus and response were unconditioned and happened naturally. Conclusion: any stimulus that an organism perceives is capable of producing a reaction.
Operational conditioning -
Mechanics of Classical conditioning
Neutral stimuli (NS) - organism does not have any natural reflective response toPavlov: bell starts as the neutral stimulus
Unconditioned Stimuli (US/UCS) - what naturally and reflexivly causes a response (food)
Conditioned Stimuli (CS) - repeatedly pair neutral stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus to create the new CS (bell+food)
Unconditioned Response (UR) - is the natural and reflexing response caused by the unconditioned stimulus (salivation)
Conditioned response (CR) - response that the conditioned stimulus causes (salivation) we have more control over the CR
Other elements of CC
Acquisition - TIme period where the bell is being paired with the food (where learning is occurring)
Extinction - unlearning information. Bell no longer needs food → no longer salivate at the bell
Spontaneous recovery - starts randomly responding the the CS
Generalization - respond to a neutral stimulus as if it is a conditioned stimulus
Discrimination - can tell if it is a new stimulus. If the bulb was originally red, and is now green → the dog will not respond
Little Albert - a psychological experiment conducted by John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner at Johns Hopkins University in 1920. The experiment's goal was to demonstrate that emotional responses, like fear, can be conditioned through association. Watson and Rayner paired a white rat with a loud noise, which naturally made Albert fear the noise. Over time, Albert began to associate the rat with the noise, and eventually developed a fear of the rat alone. Shows GENERALIZATION. Classical conditioning
Taste Aversion - you get sick after eating food (either because of food poisoning or you were just sick in general) and you associate that food with that feeling - making you feel nauseous. This is a strong type of conditioning because it is adaptive and it only requires one pairing.
Biologic Preparedness - The idea that we are biologically prepared for certain things because we experienced them in the past
Higher Order Conditioning - when you create a new condition stimulus by praiting it with a previous but NEVER pairing with the original stimulus.
(Ex. dogs. Pair food with bells. Pair bells with light. Dog salivates at light. Dog was conditioned with the conditioned stimulus)
Latent Inhibition - where there is interference with learning that has already occurred with your neutral stimulus. Proactive interference → may take longer to occur because
Renewal effect - similar to spontaneous recovery but it is more about the environment. Learning and distinction happens in different environments. happens where extinction happens in a specific environemt, and the organism learns to stop responding in a specific environment. When they get to a new envi they show that learning again. Have learned the extinction in a context, but when they learn that contect behavior comes back
Ex. dogs learn to stop responding to bell in laboratory, but when owner rings the bell at his house the dog still salivates.
Ex. person gets rid of fear in therapist office, but in real world they are still scared
Mechanics of Operant Conditioning
Thorndike’s Law of Effect - The behavior that leads to positive effects will be repeated.
Reinforcement - leads to an increase in behavior
Punishment - leads to a decrease in the behavior
Positive -
Positive reinforcement - giving them something to try to increase the behavior
Positive punishment - you are giving them something to try and decrease the behavior
Negative -
Negative reinforcement - removing a chore if child gets good grades
Negative punishment - taking away phone if child gets bad grades
Schedules of Reinforcement
Stimulus -
Ratio - Based on the amount of responses. Trying to teach the dog to sit → After every 3rd time the dog sits, you give them a treat.
Interval - Based on the time between responses. Will only reward the organisms after a certain amount of time.
Amount -
Fixed - the organism gets a treat at the same time or the same ratio every time
Variable - reward time or ratio is varied
FIXED RATIO: best
VARIABLE RATIO: 2nd best
Ration responded are always best
INTERVAL: fewer responded, take longer. Fixed is 3rd, random variable is 4th.
Skinner’s OC
SKINNER OPERANT CONDITIONING: did not take into account organisms. Said all that matters is stimulus and response
Partial Reinforcement - not rewarding every single behavior → tends to be behaviors that will last longer.
Context Reinforcement - Certain behaviors only reinforced in certain contexts. Leads to confusion for the organism.
Ex. tackling is reinforced on the football field but not in daily life
Primary Reinforcer - Fills biologic needs
Ex. all organisms should be able to be reinforced for food.
Secondary Reinforcer - something the organism has to learn the value of.
Ex. giving money to cavemen
Premack Principle - a preferred activity can be used to reinforce a less preferred activity.
Ex. if you eat veggies, you get CUPCAKES
Shaping - in order to teach a complex behavior, you need to break it down into smaller steps.
Token Economies - ex a sticker for good behavior. If you get 5 stickers you can trade for something of value
Acquisition - time period where you are doing reinforcement or the punishment.
Extinction - peck at the word peck and no longer get a treat. So stops pecking bc no longer getting a reward for it
Spontaneous Recovery - peck again with no reward
Generalization - does the behavior when they werent necessarily supposed to be doing that behavior. peck at pink without being rewarded.
Discrimination - should not engage in this behavior bc it is not relevant to the stimuli
Differences Between CC and OC
Behavior base -
Classical conditioning - automatic and reflexive kind of action
OC- more concious
Consequence - based on behavior and deciding how to reward the behavior
Culture -
CC in one culture can look different from CC in another culture.
Little variability is seen in OC
Deconditioning - learn behavior and unlearn behavior
Evaluative conditioning - trying to change the way people feel about a stimuli through pairing (coke with santa)
Generalization gradient - the more similar the stimuli are to the organism, the more likely they are to generalize
SOR - stimulus organism response. TAKE INTO ACCOUNT PERCEPTUAL ABILITY OF THE ORGANISM
Instnctive Drift - organisms natural and instinctive behaviors interfere with organisms learned behaviors and condition
Latent learning - learning that happens that doesn’t get displayed until later (ex. Mice and mazes)
TYPES of Learning
Nonassociation:
Habituation: stop responding to a stimulus when it is no longer relevant or a threat
Sensitization: respond to a stimulus because it is brought to your attention, or because it is increasingly relevant/feels like a threat
Observational:
Modeling - a teacher is demonstrating a behavior with the intent of student learning that behavior
Limitation - learner who learns from the teacher but the teacher is not intending to teach that behavior
Restriction of behavior - learn how not to do something by watching someone else
Diffusion Chains - process of turning novices into experts → Expert teaches a novice who becomes and expert and teaches another novice
Implicit Learning -
4 Requirements for observational learning
Attention: must pay attention to the instructor
Retention - must be able to retain the information. If you cannot retain the information, you cannot learn from it.
Reproduction - you must reproduce the information
Motivation - have motivation to display that observation learning
Bobo doll study
aggressive modeling leads to aggressive learned behaviors
Example of modeling, teachers intended to teach the learners the information
Learners and the teacher were gender matched
Important People
Francis Galton - Around the late 1800s. First to become interested in developing an intelligence test.
Alfred Binet - hired by the French government in order to test French children to sort them into the ones who needed more help in education and those who needed less help.
Lewis Terman - working at stanford. Took Binet’s general idea and transitioned it to be focused for a more english speaking audience
Stanford-Binet - first english language intelligence that had wide usage but it still did focus on children.
IQ - mental age divided by actual age x 100
David Wechsler - first to come up with an adult intelligence scale.
WAIS - Wechsler Aduclt Intelligence Scale
Types of testing
Intelligence- tests across a large number or domains and will see how well you perform across those domains.
Aptitude - more specific, measuring specific abilities (ex. SAT or ACT)
Achievement - Even more specific than aptitude and is looking to see if you have mastered some specific ability. (ex. Tests in psych class)
Testing Perspective vs Cognitive Perspective -
Testing perspective - concerned with the AMOUNT of intelligence that oyo have
Cognitive Perspective - Concerned with how you USE your intelligence
Cultural bias - doesnt have the cultural experience to know that information
Theories of intelligence
Crystallized vs Fluid
Crystallized - focused on factual information
Fluid intelligence - focused on process elements of intelligence like logic, reason, decision making
G-Factor - three factors that were distinct but highly correlated
Verbal - verbal/language processing
Spatial - understanding how to manipulate items and move about items
Quantitative - mathmatical
Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) Model - General: broad and narrow
broad: broad cognitive abilities, how you will use your cognition in different instances
Narrow: distinct abilities that may or may not be relevant to cognition
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory - thought that previous theories of intelligence were too academically focused.
Analytic - Being able to analyze something, process it, evaluate it, and come to a specific conclusion
Creative - being able to come up with new ways to solve a problem
Practical - focused on how you solve problems on your day to day lives
Gardner’s 8 intelligences - included many different intelligences.
Thurstone - Included about 180 by the time he died.
MATH:
VERBAL:
NATURALISM:
PHYSICAL/KINESIOLOGY:
Elements of intelligence
Heritability - looking at genetics and how these traits are passed down by a group level not a singular level. This is a nature component
Cumulative deprivation hypothesis - if you live in a deprived environment (food or social deprivation) it has a negative impact on your intelligence. Think of this as the nurture component
Reaction Range - genes determine the range, ex can score between 110-118, deprived environment= lower end of scale. Enriched environment = higher end of the scale
Flynn Effect - intelligence scores are increasing across generations
Intellectual extremes
Giftedness - 130 IQ. Crazy intelligent.
Disability -
Criteria -
Onset - happens prior to adulthood
Adaptive Functioning: has to interfere with your ability to lead an adaptive life
IQ - must be below 70, 100 is age iq
Intellectual disability
4 categories - based on how much help they need in their day to day lives
1. MILD,
2. MODERATE
3. SEVERE
4. PROFOUND:
Origins
Organic - genetic
Prenatal - development of the fetus that causes a change in brain or nervous system. (FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME)
Environmental - factors after birth that contribute to the disability. Ex. poor nutrition, exposure to chemicals, etc.
Unknown - falls into mild category
Categories of problems
Convergent problems - known solution found by a learned analytic strategy (math)
Divergent Probelsm - ideas about how to solve a problem but there is no known magical solution (climate change)
Well-defined problems - clear start and finish to solutions. You know the steps you have to take to solve these problems. MUST BE A CONVERSION PROBLEM
Ill-defined problems- lack of clarity in some aspect of where to start, you dont know where to go, or you dont know how to get between the two. CAN BE CONVERGENT OR DIVERGENT PROBELM.
Types of problems
Inducing structure - Trying to put some sort of relationship or structure on the problem and use that to get to the solution
Arrangement - taking the elements of the problem and rearrange them in order to get to the correct solution
Transformation - change some aspect of the problem in order to get to the solution
Ways to solve problems
Means-end analysis - searching for steps to reduce the difference between your current state and your goal state (solution for the problem). Often breaking the problem into smaller steps or looking alternative solutions
Trial and Error- no strategy here just trying ideas that pop into your head
Algorithm - opposite of trial and error. You have a strategy that will take you through every potential solution.
Heuristic - using a shortcut to eliminate some potential solutions. Conserving some resources, but may eliminate the correct solution.
Subgoals - taking a big problem and breaking it into smaller problems
Changing the representation - by changing your perspective, it can be easier for you to solve the problem
Incubation/insight - even when you are not consciously thinking about the problem, your subconscious is.
Creativity
Form of problem solving that is focused on finding a new way to solve a problem
Divergent thinking - tends to be more creative. Multiple solutions to a problem
Convergent thinking - you are trying to find one singular best option to solve a problem
4 Stages
Preparation - identifying the problem you are trying to solve
Incubation - putting the problem to the side, not focusing on it
Insight - suddenly there is a solution that comes up
Elaboration - verification - testing that solution to see if it works (solved the problem if it works)
Correlates of creativity
Expertise - need to have a well developed knowledge base to be able to explore. If you do not know a lot of information you don't know if you can be creative with that information
Imaginative thinking - ability to see things in a new and unusual way
Venturesome personality - seeks out new experiences and they deal with ambiguity
Independence - creative people tend to be more independent in their judgement and decisions
Intrinsic motivation - motivated to do things internally; no need for external reward
Creative Environment - supportive when you have new ideas