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conditioning + learning

associative learning: if i do one thing, another will happen as a result

classical conditioning: the association of two stimuli (ex. thunder will follow lightning)

→ classical conditioning is now considered a basic form of learning

→ all animals use classical conditioning as a way of learning

→ automatic response

ivan pavlov: explored classical conditioning, known for his experiments with dogs (bell=food=salivation → bell = salivation)

→ modern psychology proves that pavlov’s ideas were incomplete but an important foundation nonetheless

→ pavlov proved his ideas through objective experiments (no guesses or subjective theories)

→ pavlov’s work provided a foundation for Watson’s idea that human behavior is a bunch of conditioned responses

→ failed to consider cognition’s influence on conditioning (the more predictable the association, the stronger the conditioned response)

unconditioned stimulus (UCS or US): what causes a natural reaction (drooling to food)

unconditioned response (UCR or UR): response to something naturally (drooling to food)

neutral stimulus (NS): something that would usually warrant no response (a bell)

conditioned stimulus: (CS): what the neutral stimulus becomes through conditioning (a bell)

conditioned response (CR): response to the neutral stimulus after conditioning (drooling to a bell)

operant conditioning: association of certain behavior and its consequence

→ actions followed by reinforcement increase

→ actions followed by punishment decrease

→ voluntary response

b.f. skinner: explored operant conditioning

→ believed that behavior is solely due to outside factors rather than internal feelings, which people thought was inhumane

→ recognized but undermined the influence of cognition

→ operant chamber: where animals are held for either operant or classical conditioning

reinforcement: increase in likelihood of a behavioral response

→ positive reinforcement: get something you like

→ negative reinforcement: get rid of something you don’t like

→ primary reinforcers: unlearned reinforcement (eating food when hungry)

→ conditioned/secondary reinforcers: happens through association with primary reinforcers (if a light indicates food, a rat will learn to turn on the light)

→ delayed reinforcers: when the desired thing is not given right after the desired behavior (rats do not respond to these while humans do)

reinforcement schedule: pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced/rewarded

→ continuous reinforcement: rewarding the desired response every time it happens (learning happens more rapidly but so does extinction)

→ partial/intermittent reinforcement: reinforcing desired response only sometimes (slower learning but more resistance to extinction

→ fixed-ratio schedule: reinforcement only after the desired reply happens a specific number of times

→ variable-ratio schedule: reinforcement after the desired reply happens a random amount of times (the subject learns to think that the more they respond, the better chance they have of getting rewarded, so this method has a high rate of response)

→ fixed-interval schedule: reinforcement after a fixed time period (unstable rate of response because subject will only respond near the time they know they will get rewarded)

→ variable-interval schedule: reinforcement at random time intervals (slow but steady response rate)

→ response rates are higher when using a ratio schedule rather than interval

punishment: decreases frequency of a behavior

→ negative punishment: taking away something desirable (take away phone)

→ positive punishment: administering something disliked (giving a ticket for speeding)

shaping: gradually guiding behavior towards the desired behavior

cognitive learning: mental info being collected to guide behavior

behaviorism: the view that human/animal behavior can be explained through conditioning without the inclusion of thoughts or feeling/introspection

acquisition: when a conditioned response has been learned

higher/second-order conditioning: using a conditioned response to engage in further learning (guard dog bites you, 1st conditioning is that you are scared of that dog, 2nd conditioning is scared of dogs/barking in general) (tends to be weaker than 1st conditioning)

extinction: diminished conditioned response when the CS no longer guarantees the US (when the bell rings but no food comes, dogs salivate less each time)

spontaneous recovery: after waiting a while after extinction happens, the diminished response comes back (after waiting after the ringing bell and no food, the dogs salivated to the bell once again)

→ spontaneous recovery implies that extinction merely suppresses conditioning rather than completely eliminating it

generalization: response to stimuli similar to the CS (drooling to something similar to a bell)

discrimination: being able to identify and ignore irrelevant stimuli (dogs do not respond to a higher pitched bell)

behaviors that are favored by natural selection and survival are more likely to be learned

cognition’s influence on conditioning:

latent learning: learning that is happening but is not apparent without a reward (ex. rats will form a cognitive map of a maze in their heads after exploring a maze, but will not display that knowledge until they are motivated by food)

insight learning: a sudden realization of a solution to a problem without trial-and-error

intrinsic motivation: desire to do something for its own sake

extrinsic motivation: desire to do something to get a reward or avoid punishment

coping methods:

problem-focused coping: alleviating stress by going straight to the source

emotion-focused coping: when the stressful situation cannot be changed, we keep busy or seek comfort

learned helplessness: when we feel like we can’t control a situation, more stress is caused by it

→ the more control humans and animals in general are given, the less stressed we are and therefore the happier we are

external locus of control: feel as though external factors control fate more

internal locus of control: feel as though you determine your own faith

learning by observation:

observational learning: people learn by not only directly experiencing things but by also watching and imitating others

modeling: the action of watching and then imitating others

albert bandura: explored observational learning
→ known for the bobo doll experiment (kids were led to three different rooms. in the first room, they observed an adult kicking and lashing out on a bobo doll. in the second room, they were shown a bunch of toys that they were told they could not play with. being angry and also learning from the adult through observational learning, when the kid was led to a third room with a bobo doll, they started kicking the bobo doll)

→ when a human is watching another human do something, their brain activity mimics the person actually doing the action as if they were doing it themselves instead of just watching

prosocial behavior: positive, constructive, and helpful behavior

antisocial behavior: negative, unhelpful behavior

→ prosocial models have prosocial effects while antisocial models have antisocial effects

memory:

encoding: processing of info into the memory system

storage: process of retaining encoded info over time

retrieval: process of getting info out of the memory storage

parallel processing: processing many aspects of something at once

sensory memory: brief recording of sensory info in the memory system’

short-term memory: activated memory that holds a few things briefly before it is forgotten or the info is stored

→ working memory: short-term memory that focuses on conscious processing of auditory and visual info + info received from long-term memories

long-term memory: permanent storage of the memory system (ex. skills, certain experiences, knowledge)

explicit memories: consciously known and declared, processed through effortful processing

implicit memories: unconsciously stored, processed through automatic processing (ex. procedures for automatic skills like riding a bike or strong classically conditioned responses like being nervous at the doctor’s office)

iconic memory: an instantaneous sensory memory of visual info that only lasts 1/10 of a second

echoic memory: an instantaneous sensory memory of auditory info that only lasts 3-4 second

chunking: a way of remembering things that organizes info into manageable units or meaningful segments (ex. 126 492 894 is easier to remember than 126492894)

mnemonics: a way to remember things that uses vivid imagery or symbols

hierarchies: a way to remember things by categorizing the info

shallow processing: very basic level of encoding (ex. remembering a word by repeating it)

deep processing: complex and meaningful encoding (ex. how words come together to create meaning)

→ deep processing uses semantic processing, which is a way of encoding info that gives it a certain meaning (ex. this is the third person i've met today with the name anne - this anecdote will help you remember that person’s name better)

processing and storing of explicit memories happens in the frontal lobes and the hippocampus

→ damage to hippocampus results in the inability to retain explicit memories and memories stay there temporarily

processing and storing of implicit memories happens in the cerebellum and basal ganglia

→ cerebellum plays the primary role in forming and storing implicit memories that are created through classical conditioning

→ basal ganglia plays the primary role in forming procedural memories for skills

flashbulb memory: a clear memory of a significant event

long-term potentiation (LTP): an increase in a neuron’s firing potential after brief stimulation; believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory

priming: unconscious activation of a memory’s association (ex. person is showed the color yellow. when asked to name three fruits, they name a lemon, banana, and pineapple)

serial-position effect: tendency to remember the first and last things on a list rather than the middle terms

forgetting:

anterograde amnesia: able to recall past memories but not form new ones

→ people with this type of amnesia struggle to form new explicit memories but can form new implicit ones easily

retrograde amnesia: inability to recall past memories

forgetting information happens rapidly at first and then levels out over time

proactive interference: prior learning interferes with the learning of new stuff

retroactive interference: info newly learned interferes with the recall of old info

positive transfer: old info helping the learning of new info

if a memory was bad, the brain may repress it in order to minimize stress

misinforming effect: how a memory is remembered can be manipulated by things the person was told after the event they are trying to recall has happened (ex. ā€œi remember there being no alcohol at the partyā€ ā€œno bro, there was a pack of beers in the fridge!ā€ [begins doubting themselves] ā€œoh yeah.. i guess there was!ā€)

source amnesia: when a person remembers something but is unable to recall where they know it from

prototype: a mental representation of the most typical aspect of a category (ex. a robin is a bird)

convergent thinking: narrows available solutions to the best single solution

→ damage to left parietal lobe limits this

divergent thinking: expands the number of possible solutions to not just one

→ damage to frontal lobes limits this

problem-solving:

algorithms: step-by-step procedures that ensure a solution

heuristic: a simple thinking strategy used to solve problems efficiently

conformation bias: tendency to seek out evidence that proves us right

mental set: tendency to approach a problem in a way that’s worked before

representative heuristic: to judge the likelihood of things based on how well they fit an existing prototype

availability heuristic: to judge the likelihood of things based on how mentally available they are

belief perseverance: clinging to personal beliefs despite being presented contrary evidence

language:

phonemes: the smallest distinctive sound units in a language, not letters (chat - ch, a, t)

morphemes: smallest units that have meaning in a language (pre-, -ed, re-)

grammar is structured by semantics (meanings of words) + syntax (order of words)

at 4 months, babies develop receptive language (can understand what is being said to and about them through movements and gestures)

at 7 months, babies can categorize sounds into words

babies’ productive language (actually saying words) develops after receptive language

→ before this, babies have a babbling stage (da-da, ma-ma)

babies are in the one-word stage at around 1-2 years old, during which they speak in single words

babies are in the two-word stage at around 2 years old, during which they speak in two-word statements

→ their speech during this stage is known as telegraphic speech

after the two-word stage, language development in kids matures rapidly

damage to broca’s area: able to comprehend language but has trouble producing speech

damage to wernicke’s area: able to freely produce speech but what they say is nonsense because they struggle with comprehending language

hermann ebbinghaus: known for studying the function of memory

elaborative encoding: creating references and connecting them to something you’re trying to remember (ex. trying to remember a person’s name is fisher, you could envision them fishing)

self-reference: using personal information as a way to remember things (ex. remembering a historical date because it’s the same date as your birthday)

method of loci: using a physical familiar space/location to remember things (ex. imagining milk in the fridge as a way to remember to buy it at the store)

overlearning: practicing something new repeatedly

primacy effect: tendency to remember the first things in a list

recency effect: tendency to remember the last things in a list

elaborative rehearsal: remembering something by associating it with something you already know, primarily used to keep info in long-term memory

maintenance rehearsal/retrieval: remembering something short-term usually by repeating it over and over

latent inhibition: familiar stimulus takes longer to comprehend than new stimulus

state-dependent memory: remembering things when you’re in the same state as when you learned them (ex. remembering something that you learned when you were sad because you’re sad again)

source-monitoring: remembering where you learned something from

consolidation: short-term memories becoming long-term memories

divergent thinking: coming up with novel ways to use something

predictable-world bias: seeing random patterns in things (ex. it has to be sunny this week because it rained all of last week)

howard gardner: theory that there are multiple types of intelligence

→ naturalist: in tune with nature

→ spatial: visualizing the 3D world

→ linguistic: using your words well

→ intra-personal: understanding yourself

→ bodily-kinesthetic: connecting your body and mind

→ musical: discerning sounds and their pitches and stuff

→ logical-mathematical: analytical thinking and problem-solving

→ interpersonal: understanding others

executive functioning: associated with remembering things well

robert sternberg: triarchic theory of intelligence

→ creative intelligence: imaginative and innovative problem-solving

→ analytical intelligence: academic problem-solving and computation

→ practical intelligence: street smarts and common sense

test-retest reliability: administering the same test multiple times with consistent results

split-half reliability: testing of odd-number questions and even-number questions separately yield the same results

internal-consistency reliability: checking the validity of individual questions of a test

inter-rater reliability: people with similar proficiency in the subject will score around the same as each other