Psychology Test 3 (Ch. 7, 8, 10)

The forgetting curve for Spanish learned in school

Compared with people just completing a Spanish course, those 3 years out of the course remembered much less (on a vocabulary recognition test). Compared with the 3-year group, however, those who studied Spanish even longer ago did not forget much more

Distinguishing these two kinds of stimuli and responses is easy:

Conditioned = learned; unconditioned = unlearned.

If left alone by themselves, most people prefer to do something—even (when given no other option) to self-administer mild electric shocks

However, with too much stimulation comes stress, and we then look for a way to decrease arousal.

Taste aversion

If you became violently ill after eating oysters, you would probably have a hard time eating them again. Their smell and taste would have become a CS for nausea. This learning occurs readily because our biology prepares us to learn taste aversions to toxic foods.

Chapter 7

Learning - B. F. Skinner, would become famous for shaping rat and pigeon behaviors by delivering well-timed rewards as the animals inched closer and closer to a desired behavior

Dramatic experiences remain bright and clear in our memory in part because we rehearse them. We think about them and describe them to others.

Memories of our best experiences, which we enjoy recalling and recounting, also endure

In humans, imitation is pervasive

Our catchphrases, fashions, ceremonies, foods, traditions, morals, and fads all spread by one person copying another. Children and even infants are natural imitators

drive-reduced theory

Physiological needs (such as hunger and thirst) create an aroused state that drives us to reduce the need (for example, by eating or drinking).

What is priming?

Priming is the activation (often without our awareness) of associations. seeing a gun, for example, might temporarily predispose someone to interpret an ambiguous face as threatening or to recall a boss as nasty.

An unexpected CS pg. 239

Psychologist Michael Tirrell (1990) recalled: "My first girlfriend loved onions, so I came to associate onion breath with kissing. Before long, onion breath sent tingles up and down my spine. Oh what a feeling!"

A dog does not learn to salivate in response to food in its mouth

Rather, food in the mouth automatically, unconditionally, triggers a dog's salivary reflex. - Thus, Pavlov called the drooling an unconditioned response (UR). - And he called the food an unconditioned stimulus (US). - Salivation in response to the tone, however, is learned. It is conditional upon the dog's associating the tone with the food

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Reduced to near-starvation by their rulers, inhabitants of Suzanne Collins' fictional nation, Panem, hunger for food and survival. Hunger Games heroine Katniss Everdeen expresses higher-level needs for actualization and transcendence, and in the process inspires the nation

theory of mind.

Regardless, children's brains do enable their empathy and their ability to infer another's mental state, an ability

What is our short-term memory capacity?

Short-term memory capacity is about seven items, plus or minus two, but this information disappears from memory quickly without rehearsal. Our working memory capacity for active processing varies, depending on age, intelligence level, and other factors.

The need to connect

Six days a week, women from the Philippines work as "domestic helpers" in 154,000 Hong Kong households. On Sundays, they throng to the central business district to picnic, dance, sing, talk, and laugh. "Humanity could stage no greater display of happiness," reported one observer

For his pioneering studies, Skinner designed an operant chamber, popularly known as a :

Skinner box

The point to remember:

Tests of recognition and of time spent relearning demonstrate that we remember more than we can recall.

Molaison and Jimmie lost their ability to form new explicit memories, but their automatic processing ability remained intact. Like Alzheimer's patients, whose explicit memories for new people and events are lost, they could form new implicit memories

These patients can learn how to do something, but they will have no conscious recall of learning their new skill. Such sad cases confirm that we have two distinct memory systems, controlled by different parts of the brain.

Emotional events produce tunnel vision memory.

They focus our attention and recall on high-priority information, and reduce our recall of irrelevant details

Imitation

This 12-month-old infant sees an adult look left, and immediately follows her gaze

A model caregiver

This girl is learning orphan-nursing skills, as well as compassion, by observing her mentor in this Humane Society program. As the sixteenth-century proverb states, Zumapress/Newscom "Example is better than precept."

Old and new learning do not always compete with each other, of course. Previously learned information (Latin) often facilitates our learning of new information (French).

This phenomenon is called positive transfer

Age can affect encoding efficiency. The brain areas that jump into action when young adults encode new information are less responsive in older adults

This slower encoding helps explain age-related memory decline

Cat in a puzzle box:

Thorndike used a fish reward to entice cats to find their way out of a puzzle box (left) through a series of maneuvers. The cats' performance tended to improve with successive trials (right), illustrating Thorndike's law of effect. (Data from Thorndike, 1898.)

Short-term memory decay

Unless rehearsed, verbal information may be quickly forgotten

Forgetting as encoding failure

We cannot remember what we have not encoded

Enduring the pain of ostracism

White cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point ostracized Henry Flipper for years, hoping he would drop out. He somehow resisted their cruelty and in 1877 became the first African American West Point graduate

Our internal hunger games are pushed by our body chemistry and brain activity.

Yet there is more to hunger than meets the stomach

physiological need

a basic body requirement

preparedness

a biological predisposition to learn associations, such as between taste and nausea, that have survival value

instinct

a complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned.

intrinsic motivation

a desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake

Nevertheless, the simple idea that some motives are more compelling than others provides

a framework for thinking about motivation

iconic memory

a momentary sensory memory of visual stimuli; a photographic or picture-image memory lasting no more than a few tenths of a second

short-term memory

activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as the seven digits of a phone number while calling, before the information is stored or forgotten.

punishment

an event that tends to decrease the behavior that it follows

Long-term potentiation (LTP) refers to

an increase in a cell's firing potential

stimulus

any event or situation that evokes a response

__________ theory attempts to explain behaviors that do NOT reduce physiological needs

arousal

One way we learn is by

association

In Pavlov's experiments, the tone started as a neutral stimulus, and then became a(n) _____________ stimulus.

became a conditioned stimulus

respondent behavior

behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus

operant behavior

behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences.

People succeed in forgetting unwanted neutral information (yesterday's parking place)

but it's harder to forget emotional events - Thus, we may have intrusive memories of the very same traumatic experiences we would most like to forget

Often, forgetting is not memories faded

but memories unretrieved.

How reliable are young children's eyewitness descriptions?

children's eyewitness descriptions are subject to the same memory influences that distort adult reports. if questioned soon after an event in neutral words they understand, children can accurately recall events and people involved in them

Remember:

classical conditioning is biologically adaptive because it helps humans and other animals prepare for good or bad events

When a situation triggers the feeling that "I've been here before," you are experiencing

deja vu

ostracism

deliberate social exclusion of individuals or groups

What are the levels of processing, and how do they affect encoding?

depth of processing affects long-term retention. in shallow processing, we encode words based on their structure or appearance. retention is best when we use deep processing, encoding words based on their meaning. we also more easily remember material that is personally meaningful- the self-reference effect

Dogs have been taught to salivate to a circle but not to a square. This process is an example of ___________

examination discrimination

mirror neurons

frontal lobe neurons that some scientists believe fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so. The brain's mirroring of another's action may enable imitation and empathy.

The network that processes and stores your explicit memories for these facts and episodes includes your

frontal lobes and hippocampus

After Watson and Rayner classically conditioned Little Albert to fear a white rat, the child later showed fear in response to a rabbit, a dog, and a sealskin coat. This illustrates

generalization

What conditioning principle is influencing the snail's affections? "I don't care if she's a tape dispenser. I love her." pg. 240

generalization

Today's evolutionary psychology shares an idea that was an underlying assumption of instinct theory. That idea is that

genes predispose species-typical behavior

conditioned stimulus (CS)

in classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response (CR)

unconditioned response (UR).

in classical conditioning, an unlearned, naturally occurring response (such as salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus (US) (such as food in the mouth)

fixed-ratio schedules

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses.

fixed-interval schedule

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed.

reinforcement

in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.

repression

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

positive reinforcement

increasing behaviors by presenting positive reinforcers. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response. - add a desirable stimulus example: Pet a dog that comes when you call it; pay the person who paints your house

"forgetting is not so much a matter of the decay of old impressions and associations as it is a matter of

interference, inhibition, or obliteration of the old by the new"

Priming is often "memoryless memory"

invisible memory, without your conscious awareness.

Most experts agree that repeated viewing of media violence:

is a risk factor for viewers' increased aggression

A punisher:

is any consequence that decreases the frequency of a preceding behavior

observational learning

learning by observing others.

associative learning

learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning). - Learned associations feed our habitual behaviors

Ebbinghaus' "forgetting curve" shows that after an initial decline, memory for novel information tends to

level off

increased efficiency at the synapses is evidence of the neural basis of learning and memory. this is called

long-term potentiation

chunking effects:

organizing information into meaningful units, such as letters, words, and phrases, helps us recall it more easily

chunking

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically

With a damaged cerebellum,

people cannot develop certain conditioned reflexes, such as associating a tone with an impending puff of air—and thus do not blink in anticipation of the puff - implicit memory formation needs the cerebellum

the effects of viewing media violence:

pg. 263

prosocial behavior

positive, constructive, helpful behavior. The opposite of antisocial behavior.

continuous reinforcement schedule

reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, our most basic needs are physiological, including the need for food and water; just above these ________ are needs.

safety

conditioned reinforcer is also know as a :

secondary reinforcer

• At which of Atkinson-Shiffrin's three memory stages would iconic and echoic memory occur?

sensory memory

One way to change behavior is to reward natural behaviors in small steps, as the organism gets closer and closer to a desired behavior. This process is called _______

shaping

The best retrieval cues come from associations we form at the time we encode a memory

smells, tastes, and sights that can evoke our memory of the associated person or event

• People who send spam are reinforced by which schedule? Home bakers checking the oven to see if the cookies are done are on which schedule? Donut shops that offer a free donut after every 10 donuts purchased are using which reinforcement schedule?

spammers are reinforced on a variable-ratio schedule ( after sending a varying number of emails). cookie checkers are reinforced on a fixed-interval schedule. Donut rewards programs use a fixed-ratio schedule

Which memory strategies can help you study smarter and retain more information?

spend more time rehearsing or actively thinking about the material to boost long-term recall. schedule spaced (not crammed) study times. Make the material personally meaningful, with well-organized and vivid associations. refresh your memory by returning to contexts and moods to activate retrieval cues. Use mnemonic devices. minimize proactive and retroactive interference. Plan ahead to ensure a complete night's sleep. test yourself repeatedly- retrieval practice is a proven retention strategy.

This neophobia (dislike of unfamiliar things)

surely was adaptive for our ancestors by protecting them from potentially toxic substances. Disgust works.

For rats, the easiest way to identify tainted food is to taste it; if sickened after sampling a new food, they thereafter avoid it. This response, called

taste aversion, makes it difficult to eradicate a population of "bait-shy" rats by poisoning

Garcia and Koelling's ______________ - _______studies showed that conditioning can occur even when the unconditioned stimulus (US) does not immediately follow the neutral stimulus (NS).

taste- aversion

The hippocampus seems to function as a

temporary processing site for explicit memories

One effective way to distribute practice is repeated self-testing, a phenomenon that Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke (2006) have called

testing effect

deja vu

that eerie sense that " I have experienced this before" Cues from the current situation may unconsciously trigger retrieval of an earlier experience

cognitive learning

the acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language. - we acquire mental information that guides our behavior

priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory

basal metabolic rate

the body's resting rate of energy output - a measure of how much energy we use to maintain basic body functions when our body is at rest.

• Which parts of the brain are important for implicit memory processing, and which parts play a key role in explicit memory processing?

the cerebellum and basal ganglia are important for implicit memory processing the frontal lobes and hippocampus are key to explicit memory formation

In Craik and Tulving's experiment

the deeper, semantic processing triggered by the third question yielded a much better memory than did the shallower processing elicited by the second question or the very shallow processing elicited by the first question (which was especially ineffective).

extinction

the diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus (US) does not follow a conditioned stimulus (CS); occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced

When tested immediately after viewing a list of words, people tend to recall the first and last items more readily than those in the middle. When retested after a delay, they are most likely to recall

the first items on the list

Proactive (forward-acting) interference

the forward-acting disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of new information - If you buy a new combination lock, your well-rehearsed old combination may interfere with your retrieval of the new one

How do explicit and implicit memories differ?

the human brain processes information on dual tracks, consciously and unconsciously. explicit (declarative) memories- our conscious memories of facts and experiences- form through effortful processing, which requires conscious effort and attention. Implicit (nondeclarative) memories- of skills and classically conditioned associations- happen without our awareness, through automatic processing

drive-reduction theory

the idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need.

encoding specificity principle

the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it

sensory memory

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system.

One reason false memories form is our tendency to fill in memory gaps with our reasonable guesses and assumptions, sometimes based on misleading information. This tendency is an example of

the misinformation effect

With these classic motivation theories in mind, let's now take a closer look at two specific, higher-level motives:

the need to belong and the need to achieve.

affiliation need

the need to build relationships and to feel part of a group

memory consolidation

the neural storage of long-term memory

set point

the point as which your "weight thermostat" may be set. when your body falls below this weight, increased hunger and a lower metabolic rate may combine to restore lost weight

Yerkes-Dodson Law

the principle that performance increases with arousal only up to a point, beyond which performance decreases - suggesting that moderate arousal would lead to optimal performance - for example: When taking an exam, for example, it pays to be moderately aroused—alert but not trembling with nervousness.

learning

the process of acquiring through experience new and relatively enduring information or behaviors

storage

the process of retaining encoded information over time

spontaneous recovery

the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response - suggested to Pavlov that extinction was suppressing the CR rather than eliminating it

long-term memory

the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.

• Instinctive drift and latent learning are examples of what important idea?

the success of operant conditioning is affected not just by environmental cues, but also by biological and cognitive factors

The quest to understand the physical basis of memory—how information becomes embedded in brain matter—has sparked study of

the synaptic meeting places where neurons communicate with one another via their neurotransmitter messengers

spacing effect

the tendency for distributed study or practice to yield better long-term retention than is achieved through massed study or practice.

instinctive drift

the tendency of learned behavior to gradually revert to biologically predisposed patterns

mood congruent

the tendency to recall experiences that are consistent with one's current good or bad mood

generalization

the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses. (in operant conditioning, generalization occurs when responses learned in one situation occur in other, similar situations)

behaviorism

the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2).

Parents are most effective in getting their children to imitate them if:

their words and actions are consistent

How have students reacted in studies where they were made to feel rejected and unwanted? What helps explain these results?

they engaged in more self-defeating behaviors and displayed more disparaging and aggressive behavior. These students' basic need to belong seems to have been disrupted

the ideas of a few pioneers—Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, B. F. Skinner, and Albert Bandura:

they illustrate the impact that can result from single-minded devotion to a few well-defined problems and ideas. These researchers defined the issues and impressed on us the importance of learning. As their legacy demonstrates, intellectual history is often made by people who risk going to extremes in pushing ideas to their limits

Taste-aversion research has shown that some animals develop aversions to certain tastes but not to sights or sounds. What evolutionary psychology finding does this support?

this finding supports Darwin's principle that natural selection favors traits that aid survival

Experimental studies have also found that media violence viewing can cause aggression

viewing violence (compared to entering nonviolence)- participants react more cruelly when provoked. (Effect is strongest if the violent person is attractive, the violence seems justified and realistic, the act goes unpunished, and the viewer does not see pain or harm caused - BUT, CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION

To focus on multitrack processing, one information-processing model, connectionism:

views memories as products of interconnected neural networks

Many of these memory aids use:

vivid imagery, because we are particularly good at remembering mental pictures. We more easily remember concrete, visualizable words than we do abstract words

Through classical (Pavlovian) conditioning

we associate different stimuli we do not control, and we respond automatically (respondent behaviors)

nevertheless, by taking these seven steps- resolving, announcing, planning, rewarding, monitoring, controlling, and persistently acting-

we can create a bridge between the idea and the reality

How does social networking influence us?

we connect with others through social networking, strengthening our relationships with those we already know and meeting new friends or romantic partners. when networking, people tend toward increased self-disclosure. people with high narcissism are especially active on social networking sites. working out strategies for self-control and disciplined usage can help people maintain a healthy balance between their real-world and online time

By watching models

we experience vicarious reinforcement or vicarious punishment, and we learn to anticipate a behavior's consequences in situations like those we are observing. - We are especially likely to learn from people we perceive as similar to ourselves, or as successful, or as admirable

If new information is not meaningful or related to our experience

we have trouble processing it

Psychologists involved in the study of memories of abuse tend to disagree with each other about which of the following statements?

we tend to repress extremely upsetting memories

As psychologist Steven Pinker (2010) said,

"The solution is not to bemoan technology but to develop strategies of self-control, as we do with every other temptation in life."

The key to déjà vu seems to be familiarity with a stimulus without a clear idea of where we encountered it before

- . Normally, we experience a feeling of familiarity (thanks to temporal lobe processing) before we consciously remember details (thanks to hippocampus and frontal lobe processing) - When these functions (and brain regions) are out of sync, we may experience a feeling of familiarity without conscious recall

Lloyd Peterson and Margaret Peterson (1959) asked people to remember three-consonant groups, such as CHJ. To prevent rehearsal, the researchers asked them, for example, to start at 100 and count aloud backward by threes

- After 3 seconds, people recalled the letters only about half the time; after 12 seconds, they seldom recalled them at all - Without the active processing that we now understand to be a part of our working memory, short-term memories have a limited life

Negative punishment

- Description: Withdraw a rewarding stimulus - examples: Take away a misbehaving teen's driving privileges; revoke a library card for nonpayment of fines.

Positive punishment

- Description: Administer an aversive stimulus - Examples: Spray water on a barking dog; give a traffic ticket for speeding

shaping process:

- First, you would watch how the animal naturally behaves, so that you could build on its existing behaviors - You might give the rat a bit of food each time it approaches the bar. Once the rat is approaching regularly, you would give the food only when it moves close to the bar, then closer still - Finally, you would require it to touch the bar to get food With this method of successive approximations, you reward responses that are ever-closer to the final desired behavior, and you ignore all other responses. By making rewards contingent on desired behaviors, researchers and animal trainers gradually shape complex behaviors.

We can avoid some of these mismatches by rephrasing information into meaningful terms.

- From his experiments on himself, Ebbinghaus estimated that, compared with learning nonsense material, learning meaningful material required one-tenth the effort.

Review key memory structures in the brain

- Frontal lobes and hippocampus: explicit memory formation - Cerebellum and basal ganglia: implicit memory formation - Amygdala: emotion-related memory formation

Ivan Pavlov

- His early twentieth- century experiments—now psychology's most famous research—are classics, and the phenomenon he explored we justly call classical conditioning. - Pavlov's work laid the foundation for many of psychologist John B. Watson's ideas

Mood effects on retrieval help explain why our moods persist

- When happy, we recall happy events and therefore see the world as a happy place, which helps prolong our good mood. - When depressed, we recall sad events, which darkens our interpretations of current events. - For those of us with a predisposition to depression, this process can help maintain a vicious, dark cycle. Moods magnify.

The bad news is that observational learning may also have:

- antisocial effects - This helps us understand why abusive parents might have aggressive children, and why many men who beat their wives had wife-battering fathers

anterograde amnesia

- could recall his past, but he could not form new memories - an inability to form new memories

With continuous reinforcement,

- earning occurs rapidly, which makes it the best choice for mastering a behavior. But extinction also occurs rapidly

relearning

- learning something more quickly when you learn it a second or later time. When you study for a final exam or engage a language used in early childhood, you will relearn the material more easily than you did initially - a measure of memory that assesses the amount of time saved when learning material again

latent learning

- learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it - Animals, like people, can learn from experience, with or without reinforcement. In a classic experiment, rats in one group repeatedly explored a maze, always with a food reward at the end. Rats in another group explored the maze with no food reward. But once given a food reward at the end, rats in the second group thereafter ran the maze as quickly as (and even faster than) the always-rewarded rats (Tolman & Honzik, 1930).

The changes in how we connect have been fast and vast:

- mobile phones - texts - the internet - social networking

fixed-interval schedules examples:

- reinforce the first response after a fixed time period. Animals on this type of schedule tend to respond more frequently as the anticipated time for reward draws near. People check more frequently for the mail as delivery time approaches. A hungry child jiggles the Jell-O more often to see if it has set. Pigeons peck keys more rapidly as the time for reinforcement draws nearer

variable-interval schedule examples:

- reinforce the first response after varying time periods. Like the longed-for message that finally rewards persistence in rechecking e-mail or Facebook, variable-interval schedules tend to produce slow, steady responding. This makes sense, because there is no knowing when the waiting will be over

By connecting like-minded people, the Internet serves as a social amplifier

-In times of social crisis or personal stress, it provides information and supportive connections. - For better or for worse, it enables people to compare their lives with others

Many psychologists and supporters of nonviolent parenting have noted five major drawbacks of physical punishment pg.249

1. Punished behavior is suppressed, not forgotten. This temporary state may (negatively) reinforce parents' punishing behavior 2. Physical punishment does not replace the unwanted behavior 3. Punishment teaches discrimination among situations 4. punishment can teach fear 5. Physical punishment may increase aggression by modeling violence as a way to cope with problems

To reinforce your own desired behaviors (perhaps to improve your study habits) and extinguish the undesired ones (to stop smoking, for example), psychologists suggest taking these steps:

1. State a realistic goal in measurable terms and announce it 2. decide how, when, and where you will work toward your goal 3. monitor how often you engage in your desired behavior 4. reinforce the desired behavior 5. reduce the rewards gradually

each of us can adopt some research-based strategies for achieving our goals:

1. do make that resolution 2. announce the goals to friends or family 3. develop an implementation plan 4. create short-term rewards that support long-term goals 5. monitor and record progress 6. create a supportive environment 7. transform the hard-to-do behavior into a must-do habit

The psychological terms for taking in information, retaining it, and later getting it back out are _______,________ , and ________

1. encoding 2. storage 3. retrieval

Skinner (1961) and his collaborators compared four schedules of partial reinforcement:

1. fixed-ratio schedules 2. variable-ratio schedules 3. fixed-interval schedules 4. variable-interval schedules

An example of a physiological need is ____________. An example of a psychological drive is ____________

1. hunger 2. a "push" to find food

Sensory memory may be visual (________ memory) or auditory (_________ memory).

1. iconic 2. echoic

when do we forget? forgetting can occur at any memory stage. when we process information, we filter, alter, or lose much of it:

1. sensory memory - the senses momentarily register amazing detail 2. working/ short-term memory - a few items are both noticed and encoded 3. long-term storage - some items are altered or lost 4. retrieval from long-term memory - depending on interference, retrieval cues, moods, and motives, some things get retrieved, some don't

the average person can parrot back a string of about :

7- maybe even 9- digits

Pavlov's device for recording salivation pg. 237

A tube in the dog's cheek collects saliva, which is measured in a cylinder outside the chamber

hierarchy of needs

Abraham Maslow's pyramid of human needs, beginning at the base with physiological needs that must first be satisfied before higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs become active - At the base of this pyramid are our physiological needs, such as those for food and water - Only if these needs are met are we prompted to meet our need for safety, and then to satisfy our human needs to give and receive love and to enjoy self-esteem. - Beyond this, said Maslow (1971), lies the need for self-actualization—to realize our full potential

Child abuse leaves tracks in the brain

Abused children's sensitized brains react more strongly to angry faces (Pollak et al., 1998). This generalized anxiety response may help explain their greater risk of psychological disorder

Priming—awakening associations:

After seeing or hearing rabbit, we are later more likely to spell the spoken word "hair/hare" as h-a-r-e (Bower, 1986). Associations unconsciously activate related associations. This process is called priming

Distributed practice produces better long-term recall.

After you've studied long enough to master the material, further study at that time becomes inefficient. Better to spend that extra reviewing time later

Natural athletes

Animals can most easily learn and retain behaviors that draw on their biological predispositions, such as horses' inborn ability to move around obstacles with speed and agility.

Animal taste aversion

As an alternative to killing wolves and coyotes that prey on sheep, some ranchers have sickened the animals with lamb laced with a drug.

Misattribution is at the heart of many false memories

Authors and songwriters sometimes suffer from it. They think an idea came from their own creative imagination, when in fact they are unintentionally plagiarizing something they earlier read or heard

A genetic predisposition to associate a CS with a US that follows predictably and immediately is adaptive. Causes often do immediately precede effects

But as we saw in the taste-aversion findings, our predisposition to associate an effect with a preceding event can trick us

After long-term potentiation has occurred, passing an electric current through the brain won't disrupt old memories.

But the current will wipe out very recent memories

Children see, children do?

Children w ho often experience physical punishment tend to display more aggression.

Response

Classical Conditioning: - Involuntary, automatic Operant Conditioning: - Voluntary, operates on environment

Discrimination

Classical Conditioning: - Learning to distinguish between a CS and other stimuli that do not signal a US Operant Conditioning: Learning that some responses, but not others, will be reinforced

Cognitive Influences

Classical Conditioning: - Organisms develop an expectation that a CS signals the arrival of a US Operant Conditioning: - Organisms develop an expectation that a response will be reinforced or punished; they also exhibit latent learning, without reinforcement

Spontaneous recovery

Classical Conditioning: - The reappearance, after a rest period, of an extinguished CR Operant Conditioning: - The reappearance, after a rest period, of an extinguished response

Generalization

Classical Conditioning: - The tendency to respond to stimuli similar to the CS Operant Conditioning: - responses learned in one situation occurring in other, similar situations

Basic idea

Classical Conditioning: - learning associations between events we do not control Operant conditioning: - Learning associations between our behavior and its conseqeunces

What is memory, and how is it measured?

Memory is learning that has persisted over time, through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information. evidence of memory may be seen in an ability to recall information, recognize it, or relearn it more easily on a later attempt

When experimenters reinforced pigeons for pecking after seeing a human face, but not after seeing other images, the pigeons' behavior showed that they could recognize human faces:

- In this experiment, the human face was a discriminative stimulus

discrimination

in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus ( in operant conditioning, the ability to distinguish responses that are reinforced from similar responses that are not reinforced)

operant chamber

in operant conditioning research, a chamber (also known as a Skinner box) containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal's rate of bar pressing or key pecking.

variable-ratio schedule

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses.

variable-interval schedule

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals.

grit

in psychology, passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals. - when combined with self-control (regulating one's attention and actions in the face of temptation), gritty goal-striving can produce great achievements

Danielle walks into a friend's kitchen, smells cookies baking, and begins to feel very hungry. The smell of baking cookies is a(n) _______________ (incentive/drive).

incentive

South African Zulu saying captures the idea: Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu:

"a person is a person through other persons." (translation)

to increase our self-control, and to connect our resolutions with positive outcomes, the key is forming :

"beneficial habits"

retrograde amnesia

(Those who cannot recall their past—the old information stored in long-term memory) - an inability to retrieve information from one's past

Pavlov and Watson shared both a disdain for

- "mentalistic" concepts (such as consciousness) and a belief that the basic laws of learning were the same for all animals—whether dogs or humans. - Few researchers today propose that psychology should ignore mental processes, but most now agree that classical conditioning is a basic form of learning by which all organisms adapt to their environment.

Eric Kandel and James Schwartz (1982) observed synaptic changes during learning in the neurons of the California sea slug, Aplysia, a simple animal with a mere 20,000 or so unusually large and accessible nerve cells

- A sea slug can be classically conditioned (with electric shock) to reflexively withdraw its gills when squirted with water, much as a soldier traumatized by combat jumps at the sound of fireworks. - When learning occurs, Kandel and Schwartz discovered, the slug releases more of the neurotransmitter serotonin into certain neurons. These synapses then become more efficient at transmitting signals. Experience and learning can increase—even double—the number of synapses, even in slugs

Classical conditioning and operant conditioning are both forms of associative learning, yet their differences are straightforward:

- Classical conditioning forms associations between stimuli (a CS and the US it signals). It also involves respondent behavior—automatic responses to a stimulus (such as salivating in response to meat powder, and later in response to a tone) - operant conditioning, organisms associate their own actions with consequences. Actions followed by reinforcers increase; those followed by punishers often decrease. Behavior that operates on the environment to produce rewarding or punishing stimuli is called operant behavior.

Two influences contribute to infantile amnesia:

- First, we index much of our explicit memory using words that nonspeaking children have not learned - Second, the hippocampus is one of the last brain structures to mature, and as it does, more gets retained

Subregions of the hippocampus also serve different functions

- One part is active as people learn to associate names with faces - Another part is active as memory champions engage in spatial mnemonics - The rear area, which processes spatial memory, grows bigger as London cabbies learn to navigate the city's complicated maze of streets

Second:

- Pavlov showed us how a process such as learning can be studied objectively - Pavlov's success therefore suggested a scientific model for how the young discipline of psychology might proceed—by isolating the basic building blocks of complex behaviors and studying them with objective laboratory procedures

The left and right frontal lobes process different types of memories

- Recalling a password and holding it in working memory, for example, would activate the left frontal lobe - Calling up a visual party scene would more likely activate the right frontal lobe

The SQ3R—Survey, Question, Read, Retrieve, Review—study technique used in this book incorporates several of these strategies:

- Rehearse repeatedly - make the material meaningful - activate retrieval cues - use mnemonic devices - minimize proactive and retroactive interference - sleep more - test your knowledge, both to rehearse it and to find out what you don't yet know

B. F. Skinner's work elaborated on what psychologist Edward L. Thorndike (1874-1949) called the law of effect:

- Rewarded behavior tends to recur - Thorndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

Using Thorndike's law of effect as a starting point pg. 244

- Skinner developed a behavioral technology that revealed principles of behavior control - . By shaping pigeons' natural walking and pecking behaviors, for example, Skinner was able to teach pigeons such unpigeon-like behaviors as walking in a figure 8, playing Ping-Pong, and keeping a missile on course by pecking at a screen target

Skinner Box

- The box has a bar (a lever) that an animal presses (or a key [a disc] the animal pecks) to release a reward of food or water. It also has a device that records these responses - This design creates a stage on which rats and other animals act out Skinner's concept of reinforcement: any event that strengthens (increases the frequency of) a preceding response.

Can hunger exist without stomach pangs?

- To answer that question, researchers removed some rats' stomachs and created a direct path to their small intestines (Tsang, 1938). Did the rats continue to eat? Indeed they did - Some hunger similarly persists in humans whose ulcerated or cancerous stomachs have been removed. So the pangs of an empty stomach are not the only source of hunger

Pavlov's new direction came when his creative mind seized on an incidental observation:

- Without fail, putting food in a dog's mouth caused the animal to salivate. - Moreover, the dog began salivating not only at the taste of the food, but also at the mere sight of the food, or the food dish, or the person delivering the food, or even at the sound of that person's approaching footsteps

When our need for relatedness is satisfied in balance with two other basic psychological needs

- autonomy (a sense of personal control) - competence—we experience a deep sense of well-being, and our self-esteem rides high

Unlike rats

- humans do respond to delayed reinforcers: the paycheck at the end of the week, the good grade at the end of the semester, the trophy at the end of the season. Indeed, to function effectively we must learn to delay gratification - if the rat presses the bar while you are distracted, and you delay giving the reinforcer? If the delay lasts longer than about 30 seconds, the rat will not learn to press the bar. It will have moved on to other incidental behaviors, such as scratching, sniffing, and moving, and one of these behaviors will instead get reinforced.

recognition

- identifying items previously learned. A multiple-choice question tests your recognition - a measure of memory in which the person identifies items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test.

In today's world, each of us is challenged to maintain a healthy balance between our real-world and online time. Experts offer some practical suggestions:

- monitor your time - monitor your feelings - hide from your incessantly posting online friends when necessary - when studying, get in the practice of checking your phone and email less often - refocus by taking a nature walk

With left hippocampus damage:

- people have trouble remembering verbal information, but they have no trouble recalling visual designs and locations - With right hippocampus damage, the problem is reversed

parallel processing

- processing many aspects of a stimulus or problem at once - the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions.

Variable-ratio schedules examples:

- provide reinforcers after a seemingly unpredictable number of responses. This unpredictable reinforcement is what slot-machine players and fly fishers experience, and it's what makes gambling and fly fishing so hard to extinguish even when they don't produce the desired results. Because reinforcers increase as the number of responses increases, variable-ratio schedules produce high rates of responding

recall

- retrieving information that is not currently in your conscious awareness but that was learned at an earlier time. A fill-in-the-blank question tests your recall - a measure of memory in which the person must retrieve information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.

How is operant conditioning at work in this cartoon? - "this is great" - "I'll have to wake up crying in the middle of the night more often"

- the baby negatively reinforces her parents' behavior when she stops crying once they grant her wish. - her parents positively reinforce her cries by letting her sleep with them.

Many business organizations effectively use behavior modeling:

- to help new employees learn communication, sales, and customer service skills - Trainees gain these skills faster when they are able to observe the skills being modeled effectively by experienced workers (or actors simulating them).

psychologist John B. Watson's:

- urged his colleagues to discard reference to inner thoughts, feelings, and motives - The science of psychology should instead study how organisms respond to stimuli in their environments, said Watson: "Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior. Introspection forms no essential part of its methods." - Simply said, psychology should be an objective science based on observable behavior

But through these reenactments, we grasp others' states of mind. Observing others' postures, faces, voices, and writing styles, we unconsciously synchronize our own to theirs

- which helps us feel what they are feeling - We find ourselves yawning when they yawn, laughing when they laugh.

example of conditioned reinforcers: (get their power through learned association with primary reinforcers

-If a rat in a Skinner box learns that a light reliably signals a food delivery, the rat will work to turn on the light. - The light has become a conditioned reinforcer. - Our lives are filled with conditioned reinforcers—money, good grades, a pleasant tone of voice—each of which has been linked with more basic rewards

one form of cognitive learning: observational learning lets us learn from:

-lets us learn from others' experiences. -Chimpanzees, for example, sometimes learn behaviors merely by watching others perform them. If one animal sees another solve a puzzle and gain a food reward, the observer may perform the trick more quickly. So, too, in humans: We look and we learn

Fixed-ratio schedules examples

-reinforce behavior after a set number of responses. Coffee shops may reward us with a free drink after every 10 purchased. Once conditioned, rats may be reinforced on a fixed ratio of, say, one food pellet for every 30 responses. Once conditioned, animals will pause only briefly after a reinforcer before returning to a high rate of responding

Biopsychosocial influences (on learning) :

1. Biological influences: • genetic predispositions • unconditioned responses • adaptive responses • neural mirroring 2. Psychological influences: • previous experiences • predictability of associations • generalization • discrimination • expectations 3. Social-cultural influences: • culturally learned preferences • motivation, affected by presence of others • modeling

• Match the examples (1-5) to the appropriate underlying learning principle (a-e): a. Classical conditioning b. Operant conditioning c. Latent learning d. Observational learning e. Biological predispositions 1. Knowing the way from your bed to the bathroom in the dark 2. Your little brother getting in a fight after watching a violent action movie 3. Salivating when you smell brownies in the oven 4. Disliking the taste of chili after becoming violently sick a few hours after eating chili 5. Your dog racing to greet you on your arrival home

1. C 2. D 3. A 4. E 5. B

Several lines of evidence confirm that LTP is a physical basis for memory:

1. Drugs that block LTP interfere with learning 2. Mutant mice engineered to lack an enzyme needed for LTP couldn't learn their way out of a maze 3. Rats given a drug that enhanced LTP learned a maze with half the usual number of mistakes

What are three ways we forget, and how does each of these happen?

1. Encoding failure: Unattended information never entered our memory system 2. storage decay: information fades from our memory 3. retrieval failure: we cannot access stored information accurately, sometimes due to interference or motivated forgetting

what prompts the violence-viewing effect?

1. Imitation - watching violent cartoons= sevenfold increase in violent play - limited exposure to violent programs= reduced aggressive behavior 2. desensitization - prolonged exposure to violence= viewers are later indifferent (desensitized) to violence on TV or in real life - adult males spent 3 evenings watching sexually violent movies= viewers became progressively less bothered by the violence shown. compared to a control group, they expressed less sympathy for domestic violence victims and rated victims' injuries as less severe

In their attempts to understand ordinary motivated behavior, psychologists have viewed it from four perspectives:

1. Instinct theory (now replaced by the evolutionary perspective) focuses on genetically predisposed behaviors 2. Drive-reduction theory focuses on how we respond to our inner pushes. 3. Arousal theory focuses on finding the right level of stimulation. 4. Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs focuses on the priority of some needs over others.

To explain our memory-forming process, Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin (1968) earlier proposed another model, with three stages:

1. We first record to-be-remembered information as a fleeting sensory memory 2. From there, we process information into short-term memory, where we encode it through rehearsal. 3. Finally, information moves into long-term memory for later retrieval - this model has since been updated with important newer concepts, including: working memory and automatic processing

The first step of classical conditioning, when an NS becomes a CS, is called __________ . When a US no longer follows the CS, and the CR becomes weakened, this is called _________.

1. acquisition 2. extinction

Pavlov and his associates explored five major conditioning processes:

1. acquisition 2. extinction 3. spontaneous recovery 4. generalization 5. discrimination

• What are two basic functions of working memory?

1. active processing of incoming visual and auditory information 2. focusing our spotlight of attention.

Memory processing model : (the brain's 2 track memory processing and storage system for implicit (automatic) and explicit (effortful) memories pg.279

1. automatic - implicit memories (nondeclarative) without conscious recall - processed in cerebellum and basal ganglia - space, time, frequency (where you ate dinner yesterday) - motor and cognitive skills (riding a bike) - classical conditioning (reaction to the dentist's office) 2. effortful - explicit memories (declarative) with conscious recall - processed in hippocampus and frontal lobes - semantic memory = facts and general knowledge (this chapter's concepts) - Episodic memory= personally experienced events (family holidays)

This process of learning associations is conditioning. It takes two main forms:

1. classical conditioning: we learn to associate two stimuli and thus to anticipate events. We learn that a flash of lightning signals an impending crack of thunder; when lightning flashes nearby, we start to brace ourselves - We associate stimuli that we do not control, and we automatically respond (exhibiting respondent behavior). 2. operant conditioning, we learn to associate a response (our behavior) and its consequence. Thus we (and other animals) learn to repeat acts followed by good results and avoid acts followed by bad results. - These associations produce operant behaviors.

according to self-determination theory we strive to satisfy 3 needs:

1. competence 2. autonomy (a sense of personal control) 3. relatedness - fulfilling these motives increases our health, improves our performance, and boosts our self-esteem

• With classical conditioning, we learn associations between events we _________ (do/do not) control. With operant conditioning, we learn associations between our behavior and ____________ (resulting/random) events.

1. do not 2. resulting

An information-processing model likens human memory to computer operations. Thus, to remember any event, we must:

1. get information into our brain, a process called encoding. 2. retain that information, a process called storage. 3. later get the information back out, a process called retrieval.

Hunger occurs in response to __________ (low/high) blood glucose and _________ (low/high) levels of ghrelin.

1. low 2. high

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs pyramid (pg.351) (starting from the bottom to the top)

1. physiological needs (bottom): -Need to satisfy hunger and thirst 2. Safety needs: - Need to feel that the world is organized and predictable; need to feel safe, secure, and stable 3. Belongingness and love needs: - Need to love and be loved, to belong and be accepted; need to avoid loneliness and separation 4. Esteem needs - Need for self-esteem, achievement, competence, and independence; need for recognition and respect from others 5. Self-actualization needs - need to live up to our fullest and unique potential 6. Self- transcendence needs (the top): - need to find meaning and identity beyond the self

Types of Reinforcers:

1. positive reinforcement 2. negative reinforcement 3. primary reinforcement 4. conditioned reinforcement

To a psychologist, evidence that learning persists includes these three measures of retention:

1. recall 2. recognition 3. relearning

• Multiple-choice questions test our ___________. Fill-in-the-blank questions test our _________.

1. recognition 2. recall

Salivating in response to a tone paired with food is a(n) __________ behavior; pressing a bar to obtain food is a(n) __________ behavior.

1. respondent 2. operant

if we want to increase our chance of success in achieving a new goal, such as stopping smoking, we _________ (should/should not) announce the goal publicly, and we _________ (should/should not) share with others our progress toward achieving that goal.

1. should 2. should

Without conscious effort you also automatically process information about:

1. space. - While studying, you often encode the place on a page where certain material appears; later, when you want to retrieve the information, you may visualize its location on the page 2. time. - While going about your day, you unintentionally note the sequence of its events. Later, realizing you've left your coat somewhere, the event sequence your brain automatically encoded will enable you to retrace your steps. 3. frequency - You effortlessly keep track of how many times things happen, as when you realize, This is the third time I've run into her today.

• Social networking tends to ___________ (strengthen/weaken) your relationships with people you already know and _____________ (increase/decrease) your self-disclosure

1. strengthen 2. increase

Two forms of associative learning are classical conditioning, in which the organism associates _________ , and operant conditioning, in which the organism associates ____________.

1. two or more stimuli 2. a response and consequence

According to Bandura, we learn by watching models because we experience _________ reinforcement or __________ punishment.

1. vicarious reinforcement 2. vicarious punishment

Performance peaks at lower levels of arousal for difficult tasks, and at higher levels for easy or well-learned tasks. (1) How might this phenomenon affect marathon runners? (2) How might this phenomenon affect anxious test-takers facing a difficult exam?

1. well-practiced runner tend to excel when aroused by competition 2. High anxiety about a difficult exam may disrupt test-takers' performance

Picture this scene from an experiment by Albert Bandura, the pioneering researcher of observational learning: pg. 258

A preschool child is working on a drawing, while an adult in another part of the room builds with Tinkertoys. As the child watches, the adult gets up and for nearly 10 minutes pounds, kicks, and throws around the room a large inflated Bobo doll, yelling, "Sock him in the nose. . . . Hit him down. . . . Kick him."

How do different reinforcement schedules affect behavior?

A reinforcement schedule defines how often a response will be reinforced. In continuous reinforcement (reinforcing desired responses every time they occur), learning is rapid, but so is extinction if rewards cease. In partial (intermittent) reinforcement (reinforcing responses only sometimes), initial learning is slower, but the behavior is much more resistant to extinction. Fixed-ratio schedules reinforce behaviors after a set number of responses; variable-ratio schedules, after an unpredictable number. Fixed-interval schedules reinforce behaviors after set time periods; variable-interval schedules, after unpredictable time periods

After hours of driving alone in an unfamiliar city, you finally see a diner. Although it looks deserted and a little creepy, you stop because you are really hungry and thirsty. How would Maslow's hierarchy of needs explain your behavior?

According to Maslow, our drive to meet the physiological needs of hunger and thirst takes priority over our safety needs, prompting us to take risks at times.

variable-ratio

After an unpredictable number: reinforcement after a random number of behaviors, as when playing slot machines or fly fishing

bird brains spot tumors:

After being rewarded with food when correctly spotting breast tumors, pigeons became as skilled as humans at discriminating cancerous from healthy tissue. other animals have been shaped to sniff out land mines or locate people amid rubble.

Ebbinghaus' forgetting curve

After learning lists of nonsense syllables, such as YOX and JIH, Ebbinghaus studied how much he retained up to 30 days later. He found that memory for novel information fades quickly, then levels out

Digitally altered photos have also produced this imagination inflation. In experiments, researchers have altered photos from a family album to show some family members taking a hot-air balloon ride

After viewing these photos (rather than photos showing just the balloon), children reported more false memories and indicated high confidence in those memories

Working memory example

Alan Baddeley's (2002) model of working memory, simplifi ed here, includes visual and auditory rehearsal of new information. A hypothetical central executive (manager) focuses attention and pulls information from long-term memory to help make sense of new information.

Which strategies are better for long-term retention: cramming and rereading material, or spreading out learning over time and repeatedly testing yourself?

Although cramming and rereading may lead to short-term gains in knowledge, distributed practice and repeated self-testing will result in the greatest long-term retention

some disorders slowly strip away memory

Alzheimer's disease begins as difficulty remembering new information, progressing to an inability to do everyday tasks.

How do biological constraints affect classical and operant conditioning?

An animal's capacity for conditioning is limited by biological constraints, so some associations are easier to learn. Each species learns behaviors that aid its survival- a phenomenon called preparedness. Those who readily learned taste aversions were unlikely to eat the same toxic food again and were more likely to survive and leave descendants. Nature constraints each species' capacity for both classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Our preparedness to associate a CS with a US that follows predictably and immediately is often (but not always) adaptive. During operant training, animals may display instinctive drift by reverting to biologically predisposed patterns.

Doubled receptor sites

An electron microscope image (a) shows just one receptor site (gray) reaching toward a sending neuron before long-term potentiation. Image (b) shows that, after LTP, the receptor sites have doubled. This means the receiving neuron has increased sensitivity for detecting the presence of the neurotransmitter molecules that may be released by the sending neuron. (From Toni et al., 1999.)

John Garcia pg. 254

As the laboring son of California farmworkers, Garcia attended school only in the off-season during his early childhood years. After entering junior college in his late twenties, and earning his Ph.D. in his late forties, he received the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award "for his highly original, pioneering research in conditioning and learning." He was also elected to the National Academy of Sciences

At the self-actualization level, we seek to realize our own potential.

At the self-transcendence level, we strive for meaning, purpose, and communion in a way that is transpersonal—beyond the self

A modified three-stage processing model of memory pg. 269

Atkinson and Shiffrin's classic three-step model helps us to think about how memories are processed, but today's researchers recognize other ways long-term memories form. For example, some information slips into long-term memory via a "back door," without our consciously attending to it (automatic processing). And so much active processing occurs in the short-term memory stage that many now prefer the term working memory

What is the difference between automatic and effortful processing, and what are some examples of each?

Automatic processing occurs unconsciously (automatically) for such things as the sequence and frequency of a day's events, and reading and comprehending words in our own languages. Effortful processing requires attentive awareness and happens, for example, when we work hard to learn new material in class, or new lines for a play.

Who was Skinner, and how is operant behavior reinforced and shaped?

B. F. Skinner was a college English major and aspiring writer who later entered psychology graduate school. He became modern behaviorism's most influential and controversial figure. Expanding on Edward Thorndike's law of effect, Skinner and others found that the behavior of rats or pigeons placed in an operant chamber (Skinner box) can be shaped by using reinforcers to guide successive approximations of the desired behavior.

The principle:

Biological constraints predispose organisms to learn associations that are naturally adaptive

Experienced and imagined pain in the brain:

Brain activity related to actual pain (left) is mirrored in the brain of an observing loved one (right). Empathy in the brain shows up in emotional brain areas, but not in the somatosensory cortex, which receives the physical pain input.

In experiments, when people viewed a list of items (words, names, dates, even odors) and immediately tried to recall them in any order, they fell prey to the serial position effect (Reed, 2000). They briefly recalled the last items especially quickly and well (a recency effect), perhaps because those last items were still in working memory

But after a delay, when their attention was elsewhere, their recall was best for the first items (a primacy effect;

Sigmund Freud might have argued that our memory systems self-censored this information. He proposed that we repress painful or unacceptable memories to protect our self-concept and to minimize anxiety

But the repressed memory lingers, he believed, and can be retrieved by some later cue or during therapy.

Massed practice (cramming) can produce speedy short-term learning and a feeling of confidence

But to paraphrase memory researcher Hermann Ebbinghaus (1885/1964), those who learn quickly also forget quickly

Your hippocampus and frontal lobes are processing sites for your explicit memories

But you could lose those areas and still, thanks to automatic processing, lay down implicit memories for skills and newly conditioned associations

What is the impact of prosocial modeling and of antisocial modeling?

Children tend to imitate what a model does and says, whether the behavior being modeled is prosocial (positive, constructive, and helpful) or antisocial. If a model's actions and words are inconsistent, children may imitate the hypocrisy they observe.

Acquisition

Classical Conditioning: - Associating events; NS is paired with US and becomes CS Operant Conditioning: -Associating response with a consequence (reinforcer or punisher

Extinction

Classical Conditioning: - CR decreases when CS is repeatedly presented alone Operant Conditioning: - Responding decreases when reinforcement stops

Biological influence

Classical Conditioning: - natural predispositions constrain what stimuli and responses can easily be associated Operant Conditioning: - Organisms most easily learn behaviors similar to their natural behaviors; unnatural behaviors instinctively drift back toward natural ones

What have been some applications of Pavlov's work to human health and well-being? How did Watson apply Pavlov's principles to learned fears?

Classical conditioning techniques are used to improve human health and well-being in many areas, including behavioral therapy for some types of psychological disorders. the body's immune system may also respond to classical conditioning. Pavlov's work also provided a basis for Watson's idea that human emotions and behaviors, though biologically influenced, are mainly a bundle of conditioned responses. Watson applied classical conditioning principles in his studies of "little Albert" to demonstrate how specific fears might be conditioned.

The larger lesson:

Conditioning helps an animal survive and reproduce—by responding to cues that help it gain food, avoid dangers, locate mates, and produce offspring (Hollis, 1997)

Social bonds boosted our early ancestors' chances of survival.

Cooperation also enhanced survival

Hot cultures like hot spices

Countries with hot climates, in which food historically spoiled more quickly, feature recipes with more bacteria-inhibiting spices (Sherman & Flaxman, 2001). India averages nearly 10 spices per meat recipe; Finland, 2 spices.

Why did Skinner's ideas provoke controversy, and how might his operant conditioning principles be applied at school, in sports, at work, in parenting, and for self-improvement?

Critics of Skinner's principles believed the approach dehumanized people by neglecting their personal freedom and seeking to control their actions. Skinner replied that people's actions are already controlled by external consequences, and that reinforcement is more humane than punishment as a means for controlling behavior. Teachers can use shaping techniques to guide students' behaviors, and use interactive media such as online adaptive quizzing to provide immediate feedback. (the LaunchPad LearningCurve and Achieve Read and Practice Systems available with this text provide such feedback, and allow students to direct the pace of their own learning). Coaches can build players' skills and self-confidence by rewarding small improvements. Managers can boost productivity and morale by rewarding well-defined and achievable behaviors. Parents can reward desired behaviors but not undesirable ones. We can shape our own behaviors by stating realistic goals, planning how to work toward those goals, monitoring the frequency of desired behaviors, reinforcing desired behaviors, and gradually reducing rewards as behaviors become habitual

The point to remember:

Despite the brain's vast storage capacity, we do not store information as libraries store their books, in single, precise locations. Instead, brain networks encode, store, and retrieve the information that forms our complex memories.

"the married are still more satisfied, suggesting a causal effect" of marriage

Divorce also predicts earlier mortality - Even when bad relationships break, people suffer

Drive-reduction theory further explained

Drive-reduction motivation arises from homeostasis—an organism's natural tendency to maintain a steady internal state. Thus, if we are water deprived, our thirst drives us to drink and to restore the body's normal state

Sleep supports memory consolidation.

During deep sleep, the hippocampus processes memories for later retrieval.

Herman Ebbinghaus' retention curve

Ebbinghaus found that the more times he practiced a list of nonsense syllables on Day 1, the less time he required to relearn it on Day 2. Speed of relearning is one measure of memory retention. (Data from Baddeley, 1982.)

Eliza's family loves to tell the story of how she "stole the show" as a 2-year-old, dancing at her aunt's wedding reception. Even though she was so young, Eliza says she can recall the event clearly. How is this possible?

Eliza's immature hippocampus and minimal verbal skills would have prevented her from encoding an explicit memory of the wedding reception at the age of two. it is more likely that Eliza learned information (from hearing the story repeatedly) that she eventually constructed into a memory that feels very real.

How do emotions affect our memory processing?

Emotional arousal causes an outpouring of stress hormones, which lead to activity in the brain's memory-forming areas. Significantly stressful events can trigger very clear flashbulb memories

Our mood states provide an example of memory's state dependence.

Emotions that accompany good or bad events become retrieval cues

But as shows, so do our brains. In this fMRI scan, the pain imagined by an empathic romantic partner triggered some of the same brain activity experienced by the loved one who actually had the pain

Even fiction reading may trigger such activity, as we mentally simulate (and vicariously experience) the feelings and actions described

So powerful is the misinformation effect that it can influence later attitudes and behaviors

Even repeatedly imagining nonexistent actions and events can create false memories.

fixed-ratio pg. 248

Every so many: reinforcement after every nth behavior, such as buy 10 coffees, get 1 free, or pay workers per product unit produced

fixed-interval

Every so often: reinforcement for behavior after a fixed time, such as Tuesday discount prices

The hippocampus

Explicit memories for facts and episodes are processed in the hippocampus (orange structures) and fed to other brain regions for storage.

How do external cues, internal emotions, and order of appearance influence memory retrieval?

External cues activate associations that help us retrieve memories; this process may occur without our awareness, as it does in priming. The encoding specificity principle is the idea that cues and contexts specific to a particular memory will be most effective in helping us recall it. returning to the same physical context or emotional state (mood congruency) in which we formed a memory can help us retrieve it. The serial position effect accounts for our tendency to recall best the last items (which may still be in working memory) and the first items (which we've pent more time rehearsing) in a list.

In Baddeley's (2002) model, a central executive handles this focused processing:

For most of you, what you are reading enters working memory through vision. You might also repeat the information using auditory rehearsal. As you integrate these memory inputs with your existing long-term memory, your attention is focused.

How did Garcia and Koelling's taste-aversion studies help disprove Gregory Kimble's early claim that "just about any activity of which the organism is capable can be conditioned . . . to any stimulus that the organism can perceive"?

Garcia and Knoelling demonstrated that rats may learn an aversion to tastes, on which their survival depends, but not to sights or sounds

Although instincts cannot explain most human motives, the underlying assumption continues in evolutionary psychology:

Genes do predispose some species-typical behavior

example of primary reinforcers (they are unlearned)

Getting food when hungry or having a painful headache go away is innately satisfying

Calum's road: What grit can accomplish

Having spent his life on the Scottish island of Raasay, farming a small patch of land, tending its lighthouse, and fishing, Malcolm ("Calum") MacLeod (1911-1988) felt anguished. His local government repeatedly refused to build a road that would enable vehicles to reach his north end of the island. With the once-flourishing population there having dwindled to two—MacLeod and his wife—he responded with heroic determination. One spring morning in 1964, MacLeod, then in his fifties, gathered an ax, a chopper, a shovel, and a wheelbarrow. By hand, he began to transform the existing footpath into a 1.75-mile road (Miers, 2009). "With a road," a former neighbor explained, "he hoped new generations of people would return to the north end of Raasay," restoring its culture (Hutchinson, 2006). Day after day he worked through rough hillsides, along hazardous cliff faces, and over peat bogs. Finally, 10 years later, he completed his supreme achievement. The road, which the government has since surfaced, remains a visible example of what vision plus determined grit can accomplish. It bids us each to ponder: What "roads"—what achievements— might we, with sustained effort, build in the years before us?

When you feel sad, why might it help to look at pictures that reawaken some of your best memories?

Memories are stored within a web of many associations, one of which is mood. when you recall happy moments from your past, you activate these positive links. You may then experience mood-congruent memory and recall other happy moments, which could improve your mood and brighten your interpretation of current events

Learning is slower to appear, but resistance to extinction is greater than with continuous reinforcement. Imagine a pigeon that has learned to peck a key to obtain food

If you gradually phase out the food delivery until it occurs only rarely, in no predictable pattern, the pigeon may peck 150,000 times without a reward (Skinner, 1953). Slot machines reward gamblers in much the same way—occasionally and unpredictably (partial reinforcement?)

The serial position effect example

Immediately after Pope Francis made his way through this receiving line of special guests, he would probably have recalled the names of the last few people best (recency effect). But later he may have been able to recall the first few people best (primacy effect)

How do cognitive processes affect classical and operant conditioning?

In classical conditioning, animals may learn when to expect a US and may be aware of the link between stimuli and responses. In operant conditioning, cognitive mapping and latent learning research demonstrate the importance of cognitive processes in learning.

In classical conditioning, what are the processes of acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination?

In classical conditioning, the first stage is acquisition, associating an NS with the US so that the NS begins triggering the CR. Acquisition occurs most readily when the NS is presented just before (ideally, about a half-second before) a US, preparing the organism for the upcoming event. this finding supports the view that classical conditioning is biologically adaptive. Extinction is diminished responding, which occurs if the CS appears repeatedly by itself without the US. Spontaneous recovery is the appearance of a formerly extinguished conditioned response, following a rest period. generalization is the tendency to respond to stimuli that are similar to a CS. discrimination is the learned ability to distinguish between a CS and other irrelevant stimuli.

When combined, chunking and mnemonic techniques can be great memory aids for unfamiliar material

In each case, we chunk information into a more familiar form by creating a word (called an acronym) from the first letters of the to-be-remembered items.

How does operant conditioning differ from classical conditioning?

In operant conditioning, an organism learns associations between its own behavior and resulting events; this form of conditioning involves operant behavior (behavior that operates on the environment, producing rewarding or punishing consequences). In classical conditioning, the organism forms associations between stimuli- events it does not control; this form of conditioning involves respondent behavior (automatic responses to some stimulus)

Memory construction pg. 290

In this experiment, people viewed a film clip of a car accident (left). Those who later were asked a leading question recalled a more serious accident than they had witnessed

"it is disturbing to imagine the aggressive tendencies that might arise from . . . chronic exclusion from desired groups in actual social life."

Indeed, as Williams (2007) has observed, ostracism "weaves through case after case of school violence.

Memories are not permanently stored in the hippocampus.

Instead, this structure seems to act as a loading dock where the brain registers and temporarily holds the elements of a remembered or retrieved episode—its smell, feel, sound, and location.

memory construction explains why "hypnotically refreshed" memories of crimes so easily incorporate errors, some of which originate with the hypnotist's leading questions ("Did you hear loud noises?").

It explains why dating partners who fell in love have overestimated their first impressions of one another ("It was love at first sight"), while those who broke up underestimated their earlier liking ("We never really clicked"

Testing does more than assess learning:

It improves it

Significantly stressful events can form almost indelible memories. After traumatic experiences—a school shooting, a house fire, a rape—vivid recollections of the horrific event may intrude again and again.

It is as if they were burned in: "Stronger emotional experiences make for stronger, more reliable memories,"

If you want to be sure to remember what you're learning for an upcoming test, would it be better to use recall or recognition to check your memory? Why?

It would be better to test your memory with recall (such as with short-answer or fill-in-the-blank self-test questions) rather than recognition (such as with multiple-choice questions). recalling information is harder than recognizing it. So if you can recall it, that means your retention of the material is better than if you could only recognize it. Your chances of test success are therefore greater.

The more predictable the association, the stronger the conditioned response.

It's as if the animal learns an expectancy, an awareness of how likely it is that the US will occur

The bottom line:

It's probably a bad idea to try to watch TV, text your friends, and write a psychology paper all at the same time (Willingham, 2010)! Those with a large working memory capacity—whose minds can juggle multiple items while processing information—tend also to retain more information after sleep and to be creative problem solvers

What was behaviorism's view of learning?

Ivan Pavlov's work on classical conditioning laid the foundation for behaviorism, the view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes. the behaviorists believed that the basic laws of learning are the same for all species, including humans.

Who was Pavlov, and what are the basic components of classical conditioning?

Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, created novel experiments on learning. his early twentieth-century research over the last three decades of his life demonstrated that classical conditioning is a basic form of learning. Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which an organism come to associate stimuli and anticipate events. A UR is an event that occurs naturally (such as salivation), in response to some stimulus. A US is something that naturally and automatically (without learning) triggers the unlearned response (as food in the mouth triggers salivation). A CS is originally an NS (neutral stimulation, such as a tone) that, after association with a US (such as food) comes to trigger a CR. A CR is the learned response (salivating) to the originally neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus.

Jason's parents and older friends all drive over the speed limit, but they advise him not to. Juan's parents and friends drive within the speed limit, but they say nothing to deter him from speeding. Will Jason or Juan be more likely to speed?

Jason may be more likely to speed. Observational learning studies suggest that children tend to do as others do and say what they say.

The woman who can't forget

Jill Price, with writer Bart Davis, told her story in a 2008 published memoir. Price remembers every day of her life since age 14 with detailed clarity, including both the joys and the hurts. Researchers have identified enlarged brain areas in such "super memory" people

Information deemed "relevant to me" is processed more deeply and remains more accessible

Knowing this, you can profit from taking time to find personal meaning in what you are studying

So, human motivation aims not to eliminate arousal but to seek optimum levels of arousal. Having all our biological needs satisfied, we feel driven to experience stimulation and we hunger for information.

Lacking stimulation, we feel bored and look for a way to increase arousal to some optimum level

The bottom line:

Learn something and you change your brain a little.

How do we define learning, and what are some basic forms of learning?

Learning is the process of acquiring through experience new information or behaviors. in associative learning, we learn that certain events occur together. in classical conditioning, we learn to associates 2 or more stimuli. automatically responding to stimuli we do not control is called respondent behavior. in operant conditioning, we learn to associate a response and its consequence. these associations produce operant behaviors. through cognitive learning, we acquire mental information that guides our behavior. for example, in observational learning, we learn new behaviors by observing events and watching others.

pavlov legacy The importance lies first in this finding

Many other responses to many other stimuli can be classically conditioned in many other organisms— in fact, in every species tested, from earthworms to fish to dogs to monkeys to people Thus, classical conditioning is one way that virtually all organisms learn to adapt to their environment

What is the violence-viewing effect?

Media violence can contribute to aggression. This violence-viewing effect may be prompted by imitation and desensitization. Correlation does not equal causation, but study participants have reacted more cruelly when they have viewed violence (instead of entertaining nonviolence)

Retroactive interference

More forgetting occurred when a person stayed awake and experienced other new material.

False memories

More than 5000 Slate magazine readers were asked whether they remembered various world events—three real, and one of five randomly selected false events (Frenda et al., 2013). For example, when asked if they recalled U.S. President Barack Obama's shaking hands with Iran's former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, 26 percent recalled the event—despite it never having happened. (Ahmadinejad's head was put into another photo.)

Grocery shop with an empty stomach and you are more likely to see those jelly-filled doughnuts as just what you've always loved and will be wanting tomorrow.

Motives matter mightily

Because memory is reconstruction as well as reproduction, we can't be sure whether a memory is real by how real it feels.

Much as perceptual illusions may seem like real perceptions, unreal memories feel like real memories.

An experimenter sounds a tone just before delivering an air puff to your blinking eye. After several repetitions, you blink to the tone alone. What is the NS? The US? The UR? The CS? The CR?

N2= tone before conditioning US= air puff UR= blink to air puff CS= tone after conditioning CR= blink to tone

psychologist Karl Lashley (1950) trained rats to find their way out of a maze, then surgically removed pieces of their brain's cortex and retested their memory:

No matter which small brain section he removed, the rats retained at least a partial memory of how to navigate the maze.

How may observational learning be enabled by neural mirroring?

Our brain's frontal lobes have a demonstrated ability to mirror the activity of another's brain, which may enable imitation and observational learning. Some scientists argue that mirror neurons are responsible for this ability, while others attribute it to distributed brain networks.

What is observational learning?

Observational learning (also called social learning) involves learning by watching and imitating, rather than through direct experience

Blood vessels connect the hypothalamus to the rest of the body, so it can respond to our current blood chemistry and other incoming information

One of its tasks is monitoring levels of appetite hormones, such as ghrelin, a hunger arousing hormone secreted by an empty stomach. - Other appetite hormones include insulin, leptin influence your feelings of hunger

What is operant conditioning?

Operant conditioning is a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

The point to remember:

The amount remembered depends both on the time spent learning and on your making it meaningful for deep processing.

• Your friend has experienced brain damage in an accident. He can remember how to tie his shoes but has a hard time remembering anything you tell him during a conversation. How can implicit versus explicit information processing explain what's going on here?

Our explicit conscious memories of facts and episodes differ from our implicit memories of skills (such as tying shoelaces) and classically conditioned responses. the parts of the brain involved in explicit memory processing (the frontal lobes and hippocampus) may have sustained damage in the accident, while the parts involved in implicit memory processing (the cerebellum and basal ganglia) appear to have escaped harm

Biopsychosocial influences on learning pg.254

Our learning results not only from environmental experiences, but also from cognitive and biological influences.

What is the capacity of long-term memory? Are our long-term memories processed and stored in specific locations?

Our long-term memory capacity is essentially unlimited. Memories are not stored intact in the brain in single spots. Many parts of the brain interact as we encode, store, and retrieve memories

arousal theory

Our need to maintain an optimal level of arousal motivates behaviors that meet no physiological need (such as our yearning for stimulation and our hunger for information)

Lesson for parents:

Partial reinforcement also works with children. Occasionally giving in to children's tantrums for the sake of peace and quiet intermittently reinforces the tantrums. This is the very best procedure for making a behavior persist

generalization dog experiment: pg. 240

Pavlov demonstrated generalization by attaching miniature vibrators to various parts of a dog's body. After conditioning salivation to stimulation of the thigh, he stimulated other areas. The closer a stimulated spot was to the dog's thigh, the stronger the conditioned response

Pavlov's classic experiment

Pavlov presented a neutral stimulus (a tone) just before an unconditioned stimulus (food in mouth). The neutral stimulus then became a conditioned stimulus, producing a conditioned response

Why does Pavlov's work remain so important?

Pavlov taught us that significant psychological phenomena can be studied objectively, and that classical conditioning is a basic form of learning that applies to all species

An acquired taste

People everywhere learn to enjoy the fatty, bitter, or spicy foods common in their culture. For these Alaska natives (above), but not for most other North Americans, whale blubber is a tasty treat. For Peruvians (left), roasted guinea pig is similarly delicious

How does punishment differ from negative reinforcement, and how does punishment affect behavior?

Punishment administers an undesirable consequence (such as spanking) or withdraws something desirable (such as taking away a favorite toy) to decrease the frequency of a behavior (a child's disobedience). Negative reinforcement (taking a aspirin) removes an aversive stimulus (a headache). This desired consequence (freedom from pain) increases the likelihood that the behavior (taking aspirin to end pain) will be repeated. Punishment can have undesirable side effects, such as suppressing rather than changing unwanted behaviors, encouraging discrimination (so that the undesirable behavior appears when the punisher is not present), creating fear, and teaching aggression

George Sperling, cleverly demonstrated that people actually could see and recall all the letters, but only momentarily:

Rather than ask them to recall all nine letters at once, he sounded a high, medium, or low tone immediately after flashing the nine letters. This tone directed participants to report only the letters of the top, middle, or bottom row, respectively. Now they rarely missed a letter, showing that all nine letters were momentarily available for recall. - this experiment demonstrated iconic memory

How do positive and negative reinforcement differ, and what are the basic types of reinforcers?

Reinforcement is any consequence that strengthens behavior. Positive reinforcement adds a desirable stimulus to increase the frequency of a behavior. Negative reinforcement reduces or removes an aversive stimulus to increase the frequency of a behavior. Primary reinforcers (such as receiving food when hungry of having nausea end during an illness) are innately satisfying- no learning is required. Conditioned (or secondary) reinforcers (such as cash) are satisfying because we have learned to associate them with more basic rewards (such as the food or medicine we buy with them). Immediate reinforcers (such as a purchased treat) offer immediate payback; delayed reinforcers (such as a paycheck) require the ability to delay gratification

Thorndike's law of effect was the basis for ________ work on operant conditioning and behavior control

Skinner's

Intermittent reinforcement schedules pg. 248

Skinner's (1961) laboratory pigeons produced these response patterns to each of four reinforcement schedules. (Reinforcers are indicated by diagonal marks.) For people, as for pigeons, reinforcement linked to number of responses (a ratio schedule) produces a higher response rate than reinforcement linked to amount of time elapsed (an interval schedule). But the predictability of the reward also matters. An unpredictable (variable) schedule produces more consistent responding than does a predictable (fixed) schedule.

Retrieval failure

Sometimes even stored information cannot be accessed, which leads to forgetting

The point to remember:

Spaced study and self-assessment beat cramming and rereading. Practice may not make perfect, but smart practice—occasional rehearsal with self-testing—makes for lasting memories.

Social acceptance and rejection

Successful participants on the reality TV show Survivor form alliances and gain acceptance among their peers. The rest receive the ultimate social punishment as they are "voted off the island."

Aplysia

The California sea slug, which neuro-scientist Eric Kandel studied for 45 years, has increased our understanding of the neural basis of learning and memory

In Watson and Rayner's experiments, "Little Albert" learned to fear a white rat after repeatedly experiencing a loud noise as the rat was presented. In these experiments, what was the US? The UR? The NS? The CS? The CR?

The US was the loud noise; the UR was the fear response to the noise; the NS was the rat before it was paired with the noise; the CS was the rat after pairing; the CR was fear of the rat

The basal ganglia, deep brain structures involved in motor movement, facilitate formation of our procedural memories for skills

The basal ganglia receive input from the cortex but do not return the favor of sending information back to the cortex for conscious awareness of procedural learning. - If you have learned how to ride a bike, thank your basal ganglia.

When feeling tense or depressed, do you tend to take solace in high-calorie foods, as has been found in ardent football fans after a big loss

The carbohydrates in pizza, chips, and sweets help boost levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which has calming effects. When stressed, both rats and many humans find it extra rewarding to scarf Oreos

What roles do the cerebellum and basal ganglia in memory processing?

The cerebellum and basal ganglia are parts of the brain network dedicated to implicit memory formation. The cerebellum is important for storing classically conditioned memories. The basal ganglia are involved in motor movement and help form procedural memories for skills. Many reactions and skills learned during our first four years continue into our adult lives, though we cannot consciously remember learning these associations and skills (infantile amnesia)

Ebbinghaus confirmed by later experiments, was his famous forgetting curve:

The course of forgetting is initially rapid, then levels off with time

Evidence for the brain's control of eating

The fat mouse on the left has non-functioning receptors in the appetite suppressing part of the hypothalamus

what roles do the frontal lobes and hippocampus play in memory processing?

The frontal lobes and hippocampus are parts of the brain network dedicated to explicit memory formation. Many brain regions send information to the frontal lobes for processing. The hippocampus, with the help of surrounding areas of cortex, registers and temporarily holds elements of explicit memories (which are either semantic or episodic) before moving them to other brain regions for long-term storage. The neural storage of long-term memories is called memory consolidation

The hypothalamus

The hypothalamus (colored orange) performs various body maintenance functions, including control of hunger. Blood vessels supply the hypothalamus, enabling it to respond to our current blood chemistry as well as to incoming neural information about the body's state

Same motive, different wiring

The more complex the nervous system, the more adaptable the organism. Both humans and weaver birds satisfy their need for shelter in ways that reflect their inherited capacities. Human behavior is flexible; we can learn whatever skills we need to build a house. The bird's behavior pattern is fixed; it can build only this kind of nest.

• How does the working memory concept update the classic Atkinson-Shiffrin three-stage information-processing model?

The newer idea of a working memory emphasizes the active processing that we now know takes place in Atkinson- Shiffrin's short-term memory stage. While the Atkinson-Shiffrin model viewed short-term memory as a temporary holding space, working memory plays a key role in processing new information and connecting it to previously stored information

The pain reliever acetaminophen (as in Tylenol) lessens social as well as physical pain

The pain reliever acetaminophen (as in Tylenol) lessens social as well as physical pain

Swift and sure punishers can powerfully restrain unwanted behavior

The rat that is shocked after touching a forbidden object and the child who is burned by touching a hot stove will learn not to repeat those behaviors.

Idealized curve of acquisition, extinction, and spontaneous recovery pg. 239

The rising curve shows the CR rapidly growing stronger as the NS becomes a CS due to repeated pairing with the US (acquisition). The CR then weakens rapidly as the CS is presented alone (extinction). After a pause, the (weakened) CR reappears (spontaneous recovery).

Instincts and evolutionary theory

There is a genetic basis for unlearned, species-typical behavior (such as birds building nests or infants rooting for a nipple).

The point to remember:

There is more to learning than associating a response with a consequence; there is also cognition

When you encode into memory a target piece of information, such as the name of the person sitting next to you in class, you associate with it other bits of information about your surroundings, mood, seating position, and so on.

These bits can serve as retrieval cues that you can later use to access the information. The more retrieval cues you have, the better your chances of finding a route to the suspended memory.

Evidence that cognitive processes play an important role in learning comes in part from studies in which rats running a maze develop a ________ _______ of the maze

cognitive map

An analysis of more than 3000 network and cable programs aired during one closely studied year revealed that nearly 6 in 10 featured violence, that 74 percent of the violence went unpunished, that 58 percent did not show the victims' pain, that nearly half the incidents involved "justified" violence, and that nearly half involved an attractive perpetrator.

These conditions define the recipe for the violence-viewing effect described in many studies

Memories are brain-based, but the brain distributes the components of a memory across a network of locations

These specific locations include some of the circuitry involved in the original experience: Some brain cells that fire when we experience something fire again when we recall it

your memory is only as good as your last memory. The fewer times you use it, the more pristine it is.

This means that, to some degree, all memory is false

The peg-word system harnesses our superior visual-imagery skill

This mnemonic requires you to memorize a jingle: "One is a bun; two is a shoe; three is a tree; four is a door; five is a hive; six is sticks; seven is heaven; eight is a gate; nine is swine; ten is a hen."

Fill in the blanks below with one of the following terms: positive reinforcement (PR), negative reinforcement (NR), positive punishment (PP), and negative punishment (NP). We have provided the first answer (PR) for you.

Type of Stimulus: - Desired (for example, a teen's use of the car): Give It: 1. PR Take it away 2. NP Type of Stimulus: -Undesired/ aversive (for example, an insult): Give it: 1. PP Take it away 2. NR

variable-interval

Unpredictably often: reinforcement for behavior after a random amount of time, as when checking for a Facebook response

Monitoring stomach contractions

Using this procedure, Washburn showed that stomach contractions (transmitted by the stomach balloon) accompany our feelings of hunger (indicated by a key press)

Memory is not precise. Like scientists who infer a dinosaur's appearance from its remains, we infer our past from stored information plus what we later imagined, expected, saw, and heard

We don't just retrieve memories, we reweave them. Like Wikipedia pages, memories can be continuously revised. When we "replay" a memory, we often replace the original with a slightly modified version

cognitive learning

We learn new behaviors by observing events and by watching others, and through language, we learn things we have neither experienced nor observed

classical conditioning

We learn to expect and prepare for significant events such as food or pain

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs theory

We prioritize survival-based needs and then social needs more than the needs for esteem and meaning

operant conditioning)

We typically learn to repeat acts that bring rewards and to avoid acts that bring unwanted results

Animal social learning

Whacking the water to boost feeding has spread among humpback whales through social learning (Allen et al., 2013). Likewise, monkeys learn to prefer whatever color corn they observe other monkeys eating - monkey see, monkey do

remember: punishment tells you what not to do; reinforcement tells you what to do

What punishment often teaches, said Skinner, is how to avoid it. Most psychologists now favor an emphasis on reinforcement: Notice people doing something right and affirm them for it

Closely related to context-dependent memory is state-dependent memory

What we learn in one state—be it drunk or sober—may be more easily recalled when we are again in that state

Total recall—briefly

When George Sperling (1960) fl ashed a group of letters similar to this for one-twentieth of a second, people could recall only about half the letters. But when signaled to recall a particular row immediately after the letters had disappeared, they could do so with near-perfect accuracy.

The interaction of appetite hormones and brain activity suggests that the body has some sort of "weight thermostat."

When semistarved rats fall below their normal weight, this system signals the body to restore the lost weight. Fat cells cry out (so to speak) "Feed me!" and grab glucose from the bloodstream (Ludwig & Friedman, 2014). Hunger increases and energy output decreases. In this way, rats (and humans) tend to hover around a stable weight, or set point, influenced in part by heredity

For example, one neural arc (called the arcuate nucleus) has a center that secretes appetite-stimulating hormones

When stimulated electrically, well-fed animals begin to eat. If the area is destroyed, even starving animals have no interest in food. Another neural center secretes appetite-suppressing hormones. When electrically stimulated, animals will stop eating. Destroy this area and animals can't stop eating and will become obese

Organizing knowledge in hierarchies helps us retrieve information efficiently, as Gordon Bower and his colleagues (1969) demonstrated by presenting words either randomly or grouped into categories.

When the words were organized into categories, recall was two to three times better

Our emotions trigger stress hormones that influence memory formation

When we are excited or stressed, these hormones make more glucose energy available to fuel brain activity, signaling the brain that something important has happened. Moreover, stress hormones focus memory

The point to remember:

Whether it works by reducing something aversive, or by providing something desirable, reinforcement is any consequence that strengthens behavior

Hunger hijacks the mind

World War II survivor Louis Zamperini (protagonist of the book and movie Unbroken, shown here) went down with his plane over the Pacific Ocean. He and two other crew members drifted for 47 days, subsisting on an occasional bird or a fish. To help pass time, the hunger-driven men recited food recipes or recalled their mothers' home cooking.

Driven by curiosity

Young monkeys and children are fascinated by the unfamiliar. Their drive to explore maintains an optimum level of arousal and is one of several motives that do not fill any immediate physiological need.

How could your psychology instructor use negative reinforcement to encourage your attentive behavior during class?

Your instructor could reinforced your attentive behavior by taking away something you dislike. For example, your instructor could offer to shorten the length of an assigned paper or replace standard lecture time with an interesting in-class activity. In both cases, the instructor would remove something aversive in order to negatively reinforce your focused attention

flashbulb memory

a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event. - American adults said they could recall exactly where they were or what they were doing when they first heard the news of the 9/11 attacks. This perceived clarity of memories of surprising, significant events leads some psychologists to call them flashbulb memories. It's as if the brain commands, "Capture this!"

achievement motivation (defined by Henry Murray)

a desire for significant accomplishment, for mastery of skills or ideas, for control, and for attaining a high standard - Billionaires may be motivated to make ever more money, reality TV stars to attract ever more social media followers, politicians to achieve ever more power, daredevils to seek ever greater thrills. Such motives seem not to diminish when they are fed

intrinsic motivation

a desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake.

extrinsic motivation

a desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment

Stress provokes the amygdala (two limbic system, emotion-processing clusters) to initiate

a memory trace that boosts activity in the brain's memory-forming areas

cognitive map

a mental representation of the layout of one's environment. For example, after exploring a maze, rats act as if they have learned a cognitive map of it.

echoic memory

a momentary sensory memory of auditory stimuli; if attention is elsewhere, sounds and words can still be recalled within 3 or 4 seconds. - example: Picture yourself becoming distracted by a text message while in conversation with a friend. If your mildly irked companion tests you by asking, "What did I just say?" you can recover the last few words from your mind's echo chamber. Auditory echoes tend to linger for 3 or 4 seconds.

motivation

a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior

hippocampus

a neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit (conscious) memories- of facts and events- for storage - a temporal-lobe neural center located in the limbic system, can be likened to a "save" button

Children can be accurate eyewitnesses if

a neutral person asks nonleading questions soon after the event

working memory

a newer understanding of short-term memory that adds conscious, active processing of incoming auditory and visual-spatial information, and of information retrieved from long-term memory.

reinforcement schedule

a pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced.

incentive

a positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior - Not only are we pushed by our need to reduce drives, we also are pulled by incentives

reconsolidation

a process in which previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again

"Sex sells!" is a common saying in advertising. Using classical conditioning terms, explain how sexual images in advertisements can condition your response to a product.

a sexual image is a US that triggers a UR of interest or arousal. Before the ad pairs a product with a sexual image, the product is an NS. Over time the product can become a CS that triggers the CR of interest or arousal

conditioned reinforcer

a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer; also known as a secondary reinforcer

homeostasis

a tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state; the regulation of any aspect of body chemistry, such as blood glucose, around a particular level

operant conditioning

a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

classical conditioning

a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

What is achievement motivation, and what are some ways to encourage achievement?

achievement motivation is a desire for significant accomplishment, for mastery of skills or ideas, for control, and for attaining a high standard. high achievement motivation leads to greater success, especially when combined with determined, persistent grit. research shows that excessive rewards (driving extrinsic motivation) can undermine intrinsic motivation

American Academy of Pediatrics has advised

advised pediatricians that "media violence can contribute to aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, nightmares, and fear of being harmed"

Which brain area responds to stress hormones by helping to create stronger memories?

amygdala

long-term potentiation (LTP)

an increase in a cell's firing potential after brief, rapid stimulation. Believed to be a neural basis for learning and memory

primary reinforcer

an innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need

shaping

an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.

Repression was central to Freud's psychoanalytic theory

and was a popular idea in mid twentieth-century psychology and beyond

Why do we forget?

antergrade amnesia is an inability to form new memories. retrograde amnesia is an inability to retrieve old memories. normal forgetting can happen because we have never encoded information (encoding failure); because the physical trace has decayed (storage decay); or because we cannot retrieve what we have encoded and stored (retrieval failure). retrieval problems may result from proactive (forward-acting) interference, as prior learning interferes with recall of new information, or from retroactive (backward-acting) interference, as new learning disrupts recall of old information. motivated forgetting occurs, but researchers have found little evidence of repression.

Which of the following is NOT part of the evidence presented to support the view that humans are strongly motivated by a need to belong?

as adults, adopted children tend to resemble their biological parents

To experience ostracism is to experience real pain

as social psychologists Kipling Williams and his colleagues were surprised to discover in their studies of exclusion on social media - Such ostracism, they discovered, takes a toll: It elicits increased activity in brain areas, such as the anterior cingulate cortex, that also activate in response to physical pain

Both classical and operant conditioning are forms of: Both involve acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination.

associative learning

When chemotherapy triggers nausea and vomiting more than an hour following treatment, pg. 255

cancer patients may over time develop classically conditioned nausea (and sometimes anxiety) to the sights, sounds, and smells associated with the clinic (FIGURE 7.14) (Hall, 1997). Merely returning to the clinic's waiting room or seeing the nurses can provoke these conditioned feelings (Burish & Carey, 1986; Davey, 1992). Under normal circumstances, such revulsion to sickening stimuli would be adaptive.

The concept of working memory

clarifies the idea of short-term memory by focusing on the active processing that occurs in this stage

When people develop expertise in an area, they process information not only in chunks but also in hierarchies:

composed of a few broad concepts divided and subdivided into narrower concepts and facts

What are some effortful processing strategies that can help us remember new information?

effective effortful processing strategies including chunking, mnemonics, hierarchies, and distributed practice sessions (the spacing effect). the testing effect is the finding that consciously retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information enhances memory

Meanwhile, one safe and free memory enhancer is already available on your college campus:

effective study techniques followed by adequate sleep

shallow processing

encoding on a basic level, based on the structure or appearance of words

deep processing

encoding semantically, based on the meaning of the words; tends to yield the best retention - the deeper (more meaningful) the processing, the better our retention

effortful processing

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort.

testing effect

enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information. Also sometimes referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test enhanced learning.

biological constraints

evolved biological tendencies that predispose animals' behavior and learning. Thus, certain behaviors are more easily learned than others

Narcissism

excessive self-love and self-absorption - People with high narcissism scores are especially active on social networking sites. They collect more superficial "friends." They offer more staged, glamorous photos. They retaliate more when people post negative comments. And, not surprisingly, they seem more narcissistic to strangers - For narcissists, social networking sites are more than a gathering place; they are a feeding trough

semantic memory

explicit memory of facts and general knowledge; one of our two conscious memory systems (the other is episodic memory). - facts and general knowledge

episodic memory

explicit memory of personally experienced events; one of our two conscious memory systems (the other is semantic memory). -experienced events

source amnesia

faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined. (Also called source misattribution.) Source amnesia, along with the misinformation effect, is at the heart of many false memories.

A restaurant is running a special deal. After you buy four meals at full price, your fifth meal will be free. This is an example of a ____________ -______________ schedule of reinforcement

fixed-ratio

The cerebellum plays a key role in

forming and storing the implicit memories created by classical conditioning.

APA Task force on violent media

found that the " research demonstrates a consistent relation between violent video game use and increases in aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, and aggressive affect, and decrease in prosocial behavior, empathy, and sensitivity to aggression

A major source of energy in your body is the blood sugar

glucose

Why are habits, such as having something sweet with that cup of coffee, so hard to break?

habits form when we repeat behaviors in a given context and, as a result, learn associations- often without our awareness. for example, we may have eaten a sweet pastry with a cup of coffee often enough to associate the flavor of the coffee with the treat, so that the cup of coffee alone just doesn't seem right anymore.

• Ethan constantly misbehaves at preschool even though his teacher scolds him repeatedly. Why does Ethan's misbehavior continue, and what can his teacher do to stop it?

if Ethan is seeking attention, the teacher's scolding may be reinforcing rather than punishing. to change Ethan's behavior, his teacher could offer reinforcement (such as praise) each time he behaves well. the teacher might encourage Ethan toward increasingly appropriate behavior through shaping, or by rephrasing rules as rewards instead of punishments. ("You can use the blocks if you play nicely with the other children" [rewards] rather than "You may not use the blocks if you misbehave! [punishment])

• In horror movies, sexually arousing images of women are sometimes paired with violence against women. Based on classical conditioning principles, what might be an effect of this pairing?

if viewing an attractive nude or seminude woman (a US) elicits sexual arousal (a UR), then pairing the US with a new NS (violence) could turn the violence into a conditioned stimulus (CS) that also becomes sexually arousing, a conditioned response (CR)

Hippocampus damage typically leaves people unable to learn new facts or recall recent events. However, they may be able to learn new skills, such as riding a bicycle, which is an _________ (explicit/implicit) memory

implicit

Lyin' Brian? or a victim of false memory?

in 2015, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams recounted a story about traveling in a military helicopter that was hit with a rocket- propelled grenade. But the event never happened as he described. The public branded him a liar, leading his bosses to fire him. Several researchers, including psychologist Christopher Chabris, had a different opinion: "i think a lot of people don't appreciate the extent to which false memories can happen even when we are extremely confident in the memory"

What information do we process automatically?

in addition to skills and classically conditioned associations, we automatically process incidental information about space, time, and frequency

conditioned response (CR)

in classical conditioning, a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS)

neutral stimulus (NS)

in classical conditioning, a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning

unconditioned stimulus (US)

in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally—naturally and automatically—triggers an unconditioned response (UR).

acquisition

in classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response

The appetite hormones

increases appetite: - Ghrelin: Hormone secreted by empty stomach; sends "I'm hungry" signals to the brain - Orexin: Hunger-triggering hormone secreted by hypothalamus decreases appetite: - Insulin: Hormone secreted by pancreas; controls blood glucose - Leptin: Protein hormone secreted by fat cells; when abundant, causes brain to increase metabolism and decrease hunger - PYY: Digestive tract hormone; sends "I'm not hungry" signals to the brain.

negative reinforcement

increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. (Note: Negative reinforcement is not punishment.) - remove an aversive stimulus example: Take painkillers to end pain; fasten seat belt to end loud beeping.

Yet as adults, our conscious memory of our first three years is blank, an experience called

infantile amnesia

Learning is defined as "the process of acquiring through experience new and relatively enduring __________ or __________ ."

information OR behaviors

Imagine being a jury member in a trial for a parent accused of sexual abuse based on a recovered memory. What insights from memory research should you offer the jury?

it will be important to remember the key points agreed upon by most researchers and professional associations: Sexual abuse, injustice, forgetting, and memory construction all happen; recovered memories are common; memories from before age 4 are unreliable; memories claimed to be recovered through hypnosis are especially unreliable; and memories, whether real or false, can be emotionally upsetting

Rats that explored a maze without any reward were later able to run the maze as well as other rats that had received food rewards for running the maze. The rats that had learned without reinforcement demonstrated ________ ________

latent learning

How do changes at the synapse level affect our memory processing?

long-term potentiation (LTP) is the neural basis of learning. In LTP, neurons become more efficient at releasing and sensing the presence of neurotransmitters, and more connections develop between neurons

If you try to make the material you are learning personally meaningful, are you processing at a shallow or a deep level? Which level leads to greater retention?

making material personally meaningful involves processing at a deep level, because you are processing semantically- based on the meaning of the words. Deep processing leads to greater retention

India's Mahatma Gandhi and America's Martin Luther King, Jr., both drew on the power of modeling

making nonviolent action a powerful force for social change in both countries. The media offer models. For example, one research team found that across seven countries, viewing prosocial TV, movies, and video games boosted later helping behavior

How do misinformation, imagination, and source amnesia influence our memory construction? How do we decide whether a memory is real or false?

memories can be continually revised when retrieved, a process memory researchers call reconsolidation. in experiments demonstrating the misinformation effect, people have formed false memories, incorporating misleading details, after receiving wrong information after an event, or after repeatedly imagining and rehearsing something that never happened. when we reassemble a memory during retrieval, we may attribute it to the wrong source (source amnesia). source amnesia may help explain deja vu. false memories feel like real memories and can be persistent but are usually limited to the gist of the event.

mnemonics

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices

explicit memory

memory of facts and experiences that one can consciously know and "declare." (Also called declarative memory.)

How can you use memory research findings to do better in this and other courses?

memory research finding suggest the following strategies for improving memory: rehearse repeatedly, make the material meaningful, activate retrieval cues, use mnemonic devices, minimize proactive and retroactive interference, sleep more, and test yourself to be sure you can retrieve, as well as recognize, material.

Some scientists believe that the brain has _________ neurons that enable empathy and imitation.

mirror

Memory aids that use visual imagery (such as peg words) or other organizational devices (such as acronyms) are called

mnemonics

With a challenging task, such as taking a difficult exam, performance is likely to peak when arousal is

moderate

What are some ways to manage our social networking time successfully?

monitor our time spent online, as well as our feelings about that time. hide distracting online friends when necessary. check your phone and email less often. get outside and away from technology regularly.

chapter 10 pg. 248

motivation and emotion

How do psychologists define motivation? From what perspectives do they view motivated behavior?

motivation is a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior. the instinct/evolutionary perspective explores genetic influences on complex behaviors. drive-reduction theory explores how physiological needs create aroused tension states (drives) that direct us to satisfy those needs. environmental incentives can intensify drives. drive-reduction's goal is homeostasis, maintaining a steady internal state. arousal theory proposes that some behaviors (such as those driven by curiosity) do not reduce physiological needs but rather are prompted by a search for an optimum level of arousal. the Yerkes-Dodson law describes the relationship between arousal and performance. Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs proposes a pyramid of human needs, from basic needs up to higher-level needs

Your dog is barking so loudly that it's making your ears ring. You clap your hands, the dog stops barking, your ears stop ringing, and you think to yourself, "I'll have to do that when he barks again." The end of the barking was for you a

negative reinforcer

Children learn many social behaviors by imitating parents and other models. This type of learning is called _______ ________

observational learning

TV shows, movies, and online videos are sources of :

observational learning

misinformation effect

occurs when misleading information has corrupted one's memory of an event

The spacing effect is:

one of psychology's most reliable findings, and it extends to motor skills and online game performance, too

What evidence points to our human affiliation need—our need to belong?

our affiliation need- to feel connected and identified with others- had survival value for our ancestors, which may explain why humans in every society live in groups. according to self-determination theory, we strive to satisfy our needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. social bonds help us to be healthier and happier, and feeling loved activates brain regions associated with reward and safety systems. ostracism is the deliberate exclusion of individuals or groups. social isolation can put us at risk mentally and physically.

Pain, whatever its source, focuses

our attention and motivates corrective action

nature's most important gift may be our adaptability—

our capacity to learn new behaviors that help us cope with our changing world.

Self-disclosure is sharing ourselves

our joys, worries, and weaknesses—with others

Body cues and environmental factors together influence not only the when of hunger, but also the what

our taste preferences

serial position effect

our tendency to recall best the last (recency effect) and first (primacy effect) items in a list

Reinforcing a desired response only some of the times it occurs is called __________ reinforcement

partial (intermittent)

Robert Rescorla and Allan Wagner (1972) showed that an animal can learn the

predictability of an event

when you summon up a mental encore of a past experience, many brain regions send input to your

prefrontal cortex (the front part of your frontal lobe) for working memory processing

Our implicit memories include:

procedural memory for automatic skills (such as how to ride a bike) and classically conditioned associations among stimuli.

How do psychologists describe the human memory system?

psychologists use memory models to think and communicate about memory. information-processing models involve three processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval. Our agile brain processes many things simultaneously by means of parallel processing. The connectionism information-processing model focuses on this multitrack processing, viewing memories as products of interconnected neural networks. the three processing stages in the Atkinson-Shiffrin model are sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. This model has since been updated to include 2 important concepts: 1. working memory, to stress the active processing occurring in the second memory stage; and 2. automatic processing, to address the processing of information outside of conscious awareness

A medieval proverb notes that "a burnt child dreads the fire." In operant conditioning, the burning would be an example of a

punisher

what- given the commonness of source amnesia- might life be like if we remembered all our waking experiences and all our dreams?

real experiences would be confused with those we dreamed. When seeing someone we know, we might therefore be unsure whether we were reacting to something they previously did or to something we dreamed they did

A psychologist who asks you to write down as many objects as you can remember having seen a few minutes earlier is testing your

recall

In general, response rates are higher when:

reinforcement is linked to the number of responses (a ratio schedule) rather than to time (an interval schedule). But responding is more consistent when reinforcement is unpredictable (a variable schedule) than when it is predictable (a fixed schedule)

partial (intermittent) reinforcement schedule

reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement

Freud believed that we _______ unacceptable memories to minimize anxiety

repress

Freud proposed that painful or unacceptable memories are blocked from consciousness through a mechanism called

repression

implicit memory

retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations independent of conscious recollection. (Also called nondeclarative memory. - produced by automatic processing

Specific odors, visual images, emotions, or other associations that help us access a memory are examples of

retrieval cues

The hour before sleep is a good time to memorize information, because going to sleep after learning new material minimizes _____________ interference

retroactive

you will experience less _______ (proactive/retroactive) interference if you learn new material in the hour before sleep than you will if you learn it before turning to another subject

retroactive

Although they have been called sensation-seekers

risk takers may also be motivated by a drive to master their emotions and actions

What have researchers found to be an even better predictor of school performance than intelligence test scores?

self-discipline (grit)

How does sensory memory work?

sensory memory feeds some information into working memory for active processing there. an iconic memory is a very brief (a few tenths of a second) sensory memory of visual stimuli; an echoic memory is a three- or four-second sensory memory of auditory stimuli

When we are tested immediately after viewing a list of words, we tend to recall the first and last items best, which is known as the _______ _______ effect.

serial position

Our short-term memory for new information is limited to about _________ items.

seven

George Miller (1956) proposed that we can store about:

seven pieces of information (give or take two) in short-term memory

When forgetting is due to encoding failure, information has not been transferred from

short-term memory into long-term memory

consciousness, motivation, emotion, health, psychological disorders, and therapy

show how Pavlov's principles can influence human health and well-being examples on pg. 241

was Alexander Hamilton a U.S. president?

sometimes our mind tricks us into misremembering dates, places, and names. This often happens because we misuse familiar information. in one study, many people mistakenly recalled Alexander Hamilton- the subject of a popular broadway musical whose face also appears on the U.S. $10 bill- as a U.S. president

We may recognize a face at a social gathering but be unable to remember how we know that person. This is an example of

source amnesia

retroactive (backward-acting) interference

the backward-acting disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of old information - If someone sings new lyrics to the tune of an old song, you may have trouble remembering the original words. It is rather like a second stone tossed in a pond, disrupting the waves rippling out from the first.

If the aroma of a baking cake sets your mouth to watering, what is the US? The CS? The CR?

the cake (including its taste) is the US. the associated aroma is the CS. Salivation to the aroma is the CR

Why are reports of repressed and recovered memories so hotly debated?

the debate focuses on whether memories of early childhood abuse are repressed and can be recovered during therapy. Unless the victim was a child too young to remember, such traumas are usually remembered vividly, not repressed. psychologists agree that childhood sexual abuse happens; injustice happens; forgetting happens; recovered memories are common; memories of events that happened before age 4 are unreliable; memories "recovered" under hypnosis are especially unreliable; and memories, whether real or false, can be emotionally upsetting

extrinsic motivation

the desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment

glucose

the form of sugar that circulates in the blood and provides the major source of energy for body tissues. When its level is low, we feel hunger - If your blood glucose level drops, you won't consciously feel the lower blood sugar, but your stomach, intestines, and liver will signal your brain to motivate eating - Your brain, which is automatically monitoring your blood chemistry and your body's internal state, will then trigger hunger.

Information presented in the hour before sleep suffers less retroactive interference because

the opportunity for interfering events is minimized

memory

the persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information

retrieval

the process of getting information out of memory storage

modeling

the process of observing and imitating a specific behavior

encoding

the processing of information into the memory system—for example, by extracting meaning.

self-determination theory

the theory that we feel motivated to satisfy our needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness

We have especially good recall for information we can meaningfully relate to ourselves. Asked how well certain adjectives describe someone else, we often forget them; asked how well the adjectives describe us, we remember the words well.

this tendency, called the self-reference effect, is especially strong in members of individualist Western culture

The hour before sleep is a good time to commit information to memory

though information presented in the seconds just before sleep is seldom remembered

Being shunned—given the cold shoulder or the silent treatment, with others' eyes avoiding yours

threatens one's need to belong

Can memories of childhood sexual abuse be repressed and then recovered? pg. 293

two possible tragedies: 1. people doubt childhood sexual abuse survivors who tell their secret 2. innocent people are falsely accused, as therapist prompt "recovered" memories of childhood sexual abuse

automatic processing

unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings. - produces implicit memories

self-esteem is a gauge of how

valued and accepted we feel

The partial reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after unpredictable time periods is a _______ - _______schedule.

variable-interval

Much of what we sense we never notice, and what we fail to encode

we will never remember

shaping can also help us understand:

what nonverbal organisms perceive

When reinforcement stops—

when we stop delivering food after the rat presses the bar—the behavior soon stops. It extinguishes. If a normally dependable candy machine fails to deliver a chocolate bar twice in a row, we stop putting money into it (although a week later we may exhibit spontaneous recovery by trying again).

Through operant conditioning, we associate our own behaviors—

which act on our environment to produce rewarding or punishing stimuli (operant behaviors)—with their consequences

sensory memory feeds our active:

working memory, recording momentary images of scenes or echoes of sounds.