PSYCH 1000 EXAM 3: CHAP 6-8
episodic memories
memories of personally experienced events and the contexts in which they occurred
Stimulus Control
"Stimulus control is a term used to describe situations in which a behavior is triggered by the presence or absence of some stimulus. For example, if you always eat when you watch TV, your eating behavior is controlled by the stimulus of watching TV. In research on stimulus control, participants trained with Picasso paintings, such as the one on the left, responded to other paintings by Picasso or even to paintings by other Cubists. Participants trained with Monet paintings responded to other paintings by Monet or other French Impressionists. Interestingly, the participants in this study were pigeons.
Stimulus
any event or situation that evokes a response
Memory Failures: The Seven Sins of Memory
1.Transience: forgetting what occurs with the passage of time §Memory fades more quickly at first, then more slowly over time. §Involves a switch from specific to more general memories §Retroactive interference: Situations in which information learned later impairs memory for information acquired earlier; If you're an actor and must learn a new monologue for a play, you may forget the previous monologue you learned for a different play. §Proactive interference: Situations in which information learned earlier impairs memory for information acquired later; a difficulty in remembering a friend's new phone number after having previously learned the old number.
Edward Thorndike
1874-1949) focused on instrumental behaviors; he created a puzzle box to show the law of effect. §Law of effect: Principle that behaviors that are followed by a "satisfying state of affairs" tend to be repeated and those that produce an "unpleasant state of affairs" are less likely to be repeated Skinner is the "big name" of this conditioning- did most research Thorndike's Puzzle Box--In Thorndike's original experiments, food was placed just outside the door of the puzzle box, where the cat could see it. If the cat triggered the appropriate lever, the door would be opened and the cat could get out. Thorndike's cats displayed trial-and-error behavior when trying to escape from the puzzle box. They made lots of irrelevant movements and actions until, over time, they discovered the solution. Once they figured out which behavior was instrumental in opening the latch, they stopped all other ineffective behaviors and escaped from the box faster and faster. reinforcement tends to be the best way that we learn
The Decline of Short-Term Memory
A 1959 experiment showed how quickly short-term memory fades without rehearsal. On a test for memory of 3-letter strings, research participants were highly accurate when tested a few seconds after exposure to each string, but if the test was delayed another 15 seconds, people barely recalled the strings at all (Peterson & Peterson, 1959).
Habituation
A general process in which repeated or prolonged exposure to a stimulus results in a gradual reduction in responding
Sensitization
A simple form of learning that occurs when presentation of a stimulus leads to an increased response to a later stimulus
Memory
Ability to store and retrieve information over time
The Seven Sins of Memory
Absentmindedness: Lapse in attention that results in memory failure ---There is less activity in the frontal lobe when attention is divided ---Prospective memory: Remembering to do things in the future: remembering to take medicine at night before going to bed Blocking: Failure to retrieve information that is available in memory even though you are trying to produce it (subconscious) §Also known as tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
The Emotional Brain (3 of 3)
According to Joseph LeDoux (2000), information about a stimulus takes two routes simultaneously: the "fast pathway" (shown in pink), which goes from the thalamus directly to the amygdala, and the "slow pathway" (shown in green), which goes from the thalamus to the amygdala. The Fast and Slow Pathways of Fear Because the amygdala receives information from the thalamus before it receives information from the cortex, people can be afraid of something before they know what it is.
Acquisition, Extinction, and Spontaneous Recovery
Acquisition: Phase of classical conditioning when the CS and the US are presented together Extinction: Gradual elimination of a learned response that occurs when the US is no longer presented Second-order conditioning: Conditioning where the CS is paired with a stimulus that became associated with the US in an earlier procedure; an animal might first learn to associate a bell with food (first-order conditioning), but then learn to associate a light with the bell (second-order conditioning). Spontaneous recovery: Tendency of a learned behavior to recover from extinction after a rest period In classical conditioning, the CS is originally neutral and produces no specific response. After several trials pairing the CS with the US , the CS alone comes to elicit the salivary response (the CR). Learning tends to take place fairly rapidly and then levels off as stable responding develops. In extinction, the CR diminishes quickly until it no longer occurs. A rest period, however, is typically followed by spontaneous recovery of the CR. In fact, a well-learned CR may show spontaneous recovery after more than one rest period even though there have been no additional learning trials.
The Evolutionary Elements of Classical Conditioning
Adaptive behaviors allow us to survive. Taste aversions are learned §Rapidly and in few trials §Over long conditioning periods §Because of perceptual qualities, such as smell or taste (not the act of ingestion itself) §More often with novel foods Research with cancer patients who experience nausea Biological preparedness: Propensity for learning particular kinds of associations over others; people and animals are inherently inclined to form associations between certain stimuli and responses; it has been suggested that biological preparedness explains why certain types of phobias tend to form more easily
Reinforcer
Any stimulus or event that functions to increase the likelihood of the behavior that led to it; more effective than punishment in promoting learning Positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement
Artificial Grammar and Implicit Learning.
Artificial Grammar and Implicit Learning. •These are examples of letter strings formed by an artificial grammar. Research participants are exposed to the rules of the grammar and are later tested on new letter strings. •Participants show reliable accuracy at distinguishing the valid, grammatical strings from the invalid, nongrammatical strings, even though they usually can't explicitly state the rule they are following when making such judgments. Using an artificial grammar is one way of studying implicit learning (Reber, 1996).
Observational Learning in Humans
Beating Up Bobo • •Children who were exposed to an adult model who behaved aggressively toward a Bobo doll were likely to behave aggressively themselves. •This behavior occurred in the absence of any direct reinforcement. •Observational learning was responsible for producing the children's behaviors.
Operant behavior
Behavior that an organism produces that has some impact on the environment; coined by B. F. Skinner (1904-1990) §Demonstrated using the operant chamber or Skinner Box
Eating Disorders
Binge Eating Disorder (BED): An eating disorder characterized by recurrent and uncontrolled episodes of eating a large number of calories in a short time Bulimia nervosa: Eating disorder characterized by binge eating followed by purging Anorexia nervosa: Eating disorder that is characterized by an intense fear of being fat, resulting in severe restriction of food intake Gender and cultural differences
Emotions Are Information
Capgras syndrome sufferers have sustained damage to the connections between the temporal lobe and the limbic system. §Believe family members/friends are imposters due to lack of emotional connection •This graph shows the emotional responses (as measured by skin conductance) of a participant with Capgras syndrome and a group of control participants to a set of familiar and unfamiliar faces. •Although the controls have stronger emotional responses to the familiar than to the unfamiliar faces, the Capgras patient has similar emotional responses to both (Hirstein & Ramachandran, 1997).
The Physiology of Emotion
Contrary to the claims of the two-factor theory, different emotions do seem to have different underlying patterns of physiological arousal. (a) Anger, fear, and sadness all produce higher heart rates compared to happiness, surprise, and disgust. (b) Anger produces a much larger increase in finger temperature than any other emotion.
Techniques for Learning (4 of 5)
Control of learning §Judgments of learning: Assessments are made about how well information is learned and are then used to control future study §More time used to study items judged not learned well §Overconfidence and feeling of familiarity can be misleading and detract from effective studying Overcoming misleading subjective impressions §Use self-testing periodically under exam-like conditions §Compare personal learning definitions to actual definitions Researchers conclude that becoming an effective learner requires understanding of: §Key features of learning and memory §Effective learning techniques §How to monitor and control one's own learning §Biases that can undermine judgments of learning
Reinforcement Variable-Ratio (VR) Schedules
Different schedules of reinforcement produce different rates of responding. These lines represent the amount of responding that occurs under each type of reinforcement. The black slash marks indicate when reinforcement was administered. Notice that ratio schedules tend to produce higher rates of responding than do interval schedules, as shown by the steeper lines for fixed-ratio and variable-ratio reinforcement.
Learning in the Classroom (3 of 4)
Distributed Practice- Spreading out study activities with more time between repetition of the to-be-learned information §On average, participants retained 47% of studied information after distributed practice compared with 37% after massed practice §More difficult to retrieve information that was studied less recently; more difficult retrieval benefits subsequent learning more than easy retrieval Cramming: Neglecting to study for an extended period of time and then studying intensively just before an exam §Research indicates that between 25% to 50% of college students rely on cramming Massed practice: Studying information with little or no time between repetition §Ebbinghaus's classic retention of nonsense syllables study
The Emotional Body
Early theories §James-Lange theory: Stimuli trigger activity in the ANS, which in turn produces an emotional experience in the brain §Fear follows body's response (shaking) §Cannon-Bard theory: Stimulus simultaneously triggers activity in the ANS and emotional experience in the brain §Body's responses are to similar and change to slowly to cause emotion Body reacts as I experience emotion Modern theories §Two-factor theory: Emotions are inferences about the causes of physiological arousal §Two factors •Physical arousal and cognitive appraisal §People have just one bodily reaction to all emotional stimuli §Interpretation differs due to occasion (fear vs. excitement) §Criticism - a single bodily response does not underlie all emotions
The Emotional Brain (2 of 3)
Emotion Recognition and the Amygdala. •Facial expressions of emotion were morphed into a continuum that ran from happiness to surprise to fear to sadness to disgust to anger and back to happiness. This sequence was shown to a patient with bilateral amygdala damage and to a control group of 10 people without brain damage. •Although the patient's recognition of happiness, sadness, and surprise was generally in line with that of the control group, her recognition of anger, disgust, and fear was impaired (Calder et al., 1996).
explicit learning
Explicit memory occurs when people consciously or intentionally retrieve past experiences. Recalling last summer's vacation, incidents from a novel you just read, or facts you studied for a test all involve explicit memory. Indeed, anytime you start a sentence with "I remember ...," you are talking about an explicit memory.
Retrieval Cues: Reinstating the Past
External Context Provides Cues §--Encoding specificity principle: Idea that a retrieval cue can serve as an effective reminder when it helps re-create the specific way in which information was initially encoded;the same room in which one will take the exam. Inner States Also Provide Cues §--State-dependent retrieval: Tendency for information to be better recalled when the person is in the same state during encoding and retrieval;if you learned something while drunk, you will have a higher chance of remembering it if you are also drunk Matching Encoding and Retrieval Contexts Improves Recall §--Transfer-appropriate processing: Memory is likely to transfer from one situation to another when the encoding and retrieval contexts of the situations match;hen a sound is associated with a memory, recall is enhanced. This can be seen in some degree in rhythm games, such as in the video game Guitar Hero.
The Neural Elements of Classical Conditioning
Eyeblink conditioning research argues that classical conditioning draws upon implicit but not explicit memory (based on the awareness of the CS and US) §Delay and trace conditioning in amnesics Impaired reality testing in schizophrenics §Experiments with rabbits in eyeblink conditioning implicate the cerebellum in delay and trace conditioning. §The hippocampus is also implicated in trace conditioning, but not as much in delay conditioning. §The amygdala (central nucleus) is responsible for fear conditioning. §Behavioral and physiological (autonomic nervous system) responses
Generalization and Discrimination
Generalization: Process by which the CR is observed even though the CS is slightly different from the original one used during acquisition Discrimination: Capacity to distinguish between similar but distinct stimuli
Emotions Are Goals
Hedonic principle: Notion that all people are motivated to experience pleasure and avoid pain; first argued by Plato and Aristotle §Emotional experience can be thought of as a gauge that ranges from bad to good §Primary motivation—perhaps even sole motivation—is to keep the needle on the gauge as close to good as possible
Approach Versus Avoidance (2 of 2)
Humans alone can conceptualize death, and are motivated to avoid death-related anxiety. §Terror management theory claims that we cope with our existential terror by developing a cultural worldview (meaningful immortality through our legacies). §Morality-salience hypothesis: Prediction that people who are reminded of their own mortality will work to reinforce their cultural worldviews.
B. F. Skinner: The Role of Reinforcement and Punishment (4 of 5)
Immediate versus delayed reinforcement and punishment Reinforcers lose effectiveness as time passes Delaying reinforcement renders it almost to completely ineffective --why schedule reinforcements were born Delay of Reinforcement Rats pressed a lever in order to obtain a food reward. Researchers varied the amount of time between the lever press and the delivery of food reinforcement. The number of lever presses declined substantially with longer delays.
The Elements of Classical Conditioning
In classical conditioning, a previously neutral stimulus (such as the sound of a bell) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (such as the presentation of food). After several trials associating the two, the conditioned stimulus (the sound) alone can produce a conditioned response.
Retrieval Cues
Information is sometimes available in memory even when it is not accessible. §Retrieval cues: External information associated with stored information that helps bring that information to mind ---HINT
Techniques for Learning
Interleaved Practice §A practice schedule that mixes different kinds of problems or materials within a single study session §It requires students to choose a strategy according to the nature of individual problems Practice testing §Proven useful across wide range of materials §Most beneficial when test is difficult and considerable retrieval efforts are required §Consistent with desirable difficulties hypothesis §Effective with verbatim learning and transfer learning Testing aids attention §Brief tests during lecture can improve learning and reduce the tendency of the mind to wander §Part of testing value attributed to encouragement to attend to lectures in a way that discourages task-irrelevant activities
Experiencing Emotion
Izard isolated 10 basic emotions that include physiology and expressive behavior. §These basic emotions are joy, interest-excitement, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, and guilt. Two dimensions that help differentiate emotions §Positive-versus-negative valence §Low-versus-high arousal Others suggest that pride and love are distinct emotions; Izard argues these are combinations of the basic 10' Infants' naturally occurring emotions To identify the emotions present from birth, Carroll Izard analyzed the facial expressions of infants.
three major ways to encode
Memories are constructed. §Semantic encoding: Process of actively relating new information in a meaningful way to knowledge that is already in memory §Visual imagery encoding: Process of storing new information by converting it into mental pictures §Organizational encoding: Process of categorizing information according to the relationships among a series of items
Memory misattribution (The Seven Sins of Memory)
Memory misattribution: Assigning a recollection or an idea to the wrong source §Frontal lobe intimately involved ---Source memory: Recall of when, where, and how information was acquired (becomes most impacted) §False recognition: Feeling of familiarity about something that hasn't been encountered before •Same brain activation as true recognition (including hippocampus) •§Case of a man wrongly convicted of first-degree murder due to eyewitness misattribution §Eyewitness testimony relied on heavily in criminal trials, yet often inaccurate §Criminal lineup procedures misleading §New developments in eyewitness procedures (at the advice of psychologists) will be influential.
When Do Higher Needs Matter?
Maslow was right. A study of 77,000 people in the world's 51 poorest nations (Martin & Hill, 2012) showed that if people have their basic needs met, then autonomy (i.e., freedom to make their own decisions) increases their satisfaction with their lives. But when people do not have their basic needs met, autonomy makes little difference.
Obesity
Obesity (BMI of ≥ 30) is also a problem in our country §Causes include biochemical abnormalities, eating when we aren't hungry, and nature having designed us to overeat §The human body resists weight loss because of added fat cells (which don't decrease in number), and dieting decreases metabolism. •Metabolism: the rate at which energy is used by the body Conquering Obesity §The human body resists weight loss because of fat cells added when we gain weight •Added fat cells don't decrease in number, only in size §Dieting decreases metabolism. •Metabolism: the rate at which energy is used by the body
Vincenz Czerny
Observational learning plays an important role in surgical training, as illustrated by the medical students observing famedGerman surgeon Vincenz Czerny (beard and white gown) perform stomach surgery in 1901 at a San Francisco hospital.
Observational Learning
Observational learning: Condition in which learning takes place by watching the actions of others §Albert Bandura (1925-) studied aggressive observational learning using the Bobo doll experiment §Children imitated adult behaviors and were sensitive to the consequences of their aggressive behavior §Diffusion chain: Process in which individuals initially learn a behavior by observing another individual perform that behavior, and then serve as a model from which other individuals learn the behavior
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
On exam •Human beings are motivated to satisfy a variety of needs. •Psychologist Abraham Maslow thought these needs formed a hierarchy, with physiological needs forming a base and self-actualization needs forming a pinnacle. •He suggested that people don't experience higher needs until the needs below the higher needs have been met. Abraham maslow was the one who talked most about needs
The Last Supper
One reason why obesity rates are rising is that "normal portions" keep getting larger. When researchers analyzed 52 depictions of The Last Supper that were painted between the years 1000 and 1800, they found that the average plate size increased by 66% (Wansink & Wansink, 2010). Abraham maslow was the one who talked most about needs
Organizing Words into a Hierarchy
Organizing words into conceptual groups and relating them to one another— such as in this example of a hierarchy—makes it easier to reconstruct the items from memory later (Bower et al., 1969). Keeping track of the 17 items in this example can be facilitated by remembering the hierarchical groupings they fall under.
Wanting: The Mind's Desires (2 of 2)
Our psychological and biological motivations can be equally powerful, but differ in two ways: §Biological motivations shared with other animals §food, sex, oxygen, sleep, etc. §Psychological motivations are unique §limitless
Long-Term Priming of Visual Objects
Participants who viewed drawings of common objects, and 17 years later were given a test in which they tried to identify the objects from fragmented drawings (longitudinal group), showed a strong priming effect; by contrast, participants who had not seen the drawings 17 years earlier (control group) showed nonsignificant priming
Persistence/ Flashbulb memories (The Seven Sins of Memory)
Persistence: Intrusive recollection of events that we wish we could forget -Often occurs after disturbing or traumatic events -Emotional experiences are better remembered than unemotional ones §Flashbulb memories: Detailed recollections of when and where we heard about shocking events ---The amygdala is involved in emotional memory
The Role of Reinforcement and Punishment
Primary and secondary reinforcement and punishment §Primary reinforcers satisfy biological needs §Examples: food, comfort, shelter, warmth §Secondary reinforcers are associated with primary reinforcers through classical conditioning §Examples: verbal approval, trophies, money Immediate versus delayed reinforcement and punishment Reinforcers lose effectiveness as time passes Delaying reinforcement renders it almost to completely ineffective
Learning
The acquisition, from experience, of new knowledge, skills, or responses that result in a relatively permanent change in the state of the learner
B. F. Skinner: The Role of Reinforcement and Punishment
Punisher: Any stimulus or event that functions to decrease the likelihood of the behavior that led to it §Positive punishment and negative punishment Primary reinforcers (Air, Food, Sleep, Sex) Water. satisfy biological needs and secondary reinforcers (money, good grades in school, tokens, stars and stickers and praise) are associated with primary reinforcers Over justification effect: Circumstances when external rewards can undermine the intrinsic satisfaction of performing a behavior; imagine that children at a preschool are allowed to play with fun toys during their free time. If caregivers begin giving kids a reward for playing with these toys, the children may actually begin to feel less intrinsically motivated to play with those toys Money is a secondary reinforcer because it can be used to purchase primary reinforcers such as food and clothing.
Collaborative Memory: Social Influences on Remembering
Remembering serves important social functions. §Collaborative memory: How people share in groups §Sharing memories with others can strengthen them, but can also produce retrieval-induced forgetting; A surprising finding about collaborative memory is that the collaborative group typically recalls fewer items than the nominal group; this negative effect of group recall on memory is known as: collaborative inhibition. Collaborative inhibition will produce a lasting reduction in the accessibility of Mara's memories. §Social loafing; idea that some people put in less effort when they're judged as part of a group; when there is a diffusion of responsibility and a shift of focus from individual performance to group performance. §Transactive memory; the ability of a group to have a memory system exceeding that of the individuals in the group; , one person in the relationship might be good at remembering directions but terrible at remembering phone numbers. On the other hand, the other person may be good at remembering phone numbers, and terrible at remembering directions. Lynn and Jerry have been in a close relationship for 20 years, and they often rely on each other to remember certain kinds of information that they can share with each other.
The Cognitive Elements of Classical Conditioning
Rescorla-Wagner model suggests that classical conditioning only occurs when the organism has learned to set up an expectation. In the Rescorla-Wagner model of classical conditioning, a CS serves to set up an expectation. The expectation in turn leads to an array of behaviors associated with the presence of the CS.
The Effects of Facial Expressions
Research on the facial feedback effect §Facial expressions can trigger emotional feelings and signal our body to respond accordingly. §People also mimic others' expressions, which help them empathize. A similar behavior feedback effect §Tendency of behavior to influence our own and others' thoughts, feelings, and actions Facial feedback effect Research demonstrates that outward expressions and movements can trigger inner feeling and emotions. facial feedback effect indicates that expressions amplify our emotions by activating muscles associated with specific states, and the muscles signal the body to respond as though we were experiencing those states. Behavior feedback effect shows that if we move our body as we would when experiencing some emotion (shuffling along with downcast eyes, as when sad), we are likely to feel that emotion to some degree. Acting as another acts helps us feel what another feels.
Short-Term Storage and Working Memory
Short-Term Memory (STM) is storage that holds nonsensory information for more than a few seconds but less than a minute; can hold about 7 items §Rehearsal: Process of keeping information in STM by mentally repeating it §Chunking: Combining small pieces of information into larger clusters/chunks that are more easily held in STM §Working memory: STM storage that actively maintains information Information moves through several stages of memory as it gets encoded, stored, and made available for later retrieval.
Sensory Storage
Storage that holds sensory information for a few seconds or less §Iconic memory: Fast-decaying store of visual information §Echoic memory: Fast-decaying store of auditory information
Suggestibility/ bias (The Seven Sins of Memory)
Suggestibility: Tendency to incorporate misleading information from external sources into personal recollections --People can develop false memories in response to suggestions. --Cases of recovered memories of abuse? Bias: Distorting influences of present knowledge, beliefs, and feelings on recollection of previous experiences --Consistency bias: Tendency to reconstruct the past to fit the present; thinking that you've always liked vegetables when as a child you simply wouldn't eat them --Change bias: Tendency to exaggerate differences between what we feel or believe now and what we felt or believed in the past. --Egocentric bias: Tendency to exaggerate the change between present and past in order to make ourselves look good in retrospect
Consequences of Retrieval
The act of retrieval can strengthen a retrieved memory (especially long term); it can also cause forgetting. §--Retrieval-induced forgetting: Process by which retrieving an item from long-term memory impairs subsequent recall of related items (frontal lobe suppresses competing information) §--Regions in the left frontal lobe show activity when people try to retrieve information, while successful retrieval shows hippocampal activation.
The Human Sexual Response Cycle
The pattern of the sexual response cycle is quite similar for men and for women. Both men and women go through the excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution phases, though the timing of their responses may differ.
Cannon-Bard Theory
The proposition that emotion and physiological reactions occur simultaneously
THE BRAIN'S PATHWAYS FOR EMOTIONS
The two-track brain processes sensory input on two different pathways. (a) Some input travels to the cortex (via the thalamus) for analysis and is then sent to the amygdala. (b) Other input travels directly to the amygdala (via the thalamus) for an instant emotional reaction.
When Threats Backfire
Threats can cause behaviors that were once intrinsically motivated to become extrinsically motivated. Day care centers that instituted fines for late-arriving parents saw an increase in the number of parents who arrived late.
Scale for Measuring the Behavioral Inhibition System and Behavioral Activation System (1 of 2)
To what extent do each of these items describe you? The items in red measure the strength of your avoidance tendency, and the items in green measure the strength of your approach tendency. •I feel pretty worried or upset when I think or know somebody is angry at me. (HIGH AVOIDANCE) •When I see an opportunity for something I like, I get excited right away. (HIGH APPROACH) •I often act on the spur of the moment. (HIGH APPROACH) •If I think something unpleasant is going to happen, I usually get pretty "worked up." (HIGH AVOIDANCE) •When good things happen to me, it affects me strongly. (HIGH APPROACH) •I feel worried when I think I have done poorly at something important. (HIGH AVOIDANCE) •I crave excitement and new sensations. (HIGH APPROACH) •When I go after something, I use a "no holds barred" approach. (HIGH APPROACH) •I have very few fears compared to my friends. (LOW AVOIDANCE) •It would excite me to win a contest. (HIGH APPROACH) •I worry about making mistakes. (HIGH AVOIDANCE)
Operant conditioning
Type of learning in which the consequences of an organism's behavior determine whether the behavior will be repeated in the future
The Basic Principles of Classical Conditioning
Unconditioned stimulus (US) Something that reliably produces a naturally occurring reaction in an organism Unconditioned response (UR) Reflexive reaction that is reliably produced by an unconditioned stimulus Conditioned stimulus (CS) Stimulus that is initially neutral and produces a reliable response in an organism Conditioned response (CR) Reaction that resembles an unconditioned response but is produced by a conditioned stimulus A stimulus is different from a response A reaction= a behavior
Communicative Expression
Universality hypothesis: Emotional expressions have the same meaning for everyone; originally proposed by Darwin §People (even those who have never seen a human face) are generally good at judging and creating the same facial expressions. §There are five universal emotions expressed: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness. •Surprise may have universal patterns too.
Deceptive Expression
We can control (at least to some degree) our expression of emotion. §Display rules: Norms for the control of appropriate emotional expression •Intensification: exaggerating emotional expression; People are able to intensify emotions in certain situations such as smiling widely even when they receive a gift that they are not happy •Deintensification: muting emotional expression •Masking: expressing one emotion while feeling another •Neutralizing: no expression of the emotion one is feeling; keeping a "poker face" Different cultures have different display rules.
Classical conditioning
When a neutral stimulus produces a response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally produces a response; first studied by Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
Memory Testing Benefits Long-Term Retention
With a 5-minute retention interval, the study-study condition results in slightly higher recall. But the results change dramatically with retention intervals of 2 days and 1 week: at these longer delays, the study-test condition yields much higher levels of recall than does the study-study condition
short-term memory
holds nonsensory information for more than a few seconds but less than a minute; Information from short-term memory can be encoded to form long-term memories through a process called consolidation. Rehearsal is the process of keeping information in short-term memory by mentally repeating it. short-term memory can hold about seven meaningful items at once
sensory memory
the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the memory system Iconic memory is a fast-decaying store of visual information. Echoic memory is a fast-decaying store of auditory information. hallmark of both the iconic and echoic memory stores is that they hold information for a very short time. Iconic memories usually decay in about 1 second or less, and echoic memories usually decay in about 5 seconds
Generalization/Discrimination
the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses Process by which the conditioned response (CR) is observed even though the CS is slightly different from the original one used during acquisition Discrimination: Capacity to distinguish between similar but distinct stimuli
seven sins of memory
transience, absentmindedness, blocking, memory misattribution, suggestibility, bias, persistence
Motivation: Being Moved (2 of 2)
§Motivation: Purpose for or psychological cause for an action §Emotion and motivation share a common linguistic root: "to move" §Emotions move human beings in two ways: §They provide people with information §They are the objectives toward which people strive
Wanting: The Body's Desires (2 of 2)
§Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) stated that people are motivated to fulfill a hierarchy of needs. §Some needs are more pressing than others (need to eat) §We share these with animals §These must be satisfied before satisfying less pressing needs (need to have friends) §He built a "hierarchy of needs"
Implicit and Explicit Learning Use Distinct Neural Pathways
§Amnesics show intact implicit learning but impaired explicit learning (suggesting different pathways). §Damage to the hippocampus and medial temporal lobe impairs explicit memory. §When participants were shown implicit patterns in a visual dot display, those given explicit instructions to look for a patterns showed different areas of brain activation than those who were given implicit instructions. §Those given implicit instruction showed occipital lobe activation, suggesting visual processing. §Other studies of artificial grammar learning and of sequence learning via serial reaction time tasks show the Broca's area and motor cortex, respectively, to be involved.
The Real World: A Feast For the Eyes
§An experiment by Wansink and colleagues tested to see when/if participants would stop eating if their bowls of soup were "bottomless." §One group received refills from a server. §Another group had a "bottomless" bowl that imperceptibly refilled itself (from beneath the table). §It was found that those who ate from the "bottomless" bowl consumed 73% more and were unaware of doing so (did not report feeling any more full). §This research suggests that one of the best ways to monitor our eating is to count our bites.
Approach Versus Avoidance (1 of 2)
§Approach motivation: Motivation to experience positive outcomes (you might do something that sucks but still do because its rewarding and promoting) (not just positive and negative, be uncomfortable to be comfortable) §Promotion focus §Avoidance motivation: Motivation to not experience negative outcomes §Tend to be more powerful §People take more risks to avoid loss. §Has prevention focus §Loss Aversion: The tendency to care more about avoiding losses than about achieving equal-size gains (pattern of avoidance motivation driven by cost benefit analysis)
Encoding of Survival-Related Information
§Based on evolutionary theories of natural selection, memory mechanisms that help us survive should be passed down. §An experiment gave three different encoding tasks to participants (survival-encoding condition, moving-encoding condition, and pleasantness-encoding condition). §Survival encoding yielded better memory, perhaps drawing from elaborative, visual imagery, and organizational encoding.
Conscious Versus Unconscious
§Conscious motivation: Motivation of which one is aware §We are aware of our general motivations. §Unconscious motivation: Motivation of which one is not aware §Need for achievement: The motivation to solve worthwhile problems
Sexual Desire
§Desire for sex is necessary for our survival (procreation). §The hormone DHEA appears responsible for the onset of sexual desire, while testosterone (more for men) and estrogen (more for women) are also involved. §Women's sexual interest is independent of her menstrual cycle (which may keep the male around according to evolutionary theory). §Testosterone may be the root of sexual desire in both men and women.
The Basic Principles of Operant Conditioning (1 of 4)
§Discrimination, generalization, and the importance of context §Learning takes place in contexts, not in the free range of any plausible situation §Discriminative stimulus: a stimulus that indicates that a response will be reinforced; When a child asks for a candy, she always gets one during grandma's visit, but not in her absence. §Same response in a different context likely produces a different outcome
Cognitive Elements of Operant Conditioning
§Edward Tolman (1886-1959) saw operant conditioning as a means-ends relationship. §Latent learning: Condition in which something is learned but it is not manifested as a behavioral change until sometime in the future §Cognitive map: Mental representation of the physical features of the environment §"Trust" game examined learning and brain activity (using fMRI)
The Regulation of Emotion
§Emotion regulation: Use of cognitive and behavioral strategies to influence one's emotional experience §Reappraisal: Changing one's emotional experience by changing the meaning of the emotion-eliciting stimulus
Emotional Communication: Msgs w/o Wrds (2 of 2)
§Emotional expression: Observable sign of an emotional state §There are 43 muscles in the face capable of creating more than 10,000 unique configurations of emotions §Observers can read our emotions; especially in our face (46 unique action units) Expression communicate emotional and amplify and regulate them
three key functions of memory
§Encoding: Process by which we transform what we perceive, think, or feel into an enduring memory §Storage: Process of maintaining information in memory over time §Retrieval: Process of bringing to mind information that has been previously encoded and stored ===made by combining information we already have with new information coming in.
Emotional Experience
§Experience is the essential feature of all emotion §It feels like something to love someone § §Emotion: Positive or negative experience that is associated with a particular pattern of physiological activity §Measured through multidimensional scaling §Two dimensions of arousal and valence §Estimating the similarity of emotional experiences is essentially describing the "distance" between them
Forms of Long-Term Memory: More Than One Kind
§Explicit memory: Act of consciously or intentionally retrieving past experiences §Implicit memory: Influence of past experiences on later behavior, even without an effort to remember them or an awareness of the recollection
Schedules of reinforcement: 2
§Fixed-interval schedule (FI): Reinforcements are presented at fixed time periods, provided the appropriate response is made ie: little studying before exam than a burst of energy right before exam; A weekly paycheck is a good example of a fixed-interval schedule. The employee receives reinforcement every seven days, which may result in a higher response rate as payday approaches. A dog watches out the window to bark at the postal carrier who arrives every morning promptly at Checking the oven to see if chocolate chip cookies are done, when baking time is known. §Variable-interval schedule (VI): Behavior is reinforced based on an average time that has expired since the last reinforcement ie: radio giveaways reinforcement might average out to once an hour across the day; Does your boss drop by your office a few times throughout the day to check your progress? These check-ins occur at unpredictable times, so you never know when they might happen; Repeatedly callings a garage mechanic to see if your car is fixed yet. (Assume that the calls have no impact on your mechanic's behavior.) §Fixed-ratio schedule (FR): Reinforcement is delivered after a specific number of responses have been made ie: buy 9 coffees get the 10th cup free; delivering a food pellet to a rat after it presses a bar five times; A student's final grade improves one level for every three book reviews submitted. §Variable-ratio schedule (VR): Delivery of reinforcement is based on a particular average number of responses-most effective; produce slightly higher rates of responding than fixed-ratio schedules, primarily because the organism never knows when the next reinforcement is going to appear; gambling or lottery; A baseball player gets a hit approximately every third time at bat.; A charitable organization makes an average of 10 phone calls for every donation it receives. §Intermittent reinforcement: When only some of the responses made are followed by reinforcement; produces slightly higher rates of responding and responses are more resistant to extinction (intermittent-reinforcement effect; produce slightly higher rates of responding than fixed-ratio schedules, primarily because the organism never knows when the next reinforcement is going to appear; if you've put your dollar into a slot machine that, unknown to you, is broken, do you stop after one or two plays? Almost certainly not. If you're a regular slot player, you're used to going for many plays in a row without winning anything, so it's difficult to tell that anything is out of the ordinary. Under conditions of intermittent reinforcement, all organisms will show considerable resistance to extinction and continue for many trials before they stop responding.
The Evolutionary Elements of Operant Conditioning (1 of 3)
§Foraging animals explore their environment (even places that are not reinforcing). §Rat's behavior in a T maze §Each species (including humans) is biologically predisposed to learn some things more readily than others in ways consistent with their evolutionary history.
Cognitive Approaches to Implicit Learning
§Implicit learning studies, where participants had to memorize artificial grammar letter strings, show participants learned grouping rules but were unaware of it. §Serial reaction time tasks show that participants got faster in reaction time but were unaware that there was a pattern.
Implicit Learning: Under the Radar (2 of 2)
§Implicit learning: Learning that takes place largely without awareness of the process or the products of information acquisition; earning how to ride a bicycle or how to swim §Some forms of learning begin explicitly but become implicit over time. §Habituation: General process in which repeated or prolonged exposure to a stimulus results in a gradual reduction in response; a new sound in your environment, such as a new ringtone, may initially draw your attention or even become distracting. ... This diminished response is habituation §Occurs in the simplest organisms (Aplysia) or humans but without mechanisms for explicit learning §Changes may not last long. Implicit memories are not consciously recalled, but their presence is "implied" by our actions. Greg's persistent sadness after his father's death, even though he had no conscious knowledge of the event, is an example of implicit memory. So is HM's improved performance on a tracking task that he didn't consciously remember having done before. Implicit memory occurs when past experiences influence later behavior and performance, even without an effort to remember them or an awareness of the recollection
Research Is Examining the Link Between Working Memory Training and Cognitive Functioning
§Improvements seen in §Working memory §Math tasks §Research still in early stages
Kinds of Motivation
§Intrinsic motivation: Motivation to take actions that are themselves rewarding; a person is moved to act for the fun or challenge entailed rather than because of external products, pressures, or rewards. §Tends to be more satisfying §Extrinsic motivation: Motivation to take actions that are not themselves rewarding but that lead to a reward §May undermine intrinsic rewards §Delaying gratification is something our species does well; the ability to put off something mildly fun or pleasurable now, in order to gain something that is more fun, pleasurable, or rewarding later--> you could watch TV the night before an exam, or you could practice delayed gratification and study for the exam §Threats or punishments can make the prohibited behavior more appealing.
Long-Term Storage
§Long-term memory (LTM): Storage that holds information for hours, days, weeks, or years; no known capacity §In contrast to both sensory and short-term memory, long-term memory has no known capacity limits §People can recall items from long-term memory even if they haven't thought of them for years §Researchers have found that even 50 years after graduation, people can accurately recognize about 90% of their high school classmates from yearbook photographs
Sexual Activity
§Men's and women's physiological responses during sex are similar. §Human sexual response cycle: Stages of physiological arousal during sexual activity; as pioneered by Masters and Johnson (1966). §Excitement phase, plateau phase, orgasm phase, resolution phase. §There are many reasons why men and women engage in sexual activity.
Neural Elements of Observational Learning
§Mirror neurons fire to produce observational learning in humans as well as other animal species. §Represented in the frontal and parietal lobes §If appropriate neurons fire when another organism is seen performing an action, it could indicate an awareness of intentionality or that the animal is anticipating a likely course of future actions. §fMRI studies show the same brain areas to be activated when one engages in a task or observes another engage in the task. §Observational learning of motor skills depends on the motor cortex. §Used TMS studies to determine this Regions in the frontal lobe (area 44) and parietal lobe (area 40) are thought to be part of the mirror neuron system in humans.
Extinction
§More complicated in operant conditioning than in classical conditioning §It depends, in part, on how often reinforcement is received
Culture and Community: Childhood Amnesia in Western and Eastern Cultures?
§On average in Western culture, an individual's first memory dates to about 3 to 3 1/2 years of age, with women reporting slightly earlier first memories than men §First memories of 14-year-old Chinese children came from a later age than did the first memories of 14-year-old Canadians §Onset of childhood amnesia in the Chinese 14-year-olds was identical to that of North American adults.
Observational Learning in Animals
§Pigeons have used observational learning to learn to get reinforced for pecking behavior. §Rhesus monkeys learned to fear snakes through an observational diffusion chain, also exemplifying a biological predisposition to fear snakes. §Chimpanzees learned to use a novel tool through observational learning, although children (using the same paradigm) showed greater learning of the function of the tool. Enculturation hypothesis Monkeys who had been reared in the wild by their mothers or by human families either (left) watched a model poke a screwdriver through a hole in the center of a box to obtain a food reward or (right) pry open the lid. Both groups showed some evidence of observational learning, but the human-reared monkeys were more likely to carry out the exact action they had watched.
The Neural Elements of Operant Conditioning (1 of 2)
§Pleasure centers of the brain are located in the limbic system. §Discovery of structures and pathways in the brain that deliver rewards through stimulation. §Medial forebrain bundle, hypothalamus, nucleus accumbens §Behaviors that involve pleasure include eating, drinking, and sexual activity. §Neurons involved in the "reward center" are dopaminergic (DA). The nucleus accumbens, medial forebrain bundle, and hypothalamus are all major pleasure centers in the brain.
Implicit Memory
§Procedural memory: Gradual acquisition of skills as a result of practice, or "knowing how" to do things; Riding a bike, tying your shoes, and cooking an omelet §Priming: Enhanced ability to think of a stimulus as a result of a recent exposure to the stimulus; less cortical activation (perceptual and conceptual priming); if a child sees a bag of candy next to a red bench, they might begin looking for or thinking about candy the next time they see a bench §Priming makes some information more accessible §Procedural memory and priming do not rely on the hippocampus §Priming is associated with reduced activity in various regions of the cortex that are activated when performing unprimed tasks Priming saves processing time for the brain. Compared with unprimed tasks, procedural memories and priming are associated with reduced activity in various brain regions, such as parts of the occipital and frontal lobes involved in visual processing and word retrieval. An elementary school class took a spelling test immediately after learning how to bake a cake. The teacher noticed that many of the students spelled the word "flour" instead of the vocabulary word "flower." This illustrates: priming
Memories, Neurons, and Synapses
§Research suggests that connections (synapses) between neurons, specifically in hippocampus, strengthen memories. §Original research conducted on the sea slug Aplysia. §Long-term potentiation (LTP): Process whereby communication across the synapse between neurons strengthens the connection, making further communication easier §NMDA receptor: Receptor site on the hippocampus that influences the flow of information between neurons by controlling the initiation of LTP
Hot Science: Dopamine and Reward Learning in Parkinson's Disease
§Schultz and colleagues found that dopamine neurons play important role in generating the reward prediction error. §Several studies report that reward-related learning can be impaired in persons with Parkinson's; other studies noted that when individuals with Parkinson's performed reward-related learning tasks, there was disruption in the reward prediction error signal §Related findings in studies of people with Parkinson's who displayed compulsive gambling and shopping disorders related to impulsive behaviors after diagnosis, may be related to consequences of drugs that stimulate dopamine receptors.
Explicit Memory: Semantic and Episodic
§Semantic memory: Network of associated facts and concepts that make up our general knowledge of the world; Knowing that grass is green. Recalling that Washington, D.C., is the U.S. capital and Washington is a state. §Episodic memory: Collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place §Also involves mental time travel; first day of school, your first kiss, attending a friend's birthday party, Episodic memory contributes to imagination and creativity
Shaping Through Successive Approximations
§Shaping: Learning that results from the reinforcement of successive steps to a final desired behavior; when a baby or a toddler learns to walk. They are reinforced for crawling, then standing, then taking one step, then taking a few steps, and finally for walking §Superstitious behavior: Rare or odd behaviors may be repeated if they are accidentally reinforced, which may lead to mistaken beliefs regarding causal relationships §Latent Learning: Condition in which something is learned but it is not manifested as a behavioral change until sometime in the future. ; A passenger in a carpool learns the route to work each day through observation, and when it's their turn to drive, they can get there without a map Cognitive map: mental representation of the physical features of the environment B. F. Skinner Shaping a Dog Named AgnesIn the span of 20 minutes, Skinner was able to use reinforcement of successive approximations to shape Agnes's behavior. The result was a pretty neat trick: to have her wander in, stand on her hind legs, and jump.
Deceptive Expression 2
§Sincere expressions may "leak out." §Four more readily observable features seem to distinguish between sincere and insincere facial expressions §Sincere emotions involve: §Morphology: the use of reliable muscles §Symmetry: expressions tend to be more symmetrical §Duration: last between a half second and 5 seconds Temporal patterning: appear and disappear smoothly
Schedules of reinforcement
§Skinner observed that an organism responds in the pattern with which reinforcement appeared §These are schedules of reinforcement §Interval schedules are based on time intervals between reinforcements §Ratio schedules are based on the ratio of responses to reinforcements
Sleep on It
§Sleep plays an active role in memory consolidation (not just in the prevention of interference). §In an experiment, groups of people were given a picture-location sleep after sleeping or remaining awake. §Both groups spent the same amount of time either sleeping or staying awake §The sleep group recalled more. §Thus, sleep contributes to memory consolidation by increasing hippocampal involvement in recall a couple days later, and facilitating interaction of the hippocampus with the frontal lobe, such that the hippocampus is later less centrally involved in recall.
The Amygdala
§The amygdala plays an important role in emotion; is threat detector §Appraisal is made by amygdala: Evaluation of the emotion-relevant aspects of a stimulus §Fast (thalamus à amygdala) and slow (thalamus à cortex à amygdala) pathways of fear in the brain •Facial expressions of emotion were morphed into a continuum that ran from happiness to surprise to fear to sadness to disgust to anger and back to happiness. This sequence was shown to a patient with bilateral amygdala damage and to a control group of 10 people without brain damage. Although the patient's recognition of happiness, sadness, and surprise was generally in line with that of the control group, her recognition of anger, disgust, and fear was impaire
The Hippocampus as Index: Pieces into One Memory
§The hippocampus is critical as an "index" for long-term memory storage. §Case of HM who had his hippocampus (temporal lobe) removed to prevent seizures •Had STM, but no LTM §Anterograde amnesia: Inability to transfer new information from the short-term store into the long-term store §Retrograde amnesia: Inability to retrieve information that was acquired before a particular date, usually the date of an injury or operation
The Hippocampus as Index: Linking Pieces into One Memory
§The hippocampus is critical as an "index" for long-term memory storage. §Consolidation: Process by which memories become stable in the brain §Reconsolidation: Memories can become vulnerable to disruption when they are recalled, requiring them to become consolidated again; a child learns a language while growing up. The child is then adopted into a family that speaks a different language. The child then learns to speak their family's language. Then several years later the older child or adult is exposed to their first language again.
Conditioned Emotional Responses: The Case of Little Albert
§Watson and Rayner (1920) conditioned a 9-month-old baby (Albert) to fear a white rat (by striking a steel bar whenever he was presented with the rat). §Little Albert also showed stimulus generalization.
Hunger
§We are motivated to eat to convert food to energy. §Hunger signals are sent to and from the brain §Orexigenic, switches on the experience of hunger •Hormone ghrelin in stomach •Lateral hypothalamus §Anorexigenic, switches off the experience of hunger •Hormone leptin in fat cells •Ventromedial hypothalamus
Instincts And Drives (1 of 3)
§William James called the natural tendency (innate) to seek a particular goal an instinct. §Drive: Internal state generated by departures from physiological optimality; Thirst, hunger, and the need for warmth §Homeostasis: Tendency for a system to take action to keep itself in a particular state Instincts: The faculty of acting in such a way as to produce certain ends §No foresight of the ends §No previous education in the performance §Hardwired by nature Drives: Internal state generated by physiological needs §Homeostasis: Tendency for a system to take action to keep itself in a particular state §Drive-reduction theory: a theory suggesting that organisms are motivated to reduce their drives
The Cause and Effect of Expression (1 of 2)
§Words are symbols §Facial expressions are signs §They are not arbitrary, but are signs of emotions §Caused by the things they signify §Facial feedback hypothesis: Theory that emotional expressions can cause the emotional experiences they signify: an individual who is forced to smile during a social event will actually come to find the event more of an enjoyable experience.
Working Memory Stores and Manipulates Information
§Working memory: a type of short-term storage that actively maintains information §Includes two subsystems whose information is coded by the episodic buffer; integrates visual and verbal information from the subsystems into a multidimensional code; plays a role in learning to recognize words, which requires combining visual and verbal information §Visio-spatial sketchpad §The phonological loop §The central executive coordinates all the information; a central executive that coordinates the subsystems and the episodic buffer
Remembering the Past and Imagining the Future Depend on a Common Network of Brain Reg
•A common brain network is activated when people remember episodes that actually occurred in their personal pasts and when they imagine episodes that might occur in their personal futures. •This network includes the hippocampus, a part of the medial temporal lobe long known to play an important role in episodic memory (Schacter, Addis, & Buckner, 2007).
Classic Theories of Emotion
•Classic theories make different claims about the origins of emotion. •(a) James-Lange theory suggests that stimuli trigger specific physiological states, which are then experienced as emotions. •(b) The Cannon-Bard theory suggests that stimuli trigger both specific physiological states and emotional experiences independently. •(c) The two-factor theory suggests that stimuli trigger general physiological arousal whose cause the brain interprets, and this interpretation leads to emotional experience.
The Hippocampus Patient
•HM had his hippocampus and adjacent structures of the medial temporal lobe (indicated by the shaded area) surgically removed to stop his epileptic seizures (left). •As a result, he could not remember things that happened after the surgery. •Henry Molaison, better known to the world as patient HM, passed away on December 2, 2008, at the age of 82 at a nursing home near Hartford, Connecticut. •Henry participated in countless memory experiments after he became amnesic in 1953, and in so doing made fundamental contributions to our understanding of memory and the brain.
Two Dimensions of Emotion
•Just as cities can be mapped by their longitude and latitude, emotions can be mapped by their arousal and valence (intensity or power).
Lie Detection Machines
•People are generally poor lie detectors. Polygraph machines are somewhat better detectors. •Some researchers hope to replace the polygraph with more accurate machines that measure changes in blood flow in the brain and the face. As the top panel shows, some areas of the brain are more active when people tell lies than when they tell the truth (shown in red), and some are more active when people tell the truth than when they tell lies (shown in blue; Langleben et al., 2005). •The bottom panel shows images taken by a thermal camera that detects the heat caused by blood flow to different parts of the face. The images show a person's face before (left) and after (right) telling a lie (Pavlidis, Eberhardt, & Levine, 2002). Although neither of these new techniques is extremely accurate, that could soon change.
Primed and Unprimed Processing of Stimuli
•Priming is associated with reduced levels of activation in the cortex on a number of different tasks. •In each pair of fMRIs, the images on the upper left (A, C) show brain regions in the frontal lobe (A) and occipital/temporal lobe (C) that are active during an unprimed task (in this case, providing a word response to a visual word cue). •The images on the lower right within each pair (B, D) show reduced activity in the same regions during the primed version of the same task.
Latent Learning
•Rats in a control group that never received any reinforcement (green curve) improved at finding their way through the maze over 17 days but not by much. Rats that received regular reinforcements (blue curve) showed fairly clear learning; their error rate decreased steadily over time. •Rats in the latent learning group (orange curve) were treated exactly like the control group rats for the first 10 days and then like the regularly rewarded group for the last 7 days. •Their dramatic improvement on day 12 shows that these latent-learning rats had learned a lot about the maze and the location of the goal box even though they had never received reinforcements. •Notice, also, that on the last 7 days, these latent learners actually seem to make fewer errors than their regularly rewarded counterparts.
Implicit and Explicit Learning Activate Different Brain Areas.
•Research participants were scanned with fMRI while engaged in either implicit or explicit learning about the categorization of dot patterns. The occipital region (in blue) showed decreased brain activity after implicit learning. •The areas in yellow, orange, and red showed increased brain activity during explicit learning, including the left temporal lobe (far left), right frontal lobe (second from left and second from right), and parietal lobe (second from right and far right; Reber et al., 2003).