Psych1010 chapter 5&6

Retrieval cue

A Retrieval Cue is a prompt that help us remember. When we make a new memory, we include certain information about the situation that act as triggers to access the memory.

Memory

A cognitive system that retains information. Similar to a computer's ability to retain information, your brain remembers bits of information such as your mother's name or first day of college. You would be unable to retrieve this information if you were unable to have it stored in your memory. There many components to memory including senory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory, forgetting, and more.

Biofeedback

A method of behavior modification that uses principles of operant conditioning to change a maladaptive behavior. With this method, a person is presented with visual or auditory information about some internal, involuntary process. The information is actual feedback about the internal process that the person can use to increase control of the internal process.

Neutral Stimulus (NS)

A neutral stimulus is a stimulus which initially produces no specific response other than focusing attention. In classical conditioning, when used together with an unconditioned stimulus, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus.

Discriminative stimulus

A stimulus that controls the probability of a response. Because responses have been reinforced in the presence of the discriminative stimulus (first definition), and not in its absence, they tend to occur more often when the SD is present than when it is absent.

positive reinforcer

A stimulus which increases the frequency of a particular behavior using pleasant rewards. A doggy treat can pleasantly coerce your new puppy to sit (positive reinforcement) just as a pull to the choke collar can achieve the same affect (negative reinforcement). The difference is that the positive reinforcer is pleasant, but make sure you understand that both increase the frequency of the behavior!

Token economy

A token economy is a system of behavior modification based on the systematic reinforcement of target behavior. The reinforcers are symbols or "tokens" that can be exchanged for other reinforcers.

Behavior modification

A type of behavioral therapy in which the principles of Operant Conditioning (reinforcement, punishments, etc.) are used to eliminate some type of unwanted, maladaptive, behavior.

Variable interval

A variable interval schedule (VI) is a type of operant conditioning reinforcement schedule in which reinforcement is given to a response after specific amount of time has passed (an unpredictable amount of time), but this amount of time is on a changing/variable schedule. This is almost identical to a Fixed-Interval Schedule but the reinforcements are given on a variable or changing schedule. Although the schedule changes, there is a pattern -- the amount of time that must pass changes, but the reinforcement is given after "N"th amount of time passes, where N is the average amount of time that must pass

Variable ratio

A variable ratio schedule (VR) is a type of operant conditioning reinforcement schedule in which reinforcement is given after an unpredictable (variable) number of responses are made by the organism. This is almost identical to a Fixed-Ratio Schedule but the reinforcements are given on a variable or changing schedule. Although the schedule changes, there is a pattern - reinforcement is given every "N"th response, where N is the average number of operant responses.

Instinctive drift

Although humans, animals, etc., can learn to perform different behaviors, there are times when they stop performing those behaviors in the way they learned and start reverting back to their more instinctual behaviors - this is the basic premise of Instinctual Drift. The animal no longer performs the behaviors it has been taught, but goes back to behaviors that are in its nature. It begins to do what it is driven to do regardless of the resulting punishment

Encoding

Any information which we sense and subsequently attempt to process, store, and later retrieve must be brought in through one of the senses and then transformed into some form that our bodies and minds understand. The process of breaking the information down into a form we understand is the process of encoding (and we later "decode" the information to recall it). But the process of getting into the memory system for storage and later retrieval is encoding.

Automatic encoding

Automatic encoding is a process of memory where information is taken in and encoded without deliberate effort. This can be seen in how a person can learn and remember how things are arranged in a house, or where to find particular items in a grocery store. These are things that don't take any particular study or effort, but are just quickly learned through experience.

biological preparedness

Biological preparedness is a concept that proposes that organisms innately form associations between some stimuli and responses. Behaviorists use this concept as a main tenet in classical conditioning. Some associations are easily made and are thought to be inherent while some are formed less easily. An example of an easily formed association is taste aversion (such as the Garcia Effect).

Declarative memory

Declarative memory, also known as explicit memory, is a type of long-term memory in which we store memories of fact. In addition, declarative memory is divided further into semantic and episodic memories (please look those up for complete definitions).

Distributed practice

Distributed practice (also known as spaced repetition or spaced practice) is a learning strategy, where practice is broken up into a number of short sessions - over a longer period of time.

Elaborative rehearsal

Elaborative rehearsal is a memory technique that involves thinking about the meaning of the term to be remembered, as opposed to simply repeating the word to yourself over and over. For example, you need to remember the term "neuron." In order to permanently commit the term to your memory, you look up what it means (it is a nerve cell), find out its purpose (transmit information from or to the central nervous system), look at a diagram and study its parts, and think about how it relates to things that you already know (like how different it its from other kinds of cells, assuming you are familiar with other cells). If you do this several times (rehearsal), then you will be more likely to remember the term.

Encoding specificity

Encoding Specificity is a principle that states that human memories are more easily retrieved if external conditions (emotional cues) at the time of retrieval are similar to those in existence at the time the memory was stored.

Higher order conditioning

Higher Order Conditioning (also known as Second Order Conditioning) is a classical conditioning term that refers to a situation in which a stimulus that was previously neutral (e.g., a light) is paired with a conditioned stimulus (e.g., a tone that has been conditioning with food to produce salivating) to produce the same conditioned response as the conditioned stimulus. Wow...if you understand how a neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus (conditioning), you understand higher order conditioning because this is really just extending the conditioning one more level...the conditioning is happening not by pairing the stimulus with something that naturally produces a response, but with something that has been conditioned to produce a response.

Echoic memory

Humans remember sounds and words in slightly different ways. Memory for sound is referred to as echoic memories, which can be defined as very brief sensory memory of some auditory stimuli. Typically, echoic memories are stored for slightly longer periods of time than iconic memories (visual memories). Echoic and iconic memories are sensory memories, not types of long-term memory, and thus are very temporary and fade quickly.

Iconic memory

Humans remember sounds and words in slightly different ways. Memory for visual stimuli is referred to as iconic memory, which can be defined as very brief sensory memory of some visual stimuli, that occur in the form of mental pictures.

Implicit memory

Implicit memory, also known as nondeclarative memory, involves recollection of skills, things you know how to do, preferences, etc., that you don't need to recall consciously.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

In classical conditioning, a formerly neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to produce a conditioned response.

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

In classical conditioning, an unconditioned response is the unlearned response that occurs naturally in reaction to the unconditioned stimulus. For example, if the smell of food is the unconditioned stimulus, the feeling of hunger in response to the smell of food is the unconditioned response.

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

In classical conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) is one that unconditionally, naturally, and automatically triggers a response. For example, when you smell one of your favorite foods, you may immediately feel very hungry.

Stimulus generalization

In conditioning, stimulus generalization is the tendency for the conditioned stimulus to evoke similar responses after the response has been conditioned. For example, if a child has been conditioned to fear a stuffed white rabbit, it will exhibit fear of objects similar to the conditioned stimulus such as a white toy rat. In the classic Little Albert experiment, researchers John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner conditioned a little boy to fear a white rat. The researchers observed that the boy experienced stimulus generalization by showing fear in response to similar stimuli including a dog, a rabbit, a fur coat, a white Santa Claus beard and even Watson's own hair.

primary reinforcer

In operant conditioning there are Primary Reinforcers and Conditioned Reinforcers. Primary reinforcers are naturally reinforcing, i.e. there is no learning necessary for them to be reinforcing. The conditioned reinforcer is learned. For example, many people bribe children with candy to clean their room or do their homework. If the parent continued to bribe their children with candy and also had them put a checkmark on a job chart, after a while the parents could stop giving candy and only have the child make the checkmark and it would still be reinforcing. In this situation, the parent taught the child to be reinforced by making checkmarks. Marking the checkmark is the conditioned reinforcer because it had to be learned. In contrast, the candy is a primary reinforcer because it did not have to learned.

Punishment by application

In operant conditioning, punishment is any change in a human or animal's surroundings that occurs after a given behavior or response which reduces the likelihood of that behavior occurring again in the future. As with reinforcement, it is the behavior, not the animal, that is punished.

Instinctive drift

Instinctive drift or instinctual drift is the tendency of an animal to revert to instinctive behaviors that interfere with a conditioned response. The concept originated with B.F. Skinner's former students Keller Breland and Marian Breland when they tried to teach a raccoon to put tokens into a piggy bank.

successive approximation

Let's use the definition of "shaping" to explain successive approximations. Our definition of "shaping" is: "a behavioral term that refers to gradually molding or training an organism to perform a specific response by reinforcing any responses that come close to the desired response.

Maintenance rehearsal

Maintenance Rehearsal is the process of repeatedly verbalizing or thinking about a piece of information. Your short term memory is able to hold information about about 20 seconds. However, this time can be increased to about 30 seconds by using Maintenance Rehearsal.

Punishment by removal

Negative Punishment refers to the removal of a reinforcer (a desirable stimulus or opportunity) in response to an unwanted behavior, in order to decrease the probability of that behavior occurring again. Putting a misbehaving child in "time out" is one example of negative punishment

Neurofeedback

Neurofeedback (NFB), also called neurotherapy or neurobiofeedback, is a type of biofeedback that uses real-time displays of brain activity—most commonly electroencephalography (EEG), to teach self-regulation of brain function.

operant conditioning

Operant Conditioning is a type of learning in which a behavior is strengthened (meaning, it will occur more frequently) when it's followed by reinforcement, and weakened (will happen less frequently) when followed by punishment. Operant conditioning is based on a simple premise - that behavior is influenced by the consequences that follow. When you are reinforced for doing something, you're more likely to do it again. When you are punished for doing something, you are less likely to do it again.

Procedural (nondeclarative) memory

Procedural memory is the most basic and primitive form of memory. As the name implies, this is the type of memory we have for "procedures" or for basic associations between stimuli and responses. For example, the process or procedure for riding a bike. Once you've learned this procedure (ie, made the association between the stimulus and appropriate responses) it is stored as a procedural memory. You've learned to respond with the appropriate set of behaviors and adapted properly to your environment.

Recall

Recall is simply bringing a thought or idea learned previously, and thus stored in memory into conscious awareness. When you remember something you are actually "recalling" the memory.

Recognition

Recognition is identifying something you learned previously and is therefore stored in some manner in memory.

reinforcement

Reinforcement is an Operant Conditioning term that refers to a process by which the likelihood of a behavior occurring is increased either by giving a pleasant stimulus (positive reinforcement) or removing an unpleasant stimulus (negative reinforcement).

Reinforcer

Reinforcer is a term used in operant condition to describe any event (stimulus, object...anything) that strengthens the frequency of the behavior that precedes it. For example, if I paid you one dollar every time you said hello to me (and we're assuming you like getting the dollar) we may expect the frequency of you saying hello to me to increase. This is because you were being reinforced for saying hello (by getting the dollar). In this case the the dollar works as a reinforcer.

Retrieval

Retrieval is the process in which information in your memory can be recalled. Information concerning events, images and feelings are all stored in our memory. Just because you cannot remember something doesn't mean that it is not in your memory. It maybe a problem with being able to locate it for retrieval.

Selective attention

Selective attention is purposely focusing your conscious awareness onto a specific stimulus. This means that if you are in a noisy place with lots of people and you purposely pay attention to the person you are speaking with, you are engaging in selective attention.

Semantic memory

Semantic memory is one of the three types of long-term memory (the others are episodic and procedural) in which we store general world knowledge like facts, ideas, words, problem solving, etc.

Short term memory

Short Term Memory is the part of the memory system where information is stored for roughly 30 seconds. Information can be maintained longer with the use of such techniques as rehearsal. To retain the information for extended periods of time; it must be consolidated into long-term memory where it can then be retrieved. Short-term memory allows you to retain phone numbers from an operator before and while you are dialing the number of interest. The capacity of short-term memory is also limited. Most people can only store roughly 7 chunks of information plus or minus 2.

Spontaneous recovery

Spontaneous recovery is a term associated with learning and conditioning. Specifically, spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of a response (a Conditioned Response; CR) that had been extinguished. The recovery can occur after a period of non-exposure to the Conditioned Stimulus (CS). It is called spontaneous because the response seems to reappear out of nowhere. Let's look at an example. Let's say I condition (teach/train) a rat to press a lever whenever I ring a bell. Then I teach the rat to press the lever when I flash a light and not when I ring the bell. Once I've accomplished this, we can say that the first conditioned response (pressing the lever when I ring the bell) has been extinguished. But then one day, the rat starts to press the lever when I ring the bell and not when I flash the light. In this situation, there was spontaneous recovery of the response that was previously extinguished.

Stimulus discrimination

Stimulus Discrimination is when we learn to respond only to the original stimulus, and not to other similar stimuli. The concept of Stimulus Discrimination follows from the idea of Stimulus Generalization, which is when we respond not only to the original stimulus, but also to other similar stimuli. For example, whenever you come home from work, the first thing you do is feed your dog. As a result, your dog gets excited as soon as he hears your car pulling up at the driveway, barking and running to the door. Eventually, he begins to get excited as soon as any family member arrives in their car, thinking that he will get fed as well. Everytime he hears any car pull up at the driveway, he starts barking and running to the door. That is Stimulus Generalization. But if none of the other family members ever feed the dog as soon as they arrive home, your dog eventually learns that it is only the sound of your car pulling up at the driveway that's worth getting excited about. That is Stimulus Discrimination, because he learns to distinguish only the specific sound that means food is coming, and learns to ignore all other car sounds as not relevant to his getting fed.

conditioned taste aversion

Taste Aversion-With taste aversion, the mind develops a resistance towards a certain food. In simpler terms, eating certain types of food can cause a bad reaction. This is a form of classical condition when the body uses a natural instinct as a means of protection. This is also called a survival mechanism. It warns the body if a type of food (berries or mushrooms) is harmful.

law of effect

The Law of Effect, as stated by psychological theorist Thorndike, deals with what is called "stimulus-response" reaction that is exhibited by living creatures. Stimulus-response means exhibiting a reaction to some form of reward. This law is based on the observation of the effects that rewards have on animal behavior in test conditions.

Curve of forgetting

The forgetting curve hypothesizes the decline of memory retention in time. This curve shows how information is lost over time when there is no attempt to retain it. A related concept is the strength of memory that refers to the durability that memory traces in the brain.

Sensory memory

The part of the memory system which is the initial contact for stimuli. Sensory memory is only capable of retaining information for a very short period of time. This type of memory allows your eye to have a larger field of vision by remembering images that your eye has already focused on. In actuality, your eyes' field of vision is quite small but because of sensory memory you are able to remember stimulus your eye has already viewed.

Observational learning

The process of acquiring information by observing others. Learning to tie your shoe by observing another individual perform the task would be an example of observational learning.

Flashbulb memories

The sudden onset of a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event. When you are trying to remember something and then it "all of a sudden comes to you", you have experienced a flash bulb memory. It is like turning on a light.

Long term memory

The term long-term memory refers to the unlimited capacity memory store that can hold information over lengthy periods of time. By saying "lengthy periods of time" we mean that it is possible for memories in LTM to remain there for an entire lifetime. In addition, there are three types of memories that can be stored in LTM: procedural memory, semantic memory, and episodic memory.

Models of memory

The three stage memory model is the most basic way to describe how our memory works. It is a three stage process that explains how we acquire, process, store, and recall memories.

Latent learning

The type of learning that occurs, but you don't really see it (it's not exhibited) until there is some reinforcement or incentive to demonstrate it. This may seem a bit silly, but it is important to understand that there is a difference between learning and performance.

Partial reinforcement effect

The variable ratio schedule produces both the highest rate of responding and the greatest resistance to extinction (for example, the behavior of gamblers at slot machines).

Levels of processing model

This is a theory of memory that is contrary to the "stores" theory of memory. According to this theory, memory varies according to and is a by-product of the process of processing information during encoding. Information processed more deeply is remembered better.

Continuous reinforcement

This is an operant conditioning principle in which an organism is reinforced every single time that organism provides the appropriate operant response. For example, you, as a researcher, might present a food pellet every time the rat presses the lever. One of the biggest dangers when using this type of reinforcement is saturation (the organism basically gets full - you keep feeding it and it no longer wants the reinforcement because it is stuffed), so the idea that giving reinforcement all the time is the best way to teach/learn is not necessarily true

Recency effect

This is the principle that the most recently presented items or experiences will most likely be remembered best. If you hear a long list of words, it is more likely that you will remember the words you heard last (at the end of the list) than words that occurred in the middle.

Primacy effect

This is the tendency for the first items presented in a series to be remembered better or more easily, or for them to be more influential than those presented later in the series. If you hear a long list of words, it is more likely that you will remember the words you heard first (at the beginning of the list) than words that occurred in the middle. This is the primacy effect. You should also note that you will be likely to remember words at the end of the list more than words in the middle, and this is called the recency effect.

Serial position effect

This term is a memory-related term and refers to the tendency to recall information that is presented first and last (like in a list) better than information presented in the middle

Token Economy

Token Economy refers to a reward system used in a behavior modification programs. It involves providing tangible rewards (tokens, food, stickers, etc.) for positive behaviors. The underlying premise is reinforcing the desirable behavior. For example, a child may earn a sticker as a reward for completing a chore.

secondary reinforcer

Unlike primary reinforcers which are naturally reinforcing, secondary reinforcers are reinforcing only after the organism has been conditioned to find it reinforcing. Some stimulus that does not naturally provide reinforcement is paired with a primary reinforcer so that the organism begins to associate the secondary reinforcer with the primary reinforcer. For example. If you recall the Pavlov's dog case, the dog naturally salivated to the presence of meat powder. The meat powder serves as a primary reinforcer. But then pairing a sound with the meat powder over and over again, the sounds became reinforcing to the dog because it had been associated with the primary reinforcer (meat powder).

Vicarious conditioning

Vicarious conditioning occurs when a subject is exposed to someone else's fears or reactions and then internalizes those feelings, actions and reactions for themselves. For instance, if you were raised by a parent who had a serious fear of elevators and who always told you how dangerous elevators are it is very likely that you would have gained a "vicarious" fear of elevator use.

Learned helplessness

When an organism (person, animal, etc.) is prevented from avoiding some aversive stimulus repeatedly (e.g., continuous electric shocks) the organism will reach a state in which it becomes passive and depressed because he believes that there are no actions it can take to avoid the aversive stimulus. Esssentially, the organism just gives up trying to avoid it and just takes the aversive stimulus. Thus, the organism learns that it is helpless against the aversive stimulus.

Insight

When the solution to a problem comes to you in an all-of-a-sudden manner, it can be considered insight. More specifically, insight can be defined as the sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem. This is the opposite type of solution to trial-and-error solutions.

negative reinforcement

With negative reinforcement the occurrence of a behavior is increased by removing an unpleasant stimulus. For example, your dog can avoid being spanked when it sits in response to your command. If the dog has been getting spanked, not getting spanked is rewarding (removal of unpleasant stimulus) so the frequency of the behavior will increase. People confuse negative reinforcement with punishment--just remember that with reinforcement you increase the occurrence of the behavior but punishment extinguishes a behavior.

Fixed ratio

With this type of operant conditioning reinforcement schedule, an organism must make a certain number of operant responses (whatever it may be in that experiment) in order to receive reinforcement.

Fixed interval

With this type of operant conditioning reinforcement schedule, an organism must wait (either not make the operant response, whatever it is in that experiment; or it can make the response but the response produces nothing) for a specific amount of time and then make the operant response in order to receive reinforcement.

Working memory

Working Memory is like your brain's task list or sticky notes. As information is coming into your brain, you are both processing it and, simultaneously, storing it. It's necessary to learn, reason, and remember.

Memory trace

a hypothetical permanent change in the nervous system brought about by memorizing something; an engram.

Classical conditioning

a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired; a response that is at first elicited by the second stimulus is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone.

retrograde amnesia

a loss of memory-access to events that occurred, or information that was learned, before an injury or the onset of a disease.

Storage

a memory-related term that refers to the ability to retain information in the brain (in memory). Memory is a process of getting information into the brain (encoding), keeping information in the brain over time (storage), and then being able to get information out of the brain when needed (retreival). In modern theory of memory, we have different types of storage; short-term memory and long-term memory

Shaping

a method of training by which successive approximations toward a target behavior are reinforced—to test his theories of behavioral psychology.

False positive

a test result which incorrectly indicates that a particular condition or attribute is present.

Hindsight bias

also known as the knew-it-all-along effect or creeping determinism, is the inclination, after an event has occurred, to see the event as having been predictable, despite there having been little or no objective basis for predicting it.

Conditioned response (CR)

an automatic response established by training to an ordinarily neutral stimulus.

Encoding failure

refers to the brain's occasional failure to create a memory link. Encoding refers to the brain's ability to store and recall events and information, either short or long-term. This faculty can fail for a number of reasons; trauma or substance use being the most common.

Misinformation effect

refers to the impairment in memory for the past that arises after exposure to misleading information. The phenomenon has been investigated for at least 30 years, as investigators have addressed a number of issues.

Schedule of reinforcement

reinforcement is a process that increases the frequency of a targeted behavior by either using a negative stimulus or a positive stimulus. In addition, reinforcement is effective when it occurs on some schedule. Psychologist have identified several different schedules by which reinforcement works well, including variable ratio, variable interval, fixed ratio, and fixed interval. Each schedule provides reinforcement in different ways according to different criteria, and work better in different situations. But the goal is always the same--deliver reinforcement in a way that increases the chances of a target behavior occuring more frequently.

Applied behavior analysis

the psychological study of how an animal or human behaves and learns within an environment.

extinction

the state or process of a species, family, or larger group being or becoming extinct.having no living members.

decay

the state or process of rotting or decomposition.

retroactive interference

the tendency of later learning to hinder the memory of previously learned material.

proactive interference

the tendency of previously learned material to hinder subsequent learning.

Biofeedback

the use of electronic monitoring of a normally automatic bodily function in order to train someone to acquire voluntary control of that