Psychology - Memory

fixed-ratio schedule

after a certain number of behaviours. High rate of responding. Ex, free coffee after 10 purchases

variable-ratio schedule

after an unpredictable number of behaviours. High consistent responding, even if reinforcement stops (resists extinction). Ex, slot machines, checking phone

The operant chamber/The Skinner box

allowed detailed tracking of rates of behavior change in response to different rates of reinforcement

primary reinforcer

something that is innately reinforced (unlearned). Satisfies a basic need. Ex, getting food when hungry

what is memory?

an active system that receives information from our senses. puts info into usable form. organises/stores it away. retrieves the info from storage.

explicit (declarative) memories

facts and experiences that we can consciously know and recall. info acquired through effortful processing

Reinforcement

feedback from the environment that makes a behavior more likely to be done again

retrieval

getting that information back out

storage decay

material encoded into long term memory will decay if the memory is never used, recalled, and re-stored. what hasn't decayed quickly tends to stay intact long-term Decay tends to level off. Ex, rapidly for Ebbinghaus's nonsense syllables and Spanish lessons

implicit memories

memories we are not fully aware of and thus don't "declare" (non-declarative)

why is our memory full of errors?

memory not only gets forgotten, but it gets constructed (imagined, selected, changed and rebuilt). they are altered every time we "recall" (actually reconstruct) them. then they are altered again when we reconsolidate the memory (using working memory to send them into long term storage)

biological constraints on learning

not all associations are learned equally well. taste aversion. powerful/learned quickly.

motivated forgetting

not common. painful memories tend to persist. most memories can fade if we don't rehearse or "use" the memories

state-dependent memory

not just linked to the external context in which we learned them. can be tied to the emotional state we were under when we formed the memory

drawbacks of punishment

person isn't learning new behaviours. learns to discriminate among situations. can teach fear. physical punishment can potentially lead to abuse

negative reinforcement

removing an undesirable/aversive stimulus

negative punishment

removing something desirable. punishment by removal

sleep apnea ("with no breath")

repeated awakening after breathing stops; time in bed is not restorative sleep

how does intense emotion cause the brain to form intense memories?

trigger a rise in stress hormones, which trigger activity in the amygdala. the amygdala increase memory-forming activity and engages the frontal lobes and basal ganglia to "tag" the memories as important. thus stored with more sensory and emotional detail.

variable-interval schedule

unpredictably often. steady, consistent responding. Ex, pop quiz, fishing, checking phone

example of observational learning (AB)

Albert Bandura's Bobo Doll Experiment. Kids saw adults punching an inflated doll while narrating their aggressive behaviours. These kids were then had to acted out the same behaviours in a toy-deprived situation that they had seen.

Operant

Any behaviour that is voluntary

blindsight

Case study: a woman with brain damage, but no eye damage, was unable to use her eyes to report what was in front of her. But, she was able to use her eyes to help her take actions such as putting mail in slots · Describing the mail and the slot = the high road, or conscious track, in this case known as the visual perception track - enables us to think about the world · Judging size and distance well enough to put the mail in the slot: the "low road," or unconscious track

Edward Throndike

Cats in a puzzle box. rewarded with food when they solve the puzzle.

REM Sleep

Dreams occurred during period of wild brain activity and rapid eye movement (REM). lasts about 10 min. Duration increases the longer you remain asleep. With age, there are more awakenings and less deep sleep

sleep stages and sleep cycles: what is measured?

EEG measures brain waves · Not yet asleep: beta and alpha waves · Waking beta · Waking alpha · Alpha waves are the relatively slow brain of a relaxed, awake state (in bed with eyes closed)

condition and learning: latent learning

Edward Tolman. Rats appear to form cognitive maps. refers to skills or knowledge gained from experience, but not apartments in behaviour until rewards are given.

Dual tracking processing

Explicit and implicit memories

example of biological constraints on learning (Garcia)

Garcia and Koelling studied taste aversion on rats

non-REM sleep stages

Getting deeper into sleep ... but not yet dreaming · NREM 1 - light state of sleep, easy to wake someone up · NREM 2 - getting slightly deeper · NREM 3 - deepest stage of sleep, more difficult to wake someone up than NREM 1 & 2

source amnesia/misattribution

Have you ever discussed a childhood memory with a family member only to find that the memory was from a dream you used to have etc. your memory for the event may have been accurate, but you experienced source amnesia

what happens during REM sleep?

Heart rate rise and breathing becomes rapid. "Sleep paralysis" occurs when the brainstem blocks the motor cortex's messages and the muscles don't move. This is sometimes known as "paradoxical sleep;" the brain is active but the body is immobile

retroactive interference and sleep example

In one study, students who studied right before 8 hours of sleep had better recall than those who studied 8 hours of daily activity. The daily activities retroactively interfered with the morning's learning

father of classical conditioning

Ivan Pavlov

repression

Sigmund Freud believed that we sometimes make an unconscious decision to bury our anxiety-provoking memories and hide them from conscious awareness

B.F. Skinner

The operant chamber

the case study of Henry Molaison

The revamp of HM's hippocampus (memory coding and memory storage) at age 27 ended his seizures, but also ended his ability to form new explicit memories. he could learn new skills, but had no memory of the lessons or the instructors etc

inattentional blindness

Various experiments show that when our attention is focused, we miss seeing what others may think is obvious to see. Neisser basketball video with women passing with an umbrella

fixed-interval schedule

a fixed period of time. rapid responding near time of reinforcement. Ex, getting paid once a week, studying for exams

conditioned response

a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus

spontaneous recovery

a returning of the conditioned response despite a lack of further conditioning

neutral stimulus

a stimulus that does not trigger a response

conditioned reinforcer (secondary reinforcer)

a stimulus that has been associated with a primary reinforcer. Ex, money

unconditioned stimulus

a stimulus that naturally triggers a unconditioned response

positive reinforcement

adding a desirable stimulus

positive punishment

adding something undesirable. punishment by application

conditioned stimulus

an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response

unconditioned response

an unlearned, naturally occurring response to an unconditioned stimulus

Throndike's law effect

behaviours followed by favourable consequences become more likely, and behaviours followed by unfavourable consequences become less likely

having free will

being able to make a conscious decision. a person's mental content, thoughts, and imaginings. many psychologists define consciousness as "our subjective awareness of ourselves and our environment"

alterness

being awake vs being unconscious

dual processing: automatic processing

conscious high track "i saw a bird" unconsciously , we see color, motion, form, and depth

punishment

decreases the frequency if a preceding behaviour (opposite effect of reinforcement)

auditory sensory memory

echoic memory. 3-4 sec long

How does memory work?

encoding, storage, retrieval

encoding failure

even if we paid attention to it enough to get it into working memory, maybe we still didn't bother rehearsing it and encoding it into long term memory. Ex, penny.

forgetting (summary)

forgetting can occur at any memory stage. as we process information, we filter, alter, or lose much of it

amnesia

forgetting where the story came from, and attributing the source to your own experience

flashbulb memory

highly vivid and detailed snapshot of a moment in which a consequential, surprising and emotionally arousing piece of news was learned.

visual sensory memory

iconic memory. 1/20th of a sedc

the misinformation effect

incorporating misleading information into one's memory of an event. Ex, 1974, Elizabeth Loftus and John Palmer asked people to watch a video of a minor car accident. Those who were asked "...when the cars smashed into each other?" reported higher speeds and remembered broken glass that wasn't there

Skinner's Legacy

insisted that external influences (not internal thoughts/feelings) shape behaviour. urge people to influence others' behaviours

classical conditioning

involves forming association between stimuli. Automatic, involuntary behaviour

constructed memories and children

kids have underdeveloped frontal lobes, they are even more prone to implanted memories. Ex, when interviewing kids, don't lead; be neutral and non suggestive in your question

mirror neurons

neutrons fire in patterns that would fire if we were doing the action or having the same feeling ourselves. they fire to only select the actions/feelings of others.

retroactive interference and sleep

occurs when new stimuli/learning interferes with the storage and retrieval of previously formed memories

operant conditioning

occurs when organisms associate their own actions with consequences (rewards and punishments). Voluntary behaviours

proactive interference

occurs when past information interferes with learning new information. Ex, confusing and old password with a new password

interference and positive transfer

old and new memories can interfere with each other, making it difficult to store new memories and retrieve old ones

unconscious low track

our minds perform automatic actions, often without being aware of them. Ex, walking, acquiring phobias, processing sensory detail into perceptions and memories

conscious "high" track (dual-track mind)

our minds take deliberate actions we know we are doing. Ex, problem solving, naming an object, defending a word

context dependent memory

part of the web of associations of a memory is the context. we retrieve a memory more easily when in the same context as when we formed the memory

insomnia

persistent inability to fall asleep or stay awake

automatic processing examples

procedural memory (riding bike), conditioned associations (time, space, frequency, fear of dogs)

night terrors

refer to sudden scared-looking behavior, with rapid heartbeat and breathing. Night terrors and sleepwalking mostly affect children, and occur in NONREM-3 sleep. They are not considered dreaming

anterograde amnesia

refers to an inability to form new long-term declarative/explicit memories. Ex, HM lived with no memories of life after surgery

retrograde amnesia

refers to an inability to retrieve memory of the past. can be caused by head injury or emotional trauma and is often temporary. it can also be caused by more severe brain damage; in that case, it may include anterograde amnesia

Extinction

refers to the diminishing of a conditioned response. If the unconditioned stimulus stops appearing with the conditioned stimulus, the conditioned response decreases.

mood-congruent memory

refers to the tendency to selectively recall details that are consistent with one's current mood

serial position effect

refers to the tendency, when learning information in a long list, to more likely recall the first items (primacy effect) and the last items (recency effect)

storage

retaining information

Ways to make punishment more effective

should be consistent. should be immediately followed with the behaviour it's meant to punish.

narcolepsy (numb seizure):

sleep attacks (<5 min), even a collapse into REM/paralyzed sleep, at inopportune times

tip of the tongue: retrieval failure

sometimes, the memory does not decay. seem just below the surface. prevention when storing and rehearsing memories, you can build retrieval cues: linking your memorized material to images, rhymes, categories, initials, lists

memory formation models

the Atkinson-Shiffrin model. stimuli are recorded by our senses and held briefly in sensory memory. some info is processed into short-term memory and encoded through rehearsal. info moves into long-term memory, where it can be retrieved later

self-awareness

the ability to think about self

sensory memory (first phase of encoding and processing)

the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information before it is processed into short-term or long-term memory.

encoding

the information gets into our brains

Discrimination

the learned ability to only respond to a specific stimuli, preventing generalisation

continuous reinforcement

the subject acquires the desired behaviour quickly.

partial (intermittent) reinforcement

the targets behaviour takes longer to be acquired/established but persists longer without reward

Generalization

the tendency to have conditioned responses triggered by related stimuli

repressed or constructed memories of childhood abuse?

therapists "uncover" repressed memories of childhood abuse by using hypnosis. can result in false accusation

cocktail party effect

we can focus our mental spotlight on a conversation even when other conversations are going on around us

selective inattention

what we are not focused on, what we do not notice. refers to our failure to notice part of our environment when our attention is directed elsewhere

selective attention

what we focus on, what we notice. our brain is able to choose a focus and select what to notice. bad Ex, we can hyper focus on a call/text while driving a car, putting ourselves and others at risk