Psychology Behavior Modification & Learning

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Questions and Answers

What term describes the tendency to revert to instinctive behaviors, inhibiting the production of a conditioned response?

Shaping

Operant conditioning

Instinctive drift (correct)

Learned helplessness

What is learned helplessness primarily caused by?

Insufficient reinforcement of desired behaviors

A lack of social interaction during learning

Failure to learn from observational experiences

Repeated exposure to inescapable punishment (correct)

Which learning theory is exemplified by children becoming more aggressive after observing violence towards a Bobo doll?

Intrinsic motivation

Classical conditioning

Behavior modification

Vicarious learning (correct)

Which brain cells are associated with both performing an action and observing others perform the same action?

Mirror neurons Signup and view all the answers

What approach is typically used in behavior modification to teach new behaviors?

Systematic operant conditioning Signup and view all the answers

What effect does a delayed tone have on letter recall?

It leads to significant decline in recall. Signup and view all the answers

Which method is likely to enhance the encoding of information into long term memory?

Understanding the meaning of the information. Signup and view all the answers

How many items can working memory typically hold at once?

5-9 items Signup and view all the answers

What describes the spaced practice effect?

Spacing out rehearsal sessions over time. Signup and view all the answers

What kind of code is primarily used for verbal information in long term memory?

Semantic code Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following activities enhances memory encoding through personalization?

Elaborating on the meaning of the information. Signup and view all the answers

Which strategy is NOT a method of effortful encoding?

Spontaneous recall Signup and view all the answers

What influences the likelihood of information becoming long term memory?

The meaningfulness of the personal event. Signup and view all the answers

What is state-dependent memory primarily associated with?

Memory retrieval being enhanced by the same environmental cues. Signup and view all the answers

What does the modulation hypothesis explain?

The long-lasting effects of emotional experiences on memory. Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following describes flashbulb memories?

Long-lasting memories of emotionally significant events. Signup and view all the answers

Which theory of forgetting suggests memories fade due to neglect over time?

Decay theory. Signup and view all the answers

What kind of interference does NOT prevent recall from previously learned material?

Motivated forgetting. Signup and view all the answers

What does repression refer to in the context of memory?

The unconscious blocking of traumatic events from consciousness. Signup and view all the answers

What impact does retroactive interference have on previously learned information?

It disrupts access to previously recalled information. Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following best describes distorted or manufactured memories?

Memories subject to inaccuracies and alterations. Signup and view all the answers

What is source misattribution?

Recalling information but not where it originated from. Signup and view all the answers

What role does the hippocampus play in memory?

It is essential for long-term memory formation. Signup and view all the answers

Which neurotransmitter is key in the formation of memories?

Glutamate Signup and view all the answers

What is retroactive interference?

Forgetting an event due to the influence of misleading information received later. Signup and view all the answers

What was observed in the study involving the childhood memories of university students?

Approximately 25% of students recalled a fabricated event as true. Signup and view all the answers

What is the significance of long-term potentiation?

It increases the likelihood of neurons to respond strongly to future stimuli. Signup and view all the answers

Which part of the brain is primarily associated with working memory?

Prefrontal cortex Signup and view all the answers

In infants, how is memory perceived based on their behavior?

They show a preference for looking at objects they have not previously encountered. Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary symptom of amnestic disorders?

Loss of memory Signup and view all the answers

Which type of amnesia is characterized by an inability to remember events that occurred after an amnesia-inducing event?

Anterograde amnesia Signup and view all the answers

In older adults, which gender is more likely to develop dementia?

Women Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following brain structures is slowly developing and is crucial for memory formation?

Hippocampus Signup and view all the answers

What is a common early symptom of Alzheimer's disease?

Gradual loss of memory Signup and view all the answers

Which type of memory is defined by the ability to remember content from the past?

Retrospective memory Signup and view all the answers

What are neurofibrillary tangles associated with in the brain?

Memory impairment Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following conditions can increase the risk of developing dementia in women?

Depression and diabetes Signup and view all the answers

What is the absolute threshold in sensory perception?

The minimal level of stimulus required for detection Signup and view all the answers

Sensory adaptation primarily refers to which phenomenon?

The reduced response to repeated stimulation of a sensory cell Signup and view all the answers

Which process involves the conversion of environmental stimuli into neural impulses?

Sensory transduction Signup and view all the answers

What does the signal detection theory explain about an individual's response to stimuli?

It is impacted by the ability to differentiate between signal and noise Signup and view all the answers

Which phenomenon is most closely associated with an involuntary and consistent intermixing of sensory experiences?

Synesthesia Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary role of hair cells in relation to sound adaptation?

They become less sensitive to sounds that are heard repeatedly. Signup and view all the answers

How does the ear proximity to sound contribute to sound localization?

The ear closer to the sound hears it louder due to brief time delays. Signup and view all the answers

Which type of hearing loss is caused by a disruption in sound transmission due to physical obstructions?

Conduction deafness Signup and view all the answers

What phenomenon allows individuals to selectively focus on particular sounds in a noisy environment?

Cocktail party effect Signup and view all the answers

What is the initial auditory capability observed in fetuses before birth?

Recognition of voices and sounds heard in utero Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary role of the olfactory bulb in smell recognition?

To send signals to the amygdala and hippocampus Signup and view all the answers

How do taste preferences typically change as children grow older?

Children begin to prefer sour tastes around the age of 7 Signup and view all the answers

What is the impact of having a higher number of taste buds in children compared to adults?

Certain flavors may seem stronger to children, affecting their eating habits Signup and view all the answers

Which brain area is primarily activated by unpleasant tastes and smells?

Insula cortex Signup and view all the answers

What factor contributes to newborns' ability to recognize their mother's scent shortly after birth?

Newborns have a highly developed olfactory bulb that enhances smell recognition Signup and view all the answers

What psychological process helps individuals learn to distinguish between similar smells?

Conditioning through emotional experiences Signup and view all the answers

What developmental change occurs in the taste sensitivity of children as they grow?

Bitter taste aversion typically decreases with age Signup and view all the answers

How do the pathways for taste and smell differ in their processing?

Taste and smell have separate pathways but converge in the prefrontal cortex Signup and view all the answers

What physiological phenomenon occurs as individuals continue to use a drug?

Increased tolerance leading to higher doses needed Signup and view all the answers

What concept describes the association between environmental cues and the body's compensatory responses to heroin?

Classical conditioning Signup and view all the answers

How did John B. Watson's experiment with Little Albert illustrate fear conditioning?

By associating a loud noise with a white rat Signup and view all the answers

What process is used to gradually expose individuals to their phobia to reduce their fear?

Systematic desensitization Signup and view all the answers

What type of fear is characterized by a persistent and irrational reaction to a specific situation or object?

Phobia Signup and view all the answers

What occurs when an individual develops an aversion to a specific food after associating it with illness?

Taste aversion Signup and view all the answers

In Watson's experiment with Little Albert, what was a significant ethical concern?

Informed consent was not obtained from Albert's mother Signup and view all the answers

What type of learning theory does Watson's focus on observable behavior exemplify?

Behaviorism Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary purpose of retrieval cues in memory retrieval?

To stimulate the recall of relevant information stored in long-term memory Signup and view all the answers

Which memory task requires recalling information without any retrieval cues?

Recall task Signup and view all the answers

What does the encoding specificity principle state about memory retrieval?

Memory retrieval is more efficient when contextual information matches that of encoding Signup and view all the answers

In the study by Godden and Baddeley, divers recalled words more effectively when they were in the same context as when they learned them. What concept does this exemplify?

State dependence Signup and view all the answers

What role does priming play in the process of memory retrieval?

It activates one memory, which facilitates the retrieval of another related memory Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Instinctive Drift

Breland and Breland observed that animals sometimes revert to instinctive behaviors despite conditioning efforts. This is known as instinctive drift.
Shaping is effective in modifying animal and human behavior.

Behavior Modification

A systematic approach to changing behavior utilizing principles of operant conditioning.
Used to teach new skills.
Can be used to modify undesirable behaviors
Learned helplessness occurs when individuals repeatedly encounter inescapable punishment, leading to a failure to escape in future situations.
Example: Rats failing to escape a foot shock, even when an escape route is available, after experiencing inescapable tail shocks.

Observational Learning and Aggression

Albert Bandura's research suggests that children learn aggression through observation.
Children who watched a film of a woman beating up a Bobo doll were more likely to be aggressive with the doll. This is called vicarious learning.
Mirror neurons are brain cells that fire when we perform an action and when we observe others performing the same action.

Encoding Information into Long-Term Memory

Rehearsal helps transfer information from working memory to long-term memory.
Understanding the meaning of information, elaborating on it, and making it personally relevant improves encoding.
Mnemonic devices help encode information, such as chunking and the PQRST method.
Schemas help organize new information into categories based on previous experiences and learning.
Spaced practice, where rehearsal sessions are spread out over time, helps the encoding of material.

Forms of Encoding

Phonological code relies on repeating sounds, such as repeating number sequences.
Visual code involves holding an image of the information, like remembering the visual appearance of digits.
Semantic codes link new information to previously stored knowledge, creating meaningful connections.
State-dependent memory is facilitated by being in the same state of mind as when the information was encoded.

Emotional Memory

Emotional events, whether positive or negative, are more readily encoded and remembered.
The modulation hypothesis proposes that the amygdala, during emotional event encoding, influences long-lasting emotional memory effects.
Flashbulb memories are detailed and enduring memories concerning the circumstances surrounding an emotionally significant event or learning about a major event.

Theories of Forgetting

Decay theory suggests that memories fade over time due to neglect or lack of access.
Interference theory attributes forgetting to competing information learned before or after the target information.
Proactive interference involves prior information interfering with the recall of new information.
Retroactive interference involves new information interfering with the retrieval of previously learned information.
Motivated forgetting involves unconsciously suppressing unpleasant or distressing memories, known as repression.

Distorted or Manufactured Memories

Memory distortions occur through source misattribution, where information is remembered but the source is forgotten, potentially leading to accepting information from unreliable sources as true.
Exposure to misinformation can cause retroactive interference, leading to forgetting information replaced with new, competing information.
Imagination can also influence memories, even creating false memories.

Memory and the Brain

Memory is a process, rather than a specific location.
The prefrontal cortex plays a crucial role in working memory.
The hippocampus is critical for transferring memories into long-term storage.
Memory consolidation involves stabilizing memories in the brain.
Potentiation occurs when networks of cells fire synchronously, strengthening connections and potentially contributing to memory formation.

Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)

LTP is a phenomenon where repeated stimulation of specific neurons in the brain dramatically increases the likelihood of strong responses to future stimulation.
Glutamate is a key neurotransmitter involved in memory formation.

Memory Development

Children develop memory capabilities gradually, with early memory largely tied to emotional experiences.
Prospective memory is the ability to remember information for future use.
Retrospective memory is the ability to remember past information.
The hippocampus develops slowly, impacting the development of memory.

Disorders of Memory

Amnesic disorders involve significant memory loss as the primary symptom.
Retrograde amnesia affects recall of events that occurred before the onset of amnesia.
Anterograde amnesia impairs the ability to form new memories after the amnesia-inducing event.
Dementias involve severe memory problems alongside other cognitive function decline.
Mild Neurocognitive Disorder (MND) involves moderate cognitive decline but limited impact on daily activities.

Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease involves progressive memory impairments, attention lapses, language difficulties, and difficulty with complex tasks.
Neurofibrillary tangles are twisted protein fibers found within cells in the hippocampus and certain brain areas.
Senile plaques are spherical deposits of a protein called beta-amyloid, found between cells in the hippocampus, cerebral cortex, and other brain regions.

Gender and Dementia

Older women are more likely to develop dementia than men.
Certain health conditions, including depression and diabetes, increase dementia risk in women.
Women with Alzheimer's disease have more neurofibrillary tangles compared to men.

Sensation and Perception

Sensation is the process of using sensory systems to detect environmental stimuli.
Perception is the conscious recognition and identification of these stimuli.
Synesthesia is the involuntary and consistent mixing of senses, resulting in a person experiencing one sense through another (for example, tasting colors).
Sensory receptor cells are specialized cells that convert specific forms of environmental stimuli into neural impulses.
Sensory transduction is the process of converting environmental stimuli into neural impulses.
Absolute threshold is the minimal amount of stimulation needed to detect a stimulus, and it varies from person to person.
Difference threshold is the minimal difference between two stimuli required to detect a difference between them.
Signal detection theory suggests that our response to a signal depends on our ability to differentiate it from background noise.

Sensory Adaptation

Sensory adaptation is the process where repeated stimulation of a sensory cell leads to a reduced response.
Olfactory adaptation occurs when continuous exposure to a particular odor leads to a decrease in its detectability.

Smell Processing

Bottom-up processing begins with physical stimuli and progresses through transduction into neural impulses. These are sent to the piriform cortex for recognition.
The piriform cortex can adapt based on experiences, allowing us to learn to distinguish similar smells through conditioning (e.g., associating a smell with a shock).
Emotional connections are established through the olfactory bulb, which sends signals to the amygdala (emotions) and indirectly to the hippocampus (memory), explaining why certain smells can trigger memories.

Taste Processing

Taste receptor cells connect to sensory neurons on the tongue, sending signals to the thalamus and then to the cerebral cortex.
The thalamus acts as a relay station for most senses (excluding smell).
Pleasant tastes (sweet and salty) activate similar brain areas, whereas unpleasant tastes (bitter and sour) activate different areas.
Taste and smell are processed separately but converge in the prefrontal cortex.
The insula cortex processes taste and is linked to feelings of disgust, activating in response to unpleasant tastes, smells, and even repulsive images.

Development of Smell and Taste

Newborns can recognize their mother's scent within hours of birth and show a preference for her amniotic fluid odor.
After birth, babies quickly learn the smell of their mother's milk, which acts as a calming agent.
Newborns have a well-developed sense of taste, preferring sweet flavors and disliking bitter and sour ones.
Children begin to prefer sour tastes around age 7.
Bitter taste aversion typically persists until young adulthood, possibly leading to the enjoyment of foods like dark chocolate.
Taste buds develop before birth, with newborns having more than adults.
Children have taste buds in more areas than adults (palate, cheeks), potentially contributing to picky eating.
The high number of taste buds in children makes certain flavors seem stronger, helping them avoid potentially harmful substances.

Individual Differences in Smell and Taste

Sensitivity to smells varies widely among people due to genetics and environmental factors.

Hearing

Sound waves activate different regions on the basilar membrane based on their frequency.
Absolute pitch refers to the ability to recognize or produce any note on a musical scale.

Sound Adaptation

Adaptation occurs when we become less sensitive to continuous sounds with repeated exposure, as hair cells become less responsive.
General loudness serves as a cue for distance estimation, as we associate louder sounds with closer proximity.
Loudness in each ear aids in sound localization, as differences in loudness between the ears indicate the source's position.
Timing of sound arriving at each ear is another cue for sound localization, as the closer ear receives the sound wave first.

Development of Hearing

Fetuses are capable of transducing sound waves before birth.
They respond to loud noises with a startle reflex and can recognize some sounds from within the womb, like their mother's voice.

Sound Adaptation

Cocktail party effect describes the brain's ability to pick up on relevant sounds amidst a noisy environment.

Hearing Loss

Conduction deafness occurs when there is an occlusion or interruption in the transmission of sound through the inner ear (e.g., wax buildup, infection, ear drum damage, water in the ear).
Cochlear implants assist individuals with deafness in hearing sounds.

Drug Dependence

Drug dependence includes both psychological and physiological changes experienced as the individual continues to use the drug.
Tolerance develops as the body adapts to the presence of the drug, requiring larger doses to achieve the same effect.
Compensatory responses occur when environmental cues associated with drug use trigger the body's anticipatory response to the drug.
The nervous system learns to expect the drug based on these environmental cues.

Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning plays a role in drug tolerance, allergic reactions, and fear conditioning.
John B. Watson, through his work on behaviorism, emphasized the role of the environment in shaping individuals.
Little Albert experiment demonstrated how fear could be conditioned through the pairing of a neutral stimuli (white rat) with an unconditioned stimulus (loud noise).
Phobias are persistent and irrational fears of specific objects or situations, often arising from fear conditioning.

Systematic Desensitization

Systematic desensitization is a process used to extinguish phobias through gradual exposure to the feared object or situation.

Classical Conditioning and Taste Aversions

Taste aversions are learned associations between specific foods and illness.
If eating a certain food is followed by nausea or sickness, we may develop an aversion to that food, even if the sickness was unrelated.

Memory Retrieval

Retrieval is an activation process where questions we pose to ourselves trigger relevant information stored in long-term memory.
Retrieval cues (sights, sounds, or other stimuli) facilitate the retrieval of information.

Priming and Retrieval

Priming is the activation of one piece of information, which leads to the activation of another, ultimately retrieving a specific memory.
Recognition tasks require individuals to identify previously seen items, while recall tasks require the production of information without retrieval cues.

Context and Retrieval

Context refers to the original location or situation where information was encoded.
Returning to this context facilitates retrieval, as it provides relevant cues.
Encoding specificity principle states that memory retrieval is more effective when the information available at retrieval matches the information available during encoding.

Studying That Suits You

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Description

Explore the principles of behavior modification, instinctive drift, and observational learning as studied by experts like Bandura and the Brelands. This quiz will challenge your understanding of operant conditioning, shaping, and learned helplessness through engaging questions on these essential psychological concepts.