Psychology Quiz: Behaviorism and Memory

Learning

• Learning is a change in behavior or knowledge due to experience or instruction, impacting biological and behavioral aspects.
• Learning complexity increases with species complexity.
• Brain Regions:
  • Amygdala: Regulates emotions.
  • Prefrontal Cortex: Involved in working memory and decision-making.
  • Hippocampus: Stores information and memories.
• Preparedness: Biological predisposition to certain connections in learning.
• Premack Principle: Performing a less desired activity to access a more desired activity (e.g., studying for better grades).
• Preferred Behavior: Naturally reinforcing behavior (e.g., feeling better after eating).
• Delay Discounting: Delayed consequences of an action.
• Free Operant Responses: Suggests people have free will in their actions, contrasted with a strict behavioral outlook.
• Behaviorists: Focus on observable behavior.
• Contingent Reinforcement: "If you do this, then you get that".
• Superstitious Reinforcement: Reinforcement or punishment occurs close together in time, but doesn't have a clear correlation.
• Cognitive Revolution: A shift in psychology, focusing on internal mental processes for human behavior.
• Cognitive Maps: Mental representations of environments.
• Learning Curve: Gradual learning with trial and error.
• Insight Learning: Learning without trial and error, without explicit reinforcement.
• Observational Learning: Learning by observing and imitating models.
• Social Learning Theory: Explains learning through observation of others.
  • 4 Main Processes: Attention, Retention, Motor Reproduction, Reinforcement.
  • Vicarious Reinforcement: Learning through observing others being rewarded.
  • Vicarious Punishment: Learning through observing others being punished.
  • Mirror Neurons: Active neurons when performing or observing actions.
• Cultural Transmission: Transmission of behaviors across generations.
  • Vertical Transmission: Parent-to-child skill transmission.
  • Horizontal Transmission: Peer-to-peer skill transmission.
  • Diffusion Chain: Learning through observing and following individuals.
  • Cumulative Cultural Evolution: Building upon skills across generations.
  • Dual Inheritance/Gene-Culture Theory: Explaining traits based on both genes and culture.
• Recency Effect: Better memory for items at the end of a list.
• Primacy Effect: Better memory for items at the beginning of a list.
• Naturalistic Episodic Memory Studies: Studying memory from naturally occurring events.
• Consolidation: Integrating and stabilizing memory storage in the brain.
• Reconsolidation: Reactivating memory consolidation, increasing susceptibility to change.
• Long-Term Potentiation (LTP): Creating lasting synaptic connections to improve neural transmission.
• Free Recall: Accessing information from memory without cues.
• Retrieval Cues: Information related to memories that aids recall.
• Cued Recall: Supported retrieval by related information.
• Recognition: Memory based on recognizing previously encountered information
• Encoding Specificity Principle: Optimal retrieval occurs when the context at recall matches the encoding context.
• State-Dependent Retrieval: Better recall when the emotional or physical state at retrieval matches the encoding state.
• Mood-Dependent Retrieval: Stronger recall when mood at retrieval matches encoding mood.
• Forgetting Curve: Information retention over time.
• Retroactive Interference: New learning interfering with old memory recall.
• Proactive Interference: Previous learning interfering with new memory recall.
• Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon: Inability to retrieve information despite the awareness it's stored in memory.
• Motivated Forgetting: Intentionally suppressing memories.
• Misinformation Effect: Inaccurate memory due to post-event information.
• Infantile Amnesia: Unable to recall early childhood memories.
• Reminiscence Bump: Peak memory recall during adolescence and early adulthood.

Associative and Nonassociative Learning

• Two Basic Forms of Learning: Nonassociative, Associative.
• Nonassociative Learning: Simple learning through repeated exposure.
  • Habituation: Reduced response to a repeated stimulus.
  • Sensitization: Increased response to a repeated stimulus.
• Associative Learning: Connecting events or actions.
  • Classical Conditioning (Pavlovian): Predictive associations to guide future behavior.
    • Neutral Stimulus (NS): Stimulus with no response.
    • Unconditioned Stimulus (US): Stimulus automatically triggering a response.
    • Unconditioned Response (UR): Automatic response to the US.
    • Conditioned Stimulus (CS): Formally neutral stimulus triggering a response after paired with US.
    • Conditioned Response (CR): Learned response to the CS.
    • Acquisition: Learning the association.
    • First-order Conditioning: Learning the association between the CS and US.
    • Second-order Conditioning: Response to CS that is weaker than initial response.
    • Generalization: Responding similarly to similar stimuli.
    • Discrimination: Only responding to a specific stimulus.
    • Extinction: CS without US, leading to eventual CR disappearance, but can return (spontaneous recovery).
    • Contingency and Contiguity: Important for conditioning success (closeness and relationship).
    • Counter Conditioning: Replacing CR with a new one.
    • Vicarious Classical Conditioning: Learning through observing others' conditioning.
  • Operant Conditioning: Consequences shaping future behavior.
    • Reinforcement: Increases behavior likelihood.
      • Positive Reinforcement: Adding a desirable stimulus.
      • Negative Reinforcement: Removing an undesirable stimulus.
    • Punishment: Decreases behavior likelihood.
      • Positive Punishment: Adding an undesirable stimulus.
      • Negative Punishment: Removing a desirable stimulus.
    • Shaping: Reinforcing successive approximations of a target behavior.
    • Frequency of Reinforcement: Continuous or partial (interval, ratio).
    • Law of Effect: Positive actions get reinforced; negative actions get discouraged.
    • ABCs of Operant Conditioning: Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence.

Memory

• Memories: Changes in the brain reflecting experiences, influencing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, reflecting learning.
• Remembering Information: Encoding, storing, retrieving.
  • Encoding: Initially experiencing information.
    • Levels of Processing: Shallow (superficial) vs. Deep (meaningful).
    • Self-Referential Encoding: Relating experience to self-concept.
    • Semantic Encoding: Using meaning for encoding.
  • Storing: Maintaining information over time.
  • Retrieving: Actively recalling information.
• Memory Systems:
  • Sensory Memory: Brief sensory impressions.
    • Iconic Memory (visual): ~1 second.
    • Echoic Memory (auditory): ~4 seconds.
  • Short-Term Memory: Temporary storage of sensory information.
    • Working Memory: Conscious holding and manipulating information.
    • Chunking: Grouping information to improve working memory capacity.
    • Mnemonics: Memory strategies.
  • Long-Term Memory: Long-lasting storage.
    • Implicit (non-declarative): Unconscious memory.
      • Procedural: Skill-based memories.
      • Priming: Subtle influence of prior experience.
      • Classical Conditioning: Associative learning.
    • Explicit (declarative): Conscious memory.
      • Semantic: Knowledge-based memory.
      • Episodic: Experience-based memory.
      • Advantages/Disadvantages of Studying Episodic Memory:
        • Manipulation and testing.
        • Assessing memory accuracy in a controlled way.
        • Limitations: Restricted types of memory that can be studied.
  • Retrospective Memory: Remembering past events.
  • Prospective Memory: Remembering future tasks.
  • Stress and Memory: Various theories, including flashbulb memories and repression.
  • Memory Narrowing: Stress affects memory by impacting focus on central vs peripheral stimulus.
  • Rehearsal and Deep Processing: Factors that improve long-term memory for emotional events