Learning and Memory PDF

1|Pag e LEARNING AND MEMORY Learning -Is any relatively permanent change in the behavior of a person which occurs as a result of practice or experience. -One important thing to remember is that learning can involve both beneficial and nega...

1|Pag e LEARNING AND MEMORY Learning -Is any relatively permanent change in the behavior of a person which occurs as a result of practice or experience. -One important thing to remember is that learning can involve both beneficial and negative behaviors. Learning is a natural and ongoing part of life that takes place continually, both for better and for worse. Sometimes people learn things that help them become more knowledgeable and lead better lives. In other instances, people can learn things that are detrimental to their overall health and well-being. Principles:  Learning is a change in behavior for better or for worse.  It is a change that takes place through experience.  The change must be relatively permanent. Basic Learning Process The process of learning new things is not always the same. Learning can happen in a wide variety of ways. To explain how and when learning occurs, a number of different psychological theories have been proposed. A. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING – Devised by Russian Psychologist, Ivan Pavlov. – Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov discovered one method of learning during his experiments on the digestive systems of dogs. He noted that the dogs would naturally salivate at the sight of food. Later experiments involve pairing the sight of food with the sound of a bell tone. After multiple pairings, the dogs eventually began to salivate to the sound of the bell alone. – This type of learning is known as classical conditioning. It takes place through the formation of associations. A meaningful stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response is paired with a neutral stimulus. Eventually, an association forms and the previously neutral stimulus becomes known as a conditioned stimulus that then triggers a conditioned response. INPSYC130 Introduction to Psychology 2|Pa g e Concepts:  Reflex –the automatic response to a stimulus  Example: Salivation of the dog  Neutral Stimulus –one that does not elicit the reflex action.  Example: Sound of the buzzer  Classical Conditioning -occurs when a neutral stimulus becomes associated with meaningful stimulus and comes to elicit a similar response.  Unconditioned stimulus –a stimulus that can elicit a response without learning.  Example: Food  Unconditioned response –an unlearned, inborn reaction to an unconditioned stimulus.  Example: Salivation  Conditioned stimulus –a stimulus that comes to elicit responses as a result of being paired with an unconditioned stimulus.  Example: Sound of the bell after being paired to the meat powder.  Conditioned Response –a response that is similar or identical to the unconditioned response that comes to be elicited by a conditioned stimulus.  Example: Salivation after the ringing of the bell  Acquisition –the initial learning of the stimulus-response link. INPSYC130 Introduction to Psychology 3|Pa g e  Example: Imagine that you are teaching a pigeon to peck a key whenever you ring a bell. Initially, you place some food on the key and sound a tone right before the pigeon pecks the key. After several trials, the pigeon begins to peck the key whenever he hears the tone, meaning he has acquired the behavior.  Generalization –occurs when an organism responds to a stimulus in the same way that it responds to a similar stimulus.  Example: Imagine that a dog has been conditioned to run to its owner when it hears a whistle. The dog exhibits the same response when it hears a small child emit a high-pitched shriek.  One of the most famous examples of stimulus generalization took place in an early psychology experiment. In the Little Albert experiment, the behaviorist John B. Watson and his assistant Rosalie Rayner conditioned a little boy to fear a white rat. However, the boy would exhibit the same response when he saw similar items such as a furry white toy and Watson’s white beard.  Discrimination –the ability to differentiate between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that have not been paired with an unconditioned stimulus.  Example: If a bell tone were the conditioned stimulus, discrimination would involve being able to tell the difference between the bell sound and other similar sounds.  Extinction –the weakening of the conditioned response in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus.  Example: In Pavlov's classic experiment, a dog was conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell. When the bell was repeatedly presented without the presentation of food, the salivation response eventually became extinct.  Spontaneous recovery –the process in classical conditioning by which a conditioned response can recur after a time delay without further conditioning.  Example: After a two-hour rest period, the salivation response of the dog suddenly reappeared when the tone was presented. Essentially, the dog spontaneously recovered the response which was previously extinct. B. OPERANT CONDITIONING – a form of learning in which the consequences of behavior produces changes in the probability of the behavior’s occurrence. – B.F. Skinner: behavior is operant  behavior operates on the environment, and the environment in turn operates on the organism. – E.L. Thorndike established the power of consequences in determining voluntary behavior. INPSYC130 Introduction to Psychology 4|Page – Law of Effect – behaviors followed by positive outcomes are strengthened, whereas, behaviors followed by negative outcomes are weakened. Concepts: Positive reinforcement –the process that increases the frequency of a behavior by providing a rewarding stimulus. – Example: Giving a token to a child after he got a “very good” grade on his subjects. Negative reinforcement –the process that increases the frequency of a behavior by removing of an aversive (unpleasant) stimulus. – Example: Waking up early in the morning in order not to be late in your 7:30 class. Primary reinforcement –the use of positive reinforcers that are innately satisfying. – Example: food, water, or sexual satisfaction Secondary reinforcement –the use of positive reinforcers that acquire their value through experience. – Example: Praises; A pat on the back Generalization –giving the same response to a similar stimuli. This explains how we can learn something in one situation and apply it to other similar situations – Example: Imagine that parents punish their son for not cleaning his room. He eventually learns to clean up his messes to avoid punishment. Instead of having to relearn this behavior at school, he applies the same principles he learned at home to his classroom behavior and cleaned up his messes before the teacher can punish him. Discrimination –refers to responding only to the discriminative stimulus and not to similar stimuli. – Example: After appropriate training, your dog will lift his paw to the verbal command "shake" and not to other commands like “sit” and “jump” Extinction –becoming less likely to perform previously reinforced behavior when it is no longer reinforced. – Example: Employee performance in a company decreased after rewards were taken. Punishment –a consequence that decreases the likelihood a behavior will occur. It can be: negative or positive punishment – Negative punishment -involves taking something good or desirable away to reduce the occurrence of a particular behavior. Often referred to as "punishment by removal." Examples: After two children get into a fight over who gets to play with a new toy, the mother simply takes the toy away from both children. INPSYC130 Introduction to Psychology 5|Page A teenage girl stays out for an hour past her curfew, so her parents ground her for a week. – Positive Punishment -This works by presenting a negative consequence after an undesired behavior is exhibited, making the behavior less likely to happen in the future. Examples: A child picks his nose during class and the teacher reprimands him in front of his classmates. A child wears his favorite hat to church or at dinner, his parents scold him for wearing it and make him remove the hat Shaping –a procedure in which reinforcement is delivered for successive approximations of the desired response. – Example: You want to utilize shaping to teach your dog how to fetch a stick. You might begin by rewarding your dog if he even walks near the stick. Next, you might reward him if he picks the stick up in his mouth. The next successive approximations might be walking to you with the stick in his mouth, giving you the stick, watching you throw the stick, walking toward the stick, picking up the stick, and eventually chasing after the stick when you throw it. By rewarding each step, you are able to shape the behavior toward the desired outcome. C. COGNITIVE LEARNING – learning involves internal mental processes that cannot be seen. – We begin learning at the moment we pay attention to some stimulus. – The learner is an information processing system. – Cognitive learning helps students learn effectively and ensures that the concepts learned are understood, instead of being temporarily memorized. With this learning style, your child will have a stronger and longer-lasting understanding of educational concepts in subjects such as Math, English, and Science – Cognitivists: Wolfgang Kohler and Edward C. Tolman – Insight learning –a form of problem solving in which the organism develops a sudden insight or understanding of a problem’s solution. – Insight a sudden recognition of the nature of a problem and its correct solution. – Latent Learning –learning in the absence of reinforcement that is not immediately reflected in behavior. INPSYC130 Introduction to Psychology 6|Page – Example: Tolman placed hungry rats in a maze with no reward for finding their way through it. He also studied a comparison group that was rewarded with food at the end of the maze. As the unreinforced rats explored the maze, they developed a cognitive map: a mental picture of the layout of the maze. D. SOCIAL LEARNING – learning that occurs when a person observes and imitate someone’s behavior. – Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory proposes that people learn various behaviors by observing others who serve as models. – Example: In Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment, children watched an adult interacting with a large, inflatable Bobo doll. In some instances, the adults simply ignored the doll, while in other instances, the adult would hit, kick and yell at the doll. Kids were later given the chance to play within a room with a Bobo doll present, those who had observed the adult abusing the doll were more likely to engage in similar actions. – Four main processes involved in Observational Learning 1. Attention 2. Retention 3. Production 4. Reinforcement Learning Styles The way a person processes, internalizes, and studies new and challenging materials. Most people can learn and each individual has his own unique ways of mastering new and difficult subject matter. The Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Model Environmental –refers to elements like: lighting, sound, temperature, and seating arrangement. Emotional –includes the following elements: motivation, persistence, responsibility, and structure. Sociological –represents elements related to how individuals learn in association with other people. Physiological –elements in this strand are: perceptual, time-of-day energy levels, intake, and mobility Psychological –elements in this strand correspond to the following types of psychological processing: hemispheric, impulsive or reflective, and global versus analytic INPSYC130 Introduction to Psychology 7|Pag e Differences among students’ learning styles Global and analytic – Global learners prefer to work in an environment with soft lighting and informal seating – Analytic learners prefer to work in an environment with bright light and formal seating. Age – Learning styles vary across ages. For instance, children generally have a visual learning style that’s why Teachers would use flash cards and charts in their lessons so children could easily understand the lessons. As we aged, either our learning style remains or changes. Gender – Generally, boys would prefer to study in groups while girls prefer to study alone. High-versus low-academic achievement – Teaching strategies should also vary among high and low academic achievers. 6 ways to capitalize your own learning styles Recognize that each person is uniquely different Identify your own learning style Once you know your style, use it to teach yourself anything that seems difficult or challenging Determine whether you are a step-by-step analytic processor or global learner Arrange or re-arrange your environment to take advantage of your own learning style strengths Forget about the age-old wisdom, “What you don’t know won’t hurt you.” MEMORY Three stages of Memory Encoding stage –occurs when environmental information is translated into and stored as a meaningful entity. Storage stage –stored information is maintained over time. Retrieval stage –occurs when one attempts to pull from one’s memory information what was previously encoded and stored there. Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Theory of Memory – Information passes from store to store in a linear way, and has been described as an information processing model (like a computer) with an input, process and output. INPSYC130 Introduction to Psychology 8|Pa g e – Information is detected by the sense organs and enters the sensory memory. If attended to this information enters the short term memory. – Information from the short-term memory is transferred to the long-term memory only if that information is rehearsed (i.e. repeated). – If maintenance rehearsal (repetition) does not occur, then information is forgotten, and lost from short term memory through the processes of displacement or decay. Sensory memory –holds an exact image of each sensory experience for a very brief interval until it can be fully processed. Short-term memory (working memory) –holds information for about a minute. How does our working memory operates: Since it is limited in duration, information decays in working memory without paying attention and rehearsal. It is also limited in capacity that means WM can only hold a small amount of information. Chunking and rehearsal is done so that information can easily be remembered. INPSYC130 Introduction to Psychology 9|Page Chunking -is a term referring to the process of taking individual pieces of information (chunks) and grouping them into larger units. By grouping each piece into a large whole, you can improve the amount of information you can remember. Probably the most common example of chunking occurs in phone numbers. For example, a phone number sequence of 4-7-1-1-3-2-4 would be chunked into 471-1324. Long-term memory –permanent type of memory that stores huge amounts of information for a long time. Divisions: Explicit memory -conscious recollection of information Episodic memory –retention of information about where and when of life’s happening. Semantic memory –a person’s knowledge about the world (common knowledge) Retrospective memory –remembering the past. Prospective memory –remembering information about doing something in the future. Implicit memory -memory in which behavior is affected by prior experience without that experience being consciously recollected. Procedural memory –memory for skills. Priming – a technique in which the introduction of one stimulus influences how people respond to a subsequent stimulus. Priming works by activating an association or representation in memory just before another stimulus or task is introduced. Example: Associating the color “yellow” to “banana” Classical Conditioning –involves the automatic learning of associations between stimuli. Forgetting – Inability to recall a particular piece of information accurately Theories of Forgetting INPSYC130 Introduction to Psychology 10 | P a g e Interference Theory –we forget something because other information blocks its storage or retrieval  Proactive interference –material learned earlier disrupts the recall of material learned later. Example: When trying to recall a new phone number, the old phone number you have previously had for years could proactively interfere with the recall, to the point when it is very difficult to remember the new number.  Retroactive interference –material learned later disrupts the retrieval information learned earlier. Example: Calling your ex-boyfriend/girlfriend by your new boyfriend/girlfriend’s name. The new name retroactively interferes with the old one, which is clearly problematic for recall. Decay Theory –memory deteriorates with the passage of time (Transience). Motivated Forgetting –people block memories that could cause pain, threat, or embarrassment.  Repression –pushing unpleasant memories into some inaccessible part of the unconscious mind Retrieval Failure Theory –forgetting is a problem with retrieval, not a problem with long-term storage of interference.  Anterograde amnesia –affect the retention of new information or events  Retrograde amnesia –affects memories of the past but not new events. Encoding Strategies Be a good time manager and planner Pay attention and minimize distraction Understand the material rather than plain memorizing Ask yourself questions Take notes Use mnemonic strategies INPSYC130 Introduction to Psychology