Chapter 6 and 7: Learning and Memory

1
Chapter 6 and 7 Learning and Memory
2
Historical Perspectives

• Behaviorisms (1920-70s) Psychology is subjective
  because there is no way to verify the contents of
  mind. We need an objective approach Behavior
  everyone can see it.
• (John B. Watson, B.F. Skinner, Thorndike, Pavlov)
• S-R Theory (stimulus-response) reduce variables
  and control stimuli and measure response. (mind
  is a black box)

3
Historical Perspectives

• Cognitive Revolution the mind should be viewed
  as an information processor (the computer
  analogy) S-R theory is inadequate because it
  ignores the process that occurs in the middle
  (the black box)

4
Classical Conditioning
Ivan Pavlov
Figure 6.1 Classical conditioning apparatus
5
Classical Conditioning

• Terminology
• Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) the UCS is a
  stimulus that elicits an unconditioned response
  without previous conditioning Pavlovs meat
  powder.
• Unconditioned Response (UCR) The UCR is an
  unlearned reaction to a UCS that occurs without
  previous conditioning salivating.
• Conditioned Stimulus (CS) The CS is a previously
  neutral stimulus that has acquired the capacity
  to elicit a conditioned response the sound of a
  tone.
• Conditioned Response (CR) The CR is a learned
  reaction to a conditioned stimulus salivating to
  the tone.

6
Classical Conditioning
The Case of Grandmas Cookies UCS Cookies UCR
Salivation CS Smell of cookies CR Salivation
to smell of cookies
Figure 6.2 The sequence of events in classical
conditioning
7
Basic Processes in Classical Conditioning

• Acquisition
• Extinction
• Spontaneous recovery
• Stimulus generalization

8
Higher-order conditioning
Figure 6.8 Higher-order conditioning
9
Operant Conditioning

• B.F. Skinner (1953) principle of reinforcement
• Skinners principle of reinforcement holds that
  organisms tend to repeat those responses that are
  followed by favorable consequences, or
  reinforcement.
• Skinner defined reinforcement as when an event
  following a response increases an organisms
  tendency to make that response.
• Because operant responses tend to be voluntary,
  they are said to be emitted rather than elicited.
• Reinforcement contingencies are the
  circumstances, or rules, that determine whether
  responses lead to the presentation of
  reinforcers.

10
Figure 6.9 Reinforcement in operant conditioning
11

• Skinner created an experimental procedure using
  animals and a Skinner box. This is a small
  enclosure in which an animal can make a specific
  response that is recorded, while the consequences
  of the response are systematically controlled.
  Rats, for example, press a lever.

Figure 6.10 Skinner box and cumulative recorder
12
Basic Processes in Operant Conditioning

• Shaping Learning operant responses usually
  occurs through a gradual process called shaping,
  which consists of the reinforcement of closer and
  closer approximations of a desired response.
  This is the key in pet tricks.
• Extinction in operant conditioning refers to the
  gradual weakening and disappearance of a response
  tendency, because the response is no longer
  followed by a reinforcer. If we stop giving food
  when the rat presses the lever, this results in a
  brief surge of responding followed by a gradual
  decline until it approaches zero.

13
Table 6.1 Comparison of Basic Processes in
Classical and Operant Conditioning
14
ReinforcementConsequences that Strengthen
Responses

• Operant theorists distinguish between primary
  reinforcers, which are events that are inherently
  reinforcing because they satisfy biological
  needs, and secondary reinforcers, which are
  events that acquire reinforcing qualities by
  being associated with primary reinforcers.
• Primary Reinforcers
• Satisfy biological needs Primary reinforcers in
  humans include food, water, warmth, sex, and
  maybe affection expressed through hugging and
  close bodily contact.
• Secondary Reinforcers
• Conditioned reinforcement
• Secondary reinforcers in humans include things
  like money, good grades, attention, flattery,
  praise, and applause.

15
Schedules of Reinforcement

• A schedule of reinforcement determines which
  occurrences of a specific response result in the
  presentation of a reinforcer.
• Continuous reinforcement Continuous
  reinforcement occurs when every instance of a
  designated response is reinforced (faster
  acquisition, faster extinction).
• Intermittent (partial) reinforcement
  Intermittent reinforcement occurs when a
  designated response is reinforced only some of
  the time (greater resistance to extinction).

16
Ratio schedules Ratio schedules require the
organism to make the designated response a
certain number of times to gain each
reinforcer Fixed A fixed-ratio schedule entails
giving a reinforcer after a fixed number of
non-reinforced responses. Variable A variable
ratio schedule entails giving a reinforcer after
a variable number of non-reinforced responses.
Figure 6.13 Schedules of reinforcement and
patterns of response
17
Interval schedules Interval schedules require a
time period to pass between the presentation of
reinforcers. Fixed A fixed-interval schedule
entails reinforcing the first response that
occurs after a fixed time interval has elapsed.
Variable A variable-interval schedule entails
giving the reinforcer for the first response
after a variable time interval has elapsed
Figure 6.13 Schedules of reinforcement and
patterns of response
18
(No Transcript)
19
ConsequencesReinforcement and Punishment

• Responses can be strengthened either by
  presenting positive reinforcers or by removing
  negative reinforcers.
• Increasing a response
• Positive reinforcement response followed by
  rewarding stimulus
• Negative reinforcement response followed by
  removal of an aversive stimulus
• Escape learning
• Avoidance learning
• Decreasing a response
• Punishment
• Problems with punishment

20
Figure 6.14 Positive reinforcement versus
negative reinforcement
21
Figure 6.16 Comparison of negative reinforcement
and punishment
22
Changing Directions in the Studyof Conditioning

• Biological Constraints on Conditioning
• Conditioned Taste Aversion
• Cognitive Influences on Conditioning
• Latent learning
• Edward C. Tolman showed that
• Rats learned a maze even in the
• absence of reinforcement (what he
• called latent learning), challenging
• the assumption that learning was
• dependent on reinforcement, and
• argued that the rats had formed a
• cognitive map of the
• maze.

23
Observational Learning

• Albert Bandura
• Observational learning
• In observational learning, vicarious conditioning
  occurs by an organism watching another organism
  (a model) be conditioned. Observational learning
  can occur for both classical and operant
  conditioning.
• Basic processes
• attention
• retention
• reproduction
• motivation

24
Chapter 7 Human Memory
25
Human Memory Basic Questions

• How does information get into memory?
• How is information maintained in memory?
• How is information pulled back out of memory?

26
Figure 7.2 Three key processes in memory
27
Encoding Getting Information Into Memory

• The role of attention
• Focusing awareness
• Divided attention
• The first step in getting information into memory
  is to
• pay attention to it.
• Attention involves focusing awareness on a
  narrowed range of stimuli or events.
• Selective attention is a term used by many
  psychologists to describe this paying-attention-to
  -something process

28
Encoding Getting Information into Memory

• The role of attention
• Levels of processing
• Incoming information processed at different
  levels
• Deeper processing longer lasting memory codes
• Encoding levels
• Structural shallow
• Phonemic intermediate
• Semantic deep

29
Figure 7.3 Levels-of-processing theory
30
Enriching Encoding

• Elaboration linking a stimulus to other
  information at the time of encoding
• Thinking of examples
• Visual Imagery creation of visual images to
  represent words to be remembered
• Dual-coding theory Dual-coding theory holds that
  memory is enhanced by forming semantic or visual
  codes, since either can lead to recall.

31
Storage Maintaining Information in Memory

• Analogy information storage in computers
  information storage in human memory
• Information-processing theories
• Subdivide memory into three different stores
• Sensory, Short-term, Long-term

32
Figure 7.6 The Atkinson and Schiffrin model of
memory storage
33
Sensory Memory

• Brief preservation of information in original
  sensory form
• Auditory/Visual approximately ¼ second

34
Short Term Memory (STM)

• Limited duration about 20 seconds without
  rehearsal - decays
• Rehearsal the process of repetitively
  verbalizing or thinking about the information
• Limited capacity magical number 7 plus or minus
  2
• Chunking grouping familiar stimuli for storage
  as a single unit
• FB-INB-CC-IAIB-M or FBI-NBC-CIA-IBM

35
Figure 7.6 The Atkinson and Schiffrin model of
memory storage
36
Working Memory

• Adding a rule to STM phone number 3 to the
  last number 598-4933 598-4936 598-4939
• Baddeley (1986) 3 components of working memory
• Phonological rehearsal loop
• Visuospatial sketchpad
• Executive control system

37
Figure 7.7 Short-term memory as working memory
38
Long-Term Memory

• Unlimited Capacity
• While most researchers agree that LTM has an
  unlimited capacity, that is, our memory store
  never gets FULL, much debate remains over whether
  storage is permanent.
• Permanent storage?
• Flashbulb memories

39
Retrieval Getting InformationOut of Memory

• The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon a failure in
  retrieval
• Retrieval cues
• Reinstating the context
• Context cues It is easier to recall
  long-forgotten events if you return after a
  number of years to a place where you used to live
• Reconstructing memories the Misinformation
  effect
• Memories are reconstructions of the past, which
  may not be entirely accurate. Research shows
  that reconstructions can be influenced by new
  informationthe misinformation effect. Elizabeth
  Loftus has shown that eyewitness testimony can be
  influenced by information presented to witnesses.
  Exampleshowed a video of two cars in an
  accidentasked
• Source monitoring People make decisions at the
  time of retrieval about where their memory is
  coming from Did I read that somewhere or think
  of it on my own?

40
Forgetting When Memory Lapses

• Ebbinghauss Forgetting Curve
• Hermann Ebbinghaus studied forgetting in the late
  1800s. He found that retention and forgetting
  occur over time and plotted his data the famous
  forgetting curve.
• Used introspection to study forgetting in himself
  list of 12-16 consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC)
  nonsense syllabus (e.g., KEG, MIW)
• Retention the proportion of material retained
• Recall
• Recognition
• Relearning

41
Why We Forget

• Ineffective Encoding lack of attention so that
  encoding does not occur
• Decay forgetting occurs because memory traces
  fade with time
• Interference
• The negative impact of competing information on
  retention is called interference. Interference
  theory holds that people forget information
  because of competition from other material.
• Proactive Proactive interference occurs when
  previously learned information interferes with
  the retention of new information
• Retroactive retroactive interference occurs when
  new information impairs the retention for
  previously learned information.
• Retrieval Failure The closer a retrieval cue is
  to the way we encode the info, the better we are
  able to remember.
• Repression involves the motivated forgetting of
  painful or unpleasant memories
• Authenticity of repressed memories?
• Memory illusions
• Controversy

42
Figure 7.12 Retroactive and proactive
interference
43
Systems and Types of Memory

• Declarative vs. Procedural
• Semantic vs. Episodic
• Prospective vs. Retrospective

44
The Physiology of Memory

• Anatomy
• Anterograde and Retrograde Amnesia
• Hippocampus
• Medial temporal lobe memory system

45
Figure 7.16 The anatomy of memory