Unit Four – Learning & Memory

1. Unit Four – Learning & Memory Mitchell – Spring 2013

2. What Does it Mean to Learn? • We typically think of teachers, books, & tests • School usually involves more memory than learning • Psychologists focus more specifically on learning as the roots of our thought & behavior • Behaviorist approach: a relatively permanent change in behavior resulting from life experience • Learning is changes in behavior • Cognitive approach: the process by which organisms make relatively permanent changes in the way they represent the environment as the result of experience • Learning is demonstrated by changes in behavior • Much of animal behavior is instinctive; many of the complexities of human behavior are learned • Instinct: stereotyped pattern of behavior triggered by a specific stimulus common among most of a species • Language, culture, manners, prejudices all learned • Families & communities provide examples, rewards, punishments to guide us and perpetuate social norms • Learning can stem from our own experiences, we also can learn vicariously—from the experiences of others

3. Classical Conditioning • Associative learning based on work of Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s study of digestion • Interested in drooling response of digestive system • Noticed that dogs began to drool not just at presence of food, but also presence of researcher who fed them • Components of Classical Conditioning • Unconditioned response (UCR): an innate, reflexive behavior dependent of presence of specific stimulus • Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): stimulus that elicits UCR • Conditioned stimulus (CS): a neutral stimulus (does not evoke any response) that is repeatedly paired with UCS • Conditioned response (CR): behavioral response to CS • Variations within Classical Conditioning • Generalization & discrimination: CS is adaptive • Extinction & Spontaneous Recovery: CR comes & goes • Works on emotional responses, not just reflexes • Behaviorism pioneer John B. Watson & “Little Albert” • Albert learned to fear previously neutral stimulus (rabbit) • Watson received criticism for failure to counter-condition

4. Behaviorism: A History • Psychological school founded by John B. Watson • A philosophy of psychology asserting that all that organisms do can be considered behavior, and behaviors can be changed by changing the one’s environment • Watson: “Psychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its goal is the prediction and control of behavior. ” • Insisted that an exclusive focus on observable behavior was the only way to study humans objectively • Rejection of study of cognition, consciousness, etc. • Served as a strong rebuttal of eugenics movement • The Radical Behaviorism B.F. Skinner • Work with creating & controlling animals’ environments (Skinner Box) led to theories of operant conditioning • Future behaviors shaped by consequences of past actions • Recognized the existence of internal processes, but emphasized the interaction of behavior & environment • all action is determined, therefore free will does not exist • Walden II: how to create ideal society through behaviorism • Behaviorism lost popularity during cognitive revolution but has a growing place within applied psych today

5. Operant Conditioning • Organisms learn to engage in a certain behavior because of the consequences of that behavior • Based on work of American psychologist B.F. Skinner • Operants: voluntary behaviors that are reinforced • Reinforce: to follow a behavior with a stimulus that increases the frequency of that behavior (vs. reward?) • Positive reinforcer: a reinforcer that when presented increases the frequency of the operant behavior • Negative reinforcer: a reinforcer that when removed increases the frequency of the operant behavior • Punishment: to follow a behavior with an stimulus that decreases frequency of that behavior • Effects of punishment highly debated with little consensus • Behavioralists care not if subjects like or dislike consequence, only if they increase/decrease frequency • Behavior Analysis: ABC’s of Operant Conditioning • Antecedent: stimuli that typically precede behavior • Behavior: desired or undesired, specific and targeted act • Consequence: stimuli immediately following behavior • Study of antecedents/consequences shape behaviors Classical & Operant Conditioning can tough to separate.

6. Antecedent

7. Behavior

8. Consequence

9. Cognitive Factors in Learning • Cognitive Maps: learning without reinforcement • Behaviorists: we acquire only reinforced behaviors • Experiments with rats in mazes demonstrate latent learning & separate learning from performance • Contingency Theory: Conditioning with Meaning • In attempt to demonstrate cognitive factors in classical conditioning, Rescorla conducted this experiment: • Group 1: Electric shocks (US) followed tone (CS) • Group 2: Received equal # of shocks and tones, but shock never immediately followed tone (dogs learned to relax during tones, showing learning was not unconscious) • Group 3: Equal # of shocks & tones, but each at random intervals (dogs showed no fear response to tone) • Conclusion: CS must have meaning to elicit CR • Observational Learning: Learning Vicariously • Based on work of American psychologist Albert Bandura • Demonstrated that we learn by watching others act • May account for majority of human learning • Observer may choose whether or not to mimic role model • Bobo Doll Experiment: studied transmission of aggression through modeling and observing aggressive behavior

10. The Various Types of Memories • Prospective memories: remembering to do things in the future (goals, to-do lists, etc.) • Retrospective memories: recalling information that has been previously learned/experienced • Explicit memory: memory of specific information • Episodic memory: memories of events experienced by a person or that take place in a person’s presence • Semantic memory: general knowledge, trivia • Implicit memory: memory of how to perform a task • The Three Processes of Memory • Encoding: modifying info so it can be placed in memory • Visual code: mental representation of information as image • Acoustic code: mental representation of info as sound • Semantic code: mental rep. of info according to its meaning • Storage: maintenance of information over time • Maintenance rehearsal: repeating info to aid in storage • Elaborative rehearsal: new info related to previously stored • Retrieval: location of previously stored information and its return to conscious thought Memory: process in which info is encoded, stored, & retrieved

11. OTTFFSSENT

12. The Three Stages of Memory • Sensory Memory: Flashes on the Mental Monitor • Combines separate bits of sensory info to create impression of fluid “stream of consciousness” • Memory trace: assumed change in nervous system that reflects impression made by a stimulus • Held in sensory register, sensory information can be lost within 1-3 seconds if not attended to • Short-Term Memory (aka Working Memory): Keeping Things “In Mind” • Focusing on sensory information moves it into Short-Term memory (conscious thought) • Information in STM can be examined, manipulated, rehearsed, and potentially stored in LTM • If info in STM is not attended to it can be lost 15-60 seconds; STM can hold around 7 items at once • Long-Term Memory: The Warehouse of Your Life • If information is successfully stored into LTM, research suggests it is there for a lifetime • Some researchers believe that there is no limit to amount of info that can be stored in LTM • In order to be remembered, an appropriate cue must be able to retrieve info back to STM

14. A G R EV L S BN K B T

17. U H D TS B E RY W N D

19. Issues with Memories • Eyewitness Testimony has its Faults • Our memories are not “exact recordings” of events • Each person’s perceptions, memories are influenced by schemas (mental representations of the world) • Expectations, beliefs, stereotypes, biases, etc. • Retrieval cues can also influence what is remembered • “How fast were the cars traveling when they hit?” vs. “How fast were they going when they smashed into each other?” • Inaccuracies in Remembering • Leveling: we tend to leave out details as we store info • Sharpening: we tend to focus on certain notable details • What is notable varies from person to person • Schemas (mental shortcuts) often fill in gaps in memory with stereotypes in both storage and retrieval processes • Debate regarding the legitimacy of recovered memories • Freud: experiences too painful to deal with unconsciously repressed, and can be retrieved through hypnosis. • Loftus: suggestibility of hypnotic trance creates opportunity for memories to be “implanted” by hypnotist • Selective memory: we seem to remember some things the way we wanted them to have happened

20. Eye-witness Testimony • Describe the physical appearance of the assailant or assailants. • Did the robbers have any weapons? If so, describe these weapons. 3. Describe the exact sequence of events that took place. • Describe in as much detail any important dialogue that took place. • Was the situation fairly violent? Was there any swearing? 6. How long did the entire incident take?

21. Eye-witness Testimony (5=Very Accurate 1=VeryInaccurate) • Describe the physical appearance of the assailant or assailants. • Two men, both in long tan coats, work boots, one in a white shirt the other in a blue Hawaiian shirt. The man in the white shirt was slightly taller, with curly brown hair and “mutton chop” sideburns. The man in the blue shirt had straight, medium-length hair, a gap tooth. They had with them an infant in a car seat. • Did the robbers have any weapon? If so, describe these weapons. • Both men had single-barrel shotguns 3. Describe the exact sequence that took place. • Men entered the bank, confusion about getting on the ground, men argued with each other, money was put in the bag, men said they’d return in 5 mins, then left. • Describe in as much detail the dialogue that took place. • Taller man told everyone to freeze & to get on the ground. Old man said, “which is it young feller?”… One man called the other man “Gale”. • Was the situation fairly violent? Was there any swearing? • Not really, he did say the “S” word, “wear their ass for a hat” • How long did the entire incident take? • 1 minute, 40 seconds

22. “A TWA Boeing 747 had just taken off from Miami International Airport for Los Angeles when a passenger near the rear of the aircraft announced that it was being taken over by the People’s Revolutionary Army for the Liberation of the Oppressed. The hijacker held a .357 magnum to the head of Jack Swanson, a flight attendant, and forced him to open the cockpit door. There, the hijacker confronted the pilot, Jane Randall, and ordered her to change course for Cuba. The pilot radioed the Miami air traffic control center to report the situation but then suddenly hurled the microphone at the hijacker. The hijacker fell backward through the open cockpit door and onto the floor, where angry passengers took over from there. The plane landed in Miami a few minutes later and the hijacker was arrested.

23. Can You Remember How We Forget? • Failures in storage or retrieval of information • Normal Instances of Forgetting • Decay: the natural disappearance of information at each of the three stages of memory over time • SM: 1-3 seconds, STM: 15-60 sec, LTM: no decay • Interference: when novel stimuli pushes info out of STM • Example: trying to tell a story and someone keeps asking questions (interruptions) • Forgetting Curve is based on interference theory; that unless we rehearse, newly learned info pushes out old info • Infantile Amnesia: our brains are not developed enough to store and retrieve memories until a certain age (?) • Abnormal Instances of Forgetting • Anterograde Amnesia: an inability to form new memories following brain trauma, surgery, or shock • Retrograde Amnesia: an inability to recall memories prior to physical (or perhaps emotional) trauma • Dissociative Amnesia: Freud’s concept of repression • Alzheimer's Disease: loss of brain functioning as the result of physical changes within adult brain • Memory loss is NOT a natural result of aging