PSYB64 Textbook notes - Chapter 12 Learning and Memory
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Course
PSYB64 (PSYB64)
Institution
University Of Toronto (U Of T
)
Book
Discovering Behavioral Neuroscience: An Introduction to Biological Psychology
Detailed textbook chapter notes for chapter 12 Learning and Memory.
Freberg, L. (2018). Discovering Behavioral Neuroscience: An introduction to Biological Psychology. Cengage Learning.
Categorizing Learning and Memory
Types of Learning
- The behavior of organisms can be separated into three major categories: reflexes, fixed
action patterns (instincts), and learned behaviors:
Reflex - An involuntary response to a stimulus.
Fixed action pattern (also known as instinct) - A stereotyped pattern of behavior elicited by
particular environmental stimuli.
Learning - A relatively permanent change in behavior or the capacity for behavior due to
experience.
- Like reflexes, fixed action patterns are automatic, unconscious responses to the
environment, but their behavioral patterns are more complex. Once initiated in response
to a releaser, the stereotypical fixed action pattern runs to completion and usually cannot
be stopped. Most fixed action patterns involve mating or parenting behavior.
- Learning provides organisms with the most flexible means for responding to the
environment. Learning occurs in one of two ways:
Nonassociative learning - A type of learning that involves a change in the magnitude of
responses to stimuli rather than the formation of connections between elements or events.
Associative learning - A type of learning that involves the formation of a connection between
two elements or events.
NONASSOCIATIVE LEARNING: HABITUATION AND SENSITIZATION
Habituation - A type of learning in which the response to a repeated, harmless stimulus
becomes progressively weaker.
Sensitization - A type of learning in which the experience of one stimulus heightens response
to subsequent stimuli.
- For example, following major disasters such as earthquakes, responses to movement,
light, and noise are often exaggerated. Increasing our overall level of responsiveness as a
result of detecting one type of harmful stimulus makes us able to react more quickly to
other sources of potential harm, even if the precise stimulus that signals danger changes.
ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING: CLASSICAL AND
OPERANT CONDITIONING
Classical conditioning - A type of associative
learning in which a neutral stimulus acquires
the ability to signal the occurrence of a second,
biologically significant event.
- Conditioned stimulus (CS) - An
initially neutral event that takes on the
ability to signal other biologically
significant events.
, - Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) - An event that elicits a response without prior
experience.
- Conditioned response (CR) - A learned reaction to the conditioned stimulus.
- Unconditioned response (UCR) - A spontaneous unlearned reaction to a stimulus
without prior experience.
Operant conditioning - Learning that links behavior with its consequences, producing
change in the subsequent frequency of the behavior.
- Organisms form connections between a behavior and its consequences that impact the
subsequent frequency of that behavior.
- Reinforcing consequences increase the likelihood the behavior will be repeated, while
punishing consequences reduce the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated.
- Unlike classical conditioning, which is an association between two stimuli (e.g.,
metronome and food), operant conditioning links a behavior and a stimulus (pressing a
bar leads to food).
- Classical conditioning usually involves relatively involuntary behaviors, such as fear or
salivation, while operant conditioning usually affects voluntary behaviors, like studying
for an exam.
Types of Memory
- Learning and memory are best viewed as occurring along a continuum of time that also
includes attention, sensation, and perception. Critical steps along the pathway of
memory processing include encoding, consolidation, and retrieval:
- Encoding refers to the transformation of input into a form the brain can process
further.
- Consolidation refers to the organization of memory information into more
long-term storage.
- Retrieval, of course, is the recovery of the stored information. When we retrieve
memories, they become vulnerable to modification, and need stabilization
through the process of reconsolidation.
Information processing models of memory assume that information flows through a
series of stages on its way to permanent storage:
, Sensory memory - An initial stage in memory formation in which large amounts of data can
be held for very short periods of time.
Short-term memory - An intermediate memory store in which limited amounts of data can
be held for a limited amount of time; without further processing, such information is
permanently lost.
- Short-term memory has a limited capacity, somewhere between five and nine unrelated
items. When we try to add additional items, previous information is often lost. In
addition to having a limited capacity, short-term memory is also temporary.
Long-term memory - A memory store in which apparently unlimited amounts of data can be
held for an unlimited amount of time.
Long-term memories can
be either declarative or
nondeclarative:
- Declarative memory - An explicit memory for semantic or episodic information that
can easily be verbalized, or "declared'.
- Declarative memories are further divided into semantic and episodic memories, which
together form the basis of our autobiographical memories:
- Semantic memory - A type of declarative, explicit memory for facts and verbal
information.
- Episodic memory - A type of declarative, explicit memory for personal
experience.
- Using your semantic memory, you can answer questions such as "Who was the
first president of the United States?" or "What is a bagel?", while you use your
episodic memory to remember the episodes of your life-what you ate for
breakfast, etc.
- Non-declarative memory - An implicit memory that is accessed unconsciously and
automatically.
- Nondeclarative memories include classical conditioning, procedural memory, and
priming:
- Procedural memory - A type of implicit memory for performing learned skills
and tasks.
- Procedural memory stores information about motor skills and procedures such as
riding a bicycle, using a software program, or cooking your favorite meal.
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