Learning, Remembering, and Forgetting –
Summary
Introduction
Hello students,
Welcome to the summary of Learning, Remembering, and Forgetting. This course belongs to the
domain of brain and cognition at Radboud University in Nijmegen.
This summary entails the following chapters:
Chapter 3 Habituation, Sensitization, and Familiarization
Chapter 4 Classical conditioning
Chapter 5 Operant conditioning
Parts of Chapter 6 Generalization, Discrimination Learning, and Concept formation
Chapter 7 Episodic Memory and Semantic memory
Parts of Chapter 8 Skill Memory
Chapter 9 Working Memory and Cognitive Control
Chapter 10 Emotional Influences on Learning and Memory
Chapter 12 Development and Aging
Apart from a summary of the literature ascribed above, I have included a certain amount of
questions for you to answer in this document about the literature you are supposed to study per
lecture. The answers to these questions can be found below these. Additionally, I have added some
questions for you to practice with classical conditioning examples which might help you since this is a
topic that will most certainly return in the exam.
By buying this summary you have access to additional study help on Quizlet in which all terms you
are required to study for the exam are explained. These sets will help you understand the key terms
better. You can find the link to the Quizlet classroom and the password on the last page of this
document.
Good luck with studying and the exam!
Best regards,
Imre
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,Chapter 3 Habituation, Sensitization, and Familiarization
3.1 Behavioural Processes
Learning is the process by which experiences can lead to changes in behavior. Such changes in
behavior are not always immediately obvious. Latent learning takes place without any initial
indications of changes in behavior.
General features of habituation
Habituation is a decrease in the strength or occurrence of behavior after repeated exposure to the
stimulus that produces the behavior. In the laboratory, researchers examine simple examples:
Acoustic startle reflex is a defensive response to loud unexpected noise which declines with
repeated exposures. This is when habituation occurs.
Orienting response is a natural reaction to sensing a novel stimulus or an important event.
The fixation time decreases with repeated presentations of the stimulus.
Advantages and disadvantages of habituation
- An advantage of habituation is that it avoids you to waste time and energy on unnecessary
responses to each repeated event.
- A disadvantage of habituation is that getting used to the sound of vehicles passing by, alarms
going off, and screaming children causes you to become skeptical of actual danger.
Stimulus specificity and dishabituation
An important feature of habituation is that habituation to one event does not cause habituation to
every other stimulus in the same sensory modality. Habituation is stimulus-specific.
When a baby’s orienting response to one visual stimulus has decreased after several
repetitions, the baby will show a strong orienting response to a new visual stimulus. The
renewal of responding provides evidence of habituation to the first visual stimulus because if
the baby was simply falling asleep, it should not matter what visual stimulus is presented.
Dishabituation happens when presenting a novel stimulus can lead to recovery of responses after an
individual has habituated to familiar stimuli. For example, when a baby is briefly shown a kitten after
the nineteenth repetition of a donut shape, the baby is likely to respond to the twentieth
presentation of a donut shape as if it were a novel image.
One way researchers can distinguish habituation from fatigue and other causes of decreased
behavioral response to repetition is by disrupting the repetition of experienced events.
Factors influencing the rate and duration of habituation
The duration and rate of habituation depend on several factors:
1. Frequency of exposure
2. Inter-stimulus interval
3. Stimulus salience
4. Stimulus specificity
The less arousing an event is, the more rapid a response to that event will habituate
The biggest changes in responding are seen when one is first becoming familiar with a stimulus
More rapid repetition of a stimulus generally leads to more rapid habituation
In massed exposure habituation happens fast but when testing after a long break they are more
likely to show spontaneous recovery
In spaced exposure habituation happens slowly but habituation effects last for a longer time
Habituation effects accumulate over time. After spontaneous recovery, it may now take only eight
trials before the infant’s orienting response becomes habituated: the effects of the repeated
experiences have been effectively amplified by the prior repetitions
To habituate quickly, make the stimulus as non-arousing as possible, use closely spaced
repetitions, and repeat the process frequently
Short-term habituation Long-term habituation
Habituation that goes away within seconds or Habituation that lasts longer than seconds or
minutes. minutes.
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,Spontaneous recovery = evoked response that has been weakened by habituation increases in
strength or reappears after a period of no stimulus presentation.
General features of sensitization
Sensitization is a phenomenon in which experiences with an arousing stimulus lead to stronger
responses to a later stimulus. Sensitization can rapidly dissipate in some situations but can lead to
longer-lasting learning in others and the long-term effects can be difficult to predict. Sensitization is
also context-dependent. The same repeated events can potentially lead to either habituation or
sensitization depending on the state of the organism. Fewer exposures are typically necessary to
produce sensitization. Sensitization is not stimulus-specific. Studying sensitization:
Electrodermal activity (EDA), is the measure of changes in the skin’s electrical conductivity
that are caused by fluctuations in the activity of the peripheral nervous system.
Prepulse inhibition, if a relatively quiet tone is presented just before a much louder and more
startling noise, the startle reflex to the louder noise may be reduced relative to the response
that would have occurred if only the startling sound had been heard. Prepulse inhibition is
also similar to sensitization in that:
- The initial weak stimulus can affect responding to a wide range of subsequent
stimuli, including stimuli in other modalities
- A single presentation of the weak stimulus can produce the effect
These properties have led researchers to describe prepulse inhibition as a case of desensitization, the
process in which past experiences reduce responses to a wide range of related stimuli. An example of
desensitization would be children that watch a lot of action movies and do not respond to violence as
much anymore as they used to.
Dual-process theory
Dual-process theory suggests that both habituation and sensitization processes occur in parallel
during every presentation of a stimulus and that the final response after repeated presentations
results from the combination of both processes.
- Initially, a stimulus such as S activates sensory neurons that lead to a motor response
R and also activates a separate state system signaling the detection of the stimulus.
- In habituation, repeated ‘boring’ presentations of S can weaken the connections
between neurons, thus reducing the strength of R or the likelihood that S leads to R.
- In sensitization, repeated exposure to an arousing stimulus increases the likelihood
that subsequent presentations of S lead to R by changing the global state of the
circuit such that all effects of stimuli are amplified.
Opponent process theory
Opponent process theory suggests that there are multiple phases of emotional responding.
- An initial phase that is scary is followed by a ‘rebound’ effect of exhilaration.
- After repeated experiences, the initial fear response may become weaker, whereas
the rebound responses grow stronger (what once was scary can become fun)
Opponent process theory is similar to dual-process theory in assuming that an experienced event
leads to two independent processes – in the case above, two emotional processes: pleasurable and
less pleasurable. The overall emotion a person experiences in response to an event is the combined
result of these two independent processes. Two features distinguish it from the dual-process theory:
- The rebound or opposing process is directly triggered by the initial emotional response.
- Both underlying processes in the opponent-process theory are associated with emotional
arousal.
Recognizing familiar objects
Habituation and sensitization generally do not require much physical or mental effort or initiative.
Exposure to objects and places often does not initially lead to obvious changes in behavior; latent
learning is the norm. Appropriately designed tests can, however, reveal a variety of short- and long-
term effects of repeated exposures. In the novel object recognition task, subjects are first exposed to
objects and allowed to explore and become familiar with them. Later, subjects are given another
opportunity to explore, but with a novel object in place of one of the familiar objects. Typically,
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, subjects show more interest in the novel object, which indicated that they recognize the familiar
object.
- Neophobia, actively avoiding novel objects. Not all animals are eager to investigate novel
objects. For example, dolphins bolt when a new object is brought near them. In this case, the
dolphin’s fear response provides evidence that an object is not familiar.
Priming
Priming is a phenomenon in which prior exposure to a stimulus can improve the ability to recognize
that stimulus later. The word-stem completion task, in which a person is given a list of word stems
and asked to fill in the blank with the first word that comes to mind. If people were previously
exposed to a list of words containing those stems they were much more likely to fill in the blanks to
form words that were present in that list even if they do not consciously remember having previously
seen the words on the list. Nonhuman animals show priming, too. For example, blue jays were found
to be better able to detect a moth if it is similar to a recently detected one, suggesting that prior
exposure facilitates detection. Priming can occur even in the absence of any feelings of familiarity or
recognition that a stimulus was previously experienced. In addition, priming effects may persist much
longer than recognition of past encounters.
Perceptual learning
Perceptual learning is learning in which repeated experiences with a set of stimuli make those stimuli
easier to distinguish (e.g. a student versus a professional). Whatever your specialty, you likely
developed your capacities to detect subtle differences through repeated exposures to those stimuli.
Gaining this kind of expertise can be through extensive practice or exposure to stimuli without any
conscious effort by the individual.
Statistical learning is when perceptual learning happens without explicit training because the
percepts that individuals learn the most about are those that are experienced most
frequently and consistently.
People show perceptual learning after repeated exposure in the laboratory. With more and
more exposure to scribbles, the participants began to distinguish the target scribble from
very similar but novel stimuli.
In the task of perceptual learning in humans, a person is given brief views of a particular scribble and
then tries to identify cards with the same scribble when they are mixed into a deck of cards with
other scribbles varying in similarity to the target scribble. The ability to identify the target scribble
gradually improves, even without feedback about performance.
Similarities and differences between priming and perceptual learning
Perceptual learning Priming Same or different?
Leads to more effective Leads to more effective Same
processing in subsequent processing in subsequent
encounters with the stimuli encounters with the stimuli
Can happen even if the learner Can happen even if the learner Same
is not aware that her does not consciously
sensitivities to perceptual remember having previously
learning are increasing seen the stimulus
The resulting increase in the The resulting increase in the Different
ability to tell similar stimuli changed ability of the
apart is long-lasting detection and recognition of
recently experienced stimuli is
short-term
Spatial learning
Spatial learning is the acquisition of information about one’s surroundings.
1.In the complex maze task, Edward Tolman placed rats in the start box of a complex maze. Rats
were rewarded with food every time they reached the food box and learned gradually to run to the
food box. Other rats were simply placed in the maze and allowed to explore, with no food reward.
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