Learning

Chapter 7

1. What are the three different types of learning? Remember learning is associated with the
impact that the environment (versus hereditary or genetic) has on you. Answer:
- Classical Conditioning (Pavlov)
- Operant Conditioning (Skinner)
- Observational Learning (Bandura)

2. At a practical level, why is it important for you to know the three different types of
learning (address each type of learning)?
- Classical Conditioning
- Operant Conditioning
- Observational Learning

3. Describe classical conditioning. (Be sure to have an excellent practical understanding of

it; give examples.)

- Key terms: UCS, UCR, NS, CS, and CR.

- Other key terms: extinction, spontaneous recovery, stimulus generalization and

stimulus discrimination.

4. Describe operant conditioning. (Be sure to have an excellent practical understanding of it;
give examples.)

- Key terms: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and

negative punishment (time-out falls in here), and extinction.

- Why might physical punishment be negative?

- Other key terms: schedules of reinforcement: Fixed Ratio, Fixed Interval, Variable
Ratio, Variable Interval, shaping, intermittent (or partial) reinforcement (and its
relationship to extinction).

- How do people undermine intrinsic motivation?

- Do you believe the statement that you are a product of your reinforcement history?

5. Describe observational learning. (Be sure to have an excellent practical understanding of

it; give examples.) Be aware that synonymous terms are social learning, imitative
learning, and modeling.
Memory
Chapter 8
1. Describe sensory memory (iconic & echoic), short-term memory (STM), and long-term
memory (LTM).
- Sensory memory: the immediate, very brief recording of sensory information in the
memory system (iconic- visual; echoic- auditory)
- Short-term memory: activated memory that holds a few items briefly, such as digits
of a phone number while calling, before the information is stored or forgotten
- Long-term memory: the relatively permanent and limitless storehouse of the memory
system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences
- Key term: Consolidation (hippocampus)- the transfer of information from STM to
LTM.
- What is encoding and encoding failure (give examples)?
o Encoding: moving from STM to LTM
o Encoding failure: failure to move from STM to LTM
2. Describe the different types of memories:
- Declarative (knowing that); episodic, semantic
o Episodic memory is based on memory for personal episodes
(autobiographical experiences). Semantic memory is memory for facts.
- Procedural (knowing how; motor memory)
o Procedural memory is the memory for knowledge of motor procedures such
as driving a stick shift, cooking a favorite recipe, or line dancing (name some
other examples).
3. Effortful versus automatic processing. Relate the different types of memories to effortful
and automatic processing.
- Semantic memory results from effortful processing. When engaging in a task
requiring procedural knowledge effortful processing is necessary, but with enough
practice the task is executed through automatic processing. Episodic memory tends to
be based on automatic processing
- What is the difference between implicit and explicit memory?
o Implicit: retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations
independent of conscious recollection
o Explicit: retention of facts and experiences that we can consciously know and
“declare”
- The hippocampus plays a critical role in explicit memory. The left hippocampus
plays a role in the consolidation of verbal information, and the right hippocampus
plays a role on the consolidation of nonverbal information.
- Key term: Chunking, serial position effect (give examples), the spacing effect,
mnemonic device, hierarchical organization (relate this to the conceptual framework
used in class).
- Is rehearsal or meaningful encoding (elaborative rehearsal or deep processing) more
effective in remembering information?- meaningful encoding
4. Give examples of failing to retrieve information from memory. Be sure to include
repression.
- Key terms: priming, state-dependent memory, interference (proactive, retroactive),
and the misinformation effect (or false memory).
5. What are possible reasons why children may not give accurate recollections of possible
sexual abuse?
- Children may suppress memories that are harmful to them in some way
6. What hormone is especially likely to facilitate memory?
- Epinephrine