Behavioral Sciences: Chapter 3

Front 1

Repeated exposure to the same stimulus can cause this.

Back 1

Habituation.

Front 2

This process is defined as the recovery of a response to a stimulus after habituation occured. This is often noted when a second stimulus interrupts the habituation process of the initial stimulus.

Back 2

This is known as dishabituation.

Front 3

The MCAT focuses on two types of learning. What are they?

Back 3

Associative learning

Observational learning

Front 4

What is associative learning?

Back 4

Associative learning is the creation of a pairing, or association, either between two stimuli or between a bahavior and a response.

Front 5

What is classical conditioning?

Back 5

Classical conditioning is a type of association that takes advantage of biological, instinctual responses to create associations between two unrelated stimuli.

Front 6

Any stimulus that brings about a reflexive response is known as what?

Back 6

This is an unconditioned stimulus.

Front 7

This is a response that is innate or is automatic. It is not paired with any other stimulus.

Back 7

This is an Unconditioned response.

Front 8

These stimuli do not produce any reaponse at all. What are these called?

Back 8

Stimuli that do not cause a reflexive response are known as neutral stimuli.

Front 9

Classical conditioning is also called this...

Back 9

Acquisition

Front 10

When a conditioned stimulus is presented to the organism too many times wothout the unconditioned stimulus, then this may occur.

Back 10

This can cause exctinction. For example, a dog that hears a ringing bell but stops receiving food for it.

Front 11

What is spontaneous recovery?

Back 11

Spontaneous recovery occurs when an extant conditiones stimulus spontaneously results in a mild conditioned response.

Front 12

This is a brodeaning effect, by which a stimulus similiar enough to the conditioned stimulus causes a conditioned response.

Back 12

This is known as generalization

Front 13

What is discrimination?

Back 13

Discrimination occurs when an organism can distinguish between two similiar stimuli. This is the opposite of generalization.

Front 14

This type of associative learning links voluntary behavior with consequences in order to alter the frequency of those behaviors.

Back 14

This is known as operant conditioning!

Front 15

Operant conditioning is associated with B.F. skinner. What is he considered the father of?

Back 15

behaviorism.

Front 16

What is reinforcement?

Back 16

Reinforcement is the process of increasing the likelihood that an individual will perform a bahavior.

Front 17

There are two categories or reinforcement;posotive and negative. Whats the difference between the two?

Back 17

Positive reinforcement works by increasing the desored behavior by adding a positive consequence or posotive incentive. Negative reinforcement works by affording a desired outcome by removing something unpleasant.

Front 18

Negative reinforcers can be subdivided into two different categories. What are they?

Back 18

Escape learning

Avoidance learning

Front 19

What is escape learning?

Back 19

Escape learning occurs when an organisms behavior is to reduce the unpleasantness of something that already exists. Such as taking an aspirin to get rid of a headache.

Front 20

What is avoidance learning?

Back 20

Avoidance learning is meant to prevent the unpleasantness of something that has yet to happen. Such as studying for the mcat to avoid the unpleasant consequence of a poor test score! :)

Front 21

Classical conditioning and operant conditioning go hand in hand. In terms of operant conditioning, what is the equivalent of an unconditioned stimulus in operant conditioning?

Back 21

This is known as a primary reinforcer.

Front 22

In contrast to reinforcement, punishment is used in order to reduce the occurence of a behavior. There is positive punishment as well as negative punishment. What is the difference between the two?

Back 22

Positive punishment works by adding an unpleasant consequence in a reaponse to reduce that behavior. Negative punishment works by reduction of a behavior when a stimulus is removed.

Front 23

What are the four factors that determine reinforcement schedules

Back 23

Fixed

Variable

Ratio

Interval

Front 24

Define a fixed ratio schedule

Back 24

Fixed ratio schedules reinforce a behavior after a specific number of times that behavior is performed. Such as the reward of a food pellet to a rat every third time they press a lever.

Front 25

Define a variable ratio schedule

Back 25

A variable ratio reinforcement scheduled works to reinforce a behavior after a varying number of performances of that behavior.

Front 26

What is a fixed interval schedule?

Back 26

A fixed interval schedule works to reinforce an initial behavior withing the boundaries of a concrete scedule. Such as a mouse receiving a pellet every 60 minutes-regardlesa of how many times it presses the button or lever.

Front 27

Describe a variable interval schedule.

Back 27

A variable interval schedule worka by having a loosely set schedule that rewards a behavior. This is like a rat getting a pellet when it presses a lever after 60 second. Afterwards, the pellet will only be received after 90 seconds, etc...

Front 28

Out of all the reinforcement schedules,which one works the fastest with the highest resistance to extinction?

Back 28

This would be variable ratio scheduling.

Front 29

What is latent learning?

Back 29

Latent learning is the learning that occurs withoit a reward but is spontaneously demonstrated once a reward is introduced.

Front 30

This is the biological predisposition that is observed in different organsisms when it comes to their ability to be conditioned to perform a certain behavior.

Back 30

This is preparedness

Front 31

What is instinctual drift?

Back 31

Instinctual drift is known as the difficulty training an animal to overcome instinctual behaviors.

Front 32

What a mirror neurons? What do they do? Where are they?

Back 32

Mirror neurons are found in the frontal and parietal lobes of yhe cerebral cortex. These neurons seem to be vital to observational learning as they fire when we observe an individual performing an action amd when another imitates that action.

Front 33

The formation of memories can be divided into three major processes. What are they?

Back 33

Encoding

Storage

Retreival

Front 34

This refers to the process of putting new information into memory.

Back 34

Encoding

Front 35

This is information gained without effort

Back 35

Automatic processing

Front 36

Active memorization of subjects and ideas.

Back 36

Active (effortful) processing.

Front 37

What are 3, main, different types of encoding?

Back 37

Viual encoding

Acoustic encoding

Semantic encoding

Front 38

Out of visual, acoustic, and semantic encoding, which is the strongest? The weakest?

Back 38

The strongest is semantic encoding, the weakest is visual encoding.

Front 39

What is the self reference effect?

Back 39

The self reference effect is the phenomenon that we see when we can succesfully recall information and facts when it is in context of our own lives.

Front 40

This is the repetition of a peice of information to keep it within memory.

Back 40

Maintenance rehearsal

Front 41

This method involves associating each item on a list with a location on a route you are already familiar with.

Back 41

This is the method of loci

Front 42

What is the peg word system?

Back 42

The peg word system associates numbers with items that ryme with or resemble the numbers. Such as one-sun, two-shoe....

Front 43

This is a memory trick that involves taking individual elements of a large list and grouping them into words with related meanings.

Back 43

Chunking (clustering)

Front 44

What is the most fleeting kind of memory?

Back 44

This is sensory memory. This consists of both iconic and echoic memory.

Front 45

How long does ahort term usually last (without rehearsal)?

Back 45

Short term memory usually lasts about 30 seconds without rehearsal.

Front 46

Explain working memory.

Back 46

Working memory enables us to keep a few peices of information in our subconscious simultaneously and to manipulate that information. This involves the integration of short term memory, attention, and executive function.

Front 47

This rehearsal is usually what allows us to devote information to long term storage. This work by associating new information to already known information in long term storage. This is closely tied to the self reference effect.

Back 47

Elaborative rehearsal

Front 48

There are two types of long term memory. What are they? Explain them.

Back 48

Implicit memory (nondeclarative or procedural memory) consists of our skills and conditioned responses. Explicit (declarative) memory consists of memories that require conscious recall.

Front 49

Explicit (declarative memory) can then be split into two seperate types of memories. What are they?

Back 49

The two different types of declarative memory include episodic memory and semantic memory. Episodic memory is the recollection of events and experiences, while semantic memory is the recollection of facts and concepts.

Front 50

This is the ability to succesfully retrieve memories from long term storage. This shows that learning has been accomplished.

Back 50

This is retreival, or otherwise known as recall.

Front 51

What is recognition? How is it different from recall?

Back 51

Recognition is merely identifying a peice of information that was previously learned. Recognition is much more easily acheived than recall.

Front 52

This is the phenomenon witnessed when someone learned material over a span of time, which affords more accurate and precise memory recall.

Back 52

This is known as the spacing effect. This was disocered by ebbinghaus.

Front 53

Explain what a semantic network is

Back 53

A semantic network is a network that is connected by similiar ideas, and filed accordingly.

Front 54

This retreival cue states that concepts and ideas learned in a specif environment or place will be recalled more efficiently in like environments.

Back 54

This is known as the context effect

Front 55

This retreival cue is dependant on the mental and physical state of the individual.

Back 55

State dependant memory

Front 56

This degenerative brain disorder is thought to be linked to the loss of acetylcholine in neurons that are linked to the hippocampus.

Back 56

Alzheimers disease

Front 57

What is dementia?

Back 57

Simply put, dementia is the loss of cognitive function.

Front 58

Microscopic findings of alzheimers patients have found thse abnormal structures.

Back 58

Beta-amyloid plaques

Neurofibrillary tangles

Front 59

What is karsakoffs syndrome?

Back 59

Karsakoffs syndrome is a form of memory loss caused by thiamine deficiency in the brain. This disorfer is marked by both retrograde amnesia as well as anterograde amnesia.

Front 60

This is a very common symptom of karsakoffs disease. Explain what it is.

Back 60

Confabulation is a very common symptom of karsakoffs disease. This is where the diseased created vivid, fabricated memories in order to fill in the void memories.

Front 61

This is the inability to recognize sounds, objects, or people. What can cause it?

Back 61

Agnosia. It is often caused by physical damage to the brain, such as a stroke or neurological disorder multiple sclerosis.

Front 62

Another common reason for memory loss is known as interference. What are the two types of intererence and how do they work?

Back 62

Proactive interference occurs when old memories prove to interfere with the formation of new memories. For example, reciting your new address when you just moved. Retroactive interference occurs when the learning of nrlew information causes the loss of retrieval for old information.

Front 63

This is the type of memory thay deals with remembering to perform a task at some point in the future.

Back 63

Prospective memory.

Front 64

This effect spans over the idea that memories can be altered and changed fue to influence and emotion.

Back 64

The misinformation effect

Front 65

What is source amnesia?

Back 65

Source amnesia is a memory constructive error where memories from episodic memory and semantic memory are swapped, or incorrectly recalled. This means thay the person is confusing the context in which the information was obtained.

Front 66

What is beleived to be the neurophysiological basis of long term memory?

Back 66

This occurs when a certain stimulus is repeated, and the stimulated neurons become more eficient at releasing neurotransmitters. The is called long-term potentiation

Front 67

True or false: State dependent recall is associated with internal states rather than external states.

Back 67

True! For example, state dependant memory is seen in individuals who are intoxicated. This should not be confused with the context effect (in what setting an individual was when they acquired the information).