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Learning and Memory

ksweeney@cogsci.ucsd.edu cogsci.ucsd.edu/~ksweeney/psy260.html

Introduction to Physiological Psychology

Comments on your comments

n Thank you! n Some things that I can change NOW:

–  Slow down? –  Post draft of lecture before class –  Have more visual demonstrations? –  Continue to find videos when possible

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Comments on your comments

n Some things I can change in the future: –  Cover less material

n Some things I can’t change: –  This is physiological psychology… so a certain

amount of chemistry and biology (and all the new and strange terminology that goes along with that) is inevitable

n Learning – the process whereby experiences change our nervous system (and hence, our behavior)

n Memory- the changes brought about by learning, the storage and reactivation of these changes

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Bed Rest Awake Tired Dream Wake Night Blanket Doze Slumber Snore Pillow Peace Yawn Drowsy

Butter Food Eat Sandwich Rye Jam Milk Flour Jelly Dough Crust Slice Wine Loaf Toast

Nurse Sick Lawyer Medicine Health Hospital Dentist Physician Ill Patient Office Stethoscope Surgeon Clinic Cure

List 1 List 2 List 3

Roediger & McDermott, 1995

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Bed Rest Awake Tired Dream Wake Night Blanket Doze Slumber Snore Pillow Peace Yawn Drowsy

Butter Food Eat Sandwich Rye Jam Milk Flour Jelly Dough Crust Slice Wine Loaf Toast

Nurse Sick Lawyer Medicine Health Hospital Dentist Physician Ill Patient Office Stethoscope Surgeon Clinic Cure

List 1 List 2 List 3

Sleep Bread Doctor

Roediger & McDermott, 1995

What is memory?

n Working Memory: –  Limited capacity (7 +/- 2) –  Information can be held for several minutes

with rehearsal §  (e.g. memory system you use when you have to remember a

phone number but have no place to write it down)

n Long-term Memory: –  Very large capacity –  Essentially infinite duration

§  e.g. memory system you need when you are reminiscing with friends, or taking a final exam

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Different Kinds of Long-term Memory

n Declarative Memory: further subdivided into…

–  Semantic Memory- factual memory, general world knowledge §  (e.g. what is an airplane? Who was George Washington? What

state is San Diego in?)

–  Episodic Memory- autobiographical memory for events… mental time travel! To remember you must remember time and place of event. §  (e.g. what were you doing when you hear that an airplane

had struck the WTC? How did you celebrate your 18th birthday?)

Different Kinds of Long-term Memory

n Procedural (Nondeclarative) Memory

–  Procedures used by an individual to operate effectively on some task

–  Memory for procedures is usually implicit, and skills can be performed “automatically” § E.g. memory for typing, riding a bike, tracing a

star, playing the piano… also priming, operant conditioning

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Working Memory Long-term Memory

Procedural Memory

Declarative Memory

Episodic Memory

Semantic Memory

Memory

What can possibly go wrong?

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Forms of Learning

Perceptual Learning

Motor Learning

Stimulus-Response Learning

Relational Learning

Objects

Situations

Form new circuits in the motor system

Form connection between perception and action

Connections between stimuli

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Stimulus-Response learning n Classical Conditioning

–  An unimportant stimulus begins to elicit a similar response as an important one

–  It involves an association between two stimuli, one of which is reflexive

n Operant Conditioning (or Instrumental Conditioning)

–  A particular stimulus begins to elicit a particular response

–  It involves an association between a stimulus and a response

Classical Conditioning

Unconditional Stimulus

Conditional Response

Conditional Stimulus

Unconditional Response

Classical conditioning involves an association between two stimuli

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Classical Conditioning

n Famous example: Pavlov’s dogs –  First, present dogs with food and measure

amount of saliva –  Then, start ringing a bell just before food is

presented (at first, saliva only occurs at presentation of food)

–  In time, salivation occurs in response to the bell

–  Conditioning has occurred

Classical Conditioning

n Unconditional Stimulus- dog food n Unconditional Response- salivation n Conditional Stimulus- bell n Conditional Response- salivation

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But what has happened in the brain? n Hebb postulated:

–  the cellular basis of learning involves strengthening of a synapse that is repeatedly active when the postsynaptic neuron fires

–  “neurons that fire together, wire together”

Forms of Learning

Perceptual Learning

Motor Learning

Stimulus-Response Learning

Relational Learning

Objects

Situations

Form new circuits in the motor system

Form connection between perception and action

Connections between stimuli

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n Reinforcing stimulus (favorable consequences)

§ Appetitive stimulus that follows a particular behavior and thus makes behavior occur with greater frequency

n Punishing stimulus (unfavorable consequences)

§ Aversive stimulus that follows a particular behavior and thus makes behavior occur more rarely

Instrumental (or Operant) Conditioning

Instrumental (or Operant) Conditioning

Something Good can start or be presented; Something Good can end or be taken away; Something Bad can start or be presented; Something Bad can end or be taken away.

Instrumental conditioning involves an association between a stimulus and a response

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Forms of Learning

Perceptual Learning

Motor Learning

Stimulus-Response Learning

Relational Learning

Objects

Situations

Form new circuits in the motor system

Form connection between perception and action

Connections between stimuli

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Motor Learning n  A component of S-R learning, motor learning is

learning to make a new (physical) response n  The more novel the behavior, the more the

neural circuits in the nervous system must be modified

Forms of Learning

Perceptual Learning

Motor Learning

Stimulus-Response Learning

Relational Learning

Objects

Situations

Form new circuits in the motor system

Form connection between perception and action

Connections between stimuli

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Learning n All forms of learning involve changes in

the ways that neurons communicate.

What can possibly go wrong? n Anterograde Amnesia:

–  Amnesia for events occurring after the precipitating event.

n Retrograde Amnesia: –  Amnesia for events occurring before the

precipitating event.

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What can possibly go wrong? n Anterograde Amnesia:

–  Amnesia for events occurring after the precipitating event.

n Retrograde Amnesia: –  Amnesia for events occurring before the

precipitating event.

Hippocampus 3D

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The Hippocampus

Image: Seress, 1980 Image from Bear et al., 2001