Learning and Memory Flashcards

Question

Reciprocal Inhibition (Wolpe)

Answer 1

Reciprocal inhibition is a counterconditioning technique developed by Joseph Wolpe in which an anxiety‑evoking conditioned stimulus (CS) is paired with a response incompatible with anxiety—most commonly relaxation. The incompatible response inhibits the anxiety, weakening the conditioned fear reaction. EPPP cue: Pair anxiety cue with relaxation → anxiety inhibited. How It Works * Identify the anxiety‑producing CS * Train the client in a competing, incompatible response (e.g., deep muscle relaxation) * Present the CS while the client engages in the incompatible response * Over repeated pairings, the anxiety response is counterconditioned and diminishes Why It Matters Reciprocal inhibition is the **theoretical foundation for systematic desensitization**, one of the most influential behavioral treatments for phobias and anxiety. Key Features * Based on classical conditioning * Uses incompatible responses (relaxation, assertiveness, sexual arousal depending on the target behavior) * Reduces anxiety by replacing the conditioned fear response * Works through counterconditioning, not extinction (though research suggests extinction plays a major role) EPPP Cue * Wolpe = reciprocal inhibition → basis of systematic desensitization.

Answer 2

The information‑processing (multi‑store) model proposes that memory consists of **three separate but interacting stores:** * **Sensory memory (sensory register)** * **Short‑term memory (STM)** * **Long‑term memory (LTM)** **Sensory memeory** can store **a large amount of information**, but the information is retained for **no more than a few seconds**. Information in sensory memory is transferred to **STM** when it becomes the **focus of attention**. **STM** holds a **limited amount of information**, and **without rehearsal**, information begins to **fade within 30 seconds**. Information is likely to be transferred from **STM to LTM** when it is **encoded**, especially when encoding involves **elaborative rehearsal** (relating new information to existing information). The capacity of **LTM** appears to be **unlimited**. ## Footnote example: You glance at a phone number on a billboard (sensory memory). You repeat it to yourself long enough to dial it (STM). If you connect it to something meaningful—like “this is the vet’s number”—you’re more likely to store it long‑term (LTM).

Answer 3

Trace decay theory states that forgetting occurs because m**emory traces (engrams) gradually deteriorate over time.** The decay happens as a result of **disuse**, meaning that when information is not actively used or rehearsed, the physical or neurological trace weakens. The theory emphasizes **time‑based fading**, not interference or retrieval failure. ## Footnote example: You once memorized your high‑school locker combination, but years later you can’t recall it because the memory trace faded from lack of use.

Answer 4

* Operant extinction refers to the **elimination of a previously reinforced response** through the **consistent withholding of reinforcement following that response**. * Extinction is usually accompanied by a **temporary increase in the response**, known as an **extinction burst**. * The organism may respond **more frequently, more intensely, or more variably ** before the behavior begins to decline. ## Footnote example: A child throws tantrums because the parent usually gives candy to stop the behavior. When the parent stops giving candy (withholding reinforcement), the child initially throws even bigger or more frequent tantrums (extinction burst) before the tantrums eventually decrease.

Answer 5

* Blocking occurs when an association has already been established between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US). * Because this association is already learned, the CS blocks the formation of an association between a second neutral stimulus and the US when the CS and the new neutral stimulus are presented together before the US. * The organism does not learn about the second stimulus because the original CS already predicts the US, leaving no new information to acquire. ## Footnote example: A dog learns that a tone (CS) predicts food (US). Later, the tone is presented together with a light before food. Because the dog already knows the tone predicts food, it does not learn that the light also predicts food. The tone blocks conditioning to the light.

Answer 6

* Escape conditioning is an application of negative reinforcement in which the target behavior is an escape behavior—the organism performs the behavior to terminate or escape an already‑present negative reinforcer. * Simple example: A dog jumps over a barrier after receiving a mild shock; the jump ends the shock. The behavior is reinforced because it removes the aversive stimulus. * Avoidance conditioning combines classical conditioning with negative reinforcement. A cue (positive discriminative stimulus) signals that a negative reinforcer is about to occur, allowing the organism to perform the target behavior before the negative reinforcer happens, thereby avoiding it. * Simple example: A tone sounds before a shock is delivered. The dog learns to jump the barrier when the tone occurs, preventing the shock altogether. The behavior is reinforced because it avoids the aversive event.

Answer 7

* Response cost is a form of negative punishment in which a reinforcer is removed following a behavior in order to reduce or eliminate that behavior. * The removed reinforcer is often something tangible or quantifiable, such as tokens, points, privileges, or access to a desired activity. ## Footnote example: A student loses 2 tokens from their token‑economy balance each time they call out in class. Because the tokens can be exchanged for prizes, losing them decreases the likelihood of calling out.

Answer 8

* The learned helplessness model was originally based on the finding that animals exposed to an uncontrollable negative event (e.g., inescapable electric shock) later failed to escape even when escape became possible. * The reformulated version added the role of attributions, proposing that some forms of depression arise when individuals explain negative events using internal, stable, and global causes. * A subsequent revision acknowledged that attributions matter but argued they are important only insofar as they contribute to a sense of hopelessness, which is the immediate precursor to depression. ## Footnote Example: A student repeatedly fails math tests despite studying. * Original model: After many uncontrollable failures, the student stops trying because they believe nothing they do will help. * Reformulated model: The student thinks, “I’m bad at math (internal), I’ll always be bad at math (stable), and this affects everything I do (global).” * Revised model: These beliefs lead the student to feel hopeless about future success, which increases risk for depression.

Answer 9

* Continuous reinforcement delivers reinforcement after every target response. * Produces rapid acquisition, but behavior is highly susceptible to satiation and extinction. * Intermittent schedules of reinforcement include: * Fixed interval (FI): Reinforcement is provided at predetermined time intervals, as long as the subject makes at least one response. * Variable interval (VI): Reinforcement is provided at varying time intervals, with a predetermined average interval. * Fixed ratio (FR): Reinforcement is delivered after a predetermined number of responses. * Variable ratio (VR): Reinforcement is delivered after a varying number of responses, with the average number predetermined. * Variable ratio schedules produce high, stable response rates and the greatest resistance to extinction. ## Footnote Examples: * Continuous reinforcement: A vending machine gives a snack every time you insert money. * Fixed interval: A paycheck arrives every 2 weeks, regardless of how hard you worked during that interval. * Variable interval: Checking your email—messages arrive unpredictably, but on average every few hours. * Fixed ratio: A factory worker is paid for every 10 items assembled. * Variable ratio: Slot machines—payouts occur after an unpredictable number of plays, but with a set average.

Answer 10

* The Yerkes–Dodson law predicts that moderate levels of arousal are associated with optimal learning and performance. * The relationship between arousal and performance takes the form of an inverted‑U curve: * Low arousal → performance is weak due to low motivation or alertness. * Moderate arousal → performance is optimal. * High arousal → performance declines due to stress, anxiety, or overstimulation. ## Footnote example: A student taking an exam performs best when they feel alert and focused, but not overly anxious. Too little arousal leads to sluggishness; too much leads to panic and mistakes.

Answer 11

* Self‑instructional training is a cognitive‑behavioral technique in which individuals learn to modify maladaptive thoughts and behaviors through the use of covert self‑statements. * It was originally developed to help impulsive and hyperactive children slow down their behavior and verbally guide themselves through academic and other tasks. * The technique teaches children to use internal dialogue to plan, monitor, and evaluate their actions. ## Footnote example: A child who rushes through math problems learns to silently tell themselves, “Slow down… read the question… think before writing… check your answer.” These self‑statements help regulate impulsive responding and improve task performance.

Answer 12

* Research on the serial position effect shows that when people are asked to recall a list of unrelated items immediately after reading it, items at the beginning and end of the list are recalled much better than items in the middle. * The primacy effect occurs because items at the beginning of the list have been rehearsed and transferred into long‑term memory. * The recency effect occurs because items at the end of the list are still in short‑term memory at the time of recall. ## Footnote example: If you read a grocery list of 12 items, you’re most likely to remember the first few (e.g., milk, eggs) and the last few (e.g., apples, cereal), but you may forget the items in the middle (e.g., pasta, beans).

Answer 13

* Punishment occurs when the application or withdrawal of a stimulus following a behavior decreases the occurrence of that behavior. * A major disadvantage is that punishment often suppresses a behavior rather than eliminating it. * Punishment is usually most effective when it is initially applied in moderation. * If punishment is first administered in a weak form and then gradually intensified, the organism is more likely to develop habituation, meaning the punishment loses its effectiveness over time. ## Footnote example: A teenager receives mild scolding for coming home late. Over time, the scolding intensifies, but because it started weak and increased gradually, the teen becomes used to it (habituation), and the punishment no longer reduces the late‑coming behavior.

Answer 14

* In vivo aversion therapy uses counterconditioning to reduce the attractiveness of a stimulus or behavior by pairing it in real life with a stimulus that produces an undesirable or unpleasant response. * A classic example is pairing alcohol consumption (CS) with an electric shock (US) so that fear or discomfort (UR/CR) becomes associated with alcohol. * Covert sensitization is similar, but the CS and US are presented in imagination rather than in real‑life situations. ## Footnote example: * In vivo: A person takes a sip of alcohol and immediately receives a mild electric shock, creating a real‑world pairing between drinking and discomfort. * Covert sensitization: The person imagines taking a sip of alcohol and then vividly imagines becoming nauseated or ill, creating the aversive pairing mentally.

Answer 15

* According to Skinner, most complex behaviors are voluntarily emitted or not emitted based on how they operate on the environment—that is, based on the consequences that follow them. * Skinner distinguished between two types of consequences: * Reinforcement: increases the likelihood a behavior will recur. * Punishment: decreases the likelihood a behavior will recur. * He also distinguished between positive and negative forms of reinforcement and punishment: * Positive: a stimulus is applied following a behavior. * Negative: a stimulus is withdrawn or terminated following a behavior. ## Footnote examples: * Positive reinforcement: A child cleans their room and receives praise, increasing room‑cleaning behavior. * Negative reinforcement: A driver fastens their seatbelt to stop the car’s beeping sound; removing the aversive noise increases seatbelt use. * Positive punishment: A child touches a hot stove and feels pain, decreasing stove‑touching behavior. * Negative punishment: A teen breaks curfew and loses phone privileges, decreasing curfew violations.

Answer 16

* Research on state‑dependent learning shows that recall of information is better when the learner is in the same emotional state during learning and recall. * Matching internal states (e.g., mood, arousal) facilitates retrieval because the emotional state becomes part of the contextual cues encoded with the material. ## Footnote example: If a person studies while feeling calm and relaxed, they are more likely to remember the material later if they are also calm and relaxed during the test.

Answer 17

Beck’s cognitive therapy (CT) attributes depression and other psychopathology to several cognitive phenomena: * Dysfunctional cognitive schemas: deep, underlying cognitive structures that shape how individuals interpret experiences. * Automatic thoughts: rapid, surface‑level cognitions that arise in response to situations. * Cognitive distortions: systematic errors in information processing (e.g., catastrophizing, overgeneralization). * CT is described as “collaborative empiricism” because therapist and client work together to examine evidence for and against the client’s beliefs. * Cognitive therapists frequently use Socratic dialogue—guided questioning—to help clients reach more logical, balanced conclusions about their problems and their consequences. ## Footnote example: A client thinks, “I made one mistake at work; I’m a total failure.” Through Socratic questioning, the therapist asks, “What evidence supports that? What evidence contradicts it?” Together, they discover the belief is distorted, helping the client replace it with a more accurate thought such as, “I made a mistake, but I generally perform well.”

Answer 18

Prompts are verbal or physical cues that help facilitate the acquisition of a new behavior. * The gradual removal of a prompt is called fading, which ensures the behavior eventually occurs independently of the prompt. * The term fading is also used to describe a procedure for eliminating an inappropriate stimulus–response connection by gradually replacing the inappropriate stimulus with appropriate stimuli so the response becomes associated with the new, correct stimulus. ## Footnote example: A teacher physically guides a child’s hand to form letters (physical prompt). Over time, the teacher reduces the guidance to a light touch, then to a verbal cue, and eventually removes all prompts. The child learns to write independently.

Answer 19

* Bandura’s observational learning theory proposes that behaviors can be acquired simply by observing a model perform them. * Observational learning is cognitively mediated and involves four processes: * Attention – noticing the model’s behavior * Retention – remembering what was observed * Production – being able to reproduce the behavior * Motivation – having a reason to perform the behavior * Research shows that participant modeling, which combines modeling with guided participation, is the most effective observational learning technique, especially for phobic reactions. * Bandura also emphasized self‑efficacy beliefs—beliefs about one’s ability to perform a behavior or achieve a goal—as a primary source of motivation. ## Footnote example: A person with a dog phobia watches a therapist calmly pet a dog (modeling). Then, with the therapist’s support, they gradually approach and pet the dog themselves (participant modeling). As they succeed, their self‑efficacy increases, making further approach behaviors more likely.

Answer 20

Shaping (successive approximation training) teaches a new behavior by prompting and reinforcing behaviors that increasingly resemble the target behavior. * Only the final behavior matters; intermediate steps are reinforced only as approximations. Chaining establishes a sequence of responses (a “behavior chain”), each serving as a cue for the next. * The entire sequence is important, not just the final behavior. * Can be taught using forward, backward, or total‑task chaining. ## Footnote examples: * Shaping: Teaching a child to speak more clearly by reinforcing closer and closer approximations of a target word. * Chaining: Teaching a child to tie their shoes by breaking the task into steps (cross laces, make a loop, wrap around, pull through) and reinforcing the sequence.

Answer 21

* In classical conditioning, a neutral (conditioned) stimulus is repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US) so that the neutral stimulus eventually elicits the response naturally produced by the US. * In Pavlov’s original studies: * Meat powder was the unconditioned stimulus (US). * Salivation to the meat powder was the unconditioned response (UR). * A tone served as the conditioned stimulus (CS). * After repeated pairings of tone + meat powder, the tone alone elicited salivation, now a conditioned response (CR). ## Footnote example: A dog hears a bell (neutral stimulus) right before receiving food (US). After enough pairings, the bell alone makes the dog salivate (CR), even without food.

Answer 22

* In vivo exposure with response prevention (ERP) is a classical extinction technique in which the individual is exposed in real life to anxiety‑arousing stimuli (the CS) without the original US, while being prevented from making their usual avoidance or escape response. * By blocking avoidance, the conditioned fear response gradually extinguishes. * Flooding is a form of exposure that involves presenting the individual with the most anxiety‑arousing stimuli for an extended, uninterrupted period, allowing anxiety to peak and naturally decline. ## Footnote example: * ERP: A person with contamination fears touches a doorknob (CS) and is prevented from washing their hands (avoidance response). Over time, anxiety decreases because no illness (US) occurs. * Flooding: The same person is asked to touch multiple “contaminated” surfaces and sit with the anxiety for a prolonged period without escape.

Answer 23

Tolman’s model of latent learning proposes that learning can occur without reinforcement and may not be immediately reflected in performance. * His research showed that rats formed “cognitive maps” of mazes even when they were not reinforced for exploring them. * When reinforcement was later introduced, these rats suddenly performed as if they already knew the maze layout—revealing that learning had occurred earlier but was not expressed. ## Footnote example: A child rides in the car to school every day without paying much attention. One day, when they need to walk, they can navigate the route easily—even though they were never “taught” or rewarded for learning it. They had formed a cognitive map through passive exposure.

Answer 24

* In both operant and classical conditioning, stimulus generalization refers to responding with a particular response to similar stimuli. * Classical conditioning: The organism responds to stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus (CS) with the conditioned response (CR). * Operant conditioning: The organism emits the target behavior in the presence of stimuli similar to the discriminative stimulus (SD). ## Footnote examples: * Classical: A dog conditioned to salivate to a 500‑Hz tone also salivates to a 520‑Hz tone. * Operant: A child reinforced for saying “please” to their teacher also says “please” to other adults with similar authority cues.

Answer 25

* Positive reinforcement occurs when the application of a stimulus following a behavior increases the likelihood of that behavior recurring. * Continuous reinforcement produces the fastest acquisition of a new behavior. * Intermittent reinforcement produces the greatest resistance to extinction, making it ideal for maintenance. * The optimal procedure is to start with continuous reinforcement and then shift to an intermittent schedule once the behavior is well‑established. * Thinning refers to gradually reducing the proportion or frequency of reinforcements. * Up to a point, more reinforcement increases effectiveness, but beyond that, satiation may occur—meaning the reinforcer loses its reinforcing value. ## Footnote example: A teacher gives a sticker every time a student completes a math problem (continuous reinforcement). Once the behavior is reliable, the teacher gives stickers only sometimes (intermittent schedule). Over time, the teacher reduces how often stickers are given (thinning). If the student receives too many stickers too quickly, they may stop caring about them (satiation).

Answer 26

* Differential reinforcement is an operant technique that combines positive reinforcement and extinction. * During a specified period, the individual is reinforced for engaging in behaviors other than the target (undesired) behavior, while the target behavior is not reinforced (extinction). * Common forms include: * DRA (Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior): Reinforce a specific, acceptable alternative behavior. * DRI (Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior): Reinforce a behavior that cannot occur at the same time as the target behavior. * DRO (Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior): Reinforce the absence of the target behavior during a set interval. ## Footnote examples: * DRA: Reinforcing a child for asking for attention appropriately instead of whining. * DRI: Reinforcing a child for keeping their hands in their pockets to reduce hitting (the two behaviors cannot co‑occur). * DRO: Reinforcing a student for every 5‑minute interval in which they do not call out in class.

Answer 27

* The Premack Principle is an application of positive reinforcement in which a high‑frequency behavior (something the individual naturally prefers or does often) is used as a reinforcer for a low‑frequency behavior (a less preferred behavior). * The opportunity to engage in the preferred activity increases the likelihood that the less preferred behavior will occur. ## Footnote example: A child who loves playing video games (high‑frequency behavior) is allowed to play for 20 minutes only after finishing their homework (low‑frequency behavior). The preferred activity reinforces the less preferred one.

Learning and Memory Flashcards

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