Non-Declarative Memory

Question 1

Non-declarative memory

Answer 1

Also known as implicit memory, is memory without conscious effort or awareness

Question 2

Non-Declarative Memory can be…

Answer 2

• Non-associative: changes in behaviour that occur in response to exposure to a single stimulus
• Associative: learning to associate one stimulus with another (2 stimuli)

Question 3

Non-Associative/Associative Learning

Answer 3

• Non-associative: habituation, sensitization, perceptual learning
• Associative: classical conditioning, instrumental learning

Question 4

Habituation - city example

Answer 4

• Imagine you just moved into a new apartment in New York. The first few nights, the sounds from the street are just too loud. But after about a week, you are able to fall asleep almost immediately.
• It is as though your brain has tuned out the noises. This is habituation.
• Lowered response

Question 5

Sensitization - home alone example

Answer 5

• Imagine you are home alone one night. Suddenly, you hear a loud bang coming from the upstairs. You cannot shake the feeling that something is not right.
• On high alert, each faint sound—typically ignored —startles you. This is sensitization.
• Heightened response

Question 6

What Is Habituation?

Answer 6

A decrease in the strength or occurrence of a behavior due to repeated exposure to the stimulus that produces the behavior

Question 7

Habituation is _ throughout the animal kingdom.

Answer 7

ubiquitous

Question 8

Characteristics of Habituation (2) - Dis-habituation

Answer 8

A novel/arousing stimulus can temporarily recover responses to the habituating stimulus. This fades quickly, though.

Question 9

Characteristics of Habituation (2) - Stimulus specificity

Answer 9

Generally, responses decrease ONLY to the habituating stimulus

Question 10

Characteristics of Habituation (2) - Spontaneous recovery

Answer 10

When repeated stimulus stops, behavior gradually returns to normal

Question 11

What type of stimulus leads to more habituation?

Answer 11

• Weaker stimulus = more habituation: The stronger the stimulus, the less habituation develops.
• This ensures that weak/useless stimuli are ignored, but painful/important stimuli gain more attention

Question 12

What Is Sensitization?

Answer 12

an increase in the strength or occurrence of a behavior due to exposure to an arousing or noxious stimulus

Question 13

Sensitization is also…

Answer 13

ubiquitous—found throughout the animal kingdom.

Question 14

Sensitization also shows a set of common characteristics:

Answer 14

• Spontaneous recovery
• Short- and long-term forms
• Noxious (e.g., painful) stimuli work better than weak
• More generalization, less stimulus specificity
• Can develop with just a single stimulus

Question 15

Repeated exposure to a stimulus also changes…

Answer 15

• …your ability to detect and perceive it.
• Such altered familiarity with the stimulus manifests in several ways.
• AKA PERCEPTUAL LEARNING

Question 16

What is Perceptual Learning?

Answer 16

• Repeated exposure to a set of stimuli improves the ability to distinguish them.
• You’ve effortlessly learned many similar things: Coke versus Pepsi, McDonald’s versus Wendy’s, and so forth.
  Language! Subtly different sounds with very different meanings.

Question 17

— Associative Learning —

Question 18

Classical (Pavlovian) conditioning

Answer 18

• A form of learning in which an animal acquires the expectation that a given stimulus predicts a specific upcoming important event
• E.G. dog learning that a bell sound = food, which results in salivating

Question 19

Basic Concepts of Classical Conditioning (4)

Answer 19

• Unconditioned stimulus (food)
• Unconditioned response (feeling hungry)
• Conditioned stimulus (bell)
• Conditioned response (salivating)

Question 20

Appetitive Conditioning

Answer 20

conditioning in which the US is a desirable event (such as food delivery after Pavlov’s footsteps)

Question 21

Aversive conditioning

Answer 21

conditioning in which the US is a disagreeable event (such as a shock or an air puff to the eye)

Question 22

Extinguishing an Old Association - Extinction

Answer 22

(opposite) learned response to a stimulus by ceasing to pair that stimulus with another

Question 23

Does extinction erase memory?

Answer 23

• Evidence suggests it DOES NOT
• May remain intact so the CS + US pairing could potentially come back under certain conditions

Question 24

Overshadowing

Answer 24

an effect seen in conditioning when a more salient cue acquires more association strength than does the less salient cue and is thus more strongly associated with the US

Question 25

Instrumental or operant conditioning

Answer 25

the process whereby organisms learn to **make or to refrain** from making certain responses in order **to obtain or avoid certain outcomes**

Question 26

Operant conditioning can be formulated as a three-part association

Answer 26

Stimulus→ S Response R → Outcome O

Question 27

Classical Versus Operant Conditioning?

Answer 27

* In classical conditioning, the **animal experiences an outcome** (the unconditioned stimulus, or US) **regardless of whether they perform the conditioned response (CR)**; environment operates on animal * Yet, in operant conditioning, **the outcome O depends on whether the organism performs the response R**; animal operates on environment

Question 28

Punishers - Both Thorndike and Skinner **argued what about punishers?**

Answer 28

* Punishment leads to more variable behavior * Punishment can backfire because you are giving the situation more attention * Punishments are often delayed (can be confusing)...

Question 29

Can people who cannot form **new declarative memories** still learn new skills

Answer 29

YES (e.g., HM, Clive Wearing)

Question 30

Neural Correlates of Non-declarative Memory - **3 key regions**

Answer 30

1. Sensory cortices 2. Basal ganglia 3. Cerebellum

Question 31

Amygdala & Declarative Memory

Answer 31

* The amygdala is very important for non-declarative memory, **especially fear conditioning.** * Note that classic conditioning does not typically rely on the hippocampus but there are certain variants of classical conditioning that do involve the hippocampus.