Consciousness

Refers to a person’s awareness of everything that is going on around him or her at any given moment,
which is used to organize behavior.

– Waking consciousness consists much of people’s time awake

 State in which thoughts, feelings, and sensations are clear, organized, and the
person feels alert.

 There are many times in day and in life when people experience states of
consciousness that depart from this organized waking state. These are

called “altered states of consciousness”.

• Consciousness

• Altered state of consciousness

State in which there is a shift in the quality or pattern of mental activity as compared to waking
consciousness.

 e.g. fuzzy and disorganized thoughts and feeling less alert, state of increased
alertness, divided conscious awareness

There are many forms of altered states of consciousness (e.g., daydreaming, being hypnotized, being
under the influence of drugs, being in a meditative state) but the most common is sleep.

• Sleep as an Altered State of Consciousness

• Has little in common with wakefulness but the two have similarities

 Thinking (while we sleep)

 We form memories while sleeping

 Sleep is not entirely quiescence (e.g., somnambulism)

 People who are awake are not completely insensitive to their environment

• Necessity of Sleep

• People can try to stay awake but eventually they must sleep because it is a biological rhythm.

• More specifically sleep-wake cycle is a circadian rhythm or a cycle of bodily rhythm that occurs
over a 24-hour period.

"circa" – about

"diem" – day

• Figure 4.1 Sleep Patterns of Infants and Adults

Infants need far more sleep than older children and adults. Both REM sleep and NREM sleep
 decrease dramatically in the first 10 years of life, with the greatest decrease in REM sleep.
Nearly 50 percent of an infant’s sleep is REM, compared to only about 20 percent for a normal,
healthy adult. (Roffwarg, 1966)

• Necessity of Sleep

• Hypothalamus – tiny section of the brain that influences the glandular system.

suprachiasmatic nucleus – a structure deep within the hypothalamus; the internal clock that tells
people when to wake up and when to fall asleep; sensitive to changes in light.

This structure tells pineal gland to secrete melatonin, which makes a person feel sleepy.

Melatonin is however not the only factor that influences sleep regulation.

 Serotonin

high level in the nervous system (which occurs as time passes by) is correlated with sleepiness.

 Body temperature

The higher the body temperature, the more alert ; the lower the temperature, the sleepier is the
person.

• Necessity of Sleep

• Microsleeps - brief sidesteps into sleep lasting only a few seconds.

• Sleep deprivation - any significant loss of sleep, resulting in problems in concentration

(especially on simple tasks) and irritability.

• Why do we have to sleep at all?

• Adaptive theory - theory of sleep proposing that animals and humans evolved sleep patterns to
avoid predators by sleeping when predators are most active.

• Why do we have to sleep at all?

• Restorative theory - theory of sleep proposing that sleep is necessary to the physical health of
the body and serves to replenish chemicals and repair cellular damage.

• There is evidence that most bodily growth and repair occur during the deepest stages of sleep,
when enzymes responsible for these functions are secreted in higher amounts.

• Stages of Sleep

• Rapid eye movement (REM) - stage of sleep in which the eyes move rapidly under the eyelids
and the person is typically experiencing a dream.

• NREM (non-REM) sleep - any of the stages of sleep that do not include REM.

In Non-REM stages:
 • eye movements virtually absent, heart and breathing rates decrease markedly, muscles are
relaxed , brain’s metabolic rate decreases 25% to 30% compared to wakefulness

• - dreams are more directly related to what is happening in the person’s waking life; not as visual
or emotionally charged as in REM stage

• Brain Wave Patterns

• Electroencephalograph (EEG)

Allows scientists to see the brain wave activity as a person passes through the various stages of
sleep and to determine what type of sleep the person has entered.

 Alpha waves - brain waves that indicate a state of relaxation or light sleep (8-
12Hertz).

 Beta waves –brain waves that indicate awake and alert (14-30 hertz)

 Theta waves - brain waves indicating the early stages of sleep (4-7 Hertz).

 Delta waves - long, slow waves that indicate the deepest stage of sleep (1-2
Hertz).

• Stages of Sleep

• Stages of Sleep

• Non-REM Stage One – light sleep.

May experience:

 hypnagogic images – vivid visual events.

 hypnic jerk – knees, legs, or whole body jerks.

• Stages of Sleep

• Non-REM Stage Two – sleep spindles (brief bursts of activity only lasting a second or two).

Sleep spindles are (sometimes referred to as "sigma bands" or "sigma waves")brief bursts of 12-16
hertz waves; may represent periods where the brain is inhibiting processing to keep the sleeper in a
tranquil state.

K-complexes proposed functions:[ suppressing cortical arousal in response to stimuli that the
sleeping brain evaluates not to signal danger ; 2) aiding sleep-based memory consolidation

• Stages of Sleep

• Non-REM Stages Three and Four – delta waves pronounced.

Deep sleep – when 50%+ of waves are delta waves.

 • Figure 4.2 Brain Activity During Sleep
The EEG reflects brain activity during both waking and sleep. This activity varies according to
level of alertness while awake (top two segments) and the stage of sleep (middle segments).
Sleep Stages 3 and 4 are indicated by the presence of delta activity, which is much slower and
accounts for the larger, slower waves on these graphs.

• Figure 4.2 (continued) Brain Activity During Sleep

[NOTE: The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (Iber et al., 2007) has recently published
updated guidelines for the scoring of sleep activity and one major change has been to combine
NREM stages 3 and 4 into a single stage, now indicated by N3.] REM has activity that resembles
alert wakefulness but has relatively no muscle activity except rapid eye movement. The bottom
segments illustrate how EEG activity differs between wakefulness, light and deep sleep, and
lastly what it looks like when brain activity has ceased in cerebral death. EEG data and images in
this figure are courtesy of Dr. Leslie Sherlin.

• Figure 4.3 A Typical Night’s Sleep

The graph shows the typical progression through the night of Stages 1–4 and REM sleep. Stages
1–4 are indicated on the y-axis, and REM stages are represented by the green curves on the
graph. The REM periods occur about every 90 minutes throughout the night (Dement, 1974).

• REM Sleep and Dreaming

• REM sleep is paradoxical sleep (high level of brain activity).

• If wakened during REM sleep, almost always reports a dream.

• Voluntary muscles are inhibited; person moves very little

• REM rebound - increased amounts of REM sleep after being deprived of REM sleep on earlier
nights.

• A Comparison of Night Terrors and Nightmares

• Dreams

• Dreaming is an altered state of consciousness in which picture stories are constructed based on
memories and current concerns, or on fantasies and images

• Some Findings on Dreams:

Some findings on dreams:

− Dreams occur during both REM and NREM but more likely to be reported in REM

− Nonrecallers of dream often do as much dreaming as recallers

− Some evidence suggest that preschool children do not dream and elementary school age
children dream much less often than adults

− 70 % of remembered dreams have negative emotional content

 − Common elements in dreams are aggression, friendliness, misfortune, success, failure and
sexuality

Some findings on dreams cont.:

• - Adults with certain types of brain damage do not appear to dream.

• - The most generally accepted model of dream recall supports the idea that what happens on
awakening is the crucial factor.

• - Other researchers contend that a person’s motivation to recall dreams and interest in dreams
is a good predictor of ability to recall dreams.

• - People sometimes know when they are dreaming.

• - People can be taught to recognize they are dreaming yet their awareness does not interfere
with the spontaneous flow of the dream.

- Most dreams reflect the events that happen in everyday life(Hall, 1996)

- Across many cultures (in Cicarelli and White( 2017),

 men tend to: dream often of other males, have more physical aggression in their
dreams than do women and women are often the victims of such aggression; report
more sexual dreams, usually with unknown and attractive partners

 women tend to dream: more about both men and women equally; (and girls) about
people whom they know, personal appearance concerns, and issues related to family
and home.

• Theories on
Dreams

• Freud – dreams as unconscious wish fulfillment.

 Dreams represent unconscious wishes that dreamers desire to see fulfilled.

 Contents of Dreams:

 Latent content -the true, hidden meaning of a dream; disguised;

 Manifest content– the actual dream itself: the apparent storyline of dreams

 To understand the true meaning of manifest content people should get to, associating symbols
in the dreams with events in the past.

• .

• Some Examples of Freudian Dream Interpretation

Symbol (manifest content) ….. Interpretation (latent content)

Climbing up a stairway, crossing a bridge,

riding an elevator, flying in an airplane,

entering a room, walking down a long hallway,

train travelling through a tunnel …. Sexual intercourse

Apples, peaches, grapefruit ……. Breasts

Bullets, fire, snake, sticks, umbrellas,

guns, hoses, knives …… Male sex organ

Ovens, boxes, tunnels, closets, caves,

Bottles, ships ……………………….. . Female Sex Organ

• (Theories on Dreams…)

 Dreams for Survival Theory (in Feldman 2010)

 Dreams permit us to reconsider and reprocess during sleep information that is critical for our
daily survival

 Dreams memories represent concerns about our everyday lives, showing our uncertainties,
indecisions, ideas and desires

 Research supports the theory suggesting that certain dreams permit people to focus and
consolidate memories, especially dreams related to “ how to do it” memories on motor skills.

 Dreaming, at least when uninterrupted, can play a role in helping us to remember material to
which we have been previously exposed.

• (Theories on Dreams…)

• Activation-synthesis hypothesis - explanation which states that dreams are created by the higher
centers of the cortex to explain the activation by the brain stem of cortical cells during REM
sleep periods.

• (Theories on Dreams…)

(Allan Hobson’s Activation -Synthesis Theory...)

• The brain produces random electrical energy during REM sleep

• The electrical energy randomly stimulates memories lodged in the different portions of the
brain.

• Because we have a need for to make sense of our world even while we sleep, the brain takes
these chaotic memories and weaves them into a logical story line filling in the gaps to produce a
rational scenario.
 • Does not entirely reject the view that dreams reflect unconscious wishes; contends that the
particular scenario a dreamer produces is not random but instead a clue to the dreamer’s fears,
emotions, and concerns.

• (Theories on Dreams…)

• Activation-information-mode model (AIM) - revised version of the activation-synthesis

explanation of dreams in which information that is accessed during waking hours can have an
influence on the synthesis of dreams.

• Hypnosis

• Hypnosis - state of consciousness in which the person is especially susceptible to suggestion.

• Hypnosis

• Four Elements of Hypnosis:

The hypnotist tells the person to focus on what is being said.

The person is told to relax and feel tired.

The hypnotist tells the person to "let go" and accept suggestions easily.

The person is told to use vivid imagination.

• Hypnotic susceptibility – degree to which a person is a good hypnotic subject.

• Theories of Hypnosis

• Hypnosis as dissociation – hypnosis works only in a person’s immediate consciousness, while a

hidden "observer" remained aware of all that was going on.

• Social-cognitive theory of hypnosis - theory that assumes that people who are hypnotized are
not in an altered state but are merely playing the role expected of them in the situation.

End

Learning

• What is Learning?

• Learning – any relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience or

practice.

When people learn anything, some part of their brain is physically changed to record what they have
learned.

Any kind of change in the way an organism behaves is learning.

• Pavlov and Classical Conditioning

• Ivan Pavlov – Russian physiologist (person who studies the workings of the body) who
discovered classical conditioning through his work on digestion in dogs.

• Classical conditioning - learning to make a reflex response to a stimulus other than the original,
natural stimulus that normally produces the reflex.

• Classical Conditioning Concepts

• Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) - a naturally occurring stimulus that leads to an involuntary

response.

Unconditioned means "unlearned" or "naturally occurring."

• Unconditioned response (UCR) - an involuntary response to a naturally occurring or

unconditioned stimulus.

• Classical Conditioning Concepts

• Conditioned stimulus (CS) - stimulus that becomes able to produce a learned reflex response by
being paired with the original unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned means "learned."

A neutral stimulus can become a conditioned stimulus when paired with an unconditioned stimulus.

• Classical Conditioning Concepts

• Conditioned response (CR) - learned reflex response to a conditioned stimulus.

Sometimes called a conditioned reflex.

CS – ice cream truck

CR – salivation when hear ice cream truck bell

• Classical Conditioning

• Classical Conditioning

• Classical Conditioning

• Classical Conditioning

• Figure 5.1 Classical Conditioning

Before conditioning takes place, the sound of the metronome does not cause salivation and is a
neutral stimulus, or NS. During conditioning, the sound of the metronome occurs just before the
presentation of the food, the UCS. The food causes salivation, the UCR. When conditioning has
occurred after several pairings of the metronome with the food, the metronome will begin to
elicit a salivation response from the dog without any food. This is learning, and the sound of the
metronome is now a CS and the salivation to the bell is the CR.

• Classical Conditioning Concepts

• Acquisition - the repeated pairing of the NS and the UCS; the organism is in the process of
acquiring learning.

Although classical conditioning

happens quite easily, there are a

few basic principles that researchers

have discovered:

• Classical Conditioning Concepts

• The CS must come before the UCS.

• The CS and UCS must come very close together in time—ideally, only several seconds apart.

• The neutral stimulus must be paired with the UCS several times, often many times, before
conditioning can take place.

• Classical Conditioning Concepts

• The CS is usually some stimulus that is distinctive or stands out from other competing stimuli.

• Stimulus generalization - the tendency to respond to a stimulus that is only similar to the original
conditioned stimulus with the conditioned response.

• Classical Conditioning Concepts

• Stimulus discrimination - the tendency to stop making a generalized response to a stimulus that
is similar to the original conditioned stimulus because the similar stimulus is never paired with
the unconditioned stimulus.

• Classical Conditioning Concepts

• Extinction - the disappearance or weakening of a learned response following the removal or

absence of the unconditioned stimulus (in classical conditioning) or the removal of a reinforcer
(in operant conditioning).

• Figure 5.2 Strength of the Generalized Response

An example of stimulus generalization. The UCS was an electric shock and the UCR was the
galvanic skin response (GSR), a measure associated with anxiety. The subjects had been
conditioned originally to a CS tone (0) of a given frequency. When tested with the original tone,
and with tones 1, 2, and 3 of differing frequencies, a clear generalization effect appeared. The
closer the frequency of the test tone to the frequency of tone 0, the greater was the magnitude
of the galvanic skin response to the tone (Hovland, 1937).

• Figure 5.3 Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery

This graph shows the acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, and reacquisition of a
conditioned salivary response. Typically, the measure of conditioning is the number of drops of
saliva elicited by the CS on each trial. Note that on the day following extinction, the first
presentation of the CS elicits quite a large response.
• Classical Conditioning Concepts

• Spontaneous recovery – the reappearance of a learned response after extinction has occurred.

Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior.

Conditioned Emotional Response

• Conditioned emotional response (CER) - emotional response that has become classically
conditioned to occur to learned stimuli, such as a fear of dogs or the emotional reaction that
occurs when seeing an attractive person.

CERs may lead to phobias – irrational fear responses.

• Figure 5.5 Conditioning of “Little Albert”

After “Little Albert” had been conditioned to fear a white rat, he also demonstrated fear to a
rabbit, a dog, and a sealskin coat (although it remains uncertain if stimulus generalization
actually occurred as this fear was to a single rabbit, a single dog, etc.). Can you think of any
emotional reactions you experience that might be classically conditioned emotional responses?

• Taste Aversion

• Vicarious conditioning - classical conditioning of a reflex response or emotion by watching the

reaction of another person.

• Conditioned taste aversion - development of a nausea or aversive response to a particular taste

because that taste was followed by a nausea reaction, occurring after only one association.

• Taste Aversion

• Biological preparedness - the tendency of animals to learn certain associations, such as taste and
nausea, with only one or few pairings due to the survival value of the learning.

• Why Classical Conditioning Works

• Stimulus substitution - original theory in which Pavlov stated that classical conditioning occurred
because the conditioned stimulus became a substitute for the unconditioned stimulus by being
paired closely together.

• Why Classical Conditioning Works

• Cognitive perspective - modern theory in which classical conditioning is seen to occur because
the conditioned stimulus provides information or an expectancy about the coming of the
unconditioned stimulus.

• Operant Conditioning

• Operant conditioning - the learning of voluntary behavior through the effects of pleasant and
unpleasant consequences to responses.

• Operant Conditioning
 • Thorndike’s Law of Effect - law stating that if a response is followed by a pleasurable
consequence, it will tend to be repeated, and if followed by an unpleasant consequence, it will
tend not to be repeated.

• Skinner’s Contribution

• Behaviorist; wanted to study only observable, measurable behavior.

• Gave "operant conditioning" its name.

Operant - any behavior that is voluntary.

• Learning depends on what happens after the response — the consequence.

• Figure 5.7 A Typical Skinner Box

This rat is learning to press the bar in the wall of the cage in order to get food (delivered a few
pellets at a time in the food trough on lower left). In some cases, the light on the top left might
be turned on to indicate that pressing the bar will lead to food or to warn of an impending shock
delivered by the grate on the floor of the cage.

• Reinforcement

• Reinforcement - any event or stimulus, that when following a response, increases the
probability that the response will occur again.

Primary reinforcer - any reinforcer that is naturally reinforcing by meeting a basic biological need,
such as hunger, thirst, or touch.

• Reinforcement

• Reinforcement - any event or stimulus, that when following a response, increases the
probability that the response will occur again.

Secondary reinforcer - any reinforcer that becomes reinforcing after being paired with a primary
reinforcer, such as praise, tokens, or gold stars.

• Positive and Negative Reinforcement

• Positive reinforcement - the reinforcement of a response by the addition or experiencing of a

pleasurable stimulus.

• Negative reinforcement - the reinforcement of a response by the removal, escape from, or

avoidance of an unpleasant stimulus.

Example: Taking aspirin for a headache is negatively reinforced – removal of headache!

• Shaping

• Shaping - the reinforcement of simple steps in behavior that lead to a desired, more complex
behavior.

Successive approximations - small steps in behavior, one after the other, that lead to a particular
goal behavior.
 • Other Classical Conditioning Concepts

• Extinction – occurs if the behavior (response) is not reinforced.

• Operantly conditioned responses also can be generalized to stimuli that are only similar to the
original stimulus.

• Other Classical Conditioning Concepts

• Spontaneous recovery (reoccurrence of a once extinguished response) also happens in operant

conditioning.

One way to deal with a child’s temper tantrum is to ignore it. The lack of reinforcement for the
tantrum behavior will eventually result in extinction.

• Schedules of Reinforcement

• Partial reinforcement effect - the tendency for a response that is reinforced after some, but not
all, correct responses to be very resistant to extinction.

• Continuous reinforcement - the reinforcement of each and every correct response.

• Schedules of Reinforcement

• Fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement - schedule of reinforcement in which the number of

responses required for reinforcement is always the same.

• Variable interval schedule of reinforcement - schedule of reinforcement in which the interval of

time that must pass before reinforcement becomes possible is different for each trial or event.

• Schedules of Reinforcement

• Fixed interval schedule - of reinforcement schedule of reinforcement in which the interval of

time that must pass before reinforcement becomes possible is always the same.

• Schedules of Reinforcement

• Variable ratio schedule of reinforcement - schedule of reinforcement in which the number of

responses required for reinforcement is different for each trial or event.

• Figure 5.8 Schedules of Reinforcement

These four graphs show the typical pattern of responding for both fixed and variable interval
and ratio schedules of reinforcement. The responses are cumulative, which means new
responses are added to those that come before, and all graphs begin after the learned pattern is
well established. Slash marks mean that a reinforcement has been given. In
both the fixed interval and fixed ratio graphs, there is a pause after each reinforcement as the
learner briefly “rests.” The “scalloped” shape of the fixed interval curve is a typical indicator of
this pause, as is the stair-step shape of the fixed ratio curve. In the variable interval and ratio
schedules, no such pause occurs, because the reinforcements are unpredictable. Notice that
both fixed and variable interval schedules are slower (less steep) than the two ratio schedules
because of the need to respond as quickly as possible in the ratio schedules.
 • Punishment

• Punishment - any event or object that, when following a response, makes that response less
likely to happen again.

• Punishment by application - the punishment of a response by the addition or experiencing of an

unpleasant stimulus.

• Punishment by removal - the punishment of a response by the removal of a pleasurable

stimulus.

• Punishment has several drawbacks.

• Severe punishment my cause avoidance of the punisher instead of the behavior being punished

• Severe punishment may encourage lying to avoid punishment

• Severe punishment creates fear and anxiety

• How to Make Punishment More Effective

• Punishment should immediately follow the behavior it is meant to punish.

• Punishment should be consistent.

• Punishment of the wrong behavior should be paired, whenever possible, with reinforcement of
the right behavior.

• Operant Stimuli and Stimulus Control

• Discriminative stimulus - any stimulus, such as a stop sign or a doorknob, that provides the
organism with a cue for making a certain response in order to obtain reinforcement.

• Shaping – the reinforcement of simple steps that leads to a desired complex behavior

• Operant Stimuli and Stimulus Control

• Successive approximations – small steps, one after another that lead to a particular goal
behavior

• Behavior Resistant to Conditioning

• Instinctive drift - tendency for an animal’s behavior to revert to genetically controlled patterns.

Each animal comes into the world (and the laboratory) with certain genetically determined
instinctive patterns of behavior already in place.

These instincts differ from species to species.

• Behavior Resistant to Conditioning

• Instinctive drift - tendency for an animal’s behavior to revert to genetically controlled patterns.

There are some responses that simply cannot be trained into an animal regardless of conditioning.
 • Behavior Resistant to Conditioning

• Raccoons commonly dunk their food in and out of water before eating. This "washing" behavior
is controlled by instinct and difficult to change even using operant techniques.

• Behavior Modification

• Behavior modification - the use of operant conditioning techniques to bring about desired
changes in behavior.

• Token economy - type of behavior modification in which desired behavior is rewarded with
tokens.

• Behavior Modification

• Time-out - a form of mild punishment by removal in which a misbehaving animal, child, or adult
is placed in a special area away from the attention of others.

Essentially, the organism is being "removed" from any possibility of positive reinforcement in the
form of attention.

• Behavior Modification

• Applied behavior analysis (ABA) – modern term for a form of behavior modification that uses
shaping techniques to mold a desired behavior or response.

• Biofeedback and Neurofeedback

• Biofeedback- the use of feedback about biological conditions to bring involuntary responses
such as blood pressure and relaxation under voluntary control.

• Neurofeedback - form of biofeedback using brainscanning devices (fMRI) to provide feedback

about brain activity in an effort to modify behavior.

• Cognitive Learning Theory

• Early days of learning – focus was on behavior.

• 1950s and more intensely in the 1960s, many psychologists were becoming aware that
cognition, the mental events that take place inside a person’s mind while behaving, could no
longer be ignored.

• Latent Learning

• Edward Tolman – early cognitive scientist.

Edward Tolman’s best-known experiments in learning involved teaching three groups of rats the
same maze, one at a time (Tolman & Honzik, 1930b).

• Latent Learning

• Edward Tolman – early cognitive scientist.

Group 1 – rewarded each time at end of maze.

 • Learned maze quickly.

Group 2 – in maze every day; only rewarded on 10th day.

• Demonstrated learning of maze almost immediately after receiving reward.

Group 3 – never rewarded.

• Did not learn maze well.

• Latent Learning

• Edward Tolman – early cognitive scientist.

Latent learning - learning that remains hidden until its application becomes useful.

• Figure 5.9 A Typical Maze

This is an example of a maze such as the one used in Tolman’s experiments in latent learning. A
rat is placed in the start box. The trial is over when the rat gets to the end box.

• Figure 5.10 Learning Curves for Three Groups of Rats

In the results of the classic study of latent learning, Group 1 was rewarded on each day, while
Group 2 was rewarded for the first time on Day 11. Group 3 was never rewarded. Note the
immediate change in the behavior of Group 2 on Day 12 (Tolman & Honzik, 1930).

• Insight - Kohler

• Insight - the sudden perception of relationships among various parts of a problem, allowing the
solution to the problem to come quickly.

Cannot be gained through trial-and-error learning alone.

"Aha" moment.

• Learned Helplessness - Seligman

• Learned helplessness - the tendency to fail to act to escape from a situation because of a history
of repeated failures in the past.

• Figure 5.11 Seligman’s Apparatus

In Seligman’s studies of learned helplessness, dogs were placed in a two-sided box. Dogs that
had no prior experience with being unable to escape a shock would quickly jump over the hurdle
in the center of the box to land on the “safe” side. Dogs that had previously learned that escape
was impossible would stay on the side of the box in which the shock occurred, not even trying to
go over the hurdle.

• Observational Learning - Bandura

• Observational learning - learning new behavior by watching a model perform that behavior.

• Learning/performance distinction - referring to the observation that learning can take place
without actual performance of the learned behavior.
 • Figure 5.12 Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment
In Albert Bandura’s famous Bobo doll experiment, the doll was used to demonstrate the impact
of observing an adult
model performing aggressive behavior on the later aggressive behavior of children. The children
in these photos are imitating the adult model’s behavior even though they believe they are
alone and are not being watched.

• Four Elements of Observational Learning

• ATTENTION

To learn anything through observation, the learner must first pay attention to the model.

• MEMORY

The learner must also be able to retain the memory of what was done, such as remembering the
steps in preparing a dish that was first seen on a cooking show.

• Four Elements of Observational Learning

• IMITATION

The learner must be capable of reproducing, or imitating, the actions of the model.

• MOTIVATION

Finally, the learner must have the desire to perform the action.

(An easy way to remember the four elements of modeling is to remember the letters AMIM, which
stands for the first letters of each of the four elements).

• Real World Example

• Training a cat to use the toilet will involve:

Shaping.

Preparing "the training arena."

Positive reinforcement on a variable schedule.

End

Memory

Memory and Its Processes

Memory - an active system that receives information from the senses, organizes and alters it as it stores
it away, and then retrieves the information from storage.

Memory and Its Processes

Processes of Memory:

Encoding - the set of mental operations that people perform on sensory information to convert that
information into a form that is usable in the brain’s storage systems.

Storage - holding onto information for some period of time.

Retrieval - getting information that is in storage into a form that can be used.

Models of Memory

Information-processing model

Model of memory that assumes the processing of information for memory storage is similar to the way a
computer processes memory in a series of three stages.

Models of Memory

Levels-of-processing model

Model of memory that assumes information that is more "deeply processed," or processed according to
its meaning rather than just the sound or physical characteristics of the word or words, will be
remembered more efficiently and for a longer period of time.

Models of Memory

Parallel distributed processing (PDP) model

Model of memory in which memory processes are proposed to take place at the same time over a large
network of neural connections.

The Information Processing Model: Three Memory Systems

Sensory Memory

Short-term Memory

Loong-term Memory

Figure 6.1 Three-Stage Process of Memory

Information enters through the sensory system, briefly registering in sensory memory. Selective
attention filters the information into short-term memory, where it is held while attention (rehearsal)
continues. If the information receives enough rehearsal (maintenance or elaborative), it will enter and
be stored in long-term memory.

The Sensory Memory

Sensory memory - the very first stage of memory, the point at which information enters the nervous
system through the sensory systems.

Information is encoded as neural messages in the nervous system

Figure 6.2 Iconic Memory Test

Sample grid of letters for Sperling’s test of iconic memory. To determine if the entire grid existed in
iconic memory, Sperling sounded a tone associated with each row after the grid’s presentation.
Participants were able to recall the letters in the row for which they heard the tone. The graph shows
the decrease in the number of letters recalled as the delay in presenting the tone increased.

Kinds of Sensory Memory

1. Iconic sensory memory - visual sensory memory, lasting only a fraction of a second.

Capacity – everything that can be seen at one time.

Duration - information that has just entered iconic memory will be pushed out very quickly by new
information, a process called masking.

Only after a quarter of a second, old info is replaced by new info.

(Kinds of Sensory Memory, cont.)

Eidetic imagery - the rare ability to access a visual memory for 30 seconds or more.

More common among children and tends to diminish by adolescence and adulthood.

Function of Iconic Memory

Helps the visual system to view surroundings as continuous and stable in spite of the eyes’ saccadic
movements.

Also allows for the brain stem to decide if the info is important enough to be brought into
consciousness.

Kinds of Sensory Memory

2. Echoic memory - the brief memory of something a person has just heard.

Capacity - limited to what can be heard at any one moment and is smaller than the capacity of iconic
memory

Duration – lasts longer that iconic — about 2 to 4 seconds

Function of Echoic Memory

It allows the person to remember what someone said just long enough to recognize the meaning of a
phrase.

As with iconic memory, it also allows to hold on to incoming auditory information long enough for the
lower brain cells to determine whether or not processing by higher brain centers is needed.

The Short-Term Memory

If the incoming sensory memory is important enough to enter consciousness, it will move to the STM.

Short-term memory (STM) - the memory system in which information is held for brief periods of time
while being used.

Selective attention – the ability to focus on only one stimulus from among all sensory input.
How does selective attention operate?

According to Dr. Anne Treisman, selective attention operates a two-filtering stage process:

Stage 1- incoming stimuli in sensory memory are filtered based on simple physical
characteristics. Filtering is a lessening of the “signal strength” of those unattended sensory stimuli vis a
vis attended stimuli.

Stage 2- involves the processing of the stimuli that meet a certain threshold of importance.

The selective attention filter operates even if it is not working at its peak level.

What happens when information passes through the selective attention filter and into short term
memory?

Encoding in terms of auditory (sound form) or as images in a kind of “visual sketchpad”.

Encoding is mostly in auditory form.

Difference Between the STM and the Working Memory (WM)

STM has traditionally been thought of as a thing or a place.

WM is an active system that processes the info in short-term memory.

WM is conceived to be comprised of 3 interrelated systems: 1)a central executive that controls and
coordinates the other two systems. 2) visual sketchpad (VS) 3) phonological buffer (PB)which is a kind of
auditory “recorder” .

The central executive acts as interpreter for the VS and PB; the visual and auditory information is in itself
contained in the STM

Capacity of STM: How is it measured?

Digit-span test – memory test in which a series of numbers is read to subjects in the experiment who are
then asked to recall the numbers in order.

Figure 6.3 Digit-Span Test

Instructions for the digit-span test: Listen carefully as the instructor reads each string of numbers out
loud. As soon as each string is ended (the instructor may say “go”), write down the numbers in the exact
order in which they were given.

Capacity of STM

Conclusions are that the capacity of STM is about seven items or pieces of information, plus or minus
two items, or from five to nine bits of information.

"magical number" = 7

Capacity can be increased by Chunking – bits of information are combined into meaningful units, or
chunks, so that more information can be held in STM.

Remembering Information in the STM

Duration of STM - lasts from about 12 to 30 seconds without rehearsal.

STM is susceptible to interference

(e.g., if counting is interrupted, have to start over).

Forgetting is due to “decay” over time or displacement by new items

Remembering Information in the STM

Maintenance rehearsal - practice of saying some information to be remembered over and over in one’s
head in order to maintain it in short-term memory (STMs tend to be encoded in auditory form).

Retrieval in WM

• The more items in the working memory (WM) the slower is retrieval

• Retrieval requires a serial search of WM

Functions of WM

• Plays an important role in thought - used to store parts of the problem and info accesses from
LTM relevant to the problem; workspace for mental computations and a wide range of complex
problems

Functions of WM

• Plays an important role in thought - used to store parts of the problem and info accesses form
LTM relevant to the problem; workspace for mental computations and a wide range of complex
problems.

• Serves as a way- station for LTM; one way is through rehearsal which maintains material in the
WM (maintenance rehearsal) and causes it to be transferred to the LTM (through elaborative
rehearsal)

Long-Term Memory

Long-term memory (LTM) - the system of memory into which all the information is placed to be kept
more or less permanently.

• Storage seems unlimited

• There is a relatively permanent physical change in the brain when a memory is formed.

• “Long term” does not mean all memories are stored forever.

• Encoding - meaning

• Elaborative rehearsal - a method of transferring information from STM into LTM by making that
information meaningful in some way.
 • Retrieval- many cases of forgetting result from loss of access to the information rather than
from loss of information itself.

The most important factor that can impair retrieval is interference

Types of LTM

Types of LTM

Procedural (nondeclarative) memory - type of long-term memory including memory for skills,
procedures, habits, and conditioned responses. These memories are not conscious but are implied to
exist because they affect conscious behavior.

Declarative memory – type of long-term memory containing information that is conscious and known
(memory for facts).

Procedural (Nondeclarative) LTM

Skills that people know how to do.

Also include emotional associations, habits, and simple conditioned reflexes that may or may not be in
conscious awareness.

Procedural (Nondeclarative) LTM

Demonstrated in people with anterograde amnesia - loss of memory from the point of injury or trauma
forward, or the inability to form new long-term memories. Usually does NOT affect procedural LTM.

Procedural memory often called implicit memory - memory that is not easily brought into conscious
awareness.

Figure 6.4 Tower of Hanoi

The Tower of Hanoi is a puzzle that is solved in a series of steps by moving one disk at a time. The goal is
to move all of the disks from peg A to peg C; the rules are that a larger disk can not be moved on top of a
smaller one and a disk can not be moved if there are other disks on top of it. Amnesia patients were able
to learn the procedure for solving the puzzle but could not remember that they knew how to solve it.

Declarative LTM

All the things that people know.

Semantic memory - type of declarative memory containing general knowledge, such as knowledge of
language and information learned in formal education.

Episodic memory - type of declarative memory containing personal information not readily available to
others, such as daily activities and events.

Declarative LTM

Semantic and episodic memories are forms of explicit memory - memory that is consciously known.

Figure 6.5 Types of Long-Term Memories

Long-term memory can be divided into declarative memories, which are factual and typically conscious
(explicit) memories, and nondeclarative memories, which are skills, habits, and conditioned responses
that are typically unconscious (implicit). Declarative memories are further divided into episodic
memories (personal experiences) and semantic memories (general knowledge).

Organization of Memory

LTM organized in terms of related meanings and concepts.

Semantic network model - model of memory organization that assumes information is stored in the
brain in a connected fashion, with concepts that are related stored physically closer to each other than
retrieval cue a stimulus for remembering.

Figure 6.6 An Example of a Semantic Network

In the semantic network model of memory, concepts that are related in meaning are thought to be
stored physically near each other in the brain. In this example, canary and ostrich are stored near the
concept node for “bird,” whereas shark and salmon are stored near “fish.” But the fact that a canary is
yellow is stored directly with that concept.

Recall

Recall - type of memory retrieval in which the information to be retrieved must be "pulled" from
memory with very few external cues.

Retrieval failure – recall has failed (at least temporarily).

Tip of the tongue phenomenon.

Recall

Serial position effect - tendency of information at the beginning and end of a body of information to be
remembered more accurately than information in the middle of the body of information.

Primacy effect - tendency to remember information at the beginning of a body of information better
than the information that follows.

Figure 6.8 Serial Position Effect

In the serial position effect, information at the beginning of a list will be recalled at a higher rate than
information in the middle of the list (primacy effect), because the beginning information receives more
rehearsal and may enter LTM. Information at the end of a list is also retrieved at a higher rate (recency
effect), because the end of the list is still in STM, with no information coming after it to interfere with
retrieval.

Recall

Serial position effect - tendency of information at the beginning and end of a body of information to be
remembered more accurately than information in the middle of the body of information.

Recency effect - tendency to remember information at the end of a body of information better than the
information ahead of it.

Recognition
Recognition - the ability to match a piece of information or a stimulus to a stored image or fact.

False positive – error of recognition in which people think that they recognize some stimulus that is not
actually in memory.

Eyewitness Testimony

Elizabeth Loftus study.

Showed that what people see and hear about an event after the fact can easily affect the accuracy of
their memories of that event.

Eye witness testimony not always reliable.

Automatic Encoding and Flashbulb Memories

Automatic encoding - tendency of certain kinds of information to enter long-term memory with little or
no effortful encoding.

Flashbulb memories - type of automatic encoding that occurs because an unexpected event has strong
emotional associations for the person remembering it.

How LTMs Are Formed

"...remembering is more like making up a story than it is like reading one printed in a book."

Constructive processing - referring to the retrieval of memories in which those memories are altered,
revised, or influenced by newer information.

How LTMs Are Formed

Hindsight bias - the tendency to falsely believe, through revision of older memories to include newer
information, that one could have correctly predicted the outcome of an event.

Forgetting – Ebbinghaus

Curve of forgetting - a graph showing a distinct pattern in which forgetting is very fast within the first
hour after learning a list and then tapers off gradually.

Distributed practice - will produce better retrieval than massed practice

Figure 6.9 Curve of Forgetting

Ebbinghaus found that his recall of words from his memorized word lists was greatest immediately after
learning the list but rapidly decreased within the first hour. After the first hour, forgetting leveled off.

Why do we forget?
Encoding Failure

Encoding failure - failure to process information into memory.

Encoding Failure:
Which is the correct penny?
Figure 6.10 Which Penny Is Real?
Most people do not really look at the face of a penny. Which of these pennies represents an actual
penny? The answer can be found on the next slide.

Figure 6.10 (continued) Which Penny Is Real?

Most people do not really look at the face of a penny. Which of these pennies represents an actual
penny? The answer is A.

Why do we forget?
Memory Trace Decay Theory

Memory trace - physical change in the brain that occurs when a memory is formed.

Decay - loss of memory due to the passage of time, during which the memory trace is not used.

Disuse - another name for decay, assuming that memories that are not used will eventually decay and
disappear.

Memories after many years – not explained by memory trace theory.

Why do we forget?
Interference Theory

Proactive interference - memory retrieval problem that occurs when older information prevents or
interferes with the retrieval of newer information.

Retroactive interference - memory retrieval problem that occurs when newer information prevents or
interferes with the retrieval of older information.

Figure 6.11 Proactive and Retroactive Interference

If a student were to study for a French exam and then a Spanish exam, interference could occur in two
directions. When taking the Spanish exam, the French information studied first may proactively interfere
with the learning of the new Spanish information. But when taking the French exam, the more recently
studied Spanish information may retroactively interfere with the retrieval of the French information.

Improving Memory

Some principles governing memory:

• Chunking

• Use of Imagery- e.g., method of loci and key-word method

• Elaboration

• Context

• Organization

• Practicing retrieval

The PQRST method – preview, question, read, self-recitation and test

End