Long-Term Memory retains information for months or years, and Short-Term Memory retains information for seconds

Retroactive interference occurs when the presence of some new material interferes with the memory of something that was learned earlier. Proactive interference occurs when previously learned material interferes with the learning of new materials.

In a conditional discrimination task the sample and comparison stimuli are not the same

Information stayed in pigeons working memory for 10 seconds and monkeys for 60 seconds. To improve times, show the initial stimulus longer

Retrospective coding involves looking backward and remembering what has already happened. Prospective coding involves looking forward and remembering what responses should be made next.

Match to sample is simply picking the same stimulus that was presented initially, delayed matching to sample (dmts) is matching after the initial stimulus goes away and all stimulus is absent until the choice stimulus are presented.

A radial-arm maze simulates a situation in which an animal explores territory in search of food.

Working memory is short-term memory, but reflects that it is a guide for current performance

In most studies, it seems that animals switch between prospective and retrospective coding depending on which contains less elements to remember

A technique to determine maintenance rehearsal in animals is called directed forgetting. Basically, participants are told to remember or forget a stimulus, and the things that were told to remember are remembered better

With animals, rehearsal refers to an active processing of stimuli or events after they have occurred

Maintenance rehearsal keeps information active in short-term memory. Associative rehearsal keeps information active in long-term memory.

Posttrial episodes (PTE) distracts from long term memory if it occurs immediately after a conditioning trial. Random PTEs are more so disruptive

PTEs interfere more the closer they occur to the conditioning trial

Forgetting curve in animals is similar to humans. Exponential decay to ~25%

The context-shift effect states if you learn some new information in one context, your recall of the information will be better if you are tested in the same context

Long-term memory is very large and there is no accurate way to quantify its capacity

It is difficult to tell if animals can detect abstract similarities but progress has been made

A pacemaker is an internal clock that helps subjects estimate the passage of time

The behavioral theory of timing states that subjects can use their own behaviors to estimate the passage of time

The peak procedure showed that the response rate peaked at the expected time for reinforcement in a FI schedule.

There seems to be an internal counter as well as an internal timer

Number discrimination follows Weber's law just as timing follows Weber's law

Hulse and Dorsky ran an experiment with rats to memorize the quantity of food delivered. If the pattern was more complex, it took the rats longer to learn the pattern

Animals first learn the general rule and only later do they learn the exception to the rule

Dalal and Meck experimented on rats to see if food helped chunking procedure. Placing the same food in the same arms each time, rats made less repeat visits to already visited arms