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Psychology AOS 2 SAC 2 - Coggle Diagram
Psychology AOS 2 SAC 2
Neural Plasticity
Physical structural changes to the brain through learning
Long-Term Potentiation
"Neurons that fire together wire together"
Repeated stimulation of neurons in a pathway leads to strengthening of their connections
Stronger pathways are more likely to fire in the future
Synapses can sprout
Long-Term Depression
Also vital to learning
Prolonged low-level stimulation leads to weakened connections in pathway and less chance of firing
Synapses can be pruned
Age Related Plasticity
Developmental plasticity
Young children experience much more neural plasticity as they learn keys skills such as walking and talking
Decreases with age
Adaptive plasticity
The ability for the brain to repair itself after damage
Also declines with age, but is always present
Classical Conditioning
Unconscious and involuntary
Phases
Before Conditioning
NS causes no response
UCS causes UCR
During Conditioning
NS is associated with UCS (and by extent UCR)
After Conditioning
CS produces CR
Extinction
When CS is repeatedly presented alone, it may eventually stop producing CR
Spontaneous Recovery
Occurs after CS is presented after a long period of extinction and CR is suddenly produced again
Stimulus Generalisation
The tendency for stimuli similar to the CS to be generalised and produce the same CR
Stimulus Discrimination
The ability to differentiate between a CS and other stimuli that are similar (eg. a bell and sounds like a bell)
Little Albert
Procedure
Watson and Rayner exposed the child to a series of stimuli including a white rat, a rabbit, a monkey, masks, and burning newspapers and observed the boy's reactions. The boy initially showed no fear of any of the objects he was shown.
The next time Albert was exposed to the rat (NS), Watson made a loud noise (UCS) by hitting a metal pipe with a hammer. Naturally, the child began to cry (UCS) after hearing the loud noise.
After repeatedly pairing the white rat with the loud noise, Albert began to cry (CR) simply after seeing the rat (CS).
Ethical Implications
Little Albert was removed from the experiment before they had a chance to decondition him (debrief) which could result in lasting psychological damage, violating ethical guidelines
Neural Transmission
Neurotransmitters
Communicate information
between neurons
Glutamate
Primary excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain
Excites the post-synaptic neuron and increases its chance of firing
GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid)
Primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain
Inhibits the post-synaptic neuron and decreases its likelihood of firing
Deficiencies are linked to anxiety and epiliepsy
Neurohormones
Released into bloodstream
Chemical messenger
Dopamine
Contributes to the control of voluntary movements
Related to pleasure and pleasure seeking
Adrenaline
Small amounts secreted within 30 seconds of learning, have a role in the consolidation of memory
When released during heightened emotional arousal, adrenaline induces the release of noradrenaline in the amygdala
Prescence of adrenaline causes the amygdala to signal to the hippocampus that the memory is emotional and important
Lock and Key Process
A neurotransmitter's shape must match the shape of a receptor site for the transmitter to have an effect
Each neurotransmitter only 'fits' in a certain type of receptor site
Operant Conditioning
Active and voluntary
Phases
Antecedent
Anything in the environment that triggers the learners behaviour
Behaviour
The voluntary behaviour triggered by the antecedent
Consequences
The event that occurs after the behaviour and determines whether the behaviour is likely to continue.
Positive Reinforcement
Pleasant stimulus provided
Negative Reinforcement
Unpleasant stimulus removed
Positive Punishment
Unpleasant stimulus provided
Negative Punishment
Pleasant stimulus removed
Observational Learning
Process
Attention
The learner actively watches model
Retentions
The learner stores a mental representation of the behaviour
Reproduction
The learner has the mental and physical ability to perform the behaviour
Motivation
The learn must have a want or desire to perform the behaviour
Reinforcement
A positive outcome means the learner is more likely to repeat the behaviour
Motivation
Intrinsic
Internal motivation
Engaging in a behaviour for its own sake
Extrinsic
External motivation
To earn a reward or avoid punishment
Bobo Doll Study
Procedure
72 (in groups of 24) children watched a video of an adult beating up a Bobo Doll
3 different groups either was the adult rewarded, punished or had no consequence
The children were then individually left in a room with a Bobo Doll and observed
Results
Children who observed the aggressive model made far more imitative aggressive responses than those who were in the non-aggressive or control groups
Boys imitated more physically aggressive acts than girls
Evaluation
Children learn through observation and imitation the consequences (or lack of them) for a model influence imitative responses by the observer
Behaviour acquired through observational learning may not be reproduced until there is an incentive to do so
Multi-Store Model of Memory
Atkinson and Shiffran
Sensory Memory
Potentially unlimited capacity
0.2-0.4 second duration
Must be attended to in order to be remembered
Iconic Memory
Visual sensory memory
0.2-0.4 seconds
Echoic Memory
Auditory sensory memory
3-4 seconds
Lasts long enough to link sounds together
Short-Term Memory
5-9 chunks of information
18-20 second duration
Chunking
Grouping individual items into small chunks or units to increase the capacity of short-term memory
Consolidation
To move information to LTM, time is needed to stabilise the memory
Typically 30 mins
Disruption can lead to lost memories
Long-Term Memory
Potentially unlimited capacity
Potentially permanent duration
Explicit Memory
Declarative memory
Facts and events brought consciously to mind
Semantic Memory
Factual information
Episodic Memory
Autobiographical personal events and experiences
Implicit Memory
Actions and skills
Often difficult to recall how or when learned
Procedural Memory
Actions and skills, how to do something
Classical Conditioning
Conditioned responses to stimuli
Retrieval
Cues
Retrieval cues match the original learning conditions
Context Dependent
The physical place a memory was made
State Dependent
The psychological or physiological state of mind in which a memory was formed
Recall (Most Sensitive)
Reproducing learned information to few to no cues
Least sensitive
Cued Recall
Recall with cues
Free Recall
Recall without cues
Serial Recall
Recall in learned order
Recognition (Middle Sensitive)
Selecting the correct alternative from a list
Recognition of answer (cued)
Eg. multiple choice question
Relearning (Most Sensitive)
Relearning information that had previously been learned
Comparing the amount of time taken to relearn vs first time learning (savings score)
Reconstruction
Rearranging the parts of an original task into sequence or order
Used when reconstructing a memory
Brain Regions
Cerebral cortex
Stores long-term memories particularly explicit memories
Memories stored in areas associated with memory
Hippocampus
Encodes and consolidates explicit memories
'Workbench' for short-term memories
Amygdala
Processes emotional aspects of memories by signalling to hippocampus
Cerebellum
Involved in encoding and storing implicit memories, particularly procedural memories
Also involved with motor control, coordination and balance
Reliability
Amnesia
The loss of memory or the ability to form memories
Retrograde Amnesia
Most common type of amnesia
Inability to retrieve stored memories
Anterograde Amnesia
Inability to form new memories
Often involves damage to hippocampus
Low chance of recovery
Alzheimers
Neurodegenerative disease
Results from a loss of neurons in the hippocampus
Causes
Amyloid plaques (protein deposits) builds up around neurons and prevent their ability to communicate
Neurofibrillary tangles of stabilising tau proteins inside neuron microtubules cause them to disintegrate and reduce communication effectiveness
Symptoms
Loss of particularly declarative memories
Confusion and repetition
Impaired decision making
Irritability
Eyewitness Testimony
Reconstruction
Remembering is a reconstruction of the past based on a person's reinterpretation and redevelopment of the event
Often not an exact replica of event
Remember some key events but overlook smaller details
Brain fills in gaps with logical information (but not always true)
Loftus and Palmer
Experiment 1
Evaluation
Response-bias factors: The misleading information provided may have simply influenced the answer a person gave but didn't actually lead to a false memory of the event
The memory representation is altered: The critical verb changes a person's perception of the accident
Results
The estimated speed was affected by the verb used. The verb implied information about the speed, which systematically affected the participants’ memory of the accident
Procedure
45 participants (convenience sample) watched footage of a car crash
They were then asked questions about how fast the crash was (leading verbs: smashed / collided / bumped / hit / contacted) in 5 independent groups
Experiment 2
Procedure
150 participants (convenience sample) watched footage of another car crash
Afterwards, they were asked questions relating to the cars "hitting" or "smashing" into each other or nothing (control, 3 independent groups)
One week later they were asked if there was any broken glass at the scene
Results
Participants who were asked how fast the cars were going when they smashed were more likely to report seeing broken glass
Evaluation
This research suggests that memory is easily distorted by questioning technique and information acquired after the event can merge with original memory causing inaccurate recall or reconstructive memory
Limitations
One limitation of the research is that it lacked mundane realism / ecological validity
Serial Position Effect
How the position of items in a list affects their ability to be remembered
Primacy Effect
First items are likely to be remembered
Committed to LTM first
Recency Effect
Last items are likely to be remembered
Stored in STM
Delayed Serial Position Effect
After delay (~30s) primacy effect applies but recency effect doesn't
Information is lost from STM after a delay period