Memory 

•  persistence of learning over time through the process of storage and retrieval of information

Encoding (1)

• processing of info into the memory system

Storage (2)

•  retention of material over time

Retrieval (3)

•  the process of getting the information out of memory storage
•  Retrieval failure: forgetting something, or not getting the info out of storage

Recall vs. Recognition

Recall

•  retrieve info from your memory
•  ex: fill in the blank test

Recognition

•  identify the target from possible targets
•  ex: multiple choice tests

Flash Bulb Memory

•  A clear moment of an emotionally significant event

Three types of Memory

Sensory

•  the immediate initial recording of sensory information stored for just an instant and most info goes unprocessed

Short Term

•  memory that holds a few items briefly
•  can hold 7 digits
•  if not stored here, goes to long term or its forgotten
•  three parts: audio, visual, intergration of audio and visual

Long Term

•  permanent and limitless storehouse of memory
•  explicit memories
•  implicit memories

Explicit Memories

•  episodic memories
• semantic memories

Implicit Memories

•  procedural memories
•  conditioned memories

Encoding Information

•  Primary Effect
•  Recency Effect
•  Serial Positioning Effect

The way we can encode

•  Visual: the encoding of picture images
•  Acoustic: encoding of sound, especially sounds of words
•  Semantic: encoding of meaning

Constructive Memory

•  Memories are not always what they seem
•  Elizabeth Loftus
•  Constructed memory is a created memory
•  Misinformation effect

Forgetting

•  Retroactive Interference: new info blocks out old info
•  Proactive Interference: old info blocks new info

Storing Memories

•  Long term Potential: long lasting enhancement in signal transmission between two neurons that results from stimulating them synchronously
•  In other words, they learn to fire together and get better at it, creating a memory

Learning

Learning

How do we learn?

•  Most is associative learning
•  certain events occur together

Three Main types

•  Classical conditioning
•  Observational learning 
•  Abstract learning

Classical
 Started with Ivan Pavlov
1. acquisition
2. extinction
3. spontaneous recovery
4. generalization
5. discrimination

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

•  stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response

Unconditioned response (UCR)

•  the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the UCS

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

•  an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with the UCS, comes to trigger a response

Conditioned Response (CR)

•  the learned response to a previous stimulus

Acquisition

•  Initial stage of learning
•  Phase where the neutral stimulus is associated with the UCS so that the neutral stimulus comes to elicit the CR thus becoming the CS

Extinction

•  The diminishing if a conditioned response
•  Will eventually happen when the UCS dows not follow the CS

Spontaneous Recovery

•  The reappearen after a rest period of an extinguished conditioned response

Generalization

•  The tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the CS to elicit similar responses

Discrimination

•  The learned ability to distinguish between a CS and other stimuli that does not signal UCS

Sleep and stages

Biological Rhythms

•  Annual Cycles: seasonal variations 
• 28 days: menstrual cycle
• 24 hour cycle: our circadian rhythm
• 90 minute cycle: sleep cycles

Circadian Rhythm

•  24 biological clock
•  body temp and awareness changes throughout the day

Sleep Stages

•  90 to 100 mins to pass through the stages
•  Brains waves will change according to the sleep stage you are in
•  First four are known as NREM sleep
•  The fifth stage is called REM sleep

   Stage 1

• Kind of awake and kind of asleep
• Only lasts a few minutes, and you usually only experience it once a night
• Eyes begin to roll slightly
•  Your brain produces Theta Waves (high amp, low frequency) (slow)

   Stage 2

•  This follows Stage 1 sleep and is the "baseline" of sleep
•  This stage is part of the 90 minute cycle and occupies approximately 45-60% of sleep
•  More Theta Waves that get progressively slower
•  Begin to show sleep spindles.. short bursts of rapid brain waves

     Stage 3 and 4

•  Slow wave sleep
•  You produce Delta waves
•  If awoken you will be very groggy
•  Vital for restoring body's growth hormones and good overall health

     Stage 5: REM Sleep

•  Rapid Eye Movement
•  Dreams usually occur in REM
•  Body is essentially paralyzed
•  Composes 20-25% of a normal nights sleep
•  Breathing, heart rate and brain wave activity quicken
•  Vivid dreams can occur
•  From REM, you go back to Stage 2
• 

unit 5

Intelligence 

• the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

Factor Analysis

• A statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a test

Charles Spearman used F A to discovery his general intelligence

Multiple Intelligenc

•  Howard Gardner disagreed with Spear man's g and instead came up with the concept of multiple intelligence

Gardners Multiple Intelligences:

• Visual/Spatial,Verbal/Lunguistic,Logical/Mathematical

Sternberg three aspects of intelligence

• Gardner Simplified,Analytically (academic problem solving),Creative (generating novel ideas),Practical (required for everyday task where multiple solutions exist)

Emotional Intelligence

• The ability to perceive express understand and regulate emotions

How do we Assess intelligence?

• Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon set out to figure out The concept called a mental age (what a person a particular age should know)
• They discovered that by discovering someones mental age they can predict future performance
• Hoped they could use test to help children, not label them
• Modern Tests of Mental Abilities
• Welsher Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) consists of 11 sub tests and cues us in to strengths by using factor analysis

Aptitude v. Achievement tests

• Aptitude: A test designed to predict a persons future performance
• The ability for that person to learn
• Achievement: A test designed to assess what a person has learned

How do we construct Intelligence tests?

• Teats must be Standardized, Reliable, Valid
• Standardization: The test must be pretested to a representative sample of people and form a normal distributions or bell curve
• Flynn Effect: Intelligence test performance has been rising
• Reliability: The extent which a test yields consistent results over time
• Split halves or test retest method
• Valadity: The extent to which is a text to measure what it is supposed to measure
• Content Validity:  does the test sample at behavior of interest

Extremes of Intelligence

• Grouo differences in intelligenxe test scores
• The bell curve is different for whites v. black
• math scores are dufferent across genders and the highest scores are for the asian males
• Why? nature or nature

prototypes:

• or best example of a category

Algorithms:

•  a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem

Match problem

• fixation:  The inability to see a problem from a new perspective
• Mental Set:A tendency to approach a problem in a particular way especially if it has worked in the past

Types of Heyristics

• overconfidence: The tendency to be more confident than correct overestimate the accuracy of your beliefs and judgments
• cognition: another term for thinking knowing and remembering

how to resolve problems?

• heuristics:  role of thumb strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently

Unit 5

   Perceptions

• The process of organizing and interpreting information enabling

   Visual capture

• The tendency for vision to dominate the other senses.

     Gestalt psychology

• These psychologists emphasize our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.
• The whole is the greater than the sum of its parts.

    Figure ground relationship

• The organization of the visual field into objects (figures) that stand out from their surroundings (ground)

    Grouping

• The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into groups that we understand

          1.proximity we group by figures together
          2 similarity we group items that are similar
          3 continuity we are looking for continuous patterns
          4 contentedness that is uniform and link together

       Depth perception

• The ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two dimensional.
• Allows us to judge distance.

         Visual cliff

• A baby is crawling to the edge

How do we transform a two dimensional objects to a three dimensional

•  Binocular cues: depth cues that depend on two eyes
•  Monocular cues: depth cues that depend on one eye
•  Binocular cue

                 -Retinal disparity: a binocular cue for seeing depth
                 -The closer an object comes  to you the greater the disparity is between the two Image

•  Monocular cues

                -Interposition: if something is blocking our view we perceive it as closer
                -Relative size: if we know that two objects are similar in size the one that looks smaller is farther away
                -Relative clarity we assume hazy objects are farther away
                -Texture gradient : the coarser it looks the closer it is
                 -Relative height: things higher in our field of vision they look farther away
                -Relative motion: things that are closer appear to move more quickly
               -Linear perspective : parallel lines seen to converge with distance
                -Light and shadow dimmer objects appear farther away because they reflect less light
    Phi phenomenon

• An illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in succession

    Perceptual consistency

• Perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images changes

Unit 5

Language

• Our spoken written or gestured words and the way we combining them in communication

Phonemes

• In a spoken language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.

Morphemes

• In a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning

Grammar

• A system of rules in a language that enables us to communicate and understand others

Semantics

• The set of rules by which we derive meaning in a language

Syntax

• The rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences.

Language development:
Babbling stage

•  starting at 3-4 months, the infant makes spontaneous sounds. Not limited to the phonemes of the infant’s household language.

One word stage

• 1-2 years old, uses one word to communicate big meanings

Two word stage 

• at age 2, uses two words to communicate meanings- called telegraphic speech

Skinner
• Skinner thought that we can explain language development through social learning theory.

Chomsky
• In born universal grammar
• We acquire language too quickly for it to be learned.
• We have this “learning box” inside our heads that enable us to learn any human language.
Whorf’s linguistic relativity

• The idea that Language determines the way we think

Unit 4

Development 

Study how we change physically, socially, cognitively, and morally over our lifetimes

• Nature VS Nurture:
• Are you who you are because of:
• Nature- the way you were born
• Nurture- the way you were raised

• Physical Development

- Focus on our physical changes over time Prenatal Development - Conception begins with the drop of an egg and the release of about 200 million sperm Zygote(1st stage) - Lasts about two weeks and consists of rapid cell divison - Less than half survive the first two weeks - 10 days after conception, it will attach itself to the uterine wall - Outer part of zygote becomes the placenta Embryo(2nd stage) - Lasts about 6 weeks - Heart begins to beat - Organs begin to develop Fetus(3rd stage) - about the 6th month, 

-stomach and other organs formed - at this time the baby, can hear, recognize sounds and respond to light Teratogens - Chemical agents can harm the prenatal environmenta - Alcohol ,STDs,HIV Healthy Newborns - Turn their heads towards voices - See 8 - 12 inches from their faces Reflexes - Inborn automatic response Rooting (cheek) - When a newborn is touched on the cheek, the infant will turn his or her head toward the source of stimulation Grasping - If an object is places into a baby's palm, the baby will try to grasp the object with his/her fingers Moro (startle) - When startled a baby will fling his/her limbs out and then quickly retract them Babinski (foot) - When a baby's foot is stroked, he or she will spread their toes Maturation - Physical growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, regardless of the environment Motor Development - First learn to roll over, sit up unsupported, crawl, walk, etc Cognition - All mental activities associated with thinking, knowing and remembering. Schemas - The way we interpret the world around us (concepts) Assimilation - Incorporating new experiences into existing schemas Accommodation - Changing an existing schema to adapt new informtion 4 Stages of Cognitive Development -Jean Pieget 1: Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 yrs) - experience the world through our senses - object permanance: develops around 6-8 months of age 2: Preoperational Stage (2-6 or 7 yrs) - Begin to use language to represent objects and ideas, think in symbols - Non logical, "magical thinking" - Egocentric: early in this stage they cannot look at the world through anyone's eyes but their own Conservation - Refers to the idea that a quantity remains the same despite changes in appearance and is part of logical thinking 3: Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 yrs) - Can demonstrate concept of conservation - Learn to think logically - Understanding of reversibility, of awareness that action 4: Formal Operational Stage (12+ yrs) - Abstract reasoning - Reasoning with metaphore and analogies Social Development - Up until a year, infants do not mind strangers - At about a year, infants develop stranger anxiety Attachment - Most important social construct an infant must develop a bond with caregiver - Konrad Lorenz discovered that some animals form attachment through imprinting. Origins of Attachment - Harry Harlow and his monkeys - Showed that monkeys needed touch or body contact to form attachment - Deprived of touch can led to trouble forming attachment when they are older Responsive Parenting - Mary Ainsworths "Strange Situation" study - Three types: 1 -Secure Attachment - Children show some distress when parent leaves, seek contact at the reunion, explore when parent gone, play and greet when parent present 2 - Stranger Anxiety - Fear of strangers that infants display - beginning about 8 months of age 3-Seperation Anxiety - Distress the infant shows when object of attachment leaves - Peaks between 14 and 18 months Parenting Styles 1-Authoritarian Parents - impose rules and expect obediance 2-Permissive Parents - parents submit to childrens desires 3-Authoritative Parents - both the parent and the child compromis Sigmund Freud - We all have a libido - Our libido travels to diff areas of our body throughout our development - If we become preoccupied with any one area, Freud said we have become fixated on it - Together Freud called these stages our Psychosexual Stages of Development Oral Stage (0-1) - Seek pleasure through the mouth - Psychological task: weaning Anal Stage (1-3) - Psychological task: toilet training - Libido is focused on controlling waste and expelling waste Phallic Stage (3-6) - Children first recognize their gender - Psychological task: identify with the same sex parent - Causes conflict in families with the Oedipus and Electra Complexes Latency (6-11) - Libido is hidden - Cooties stage Genital Stage (11 and up) - Libido is focused on their genitals - Experience sexual feelings toward others Adolescence - transition period from childhood to adulthood Puberty - Period of sexual maturation during which a person becomes capable of reproducing Primary Sexual Characteristics - Body structures that make reproduction possible Secondary Sexual Characteristics - None reproductive sexual characteristics Adulthood - All physical abilities peak by our mid twenties Physical Milestones - Menopause: the natural ending of a woman's ability to reproduce Types of Intelligence Crystallized - accumulated knowledge - increases with age Fluid - ability to solve problems quickly and think abstractly - peaks in 20s and decreases over time Alzheimer's Disease - A progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, language and physical functioning - Caused by deterioration of neurons that produce the transmitter acetylcholine Life Expectancy - Keeps increasing: now about 75 - Women outlive men by about 4 years Death - Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's Stages of Death & Grief 1. Denial 2. Anger 3. Bargaining 4. Depression 5. Acceptance