Psychology 100:​​Midterm 2 Study Guide Dr. Ann Renken

What are the individual differences in the stress response?

Highlight = Important Concept

Highlight = Important People

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Chapter 4: Sleep Disorders​/ Stress and Health Pg. 1 Chapter 5:​Sensation and Perceptions Pg. 5 Section 5.1: Taste and Smell Pg. 8

Section 5.2: Pain Perception Pg. 8

Section 5.3: Visual Perception Pg. 9

Chapter 6: Learning Pg. 12 Section 6.1: Classical Learning Pg. 12

Section 6.2: Operant Conditioning Pg. 15

Chapter 7: Memory Pg. 19 Chapter 9: Infant and Child Development (Only 9.1 and 9.2) Pg. 33

Chapter 4 (Stress and Health/ Sleep Disorders) 

Scientists use stressors​as an indicator or index value measurement for testing stress: Stress is usually tested subjectively.

What are the beneficial roles of daily fluctuations in cortisol?

(​Because asking “How stressed are you?” doesn't get optimum results)

1. Major Life Events:

a.) Social Readjustment Rating Scale (aka Holmes ​Scale​)

b.) Common Daily Events

c.) Positive and Negative Results

2.) Daily Hassles and Uplifts

3.) Major Life Events vs Daily Hassles 

i.) Both can predict Illness

ii.) Hassles have an Additive Effect

(1) Biggest Risks From:

(a) Negative Events that are Uncontrollable

(b) Positive Events: Having too many positive events at a fast rate

What are the characteristics of sound waves?

Don't forget about the age old question of bio 360 asu exam 1

can also lead to a stressful and disappointed state. “Not enough

just to ask”.

4.) Individual Difference in the Stress Response: 

a.) Social vs Isolation

i.) “Tend and Befriend” Response:​(Most common in Women)

(1) Women tend to try to take care of others as a therapy for crisis, and they

typically fare better than men.

(2) Socializing, reaching out, emotional engagement is aided by the release of oxytocin​(comfort hormone)

ii.) Two Types of Social Response to “Fight or Flight”

(1) Social Support (Women)

(2) Isolation (Men) We also discuss several other topics like law and politics rutgers

iii.) “Coping” Response: 

(1) Problem­Focused “What can I do to fix this?”

(2) Actively­coping, energized, not stressed

(3) Solving the problem at hand

(4) High Energy State, but cannot always be in that state.

(a) Ex: Cancer, or problem that’ can’t always be solved.

iv.) “Emotion­Focused” Response​(“What can I do to feel better?”) (1) Distraction­keeping yourself busy to take mind off the issue

(Procrastination)

(2) Emotional Disclosure­Talking about bad memory, initially traumatizing but gradually gets better in the long run.

(3) Praying for guidance

(4) Meditation/Mindfulness

(5) Alcohols/ Drugs ­Numbing of emotions

(6) Journaling­ Writing a gratitude diary,being helpful

(7) Cognitive Reappraisal­changing the way we are thinking

(8) Negative Thoughts/emotions­Suppressing/Scheduling time.

b.) Psychological Hardiness 

i.) Challenge (Perspective) We also discuss several other topics like com 100 midterm

ii.) Commit (Focus)

iii.) Control (Internal/External)

c.) Stress is not the Enemy!

i.) “Believing that stress is bad for you, makes it bad for you”

ii.) Different Beliefs on Stress (Interpretations)

(1) High Stress + Belief that Stress Kills You > Leads to Higher risks of death related to stress induced diseases.

(2) High Stress + Non­Belief that Stress Kills You> Leads to Lower risks of deaths related to stress induced diseases.

d.) Behaviors associated to Resilience to Stress 

i.) Aerobic Exercise ­ Neurogenesis​­ Creating/Healing of Mind/Brain ii.) Mindfulness or Loving­Kindness Meditation (Socialising)

iii.) Mood Boosters ­ Laughter, Enjoying Music, Dancing

iv.) Massage

e.) Han Selye's’ General Adaptation Syndrome 

Don't forget about the age old question of om 300 exam 2

Hypothalamus­ Pituitary Adrenal Axis (HPA Axis) 

(Order of Events, downwards)

1. Stressful Event

2. Various Brain Areas

3. Hypothalamus

4. Pituitary Gland

5. Adrenal Gland

Corticotropin­ Releasing Hormones (CRH) 

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone (ACTH) 

**Releases Cortisol

**Also releases epinephrine > Elevates blood pressure.

1. Cortisol “The Stress Hormone” If you want to learn more check out The structures that are visible to the naked eye is called what?

a. Glucocorticoid (Steroid)

b. Receptors on every Cell

c. Effects: Don't forget about the age old question of econ study guide

i. Increase glucose production in liver

ii. Breaks down fat for every production (However this is not good in the long run, as the process actually makes the body store even more fat in the body)

iii. Immunosuppression (Also Anti­inflammatory)

2. Beneficial Roles of Daily Fluctuations in Cortisol. 

a. Morning Peak: ​Energizing > Coffee not necessary in morning

b. “Early Bird” Types generally have higher cortisol levels in the morning, this is genetically influenced

c. More Glucose for Brain

d. Stimulates Hippocampus, amygdala impairment.

3. Harmful Effects of Cortisol Elevation: 

a. Neuronal Death

b. Hippocampus shrinks, fever dendrites

c. Disrupts Sleep

d. Depression > Clinically Diagnosed

e. Related to Post­Tramatic Stress Disorder

4. Sleep Disorders: 

a. Insomnia​may be caused by increasing cortisol levels at night.

b. Somnambulism​or sleepwalking > Happens in deep sleep.

c. R.E.M Behavior Disorder: ​No muscle paralysis when in REM stage. Mostly aggressive behavior.

d. Sleep Paralysis:​Conscious and muscle paralyzed when awoke. There could also be a feeling of being watched or pressure on chest.

Chapter 5: Sensation and Perception Hearing:

1. Characteristics of Sound Waves

a. Amplitude:​​Measured in Decibels (dB)

b. Frequency:​​Pitch, measured in Hertz (Hz), vibrations per second low/high pitch c. Sound Waves push on the eardrum which pushes liquid in the ear, so the brain can perceive the sound

d. 3 Loops­ Semi­Lunar Canals​(Fluid to Detect Motion)

i. Hammer

ii. Anvil

iii. Stirrup

e. 3 Bones in the mid­ear that concentrate pressure to the oval window that pushes the fluid in ear

a. *Moving hair cells which responds to basilar membrane generates action potential 

High Frequency ​> Travels faster but shorter length

Lower Frequency ​> Travels Slower but Longer

a. The Proximal Start ​detects lower frequency waves and shorter length while the Distal End​​detects lower frequency and longer wavelengths (Apex)

1. Two Different Ways that Pitch is Coded:

a. Temporal Coding: 

i. Number of vibrations per second, also equals the number of action

potentials per second

b. Place Coding: 

i. High Pitches (Above 4000 Hz)

2. Cells in the pons are selective for…

a. Different Arrival Times

i. Sound Localization 

1. From­Back Ambiguity in Sound Localization

a. Equidistant, sound arrives at the same time so brain

can’t tell if sound is coming from front or back

b. Different Amplitudes (Distance)

i. By age 30, beginning to lose specific pitches (Cannot hear above than 15000 Hz)

ii. By age 70, beginning to lose pitches relating to speech ​(Cannot hear above 6000 Hz)

c. Changes over Lifespan 

i. High pitch is first to develop and first to be lost.

3. Why can’t I hear after a concert?

a. Analogous to suntan­defense against overstimulation

i. Loud Noise > Adenosine Hyperpolarizes neurons in Cochlea. ii. Genetic Variation > Some have less, more susceptible to noise loss.

iii. Ecstasy and Caffeine exacerbates noise­induced hearing loss in animal studies.

iv. Deafness: 

1. Cortical (Usually Result of Stroke)

a. Very Rare > Occurs in Auditory Cortex

b. Retain Reflexive orientation to sounds

c. Inherited or Prenatal 

i. Cochlear implants use place coding on

auditory nerves

ii. Better to install earlier (0­2 Years of Age)

iii. Auditory Cortex is stimulated by machines

engineering

Chapter 5: The Chemical Senses: Taste and Smell 1. Taste Receptors are in taste buds.

a. Each bump (Papillae)​has around 1­100 taste buds

b. Each taste bud has 50­100 receptors

c. Most receptors ​for different tastes are mixed and distributed around the tongue (Flavors). There are receptors along the cheek and bottom of tongue as well. i. Bitterness has a natural correlation poison​, so most of the receptors are located along the back of the tongue as to trigger an adaptive gag

response.

ii. Chemical Receptors

1. Sweet (Sugar)

2. Salty (Salts)

3. Umami (Glutamate)

4. Bitter (Plant­based Chemicals)

5. Sour (Acidic)

iii. Tactile Receptors 

1. Capsaicin (Hot/Warm)

2. Somatosensory Cortex >Tactile or Heat Information

iv. Pathway of Detecting Taste: 

1. Tongue and Mouth > Medulla > Thalamus

2. How Taste is coded is still unknown

3. Multiple pathways that combine with the olfactory center.

Chapter 5: Pain Perception 

1. Gate Control Theory: 

a. Gate for pain signal at spinal cord

b. We can use touch/pressure to control pain

i. Injury Pathway > Spinal cord >Brain

ii. Touch/Pressure Pathway > Spinal cord >Brain

1. Ice is effective because it slows down the action potential that is

delivered by neurons.

iii. There is no “Pain Center”, pain is processed in a circuit or and through several brain structures.

iv. Insular Cortex > Pain/ Disgust 

v. Phantom Limb ​> Pain/Signals from already amputated limbs

1. Caused by rewiring of the somatosensory cortex. After a limb has been amputated, it becomes taken over, but sometimes the wiring

may lead to such sensations in the non­existent limb leading to the

so called “phantom limb” occurrence.

Chapter 5: Visual Perception 

1. Retina has two types of receptors

a. Rods 

i. Works in low light

ii. No color perception

iii. Poor Detail

iv. Located on the edge of retina (120 million average)

b. Cones 

i. Bright Light

ii. Color perception,

iii. Finer Details

iv. Located on Fovea (6 Million)

2. Photopigments: 

a. Are light sensitive chemicals that initiate transduction of light waves into electrical neural impulses

3. Color­Perception Theories

a. Trichromatic Theory:​Cones respond maximally to 1 of 3 wavelengths i. Short > Blue

ii. Medium > Green

iii. Long > Red

iv. Color vision results from activity in 5 cones (responding to short blue­violet light)

b. Opponent Process Theory: 

i. When ganglion cells receive input from L cones but are inhibited by M cones, creating the perception that some colors are opposite (This accounts for afterimages)

c. Color Blindness

i. X­chromosome Linked

ii. 5­8% of all men have it

iii. Less than 1% of women have it.

d. Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization 

i. Laws to explain how the brain group organizes a compilation of scenes into a comprehensible whole.

1. Proximity

2. Similarity

3. Continuity

4. Closure

5. Illusory Contours

e. Depth Perceptions 

i. Monocular Cues

1. Linear perspective

2. Texture Perspective

3. Occlusion

4. Relative Size

5. Binocular Cues:

a. Binocular Disparity:

i. Where the visual system sees every object

from two distinct vantage points

6. Ponzo Illusion:

a. The human mind judges an object’s size based on

the background

b. Depth cues can lead to faulty assumptions about

size.

i. Arne’s Room:

Credit: Scientific American

Chapter 6: Classical Learning Association Classical Learning Association Differentiated Between Three Stimulus:

1.) Sounds

2.) Sight

3.) Smell

1. Ivan Pavlov ​­ Fore­founder with Dog Salvation Experiment.

A. Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) 

in classical conditioning, a stimulus that automatically elicits a particular unconditioned response 

B. Unconditioned response (UCR) 

in classical conditioning, an unlearned, automatic response to 

a particular unconditioned stimulus 

C. Conditioned stimulus (CS) 

in classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus that comes to 

elicit a particular conditioned response after being paired with 

a particular unconditioned stimulus that already elicits that 

response 

D. Conditioned response (CR) 

in classical conditioning, the learned response given to a 

particular conditioned stimulus 

Neutral Stimulus (NS) >​​Arbitrarily Chosen Stimulus (ex: Bell)

Neutral Stimulus ​Becomes Conditioned Stimulus

Unconditional Stimulus​Becomes Conditioned Stimulus

UR> CR

NS > CS

Neutral Stimuli Vary in Potential Control Stimulus 

1.) Novelty of Stimulus:​It is easier to learn if the stimulus is unique and special; something not common or already exposed to frequently

2.) Biological Preparedness​:

a.) What starts off Neutral > Turns into threatening Stimulus

b.) Taste Aversion:​Bad Association between Stimulus/ Response

i.) Breaks a lot of rules from Classical conditioning

(1) Happens one time (one flavor can cause illness pairing)

(2) Delay between flavor and illness can be hour or more offset

(3) Doesn't have to be directly related to cause this symptom

(4) Unconditioned Stimulus is what is actually causing the sickness

3.) Second Order Conditioning: 

a.) Already established

i.) Not introducing/establish > Controlled Stimulus

ii.) Pairing with a new Neutral Stimulus

b.) John B. Watson:​​“Little Albert Experiment” 

i.) Conditioned Emotional Response

(1) Neutral Stimulus ­ WhiteRat

(2) Unconditioned Stimulus­ Loud Noise

(3) Unconditioned Response­ Fear Association for Rat

ii.) Stimulus Generalization 

(1) (Spreading of Controlled Response)

(2) Reacting to a broader range of stimuli

(3) Association of controlled response with similar neutral stimulus iii.) Stimulus Discrimination 

(1) Some stimuli would not be associated (ex: Dog to Rat)

(2) Stimuli can only go so far in association

iv.) Typical Strength of Classically Conditioned Response:

v.) Extinction ​*Testing out the Neutral Stimulus to see if it is still a

conditioned stimulus and elicits a conditioned response.

vi.) The conditioned stimulus can never be completely unlearned, only

inhibited, always recovery periods.

1. Treating Phobias

a. Systematic Desensitization 

i. Three Steps:

1. Relaxation Training

2. Anxiety Hierarchy

3. Counter Conditioning

ii. Unconditioned stimulus > Unconditioned Response (Relaxation)

1. With Controlled Stimulus (Ex: Spider)

2. In Advertising

a. Logos:​Distinctive, memorable, and ubiquitous

b. Elicit reflexive response

c. Persuasion Routes:

i. Central ­ Backstory , long, not really used

ii. Peripheral (i.e. Celebrity endorsement)

1. Product > Starts as a neutral stimulus >Then connects with

emotion attached with certain stimuli that elicit a “feel­good”

response (I.e. Kobe)

3. Drug Relapses:

a. Confront the stimulus instead of hiding it.

Chapter 6: Operant Conditioning 

1. Reinforce/Punishment

2. Thorndike’s “Law of Effect” 

a. Behaviors that produce a ..

i. Satisfying effect are most likely to be repeated

ii. Discomforting effect are less likely to be repeated

b. Trial and Error Learning (i.e Puzzle Box with Prize at end)

3. B.F. Skinner ​Developed “Operant Chamber”

Reinforcement:​​Anything that increases the behavior

1. The Process of Operant Conditioning

a. Shaping:​Rewarding successful approximations

b. Next day­ Relearning

2. Reinforcement Schedules:

a. Fixed­ratio schedules​​are those where a response is reinforced only after a specified number of responses. This schedule produces a high, steady rate of responding with only a brief pause after the delivery of the reinforcer. An example of a fixed­ratio schedule would be delivering a food pellet to a rat after it presses a bar five times. 

b. Variable­ratio schedules ​occur when a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses. This schedule creates a high steady rate of responding. Gambling and lottery games are good examples of a reward based on a variable ratio schedule. In a lab setting, this might involved delivering food pellets to a rat after one bar press, again after four bar presses, and a third pellet after two bar presses. 

c. Fixed­interval schedules​are those where the first response is rewarded only after a specified amount of time has elapsed. This schedule causes high amounts of responding near the end of the interval, but much slower responding immediately after the delivery of the reinforcer. An example of this in a lab setting would be reinforcing a rat with a lab pellet for the first bar press after a 30 second interval has elapsed. 

d. Variable­interval schedules​occur when a response is rewarded after an unpredictable amount of time has passed. This schedule produces a slow, steady rate of response. An example of this would be delivering a food pellet to a rat after the first bar press following a one minute interval, another pellet for the first response following a five minute interval, and a third food pellet for the first response following a three minute interval.

Tolman's Latent Learning Experiments 

#1 Hypothesis ​: If reinforcement was not required, giving reward will not change results dramatically

#2 Hypothesis:​If reinforcement is required, then learning will match those who were rewarded regularly

Results:​Did not need reinforcement for learning,because Latent learning​not obvious, but beneath the surface learning.

Establishing and maintaining operant conditioning

Continuous Reinforcement > Fastest Learning

Partial Reinforcement > Greatest Resistance to Extinction

*​Want to slowly transition from continuous to partial so it becomes a variable interval

Chapter 7: Memory 

7.1​What Is Memory? 

I. Memory Is the Nervous System’s Capacity to Retain and Retrieve Skills and Knowledge A. Memory enables organisms to store information from experiences for retrieval. 

II. Memory Is the Processing of Information 

A. Information processing model (Three Stages) 

a. The Encoding Phase​occurs at the time of learning, as information is transformed into a format that can be stored in memory. The brain changes informatoin into a neural code that it can use.

b. The Storage Phase​​is the retention of the coded representation.

i. Consolidation​is the process of the neutral connections that support memory becoming stronger as new synapses are constructed. Through

consolidation, encoded information becomes stored in memory.

c. Retrieval​is the third phase of memory. This stage consists of reaching into memory storage to find and bring to mind a previously encoded and stored memory

III. Memory Is the Result of Brain Activity

Karl Lashley​> “Engram” refers to the physical site of memory storage, where memory “lives”.

Rat Experiment: ​Size of area removed was most important factor in predicting retention. The location of area was far less important. Memory was distributed throughout the brain and not to a specific location. (​equipotentiality)

A. ​Long­Term potentiation (LTP )​. 

a. Is the strengthening of a synaptic connection, making the postsynaptic neurons more easily activated by presynaptic neurons.

b. LTP also supports that learning results from a strengthening of synaptic connections between neurons that fire together. Stimulating one neuron with a single electrical pulse leads to a certain amount of firing in a second neuron.

c. LTP changes the postsynaptic neurons so that it is more easily activated by the presynaptic neuron

d. Long­term potentiation provides evidence for Hebb’s concept that “cells that fire e. together wire together.”

f. NMDA Receptor​​is a glutamate receptor that opens only if a nearby neuron fires at the same time.

i. When the firing neuron releases glutamate into the synapse, this neurotransmitter binds with the NMDA receptors on the postsynaptic neuron. So memory results from learned associations that come about through the firing of nearby neurons, at least one of which fires thanks to

its NMDA receptor. Memory results from strengthening synaptic

connections among networks of neurons.

B​. Epigenetics of memory. 

a. HDAC​(histone deacetylase) serves as a molecular brake pad which has to be release for memory to occur. Unless something critical happens in the

environment, the molecular brake pad is on and nothing is stored in memory. C. Memory is stored in the:

a. Regions within the temporal lobes​, such as the hippocampus​are important for the ability to store new memories. The temporal lobes are important for being able to say what you remember, but they are less important for memory involving motor actions.

b. The medial temporal lobes​are responsible for the formation of new memories. i. hippocampus.

ii. cerebellum.

iii. amygdala.

iv. temporal lobes.

v. prefrontal cortex.

D. New research is showing that epigenetic mechanisms are important for memory. E. Reconsolidation ​describes the neural and epigenetic processes that take place when memories are recalled and then stored again for later retrieval. This model may explain why and how memories change over time.

a. But when memories are retrieved, those memories can be affected by current circumstances, so the newly consolidated memories may differ from their original versions.

7.2​How Are Memories Maintained over Time?

IV. Sensory memory is brief

a. Sensory Memory ​is a temporary memory system closely tied to the sensory systems. It is not what we usually think of when we think about memory. Lasts for fractions of a second.

b. Visual sensory memory is called iconic memory 

c. Auditory sensory memory is called ​echoic memory 

d. Sensory memories enable us to experience the world as a continuous stream rather than in discrete sensations.

A. Atkinson and Shiffrin's Three­Part Model: 

Atkinson and Shiffrin’s model of three systems emphasizes that memory storage varies in duration.

B. Sensory memory.

i. a memory system that very briefly stores sensory information in close to its original sensory form:

Ii. Sensory memory stores information from each of the five senses for less than one second, enabling the brain to perceive the world as a continuous stream.

V. Working Memory Is Active

A. Short­term memory. 

i.​a memory storage system that briefly holds a limited amount of

information in awareness. Short­term memory is not a single storage system, but rather an active processing unit that deals with multiple type of information Ii. ​Today, short­term memory is more accurately considered working memory, an active information processing system.

B. Working memory. 

i. An active processing system that keeps different types of information

available for current use.The storage system actively retains and manipulate multiple pieces of temporary information from different sources.

Ii. Retrieval, transformation, and substitution​­­ makes distinct and

independent contributions to updating the contents of working memory.

C. Memory span and chunking:

i. memory span is 7 (+­ 2 items)

ii. chunking i​s organizing information into meaningful units to make it

easier to remember.

Iii. working memory is limited (Information can be held in working memory for 20 to 30 seconds.)

VI. Long­Term Memory Is Relatively Permanent 

A. Has an unlimited in capacity.

B. Long­term memory is different from working memory in two ways:

a. serial position effect​The idea that the ability to recall items

from a list depends on the order of presentation, with items presented early or late in the list remembered better than those in the middle:

a. primacy effect​refers to the better memory that

people have for items presented at the beginning of the list.

b. recency effec​t​refers to the better memory that people have for

the most recent items, the ones at the end of the list.

B. One accountability for the serial position effect relies on a distinction between working and long­term memory. Since earliest words are rehearsed the most, they are transferred into long­term memory. By contrast, the last few items are still in working memory when the participants have to recall the words immediately after reading them. C. Delays do not interfere with the primacy effect, but they do interfere with the recency effect, which involves working memory.

7.3 How Is Information Organized in Long­Term Memory?

VII. Long­Term Storage Is Based on Meaning

A. Mental representations​are stored by meaning​.

B. Ferus Craik and Robert Lockhart ​developed Levels of Processing Method B. Levels­of­processing model:​the more deeply an item is encoded, the more meaning it has and the better it is remembered:

a. elaborative rehearsal:​deeper processing encodes information more meaningfully and effectively.This encodes the information in more meaningful

ways, such as thinking about the item conceptually or deciding whether it refers to oneself

b. maintenance rehearsal​: ​information is repeated over and over to be retained. VIII. Schemas Provide an Organizational Framework

A. Decisions about how to chunk information depend on Schemas​: 

a. Schemas ​are cognitive maps or structures that help organize information in memory.They are structures in long­term memory that help us perceive, organize, process, and use information.

B. Schemas ​are affected by culture, thus prone to distortion and biased encoding. Schemas provide structures for understanding events in the world.

IX. Information Is Stored in Association Networks

A. Association network: 

a. An item’s distinctive features are linked so as to identify the item. Each unit of information is a node​Each node is connected to many other nodes. The resulting network is like the linked neurons in the brain, but nodes are simply bits of information (not physical realities)

i. basic unit is a node.

ii. information is arranged in categories for easier retrieval.

Iii. activating one node increases the likelihood of another node that is closely associated to be also activated.

B. Spreading of activation model:​memory nodes may have multiple associations thus activating one node may lead to activation of other networks.

a. Stimuli in working memory activate specific nodes in long­term memory. This activate increases the ease of access to that material and thus makes retrieval easier.

X. Retrieval Cues Provide Access to Long­Term Storage 

A. ​Retrieval cue:​anything that helps a person (or a nonhuman animal) recall in formation stored in long­term memory.

a. Encountering stimuli­can trigger unintended memories

B. Encoding specificity principle:​the idea that any stimulus that is encoded along with an experience can later trigger a memory for the experience.

a. Context­Dependent Memory: ​When the recall situation is similar to encoding situation. (Can be based on physical locations, odors, music)

b. State­dependent memory: ​Memory can be enhanced when a person’s internal states match during encoding and recall. (Also applies to internal states brought on by drugs or alcohol)

C. Mnemonics:​learning aids, strategies, and devices that improve recall through the use of retrieval cues. (method of Loci or memory palace) the mnemonic consists of associating items you want to remember with physical locations.

Summary:

­ According to the levels of processing model, memory is enhanced by deeper encoding. ■ Maintenance rehearsal​—repeating an item over and over—leads to shallow encoding and poor recall. Elaborative rehearsal links new information with old, leading to deep encoding and better recall.

■ Schema​s ​are cognitive structures that help us perceive, organize, process, and use information. Schemas can lead to biased encoding based on cultural expectations. ■ According to ​association network models of memory​,​information is stored in the brain in nodes, and nodes are connected via networks to many other nodes. Activating one node results in spreading activation to all associated nodes within the network. ■ Retrieval cues​help with recall. According to the encoding specificity principle, any stimulus encoded with an experience can serve as a retrieval cue. Internal and external cues can also serve as retrieval cues.

■ Mnemonics​,​such as the method of loci, are learning strategies that improve recall through the use of retrieval cues.

7.4 What Are the Different Long­Term Memory Systems? 

XI. Explicit Memory Involves Conscious Effort

A. Explicit memory: 

i. the system underlying conscious memories.or the proceses we use to remember we can say we know.

ii. divided into…

1.) Episodic memories​(personally relevant events) Consists of a person’s past experiences and includes information about the time and place the

experience occurred.

2.) Declarative memories​​(memories that can be verbalized, knowledge we can declare, or consciously bring to mind) ex: exams, tests.

3.) Semantic memories​​(general information).Knowledge of facts

independent of personal experience.

B. Implicit memory​:​unconscious memory

XII. Implicit Memory Occurs without Deliberate Effort

A. Implicit memory: system underlying unconscious memory:

i. procedural memory​:​memory for motor skills and behavior.

ii. classical conditioning​: associating two stimuli elicits a response.

Iii. does not require conscious attention, somethings thinking about such

automated movements actually interferes with the smooth production of these behaviors. Iv. False Fame Effect 

XIII. Prospective Memory Is Remembering to Do Something (future oriented) A. Prospective memory: related to future action, involves unconscious and conscious processes.

B. Prospective memory involves both automatic and controlled proceses.

What Are the Different Long­Term Memory Systems?

■ ​Long­term memory​​is composed of multiple systems.

■ Explicit memory​is the system underlying conscious episodic and semantic memories. ■ ​Episodic memory​is memory for personal past experiences.

■ ​Semantic memory​​is memory for knowledge about the world.

■ Episodic and semantic memory​systems are different. Certain types of brain damage can disrupt the formation of episodic memories but spare semantic memories. ■ Information retrieved from explicit memory is called declarative memory​, because it is knowledge that can be declared.

■ The system underlying unconscious memories is called implicit memory. ■ Implicit memory​can influence decision making by making information seem familiar in the absence of conscious awareness that the information was previously encountered. ■ Procedural memory: ​is a type of implicit memory that involves motor skills and behavioral

habits.

■ Prospective memory​:​another system of memory, involves remembering to do something at a future time.

7.5​. When Does Memory Fail?

A. Forgetting: inability to retrieve information from long­term memory:

i. Hermann Ebbinghaus: methods of savings ​to examine how long it took people to relearn lists of nonsense syllables (e.g., vut, bik, kuh).

Ii. compelling evidence that forgetting occurs rapidly over the first few

days but then levels off. The difference between the original learning and relearning is called savings.​In other words, time and effort is saved because of what is remembered. ii. seven sins of memory 

Related to forgetting and remembering:

a. transience/memory decay:

b. blocking /retrieval failure.

c. absentmindedness/encoding failure.

d. persistence.

Related as Distortions of Memory:

e. misattribution.

f. bias.

g. Suggestibility.

XIV. Transience Is Caused by Interference

A. Transience:​forgetting over time because of interference from other information. i. proactive interference​old information interferes with ability to

remember new information.

ii. retroactive interference​: old information interferes with ability to remember new information.

XV. Blocking Is Temporary (Block is retrieval failure)

A. Blocking:​temporary inability to remember information.

B. Tip of the tongue phenomenon

XVI. Absentmindedness Results from Shallow Encoding

A. Absentmindedness​, the inattentive or shallow encoding of events. i. is failure to encode information effectively due to failing to pay attention ii. can occur through either inattention or shallow encoding.

XVII. Amnesia Is a Deficit in Long­Term Memory

A. Amnesia results from disease, brain injury, or psychological trauma. i. retrograde amnesia​: loss of past memories.

ii. anterograde amnesia​: inability to form new memories. (H.M Case)

XVIII. Persistence Is Unwanted Remembering 

A. Persistence: unwanted remembering of usually traumatic memories. B. Possible treatment through HDAC

When Does Memory Fail?

■ Schacter (1999) identified seven sins of memory​:​Transience, absentmindedness, blocking, and persistence are related to forgetting and remembering, and misattribution, suggestibility, and bias are distortions of memory. Although annoying, the first three sins are useful and perhaps even necessary for survival, since they reduce memory for irrelevant information.

■ Transience ​is memory decay that occurs over time. Transience is likely caused by interference.

■ Retroactive interference​is the loss of memory due to replacement by newer information. Proactive interference is the failure to store a new memory because of interference by an older memory.

■ Blocking​is a common, temporary inability to remember something known. Blocking is a retrieval failure likely caused by interference.

■ Absentmindedness​is forgetfulness caused by shallow encoding.

■ Amnesia​is the inability to retrieve large amounts of information from long­term memory. Amnesia is atypical and can be caused by brain injury, disease, or trauma.

■ Retrograde amnesia​is the loss of memories from the past. Anterograde amnesia is the inability to store new memories. Patient H.M. suffered from anterograde amnesia. ■ Persistence​is the remembering of unwanted memories, usually encountered under stressful circumstances.

■ Reconsolidation​can reduce persistence but only for recent memories.

■ HDAC​inhibitors may help erase old persistent memories, but additional research is needed. Further, erasing memories can pose ethical concerns.

7.6 How Are Long­Term Memories Distorted?

XIX. People Reconstruct Events to Be Consistent. 

A. Memory bias:​tendency to make memories consistent with current beliefs or attitudes. It is the changing of memories over time so that they become consistent with current beliefs or attitudes.

XX. Flashbulb Memories Can Be Wrong

A. Flashbulb memories:​vivid but sometimes inaccurate memories of significant events. Although flashbulb memories are not perfectly accurate, they are at least as accurate as memory for ordinary events.

XXI. People Make Source Misattributions

A. ​Source misattribution​: misremembering the time, place, person, or circumstances of a memory. Ex: False fame Effect, Sleeper Effect (Comes from questionable source, but becomes more persuasive over time.

B. Source amnesia​: having a memory of an event without knowing from where the memory originated.

C. ​Cryptomnesia​:

­ thinking an idea is new but really retrieving a stored idea without remembering its source. Might be due to early lack of linguistic capacity as well as immature frontal lobes. ­ a person thinks he or she has come up with a new idea, instead the person has retrieved an old idea from memory and failed to attribute the idea to its proper source. XXII. Suggestibility Biases Memory 

A. ​Suggestibility:​​development of biased memories based on misleading information. XXIII. People Have False Memories 

A. Researchers have devised tests for investigating whether people can be misled into recalling or recognizing events that did not happen.

XXIV. Repressed Memories Are Controversial

A. Over the past few decades, one of the most heated debates in psychological science has centered on repressed memories.

B. Repressed or recovered memories represent examples of memory distortion and bias.

How Are Long­Term Memories Distorted? (summary) 

■ Memory bias​is the changing of memories so they become consistent with current beliefs. Memory bias affects individuals, groups, and societies.

■ Flashbulb ​memories are vivid episodic memories of important or emotionally arousing events. Flashbulb memories are recalled no more accurately than other episodic memories, although people often report them with more confidence.

■ Source misattribution​​is the distortion of the circumstances surrounding a memory. The false fame effect, the sleeper effect, source amnesia, and cryptomnesia are examples. ■ Eyewitness testimon​y is susceptible to error due to suggestibility, confirmation bias, and false memory.

■ ​False memories​are created as a result of the natural tendency to form mental representations of stories. These mental representations can then become incorporated as true episodic memories. Most people are susceptible to forming false memories of events that could have happened but not of events that are unlikely to have occurred. ■ The legitimacy of repressed memories​continues to be debated by contemporary psychologists, many of whom argue that such memories may be implanted by suggestive techniques.

Chapter 9: Human Development 

What Factors Shape Infancy?

Chapter Outline: Chapter 9

9.1 What Factors Shape Infancy?

A. Developmental psychology​: the study of changes, over the life span, in physiology, cognition, emotion, and social behavior.

I. Development Starts in the Womb

A. Conception​→zygote ​(2 weeks) →embryo​(2 Weeks­2 Months, this is the stage when the organs and internal systems like the nervous system start to develop) the baby is very susceptible to toxins and environmental harm at this stage) →fetus ​(When heart starts to beat)

B. Brain development:

i. Specific areas within the brain mature and become functional.

ii. Regions of the brain learn to communicate with one another through

synaptic connections.

iii. myelination ​increases the speed with which the fibers are able to

transmit signals. Nerve fibers are wrapped with a fatty sheath, that increases the speed with which the fibers are able to transmit signals.

iii. synaptic pruning ​is a process whereby the synaptic connections in the brain that are used are preserved, and those that are not used are lost. By age 4, the

human brain has grown to about 80 percent of the adult size.

a. Poor living conditions may lead to a diminished brain development during younger years that can have a serious effect in the future.

C. Exposure to teratogens during prenatal development:

i. teratogens​are agents that harm the embryo or fetus. Examples include... a. Drugs (Women has higher risk of premature deaths in pregnancy, and

can also affect men as well.)

b. Alcohol (Can affect men as well)

c. Bacteria

d. Viruses

e. Chemicals

ii. fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS​) is caused by the mother drinking alcohol during pregnancy. The symptoms are low birth weight, face and head abnormalities, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders such as intellectual disability and cognitive problems.

II. Biology and Environment Influence Motor Development

A. Infant reflexes:

i. ​grasping reflex​: This reflex is a survival mechanism that has persisted fromour

primate ancestors. This reflex is adaptive because the offspring need to be carried from place to place.

ii. ​rooting reflex​. ​The turning and sucking that infants automatically engage in when a nipple or similar object touches an area near their mouths.

iii. sucking reflex

B. Dynamic systems theory​:​behavior emerges through interactions between a child and cultural and environmental contexts.

A. Each person’s environment influences what happens throughout

that individual’s development. For example, infants often achieve developmental milestones at different paces, depending on the cultures in which they are raised.

B. Developmental advances in any domain (physiological, cognitive, emotional, or social) occur through both the person’s active exploration or an environment and the constant feedback that the environment provides.

C. Every new behavioral skill to emerge is the result of a complex and dynamic system of includes, including the child’s motivation and personality, which respond to environmental cues.

III. Infants Are Prepared to Learn

A. Perception:

i. vision develops more slowly than hearing.

ii. the ability to distinguish differences among shapes, patterns, and colors is known as ​visual acuity. 

a. Visual Acuity:​​The ability to distinguish differences among shapes, patterns, and colors. Infant’s visual acuity for distant objects is poor when they are first born, but it increases rapidly over the first six months.

iii. preferential looking technique. (Imitation is the baby’s first social interaction) 

iv. respond more to high contrast, complex visual patterns.​Newborns are able

to distinguish between their own cry and other infant’s cries and have some innate understanding of the differences between themselves and others.

v. have memory for voices.

vi. prefer their mothers’ voices.

B. Memory.

i. Inability to remember events from early childhood (infantile amnesia) may be related to:

a. incomplete development of autobiographical memory.

b. incomplete language acquisition. Scientists realized that children begin

to retain explicit memories after developing the ability to create

autobiographical memory based on personal experience.

c. incomplete ability to perceive contexts well enough to store

memories accurately.

IV. Infants Develop Attachments

A. Attachment:​is strong emotional connection, usually to caregivers, that persists

over time and is adaptive. These emotions bonds are the building blocks of a successful social life later on. The attachment process draws on humans’ innate tendency to form bonds with others. Adaptive behavior.

B. Attachment in other species.

i. is present in other species (imprinting)​​when babies follow the object of their attachment and mimic them. The infants always ran to the mother that provided comfort, never to the mother that fed them. Contact comfort ​was important. .

C. Attachment style:

a. Separation Anxiety

b. Strange­Situation Test:

i. secure attachment:​the attachment style for a majority of infants; the infant is confident enough to play in an unfamiliar environment as long as the caregiver is present and is readily comforted by the caregiver during times of distress.

a. can be secure (65 percent of U.S. children).

ii. insecure attachment:​​the attachment style for a minority of infants; the infant may exhibit insecure attachment through various behaviors, such as

avoiding contact with the caregiver, or by alternating between approach

and avoidance behaviors.

a. can be insecure (35 percent of U.S. children).

D. Oxytocin plays a role:

i. in infant/caregiver attachment.

ii. later in romantic relationships.

9.2​How Do Children Learn About the World?

V. Piaget Emphasized Stages of Cognitive Development 

A. Assimilation​is the process by which new information is placed into an existing scheme.

B. Accommodation​is the process by which a new scheme is created or an existing scheme is drastically altered to include new information that otherwise would not fit into the scheme.

a. Schemes are ways of thinking based on personal experiences.

C. The four stages of development: 

D. Defining the four stages:

i. during the ​sensorimotor stage​(birth–2 years):

a. infants acquire information about the world through senses and motor skills.

b. children come to understand object permanence.

ii. during the ​preoperational stage​(2–7 years), children:

a. can think symbolically.

b. reason based on intuition and superficial appearance rather than logic.

c. do not understand law of conservation.

iii. during the concrete ​operational stage​(7–12 years), children: a. can think logically.

b. understand law of conservation.

iv. during the formal ​operational stage​(12 years–adulthood).

d. people can think abstractly, critically, and hypothetically.

E. Lev Vygotsky​emphasized social relations over objects in thinking about cognitive development. Vygotsky focused on the role of social and cultural context in the development of both cognition and language.

a. Central to this theory is the idea that social and cultural context influences language development.

F. Children understand concepts of math and physics at much younger ages than Piaget’s stages suggest.

VI. Children Learn from Interacting with Others

A. Theory of mind:​ability to understand another’s mental state and thus predict and explain the person’s behavior. In dealing with other people, we try to recognize each person’s mental state, by inferring what the person is feeling or thinking, from that we can try to anticipate and predict that person’s behavior.

VII. Moral Development Begins in Childhood

A. ​Kohlberg’​s levels of moral development:

i. preconventional: ​moral behavior determined by self­interest or

pleasurable outcomes.

a. Ex: “He should steal the drug because then he will have it.”

ii. conventional​: moral behavior determined by laws or winning approval of others.

a. Ex: “He shouldn’t take the drug. You are not supposed to steal, so

everyone will think he is a bad person.”

iii. postconventional:​moral behavior based on abstract principles about value of life. The highest level of moral reasoning, people’s responses center around

complex reasoning about abstract principles and the value of all life.

a. Ex:“Sometimes people have to break the law if the law is unjust. In this case, it’s wrong to steal, but it’s more wrong to charge too much money for a drug that could save a person’s life.”

B. Moral emotions (empathy and sympathy).

i. are facilitated by self­awareness and inductive reasoning by adults. C. Emotions as the basis of morality.

i. social intuitionist model ​The idea that moral judgments reflect people’s initial and automatic emotional responses.

D. ​Biological basis of morality​.

i. in addition to the frontal lobes, brain regions associated with emotional responses, including the amygdala and insula.