Memory. Forgetting. Classical & Operant Conditioning. Cognitive approaches to learning.

What is Memory?

Memory refers to the processes that are used to acquire, store, retain and later retrieve information. There are three major processes involved in memory: encoding, storage and retrieval.

In order to form new memories, information must be changed into a usable form, which occurs through the process known as encoding. Once information has been successfully encoded, it must be stored in memory for later use. Much of this stored memory lies outside of our awareness most of the time, except when we actually need to use it. The retrieval process allows us to bring stored memories into conscious awareness.

The Stage Model of Memory

While several different models of memory have been proposed, the stage model of memory is often used to explain the basic structure and function of memory. Initially proposed in 1968 by Atkinson and Shiffrin, this theory outlines three separate stages of memory: sensory memory, short-term (working) memory and long-term memory.

Sensory

·         The first one refers to the initial process of storing information that is perceived through our senses. That’s why is called sensory. It lasts for a very small period of time and it is being replaced constantly as our senses work continuously.

·         Sensory memory divides into 5 memory types, one per sense.The following example will make clear how the sensory memory type works.

·         Let’s say that you browse a magazine fast and you don’t focus in its pages. Then, you may try to remember what you saw. Most probable you are unable to remember clearly a whole page, a title or a picture.

·         While your eyes scan the magazine’s pages, your mind is registering fast and briefly the incoming information. As you continue doing this, your mind receives new information and keeps replacing the old one. This type of sensory memory is called iconic and lasts about 1 second. Then it’s being replaced.

·         The sensory type refers to all the human senses and not only to the visual one. So, another kind of sensory memory which is got also a lot of attention is the echoic. This type’s sensory organs are the ears. Echoic type operates just like the iconic but it lasts a little longer, about 4 seconds.

·         As you look at the magazine, something may get your attention. While you stay in the page more time to read it, the Short-term or Working memory activates.

•  

What Is Short-Term Memory?

·         Answer:

·         Short-term memory, also known as primary or active memory, is the information we are currently aware of or thinking about. In Freudian psychology, this memory would be referred to as the conscious mind. The information found in short term memory comes from paying attention to sensory memories.

The Duration of Short-Term Memory

·         Most of the information kept in short-term memory will be stored for approximately 20 to 30 seconds, but it can be just seconds if rehearsal or active maintenance of the information is prevented. While many of our short-term memories are quickly forgotten, attending to this information allows it to continue on the next stage - long-term memory.

The Capacity of Short-Term Memory

·         The amount of information that can be stored in short-term memory can vary. An often cited figure is plus or minus seven items, based on the results of a famous experiment on short-term memory. In an influential paper titled "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two," psychologist George Miller suggested that people can store between five and nine items in short-term memory. More recent research suggests that people are capable of storing approximately four chunks or pieces of information in short-term memory.

Distinction Between Short-Term Memory and Working Memory

·         Short-term memory is often used interchangeably with working memory, but the two should be utilized separately. Working memory refers to the processes that are used to temporarily store, organize and manipulate information. Short-term memory, on the other hand, refers only to the temporary storage of information in memory.

Question: What Is Long-Term Memory?

Answer:

Long-term memory refers to the continuing storage of information. In Freudian psychology, long-term memory would be call the preconscious and unconscious. This information is largely outside of our awareness, but can be called into working memory to be used when needed. Some of this information is fairly easy to recall, while other memories are much more difficult to access.

The Duration of Long-Term Memory

Through the process of association and rehearsal, the content of short-term memory can become long-term memory. While long-term memory is also susceptible to the forgetting process, long-term memories can last for a matter of days to as long as many decades.

Types of Long-Term Memory

Long-term memory is usually divided into two types - declarative (explicit) memory and procedural (implicit) memory.

• Declarative includes all of the memories that are available in consciousness. Declarative memory can be further divided into episodic memory (specific events) and semantic memory (knowledge about the world).

• Procedural memory involves memories of body movement and how to use objects in the environment. How to drive a car or use a computer are examples of procedural memories.

The Organization of Memory

The ability to access and retrieve information from long-term memory allows us to actually use these memories to make decisions, interact with others, and solve problems. But how is information organized in memory? The specific way information is organized in long-term memory is not well understood, but researchers do know that these memories are arranged in groups.

Clustering is used to organize related information into groups. Information that is categorized becomes easier to remember and recall.

Forgetting

From forgetting where you left your keys to forgetting to return a phone call, memory failures are an almost daily occurrence. Forgetting is so common that we typically rely on numerous methods to help us remember important information, such as jotting down notes in a daily planner or scheduling important events in your Blackberry calendar.

As you are frantically searching for your missing car keys, it may seem that that the information about where you left them is permanently gone from your memory. However, forgetting is generally not about actually losing or erasing this information from your long-term memory. Forgetting typically involves a failure in memory retrieval. While the information is somewhere in your long-term memory, you are not able to actually retrieve and remember it.

The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve:

Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus was one of the first to scientifically study forgetting. In experiments where is used himself as the subject, Ebbinghaus tested his memory using three-letter nonsense syllables. Using previously known words would have made use of previously existing knowledge and associations in his memory.

In order to test for new information, Ebbinghaus tested his memory for periods of time ranging from 20 minutes to 31 days. He then published his findings in 1885 in Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology.

His results, plotted in what is known as the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve, revealed a relationship between forgetting and time. Initially, information is often lost very quickly after it is learned. Factors such as how the information was learned and how frequently it was rehearsed play a role in how quickly these memories are lost.

The forgetting curve also showed that forgetting does not continue to decline until all of the information is lost. At a certain point, the amount of forgetting levels off. What exactly does this mean? It indicates that information stored in long-term memory is surprisingly stable.

Memory failures:

Alzheimer's disease	A progressive brain disorder that leads to a gradual and irreversible decline in cognitive abilities.
amnesia	Memory loss that occurs without other mental difficulties.
anterograde amnesia	Amnesia in which memory is lost for events that follow an injury.
Korsakoff's syndrome	A disease that afflicts long-term alcoholics, leaving some abilities intact, but including hallucinations and a tendency to repeat the same story.
retrograde amnesia	Amnesia in which memory is lost for occurrences prior to a certain event.

Classical Conditioning

One of the best-known aspects of behavioral learning theory is classical conditioning. Discovered by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, classical conditioning is a learning process that occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. In order to understand how classical conditioning works, it is important to be familiar with the basic principles of the process.

The Unconditioned Stimulus

The unconditioned stimulus is one that unconditionally, naturally, and automatically triggers a response. For example, when you smell one of your favorite foods, you may immediately feel very hungry. In this example, the smell of the food is the unconditioned stimulus.

The Unconditioned Response

The unconditioned response is the unlearned response that occurs naturally in response to the unconditioned stimulus. In our example, the feeling of hunger in response to the smell of food is the unconditioned response.

The Conditioned Stimulus

The conditioned stimulus is previously neutral stimulus that, after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus, eventually comes to trigger a conditioned response. In our earlier example, suppose that when you smelled your favorite food, you also heard the sound of a whistle. While the whistle is unrelated to the smell of the food, if the sound of the whistle was paired multiple times with the smell, the sound would eventually trigger the conditioned response. In this case, the sound of the whistle is the conditioned stimulus.

The Conditioned Response

The conditioned response is the learned response to the previously neutral stimulus. In our example, the conditioned response would be feeling hungry when you heard the sound of the whistle.

Classical Conditioning in the Real World

In reality, people do not respond exactly like Pavlov's dogs. There are, however, numerous real-world applications for classical conditioning. For example, many dog trainers use classical conditioning techniques to help people train their pets.

These techniques are also useful in the treatment of phobias or anxiety problems. Teachers are able to apply classical conditioning in the class by creating a positive classroom environment to help students overcome anxiety or fear. Pairing an anxiety-provoking situation, such as performing in front of a group, with pleasant surroundings helps the student learn new associations. Instead of feeling anxious and tense in these situations, the child will learn to stay relaxed and calm.

Operant Conditioning

What Is Operant Conditioning?

Operant conditioning (sometimes referred to as instrumental conditioning) is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior.

Operant conditioning was coined by behaviorist B.F. Skinner, which is why you may occasionally hear it referred to as Skinnerian conditioning. As a behaviorist, Skinner believed that internal thoughts and motivations could not be used to explain behavior. Instead, he suggested, we should look only at the external, observable causes of human behavior.

Skinner used the term operant to refer to any "active behavior that operates upon the environment to generate consequences" (1953). In other words, Skinner's theory explained how we acquire the range of learned behaviors we exhibit each and every day.

Examples of Operant Conditioning

We can find examples of operant conditioning at work all around us. Consider the case of children completing homework to earn a reward from a parent or teacher, or employees finishing projects to receive praise or promotions.

In these examples, the promise or possibility of rewards causes an increase in behavior, but operant conditioning can also be used to decrease a behavior. The removal of an undesirable outcome or the use of punishment can be used to decrease or prevent undesirable behaviors. For example, a child may be told they will lose recess privileges if they talk out of turn in class. This potential for punishment may lead to a decrease in disruptive behaviors.

Components of Operant Conditioning

Some key concepts in operant conditioning:

Reinforcement is any event that strengthens or increases the behavior it follows. There are two kinds of reinforcers:

1. Positive reinforcers are favorable events or outcomes that are presented after the behavior. In situations that reflect positive reinforcement, a response or behavior is strengthened by the addition of something, such as praise or a direct reward.

2. Negative reinforcers involve the removal of an unfavorable events or outcomes after the display of a behavior. In these situations, a response is strengthened by the removal of something considered unpleasant.

In both of these cases of reinforcement, the behavior increases.

Punishment, on the other hand, is the presentation of an adverse event or outcome that causes a decrease in the behavior it follows. There are two kinds of punishment:

1. Positive punishment, sometimes referred to as punishment by application, involves the presentation of an unfavorable event or outcome in order to weaken the response it follows.

2. Negative punishment, also known as punishment by removal, occurs when an favorable event or outcome is removed after a behavior occurs.

In both of these cases of punishment, the behavior decreases.

Cognitive Approaches To Learning

The alternative theory psychologists support is cognitive learning theory, which focuses on how mental processes -- which we cannot observe -- affect learning. Two different types of cognitive learning are latent learning and observational learning.

Latent Learning

Suppose you are camping near a forest for a vacation, and you have wandered through it quite a bit already. You know there is a tourist merchandise store somewhere in the forest, and maybe you have passed it a few times while wandering around, but you never really gave importance to it. Now, what would happen if you heard that free trekking shoes were being handed out to the first ten people that passed by the store? You would probably be at the store in no time.

If you did go to the store, you would have shown a clear example of latent learning. You had learned of the store's existence and how to get there days before you heard of the special gifts, but you never had the motivation to actually go there. You only showed what you learned, when you had a good reason to do so. In latent learning, a new behavior is learned, but such behavior is not shown until a reinforcer is offered. A theorist supporting latent learning would say you developed a cognitive map of the forest and the store's location during your first days walking around. That is why, some time later, you were able to get to the store with no difficulties, even though you had not payed any attention to the store before. Though you always wandered through the forest with no defined goal, in your mind, you knew exactly where you were, meaning you had a mental representation of places and spatial directions (Feldman, 1997, pp.185-186).

Observational Learning

Another way of learning, according to cognitve learning theory, is through observation of others, who are models for behavior. This type of learning is known as observational learning and was first proposed and developed by Stanford psychologist Albert Bandura.

Bandura found that there are four steps involved in observational learning:

1. Paying attention to a model's behavior.
2. Remembering that behavior.
3. Having the motivation to perform the behavior.
4. Reproducing the observed behavior.

While observation is an important way of learning, we obviously do not do everything we see other people doing. Usually we decide whether or not to do it based on the consequences that performing the behavior brought to our models. With this in mind, you can understand why Bandura and others loudly criticized TV violence. On TV, there are many effective models -- characters that children want to imitate -- and often they perform violence with positive consequences. Studies have shown, that because behavior can be learned through observation, children who watch violent TV have a tendency to be more violent.

Observation is crucial, when learning a skill that cannot possibly be achieved through trial and error. There are a great many things we learn through observation, ranging from the rules of a card game, to how to drive, from how to open our front door, to operating dangerous factory machinery. Of course there are also behaviors that we can learn either way. For example, when you enter someone else's room for the first time and you have to turn on the lights, you might press every switch on the wall until the lights turn on. But you did not have to do this in your own room; by the time you got tall enough to reach the switches, you already knew which one to press, because you had seen older people do it a hundred times. Thus, the idea of observational learning is very useful for understanding how humans learn.