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Ed Psych 301 Exam 2

Terms in this set (111)

Explain Tolman's first experiment
3 groups of rats
•Group 1: given reward for solving maze
•Group 2: no reward for solving maze
•Group 3: no reward for first 3 days, then reward on subsequent days

Results
•Rewarded rats solved it quickly
•Unrewarded rats meandered around
•Rats who were unrewarded and then rewarded were very fast after reward
What was the interpretation of Tolman's first experiment?
The previously unrewarded rats were learning something when they were just wandering around the maze

Learning can take place without reinforcement
•This contradicts behaviorist dogma
Explain Tolman's second experiment.
One group of rats gets dropped into the maze at different starting points, but the target is always the same place

2nd group of rats gets put into the maze in a way that following the same actions (e.g. 3 right turns and then a left) will always lead to the reward
Explain the results of Tolman's second experiment.
•Rats in the "place" condition learn faster, do better than those in the other condition
•Implication: rats are representing the space and representing the target as a place
•"Cognitive map" or "mental map"
•One of the first studies to demonstrate behavior that is better explained with mental representations than with S-R only
Explain the timing and mental rotation experiment.
•Participants are shown a pair of shapes
•Asked: do these shapes match?
•The shapes are rotated in different positions, which makes it harder to determine if the two shapes are the same or not
•The researchers (Shepard & Meltzer, 1971) measured how long it took to make a decision for each pair of shapes

•The time it took people to respond was proportional to the amount of rotation necessary
•Inference: people form an internal model or representation of the shape, then mentally rotate the shape just as you would physically rotate a physical shape
What are some assumptions of cognitive theories and IP?
•Uniquely human learning processes

•Learning = acquisition or alteration of mental representations

•Formation of mental representations or associations

•Connections are formed between pieces of knowledge in the brain to facilitate acquisition and storage in memory

•Learners can actively participate and control learning

•Observable behaviors allow for inferences about unobservable mental processes

•Reaction time as a measure
What are Marr's levels of analysis?
•The computational level
-What is the problem to be solved?
-How can we describe it formally?

•The algorithmic/representational level
-What are the steps to solve the problem?

•The implementational level
How are these steps carried out by the system? (often hardware
What are the major cognitive processes?
Perception, attention, memory, executive functions and action

Higher cognitive functions occur within these steps
What is perception?
•How information enters the system

•An active process: information comes in through the senses, but is processed before we become aware if it

•What we perceive can depend on our knowledge and expectations
What is bottom-up processing?
analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information
What is top-down processing?
the brain recognizes the whole object and then the components based on these expectations
What is the law of good continuation?
lines tend to be seen as following the smoothest path
What is the law of pragnanz?
every stimulus pattern is seen to the resulting structure is as simple as possible
What is the law of similarity?
similar things appear to be grouped together
What is sensory register?
first, most immediate form of memory that takes sensory info through your senses and hold incoming info long enough for very preliminary cognitive processing (must be passed to working memory to last longer)
how long does the sensory register last?
lost in 1/2- 2 seconds
what is the takeaway about sensory register?
info must be attended to in order to pass to working memory

if the client didn't notices, there's no way they'll remember it
what is the working memory?
system responsible for holding and processing new and already stored information. This is where cognitive processing takes place (a.k.a. short-term memory; where active thinking occurs

For information to travel from the Sensory Register to the Working memory, the person must pay attention to it and selectively focus on information or ignore other information.

Maintenance rehearsal is a type of memory process which involves continuously repeating the to-be-remembered material.

An information that is unrehearsed will be lost in 10-15 seconds.
what is the capacity fo working memory?
7 +/- 2
what are the forms of storage in the working memory?
auditory or visual/spatial
what is the duration of working memory?
less than 30 secs (usually 10-15)

susceptible to decay and interference
what is rehearsal?
can prolong working memory;

saying it to yourself or replaying it immediately
can you train your working memory?
•Ericsson, Chase, & Faloon (1980)
-Undergraduate student memorized random strings of numbers for 1 hour a day, 3 - 5 days a week, for a year and a half
-Not instructed to use any strategy
-But his memory span increased from 7 to 79 digits
what is chunking?
a phenomenon whereby individuals group responses when performing a memory task. The chunks are often meaningful to the participant

highly subjective
what is maintenance rehearsal?
Repeating information over and over to hold it in short-term memory longer
what is long term memory?
the most complex component and is the final stage of the Dual Store Memory Model. Information can remain in the LTM indefinitely.

First memory must be encoded into long term memory. But the key to remembering something isn't just encoding it, it is also working to retrieve it
what is the capacity of LTM?
unlimited (?)
what are the forms of storage in LTM?
language ,images, sensations, abstractions, etc

explicit vs implicit knowledge

interconnected
what is the duration of LTM?
forgetting = poor retrieval

dependent on encoding
what is encoding in LTM?
-Forming the memory
-Requires attention to get from sensory to working memory, rehearsal to get from working memory to long-term memory
what is maintenance in LTM?
-Keeping the memory intact when it is not being used
-We don't know much about problems with maintenance except in cases of brain damage
what is retrieval in LTM?
-Bring the memory back from "storage"
-Like getting a book from the stacks?
•Yes and no. Actually a constructive process
what is memory consolidation?
Process by which memories become stable and long-lasting
Often resistant to interference
what is the primacy effect?
good recall for initial items in a list
what is the recency effect?
good recall for last times
what is rote learning?
•learning information via maintenance rehearsal (short-term repetition)
what is meaningful learning?
•Relating new information to knowledge already stored in LTM (Elaboration)
-Facilitates both storage and retrieval
what is internal organization?
•When pieces of new information are interconnected in some way
-Most effective when learner- generated (not teacher-generated)
what are examples of internal organization?
•Hierarchies
•Graphic Organizers (Charts, Tables, Graphs)
•Chunking into meaningful pieces
what is forgetting?
•Inability to access information from LTM
-Failure to store or consolidate information
-Failure to retrieve information
what is decay?
•The gradual fading of information over time
-If you don't use, you lose it
-(Many dispute this idea - interference theories are more relevant now)
What is proactive interference?
the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information
what is retroactive interference?
the disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information
what are the high utility study strategies?
Practice tests: Self-testing or taking practice tests over to-be-learned material
Distributed practice: Implementing a schedule of practice that spreads out study activities over time
what are the medium utility study strategies?
Elab interr: Generating an explanation for why an explicitly stated fact or concept is true
Self explan: Explaining how new information is related to known information, or explaining steps taken during problem solving (not just summarizing but also explaining!)
Interleaved practice: we will cover this in a bit
what are the low utility study strategies?
Summ: Writing summaries (of various lengths) of to-be-learned texts
High: Marking potentially important portions of to-be-learned materials while reading
Keyword: Using keywords and mental imagery to associate verbal materials
Rereading: Restudying text material again after an initial reading
why doesn't rereading work?
don't have to work very hard to reread notes. think they know the material better than they really do
why does quizzing work?
memory and learning is enhanced by retrieval

enhanced learning as a function of retrieval, not additional study time
what are common themes for effective strategies?
knowledge construction and transformation
- interactive > constructive > active > passive

spread out studying and straggles over time
Explain H.M. and memory systems
•H.M. could not form new memories for events in his life, and for the most part he could not learn new facts
•However, he could improve on certain types of tasks over time
•Furthermore, he seemed to form general impressions of people
•Pin handshake story
what are the types of LTM?
declarative (explicit) and non-declarative (implicit)
what are the types of declarative memory?
episodic (events) and semantic (facts)
what are the types of non-declarative memory?
procedural memory (skills) implicit pattern learning and conditioning
is "muscle" memory real?
not really in your muscles; no mechanism to store info

memory for motor programs is stored in the brain, in the premotor areas in the frontal lobe
what are some motor skills?
riding a bike, playing an instrument, tying a shoelace, secret handshakes
what are some skills that are not actually motor skills?
long division, speaking a language
are motor and non-motor skills learned the same way?
yes, both depend on basal ganglia
what is statistical/implicit pattern learning?
Automatic, non-conscious
•Based on many repetitions or exposures (experience)
•Extract a pattern from the input over time
•Babies learning a first language
•Building our basic schemas about the world?
•"Unsupervised Learning"
•Different from skill learning
what is important about the consolidation of procedural memory?
•requires consolidation to become stable
•Rest between practices
• sleep is important for procedural memory consolidation
what is interleaved practice?
abcabc instead of aabbcc
what are executive functions?
•A set of interrelated abilities:
-Cognitive flexibility aka "set shifting"
-Control of attention (top-down attention)
-Inhibition
-Working memory is often considered part of EF
what are some quick facts about EF?
•Controls and monitors the flow of information through the memory system
•Matures throughout childhood and adolescence into early adulthood
•People vary in their level of EFs
what is cognitive flexibility?
•Opposite of perseveration
•Ability to change rules or strategies
•"On-line" adjustments as opposed to automatic actions
what is inhibition?
•The ability to stop automatic or "pre-potent" responses
what is meant by top-down control of attention?
•There is too much information to process at once
•Attention acts as a filter or spotlight so only some information is brought to our awareness
-In this way, attention affects perception
•Information that is not attended to may not be further processed
what is bottom up processing?
Your attention is "grabbed" by a stimulus
what types of stimuli draw attention better?
motion, novelty, emotion, size, incongruity, personal significance, intensity, social cues
is attention limited in capacity?
it is limited
explain top-down vs bottom-up processing in attention?
-Bottom-up: Your attention is "grabbed" by a stimulus
-Top-down: You intentionally focus your attention on one thing even when multiple things are competing for your attention
•Selective attention
what are the components of attention?
•Disengaging old target
•Identifying new target
•Engaging new target
•Each step takes time
-Cost of switching
-Attentional blink
simple explanation of ADD
inability to filter all information coming at you or once you focus on one thing, can't shift your attention to another
what is automaticity in attention?
when responses are produced without conscious thought

frees space in WM for other cognitive activities
what is the load theory of attention?
•Processing capacity - how much information a person can handle at any given moment
•Perceptual load - the difficulty of a given task
-High-load (difficult) tasks use higher amounts of processing capacity
-Low-load easy) tasks use lower amounts of processing capacity
how long does EF keep developing?
•Frontal lobe is one of the last areas of the brain to mature
•Full maturity of frontal lobe can take until early 20s
•Behavior mirrors this
what affects EFs?
•[Development]
•Stress/Fear
•Hunger
•Fatigue/tiredness
•Any sudden event or injury is likely to have at least short-term effects on executive functions
what is mindfulness?
focusing on one thing at a time; can "train" EFs this way
what is a symbol?
•Something that stands for something else
•Could look like it (pictures) or not (logos)
•Symbol (or sign) has two parts:
•The signifier (what you perceive)
•The signified (what it stands for)
why do we use symbols?
•To communicate with each other
•To scaffold our own thinking
•Symbols allow us to chunk and manipulate concepts and ideas
•The relationship between thought and language is complicated
are words symbols?
•Every word is a signifier for some idea
•For example, nouns signify "people, places, and things"
•Most words do not resemble the thing they stand in for
•Exception: sound words like onomatopoeia
•The mapping between signifier and signified is arbitrary
•For example, the word for the same thing in different languages is usually different!
•Even for some sounds
what is function in language?
purpose of an utterance; usually a social purpose
what is form in languages?
units (soudns, words, sentences) and rules
how do we learn rules of language?
•Can't be explained by
•Behaviorism: not always rewarded
•Social Learning Theory or Social Constructivism: learn to say and understand things they've never heard
•Babies are amazing
•Their little baby brains listen to people talk and somehow figure out the rules of the language
•Statistical learning
•Developmental computational cognitive science
•Something that human baby brains have (that other animals don't have) helps them do this
•Adult brains don't seem to be able to do this the same way
list stages in language acquisition
1.Learning the sounds that are in your language
2.Learning to make sounds (from 2 mos on)
- Random noises
- Syllabic babbling
3.Multi-consonant babbling
3.Understanding that words are symbols
4.Learning to make words (about 1 year)
5.Learning lots of words (Vocabulary explosion ~2 years old)
6.Learning to use words together (2-3 years)
how can you help babies learn language?
•Talk to them!
•Sing to them.
•Make faces at them.
•Even when they are too young to respond or understand
•They are absorbing the sounds and the rules
•Also babies are socially driven (you just can't tell at first)
what is production?
•he ability to produce language
•Could be difficult because of motor problems
•Or cognitive problems
what is comprehension?
•the ability to understand language
•Could be difficult because of sensory problems
•Or cognitive problems
does comprehension or production develop first?
•comprehension develops faster than production
•Babies and toddlers can understand more than they can say
what are some problems with language?
•Many developmental disabilities involve language delays and sometimes incomplete learning of all the language rules
•Surprisingly, one developmental disability, Williams' syndrome, leads to advanced vocabularies and normal speech and syntax
•Language can also be disrupted by injury (including stroke or lack of oxygen) at any point in life
•Acquired aphasias
•Can affect production, comprehension, or both
What is orthography?
the conventional spelling system of a language
how do you learn the rules and exceptions of english orthography?
•Learning the rules: phonics
•Learning the exceptions and high-frequency words: sight words/recognition
how can you support learning to read?
•Before school
•Read to kids
•Tell stories
•Play word games, like rhyming
•In school
•Learn the alphabet
•Learn sound-to-letter mapping
•Learn about the world
•Read to kids, help kids read stories
•Throughout
what is decoding in reading?
translating letters into sounds, but it's not the same as comprehension
where can problems with reading come from?
•Developmental reading disorders
•Myths about dyslexia
•Truth about reading difficulties: phonological awareness
•Acquired alexias/dyslexias
•Reading difficulty following stroke or other brain damage
what is the triple-code model?
1. auditory verbal word fram (three)
2. visual arabic number form (3)
3. analog magnitude representation (3 dots)
how can you support math learning in school?
emphasize the meaning of mathematical concepts

not just rules for manipulating symbols
how can human cognition differ?
quantitative vs qualitative differences

aspects of human cognition: WM span, inhibitory ability, math/lgic ability, reading/verbal ability
what is IQ?
just measures verbal, logical/mathematical ability

doesn't correlate with school, SAT scores etc
What is the theory of multiple intelligences?
•Howard Gardner's theory
•Pro: more nuanced view of human abilities
•Con: so far, difficulty in measuring these reliably
•Don't pigeonhole your students or yourselves as being good at only one or a few
Can IQ be changed?
•IQ tends to be stable when retested—even years apart
•BUT people are not really trying to change their Iqs
•Verbal and logical/mathematical skills can be learned and improved
•Foreshadowing: fixed vs. growth mindsets
what might account for differences in how people seem to learn?
personality, motivation, learning preferences/need for cognition
what is transferring?
•is when we apply knowledge or skills:
-in new ways,
-in new situations, or
-in familiar situations with different content
why is transfer important?
•applying something you learned in one context to another context
•It can be as simple as applying what you learned in lecture to a question on an exam
•But the real goal is for you to apply what you learn to the real world
what is near transfer?
Transfer to a similar context or situation
-applying what you learned in lecture to a question on an exam

•Old and new contexts are similar;overlap between situations
what is far transfer?
-apply what you learn about history to help you understand current events

•Old and new contexts are not similar; little overlap between situations
how can you promote transfer?
•Analogical problem solving is the go-to example of transfer (or lack of transfer)
•Generalization & reflection, yes
•Meaningful learning
•Similarity of situation (near transfer is easier than far transfer)
what is negative transfer?
•What's learned in one context interfereswith learning in another; elements incorrectly identified as being similar
how do experts see the world differently?
they organize their information differently, not necessarily having more information
compare experts to novices?
•Have more declarative and procedural knowledge on a subject [quantitative difference]
•Notice and use meaningful patterns
•Organize their knowledge differently[qualitative difference]
-Organize information by concepts, not appearances
-More likely to use hierarchical structure
-More likely to have abstract generalizations
why should we study how experts think and what they do?
shows what successful learning looks like
goal of achieving expertise
insight into domains
often our teachers
what are the key principles of expertise?
Fluent retrieval: Experts are able to flexibly retrieve important aspects of their knowledge with little attentional effort
Meaningful Patterns: chunking of knowledge; because they can see patterns of meaningful info
Context and Access: knowledge of experts isn't reduced to isolated facts, but those facts are within contexts of applicability; ability to recognize and retrieve relevant knowledge.
Organization of knowledge: experts use big ideas that are connected and organized to the content in efficient ways.
Experts and teaching: Some people are fantastic at the subject and terrible teachers; can lead to blind spots and not remembering what it was like to be a novice or understanding where the novice is at
Adaptive Expertise: Experts have varying levels of flexibility in their approach to new situations. The ability to monitor one's current level of understanding and decide when it is not adequate. When there are limit's of one's current knowledge, you can take steps to remedy the situation if it is within your wheelhouse of expertise.
what is the expert blind spot?
The inability to perceive what difficulties novices may have when learning new content. Experts sometimes know so much and so much implicitly that they don't communicate it in a way that novices can understand.
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