Psychol

Learning & Memory

ogy

Psychology says
People who play video games often are more
likely to have lucid dreams than non-gamers. They
are also better able to influence their dream
worlds, as if controlling a video-game character.

LUCID DREAMING

A lucid dream isany dream

during sleep in which you
becomeaware that you're
dreaming. This enables you
to:
Explore your dreamworld
with total clarity
Fulfill any fantasy
Overcome personal

What to Learn?
Difference of Learning
Theories of Learning
Difference of Memory
Kinds of Memory
Theories of Forgetting

 Difference of Learning
Learning
a relatively permanent change
in behavior brought about by
experience
distinguishes between
maturation and experience
distinguishes between shortterm changes in performance
and actual learning

Learned

NOT Learning

Sneezing when dust Instincts: behaviors

gets in your nose
that occur as a
result of the
Blinking your eye
organisms genotype
when a puff of air
Reflexes: behaviors
hits it
that occur as a
Drooling when you
result of an
taste a lemon
automatic reaction
Increasing heart rate
to some
when you see a
environmental
spider
change or condition

 Theories of Learning
Behaviourism
Cognitivism
Constructivism
Experiential
Learning
Multiple
Intelligences

Behaviourism

Originated in the early 1900s; became dominant in early 20th cen

Basic idea is that learning consists of a

change in behaviour due to the
acquisition, reinforcement and
application of associations between
stimuli from the environment and
observable responses of the individual
Learning is a result of environmental
forces
Primary Focus
Observable behaviour

 Thorndike, one major behaviourist

theorist, put forward that:
oresponse to a stimulus-reinforced
when followed by a positive
rewarding effect; becomes stronger
by exercise and repetition.
Skinner, another influential
behaviourist, proposed the operant
conditioning.
orewarding the right parts of the more
complex behaviour reinforces it, and
encourages its recurrence

Three Types Of Conditioning And Learning:

Classical conditioning - behavior becomes a
reflex response to an antecedent stimulus.
discovered by Ivan Pavlov (he observed that
if dogs come to associate the delivery of
food with a white lab coat or with the
ringing of a bell, they will produce saliva,
even when there is no sight or smell of
food, classical conditioning regards this to
be the same whether in dogs or in humans)
Operant conditioning - an antecedent stimuli is
followed by a consequence of the behavior
through a reward (reinforcement) or a
punishment.
A reward increases the likelihood of the

Cognitivism

Cognitive psychology was initiated in the late 1950s

People are no longer viewed as collections of

responses to external stimuli, as understood
by behaviourists, but information processors
Paid attention to complex mental
phenomena, ignored by behaviourists, and
was influenced by the emergence of the
computer as an information-processing
device, which became analogous to the
human mind.
Learning is understood as the acquisition of
knowledge: the learner is an informationprocessor who absorbs information,
undertakes cognitive operations on it, and

 Because we have a unique perspective of

the world, humans have the ability to
generate their own learning experiences
and interpret information that may or may
not be the same for someone else
Cognitive theories look beyond behavior
to consider how human memory works to
promote learning, and an understanding
of short term memory and long term
memory is important to educators
influenced by cognitive theory
They view learning as an internal mental
process (including insight, information
processing, memory and perception)
where the educator focuses on building

Constructivism

Emerged in the 1970s and 1980s

Founded by Jean Piaget

Giving rise to the idea that learners are
not passive recipients of information, but
that they actively construct their
knowledge in interaction with the
environment and through the
reorganization of their mental structures
Learners are therefore viewed as sensemakers, not simply recording given
information but interpreting it
This view of learning led to the shift from
the knowledge-acquisition to

 A learner-centered approach where by the teacher

becomes a cognitive guide of learners learning and
not a knowledge transmitter
Constructivism give details why students do not
learn deeply by listening to a teacher, or reading
from a textbook
To design effective teaching environments, it
believes one needs a good understanding of what
children already know when they come into the
classroom
For instance, in scientific areas in the classroom,
constructivist teachers provide raw data and
physical materials for the students to work with and
analyze.

Experiential Learning
Learning is about meaningful experiences
in everyday life that lead to a change in an
individuals knowledge and behaviours
Carl Rogers - suggests that this learning is
self-initiated learning as people have a
natural inclination to learn; and that they
learn when they are fully involved in the
learning process. He put forward the ff.
insights:
(1) learning can only be facilitated: we
cannot teach another person directly,
(2) learners become more rigid under
threat,
(3) significant learning occurs in an

Multiple Intelligences
Howard Gardner elaborated this theory in
1983
Gardner argues that every persons level of
intelligence actually consists of many
distinct intelligences. These intelligences
include: (1) logical-mathematical, (2)
linguistic, (3) spatial, (4) musical, (5) bodilykinesthetic, (6) interpersonal, and (7)
intrapersonal
His theory is appreciated by teachers in
broadening their conceptual framework
beyond the traditional confines of skilling,
curriculum and testing

Criticism
Critics of learning theories that seek
to displace traditional educational
practices claim that there is no need
for such theories; that the attempt to
comprehend the process of learning
through the construction of theories
creates problems and inhibits personal
freedom.

 Difference of Memory
Memory
Active system that receives, stores, organizes,
alters, and recovers (retrieves) information
Memory - both a result of and an influence on
perception, attention , and learning
Repeated attention, or practice , results in a
cumulative effect on memory and enables
activities such as a skillful performance on a
musical instrument, the recitation of a poem,
and reading and understanding words on a
page
Learning could not occur without the function
of memory; the ability to solve any problem or
even to recognize that a problem exists

Memory
Encoding: Converting information into a
useable form
Storage: Holding this information in memory
for later use
Retrieval: Taking memories out of storage
Encoding - allows information from the outside
world to be sensed in the form of chemical
and physical stimuli; the information must be
changed so that it may be put into the
encoding process
Storage - this entails that information is
maintained over short periods of time

Information-Processing Model of Memory

A model of memory in which

information must pass through
discrete stages via the processes of
attention, encoding, storage, and

 Kinds of Memory
Sensory Memory
Records information
from the senses for up to
three seconds
Examples are Iconic
(Visual) Memory and
Echoic (Auditory) Memory
Short-Term Memory
Holds about seven items
for up to twenty seconds
before the material is
forgotten or transferred
to long-term memory

The Sensory Register

The ability to look at an item and
remember what it looked like with just
a split second of observation, or
memorization, is the example of
Testing for Iconic Memory
sensory memory.
Subjects recalled
more letters when
signaled to recall
only one row
compared to trying
to recall all the
letters

Short-Term Memory
Read the top row of digits, then look away
and repeat them back in order. Continue
until a mistake is made. The average
capacity is seven items of information.
Memory-Span Test

Short-Term Memory
Chunking
Process of grouping distinct bits of information into
larger wholes to increase short-term memory
capacity.
Example: In recalling a ten-digit telephone number, a
person could chunk the digits into three groups: first, the
area code (such as 123), then a three-digit chunk (456)
and lastly a four-digit chunk (7890). This method of
remembering telephone numbers is far more effective
than attempting to remember a string of 10 digits; this is
because we are able to chunk the information into
meaningful groups of numbers.

123-456-7890

Long-Term Memory
Subjects were shown
lists of words and asked
Elaborative Rehearsal
to use one of three
strategies:
Visual: Is the word
printed in capital
letters?
Acoustic: Does the
word rhyme with
_____?
Semantic: Does the
word fit the

Long-Term Memory
Encoding
Semantic(nonpersonal)
Short-term memory
acoustically, longterm memory
encodes it
semantically
Facts & concepts
Episodic
memory(personal)
Attempts to capture
information such as
'what', 'when' and
'where
individuals are able

Storage
Procedural
Memory
Stored longterm
knowledge of
learned habits
and skills.
How to drive, ride
a bike, tie ones
shoes, etc.
Declarative
Memory
Stored long-

Long-Term Memory
Retrieval
Explicit Memory
Elicited through the
conscious retrieval of
recollections in
response to direct
questions
Conscious retention, direct
tests, disrupted by
amnesia, encoded in the
hippocampus
Implicit Memory
A nonconscious
recollection of a prior
experience that is

Implicit Memory in
Everyday Life
Dj vu - sense of
familiarity but no real
memory
The false-fame effect names presented only
once, familiarity but
no real memory,
assume person is
famous
Eyewitness
transference - face is
familiar, but situation
in which they
remembering seeing

Long-Term Memory
Hippocampus: Part of
the limbic system
that plays a key role
in encoding and
transferring new
information into
long-term memory.
Anterograde amnesia
Inability to store
new information
Retrograde amnesia

 Theories of Forgetting
Forgetting
Inability to retrieve information
previously stored in long-term
memory
Theories
Retrieval Failure Theory:
Suggests that many memories are
inaccessible because memory cues
that were present when the memory
was formed are missing when the
time comes to retrieve it
Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT)

 Interference Theory: Proposes that

forgetting in LTM results from other
memories interfering with the retrieval
of information targeted for recall,
especially when memories are similar
Retroactive Interference: Refers
to the tendency for new information
to interfere with the retrieval of
previously learned information
(think: retro = backward)
Proactive Interference: Refers to
the tendency for previously learned
information to interfere with the
retrieval of recently learned
information (think: proactive =
forward)

Motivated
Forgetting: Forgetting
in LTM occurs because
of a conscious or
unconscious desire to
block out painful or
threatening memories
Repression: Occurs
unconsciously or
without your
awareness
Suppression: When
you actively and
consciously attempt
to put something out
of awareness you
could choose to
remember it

Decay Theory::
Assumes that when
learning takes place a
change occurs in the
brain a memory
trace is formed
(physical/chemical
trace of the event);
suggests that these
traces disintegrate
over time if they are
not reactivated for
use

Causes of Forgetting
Organic - damage to the brain that causes
abnormal functioning (Example: blow to head,
stroke, tumour these can lead to amnesia)
Dissociative - psychological trauma
Amnesia: temporary or permanent, partial or
Alzheimer's Disease
complete loss of memory
Permanent, progressive and
debilitating form of dementia
that results from organic
brain decay; serious and
permanent loss of intellectual
capacity that results in
confusion and loss of
memory especially for

Improving Memory
Retrieval Cues
Encoding specificity principle:
the more closely retrieval cues
match original condition the greater
the chance of recall
Context-dependent cue: Our
physical surroundings during the
learning
State-dependent cue: The bodily
state that exists during learning

Improving Memory
Mnemonic Devices
- Any kind of memory system or aid
Imagery: mental
representations or mental
picture of something
Narrative chaining: links
unrelated items to create a
sequence of meaningful
information

Trivia
Eye closing had the strongest impact on
remembering details correctly:
Research shows closing your eyes
can help you visualize the details of
the event you are trying to
remember because it removes
distraction; it suggests that keeping
your eyes shut can help focus on
audio information too.

Source
Psychology, 4/e by Saul Kassin
PSY 2012 General Psychology
Chapter 6: Learning
Samuel R. Mathews, Ph.D.