Introduction to Physiological Psychology Learning and Memory ksweeney@cogsci.ucsd.edu cogsci.ucsd.edu/~ /~ksweeney/psy260.html Comments on your comments Thank you! Some things that I can change NOW: Slow down? Post draft of lecture before class Have more visual demonstrations? Continue to find videos when possible 1
Comments on your comments Some things I can change in the future: Cover less material Some things I can t change: This is physiological psychology so a certain amount of chemistry and biology (and all the new and strange terminology that goes along with that) is inevitable Comments on your comments Some things I can t change: Transform the space/time continuum so that an evening class is a twice-a-week week class! 2
Learning the process whereby experiences change our nervous system (and hence, our behavior) Memory- the changes brought about by learning, the storage and reactivation of these changes List 1 List 2 List 3 Bed Rest Awake Tired Dream Wake Night Blanket Doze Slumber Snore Pillow Peace Yawn Drowsy Butter Food Eat Sandwich Rye Jam Milk Flour Jelly Dough Crust Slice Wine Loaf Toast Nurse Sick Lawyer Medicine Health Hospital Dentist Physician Ill Patient Office Stethoscope Surgeon Clinic Cure Roediger & McDermott, 1995 3
List 1 List 2 List 3 Sleep Bread Doctor Bed Rest Awake Tired Dream Wake Night Blanket Doze Slumber Snore Pillow Peace Yawn Drowsy Butter Food Eat Sandwich Rye Jam Milk Flour Jelly Dough Crust Slice Wine Loaf Toast Nurse Sick Lawyer Medicine Health Hospital Dentist Physician Ill Patient Office Stethoscope Surgeon Clinic Cure Roediger & McDermott, 1995 4
Working Memory: What is memory? Limited capacity (7 +/- 2) Information can be held for several minutes with rehearsal (e.g. memory system you use when you have to remember a phone number but have no place to write it down) Long-term Memory: Very large capacity Essentially infinite duration e.g. memory system you need when you are reminiscing with friends, or taking a final exam Different Kinds of Long-term Memory Declarative Memory: further subdivided into Semantic Memory- factual memory, general world knowledge (e.g. what is an airplane? Who was George Washington? What state is San Diego in?) Episodic Memory- autobiographical memory for events mental time travel! To remember you must remember time and place of event. (e.g. what were you doing when you hear that an airplane had struck the WTC? How did you celebrate your 18 th birthday?) 5
Different Kinds of Long-term Memory Procedural (Nondeclarative) Memory Procedures used by an individual to operate effectively on some task Memory for procedures is usually implicit, and skills can be performed automatically E.g. memory for typing, riding a bike, tracing a star, playing the piano also priming, operant conditioning Memory Working Memory Long-term Memory Declarative Memory Procedural Memory Episodic Memory Semantic Memory 6
What can possibly go wrong? 7
Perceptual Learning Objects Situations Forms of Learning Stimulus-Response Learning Motor Learning Relational Learning Form connection between perception and action Form new circuits in the motor system Connections between stimuli Stimulus-Response learning Classical Conditioning An unimportant stimulus begins to elicit a similar response as an important one It involves an association between two stimuli, one of which is reflexive Operant Conditioning (or Instrumental Conditioning) A particular stimulus begins to elicit a particular response It involves an association between a stimulus and a response 8
Classical Conditioning Unconditional Stimulus Conditional Stimulus Classical conditioning involves an association between two stimuli Unconditional Response Conditional Response Classical Conditioning Famous example: Pavlov s dogs First, present dogs with food and measure amount of saliva Then, start ringing a bell just before food is presented (at first, saliva only occurs at presentation of food) In time, salivation occurs in response to the bell Conditioning has occurred 9
Classical Conditioning Unconditional Stimulus- dog food Unconditional Response- salivation Conditional Stimulus- bell Conditional Response- salivation But what has happened in the brain? Hebb postulated: the cellular basis of learning involves strengthening of a synapse that is repeatedly active when the postsynaptic neuron fires neurons that fire together, wire together 10
Perceptual Learning Objects Situations Forms of Learning Stimulus-Response Learning Motor Learning Relational Learning Form connection between perception and action Form new circuits in the motor system Connections between stimuli Instrumental (or Operant) Conditioning Reinforcing stimulus (favorable consequences) Appetitive stimulus that follows a particular behavior and thus makes behavior occur with greater frequency Punishing stimulus (unfavorable consequences) Aversive stimulus that follows a particular behavior and thus makes behavior occur more rarely 11
Instrumental (or Operant) Conditioning Something Good can start or be presented; Something Good can end or be taken away; Something Bad can start or be presented; Something Bad can end or be taken away. Instrumental conditioning involves an association between a stimulus and a response Perceptual Learning Objects Situations Forms of Learning Stimulus-Response Learning Motor Learning Relational Learning Form connection between perception and action Form new circuits in the motor system Connections between stimuli 12
Motor Learning A component of S-R learning, motor learning is learning to make a new (physical) response The more novel the behavior, the more the neural circuits in the nervous system must be modified 13
Perceptual Learning Objects Situations Forms of Learning Stimulus-Response Learning Motor Learning Relational Learning Form connection between perception and action Form new circuits in the motor system Connections between stimuli Learning All forms of learning involve changes in the ways that neurons communicate. 14
What can possibly go wrong? Anterograde Amnesia: Amnesia for events occurring after the precipitating event. Retrograde Amnesia: Amnesia for events occurring before the precipitating event. What can possibly go wrong? Anterograde Amnesia: Amnesia for events occurring after the precipitating event. Retrograde Amnesia: Amnesia for events occurring before the precipitating event. 15
Hippocampus 3D The Hippocampus Image from Bear et al., 2001 Image: Seress, 1980 16
H.M. Effects of Bilateral Medial Temporal Lobectomy Minor seizure beginning at age 10, major seizures beginning age 16 Severe, persistent seizure condition- not controlled with anticonvulsants By mid-20 s, condition was so severe he was unable to work Surgery at age 27: Bilateral medial temporal lobe resection. Tissues typically excised in medial temporal lobectomy 17
In HM, the amygdala, entorhinal and perirhinal cortices, and about two- thirds of the hippocampus were removed 18