Learning and Memory
Learning
• When we talk about Learning in Psychology is about how our behaviour is controlled and
how we learn to repeat, stop or avoid some behaviours.
• Conditioning is another name for Learning in Psychology
• Conditioning refers to the Process of establishing an association between Stimulus and
Response
• As per three important theories of Behaviouristic Psychology, all behaviour is learned
through the associations and consequences of Associations as Positive or Negative
• The associations can be directly established: Classical and Operant Conditioning or
through Observation
Types of Conditioning
Classical Conditioning
Associative learning, in which a stimulus that produces an innate reflex becomes associated with a previously neutral
stimulus, which then acquires the power to elicit essentially the same response.
Reflexive or innate behaviours mean that you don’t have control over the reaction.
Examples: salivation, flinching, butterflies in your stomach, etc. Remember that the school bell which you get before
your lunch, which makes your stomach have butterflies to eat your lunch is an example of classical conditioning
Operant Conditioning:
Instrumental or operant learning implies that a behaviour is repeated if rewarded it is stopped or reduced if punished.
Example: We learn from the consequences. When you were in elementary school, did you get stickers for good
behaviour? That was a form of operant conditioning.
Have you ever played the slots? Those machines also employ operant conditioning.
Basic Features of Classical Conditioning
• Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
• Unconditioned Response (UCR)
• Neutral/ Conditioned Stimulus (UCS)
• Condition Response (CR)
Ivan Pavlov
(1849–1936)
Basic Features of Operant Conditioning
Reinforcement: Increases the behaviour
Positive – adds something good (e.g., praise, money)
Negative – removes or prevents something bad (e.g., chewing antacid before a meal, doing
your chores to avoid getting nagged)
Positive and negative reinforcement leads to behaviour that is more likely to occur again.
Punishment: Decreases the behavious
Positive: Add something bad (spanking)
Negative: Remove something good (TV time)
Operant
Conditioning:
ABC of
Behaviour
• https://sproutsschools.co
m/operant-conditioning/
Skinners
Operant
Conditioning
Difference between Classical and Operant
Conditioning
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6LEcM0E0io
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo7jcI8fAuI
Observational Learning
• Social learning theory or Observation learning is a form of learning which states that
people learn largely through observation, imitation, and modelling
• Positive effect
• Negative Effect
• For Example, if your favorite actor is advertising for a particular cigarette, it is more likely
that it would influence your smoking behaviour
Albert Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment
Basic Process of
learning through
Observation
• Attention
• Retention
• Reproduction
• Motivation
https://www.psychestudy.com/behavioral/learning-memory/observational-learning#google_vignette
Media and Its
Effects
• https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=q1pSPw9uVwA
Memory
• Human memory is an information processing system that
works constructively to encode, store, and retrieve
information.
• Human memory is an interpretive system that takes in
information and, much like an artist, discards certain details
and organises the rest into meaningful patterns. As a result,
our memories represent our unique perceptions.
• we don’t technically retrieve memories—in truth, we
reconstruct them.
• We start with fragments of memory—like pieces of a jigsaw
puzzle. Then, from these fragments, we reconstruct the
incident (or idea, emotion, or image) by filling in the blanks
as we remember it, rather than the way it actually was.
• https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontopsychology/wp-
Types content/uploads/sites/9/2013/11/d3f9b937b11eb7ad6eff
b49222788ebb.jpg
Process and Stages of
Memory
Process Encoding Storage
Sensory
Retrieval Stages
Memory
Short Terme Long Term
Memory Memory
Process and • https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontopsychology/wp-
content/uploads/sites/9/2013/11/a74de49aa1281b2a68a5
Stages 9837b882d879.jpg
1) Explicit: knowledge or experiences that can be consciously
remembered. Also known as Declarative Memory
Two types of explicit memory:
Episodic: Episodic memory refers to the firsthand experiences that we
have had (e.g., recollections of our high school graduation day or of
the fantastic dinner we had in New York last year).
Semantic: Semantic memory refers to our knowledge of facts and
concepts about the world
2) Implicit: knowledge that we cannot consciously access. Influence of
experience on behaviour, even if the individual is unaware of those
influences.
Implicit Memory …..Cont…
• Procedural memory: our unexplainable knowledge of how to do
things
• Classical conditioning effects: learning without effort or awareness,
to associate neutral stimuli (such as a sound or a light) with another
stimulus (such as food)
• Priming: changes in behaviour due to experiences that have
happened frequently or recently.
Other Types
Photographic or Eidetic Memory
The ability to recall an image from memory with high precision—at least briefly—after seeing it only
once
Flashbulb Memory
accurate and exceptionally vivid long-lasting memory for the circumstances surrounding learning
about a dramatic event
Autobiographical Memory
memory for one's personal history (Robinson, 1976).
Read Article
• Han, J. J., Leichtman, M. D., & Wang, Q. (1998). Autobiographical memory in Korean,
Chinese, and American children. Developmental Psychology, 34(4), 701-713.
Models of Memory
levels-of-processing
Working Memory Information Processing
theory proposed by
Model (Baddeley and Model by Atkinson and
Fergus Craik and
Hitch, 1974) Shiffrin
Robert Lockhart (1972)
Working
Memory
levels-of-processing theory: Fergus Craik and
Robert Lockhart (1972)
• Structural
• Phenomics
• Semantic
Information
Processing • According to the Atkinson-Shiffrin model of memory, information passes
through three distinct stages in order for it to be stored in long-term memory.
Model (Atkinson (Image by Educ320 is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (image modified by Ian
Joslin from COCOER))
and Shiffrin)
Memory Assessment
Recall
Recognition
Relearning
Rehearsal
Whole vs part
Memory Chunking
Improvement Acronym
or Connection and Associations
Mnemonics Acrostic
Make list
Method of Loci
A chunk is any pattern or meaningful unit of
information. It might be a single letter or
number, a name, or even a concept.
For example, the letters P-H-I-L could constitute
Chunks and four chunks. However, you probably recognise
this sequence as a name so that you can
Chunking combine the four letters into a single chunk.
Grouping the seven digits of a phone number
(e.g., 8675309) into two shorter strings of
numbers (867-5309),
Omission
Transience
Absent-mindedness
Forgetting
Blocking
and
Memory Commission
Misattribution
Failures Suggestibility
Bias
Unwanted persistence
Hermann
Ebbinghaus:
Forgetting
Curve
• https://simonbaddeley64.wordpress.com/2021/06/09/th
e-curve-of-forgetting/
Eyewitness
Testimony
Should we Believe or Not?
