Memory 1 part 2

Memory 1 part 2

1. Implicit learning

   • non-declarative - is evident in changes in behaviour, rather than explicitly remmevring info - can be divided into 3 broad categories - classical conditioning, priming and procedural learning
     • priming - the ability to implicitly influence the subsequent perception or processing of material by presenting it beforehand - involves non-conscious processing - amnesiac patients demo normal priming - conversely, explicitly asking amnesiacs to remember what they saw previously (declarative task) results in highly impaired performance
       • Priming tasks - stem completing - stems (first letters) of a previously studied word are presented and participants asked to complete the word - word fragment completion - provide some of the letters of a previously presented word and asking what would fit
       • Procedural learning - LTM for skills ad procedures - learning how to sail - this form of learning does not rely on conscious strategy and sometimes the availability of such strategy can be counterproductive - grammar learning of ones native language is supposed to be implicit - a similar strategy can be applied when learning a second language - immersion method
   • classical conditioning - pavlov. associative learning protocol in which an unconditioned stimulus produces an unconditioned response - when US is repeatedly paired with a neutral, conditioned stimulus, eventually elicits a conditioned response, often similar to UR
     • Extinction - CS repeatedly presented without the US, the CR gradually decreases - backward conditioning - when CS presented after US during training, conditioning is weaker - latent inhibition - repeated presentation of the CS alone before the association with the US distrusts its involvement in subsequent conditioning

2. Learning and the brain

   • Hebbian learning - learning involves strengthening the connections of co-active neutrons - when 2 separate neutrons are repeatedly excited in synchrony, the chemistry of the synapse between the neurones change - this makes each one more likely to have an action potential when the other does - neutrons that wire together, fire together
     • long term potentiation - bliss and lomo stimulated axonal pathways led to lasting increase in the electrical potentials generated by post-synaptic neutrons long term potentaions - LTP stonly represented in the hippocampus and surrounding regions associated with long term memory - also occur in the amygdala supporting emotion based learning and classical conditioning