Chapter 5

1. Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior, knowledge, capability,

or attitude that is acquired through experience and cannot be attributed to
illness, injury, or maturation.
2. Classical Learning (or Classical Conditioning) is a type of learning through
which an organism learns to associate one stimulus with another.
 Neutral Stimulus (a tone) elicits no salivation until it is repeatedly
paired with the unconditioned stimulus (food) (Recall Figure 5.2
Pg.139)
 Unconditioned Stimulus is a stimulus that elicits a specific
unconditioned response without prior learning.
 Unconditioned Response is a response that is elicited by an
unconditioned stimulus without prior learning.
 Conditioned Stimulus is a neutral stimulus that, after repeated pairing
with an unconditioned stimulus, becomes associated with it and elicits a
conditioned response.
 Conditioned Response is the learned response that comes to be elicited
by a conditioned stimulus as a result of its repeated pairing with an
unconditioned stimulus.
 In Classical Conditioning, Generalization is the tendency to make a
conditioned response to a stimulus that is similar to the original
conditioned stimulus.
 In Classical Conditioning, Extinction is the weakening and eventual
disappearance of the conditioned response as a result of repeated
presentation of the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned
stimulus.
 Discrimination is the learned ability to distinguish between similar
stimuli so that the conditioned response occurs only to the original
conditioned stimulus but not to similar stimuli.
 Spontaneous Recovery is the reappearance of an extinguished response
(in a weaker form) when an organism is exposed to the original
conditioned stimulus following a rest period.
3. Operant Learning (or Operant Conditioning) is a type of learning in which the
consequences of behavior are manipulated so as to increase or decrease the
frequency of an existing response or to shape an entirely new response.
4. Reinforcer is anything that follows a response and strengthens it or increases
the probability that it will occur.
5. Reinforcement is any event that follows a response and strengthens or
increases the probability that the response will be repeated.
6. Positive Reinforcement, which is roughly the same thing as a reward, refers to
any pleasant or desirable consequence that follows a response and increases
the probability that the response will be repeated.
7. Negative Reinforcement is the termination of an unpleasant condition after a
response, which increases the probability that the response will be repeated.
 8. Primary Reinforcer is a reinforcer that fulfills a basic physical need for
survival and does not depend on learning.
9. Secondary Reinforcer is a reinforcer that is acquired or learned through
association with other reinforcers.
10. Shaping is an operant conditioning technique that consists of gradually
molding a desired behavior (response) by reinforcing any movement in the
direction of the desired response, thereby gradually guiding the responses
toward the ultimate goal.
11. Successive Approximation is a series of gradual steps, each of which is more
similar to the final desired response.
12. Schedules of Reinforcement are a systematic process for administering
reinforcement.
13. Fixed-Ratio Schedule is a schedule in which a reinforcer is given after a fixed
number of correct, nonreinforced responses.
14. Variable-Ratio Schedule is a schedule in which a reinforcer is given after a
varying number of nonreinforced responses, based on an average ratio.
15. Fixed-Interval Schedule is a schedule in which a reinforcer is given following
the first correct response after a specific period of time has elapsed.
16. Variable-Interval Schedule is a schedule in which a reinforcer is given after
the first correct response that follows a varying time of nonreinforcement,
based on an average time.
17. Interval reinforcement is according to passage of time.
18. Ratio reinforcement is according to number of behaviors.
19. Punishment is the removal of a pleasant stimulus or the application of an
unpleasant stimulus, thereby lowering the probability of a response.
20. According to Skinner, Punishment does not extinguish an undesirable behavior;
rather, it suppresses that behavior when the punishing agent is present. But the
behavior is apt to continue when the threat of punishment is removed and
settings where punishment is unlikely.
21. Many Psychologists believe that removing the rewarding consequences of
undesirable behavior is the best way to extinguish a problem behavior.
22. Token Economy refers to a program that motivates socially desirable behavior
by reinforcing it with tokens that can be exchanged for desired items or
privileges.
23. Observational Learning (or Modeling, or Social-Cognitive Learning) is
learning by observing the behavior of others and the consequences of that
behavior; learning by imitation.
24. Latent Learning is learning that occurs without apparent reinforcement and is
not demonstrated until the organism is motivated to do so.

Chapter 6
1. Memory is the cognitive process that includes encoding, storage, consolidation,
and retrieval of information.
2. Encoding is the process of transforming information into a form that can be
stored in memory.
3. Storage is the process of keeping or maintaining information in memory.
4. Consolidation is a physiological change in the brain that allows encoded
information to be stored in memory.
5. Retrieval is the process of bringing to mind information that has been stored in
memory.
6. Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of Memory states the there are three different,
interacting memory systems: Sensory Memory, Short-Term Memory, and
Long-Term Memory.
7. Sensory Memory is the memory system that holds information from the senses
for a period of time ranging from only a fraction of a second to about 2
seconds.
8. Short-Term Memory is the memory system that codes information according
to sound and holds about seven (from five to nine) items for less than 30
seconds without rehearsal; also called working memory.
9. Displacement is the event that occurs when STM is filled to capacity and each
new, incoming item pushes out an existing item, which is then forgotten.
10. Chunking is a memory strategy that involves grouping or organizing bits of
information into larger units, which are easier to remember.
11. Rehearsal is the act of purposely repeating information to maintain it in STM.
12. Long-Term Memory is the memory system with virtually unlimited capacity
that contains vast stores of a person’s permanent or relatively permanent
memories.
13. Declarative memory is the subsystem within LTM that stores facts,
information, and personal life events that can be brought to mind verbally or in
the form of images and then declared or stated; also called explicit memory.
14. Non-Declarative Memory is the subsystem within LTM that stores motor skills,
habits, and simple classically conditioned responses; also called implicit
memory.
15. Episodic Memory is the type of Declarative Memory that records events as
they have been subjectively experienced.
16. Semantic Memory is the type of Declarative Memory that stores general
knowledge, or objective facts and information.
17. Recognition is a memory task in which a person must simply identify material
as familiar or as having been encountered before.
18. Recall is a memory task in which a person must produce required information
by searching memory.
19. Schemas are the integrated frameworks of knowledge and assumptions a
person has about people, objects, and events, which affect how the person
encodes and recalls information.
20. Parallel Distributed Processing (or P.D.P.) stores memory for skills. Holds
large number of memories and is fast. Different neurons simultaneously
handle different bits of information.
21. Semantic Networks: very specific, Stores facts. Example: Which gifts you
recycled last year.
22. Childhood Amnesia (or Infantile Amnesia) is the relative inability of older
children and adults to recall events from the first few years of life.
23. Serial Position Effect is the finding that, for information learned in a sequence,
recall is better for the beginning and ending items than for the middle items in
the sequence.
24. Primacy Effect is the tendency to recall the first items in a sequence more
readily than the middle items.
25. Recency Effect is the tendency to recall the last items in a sequence more
readily than those in the middle.
26. Ebbinghaus discovered that the largest amount of forgetting occurs very
quickly, then it tapers off.
27. Interference is a cause of forgetting that occurs because information or
associations stored either before of after a given memory hinder the ability to
remember it.
28. Proactive Interference occurs when information or experiences already stored
in LTM hinder the ability to remember newer information; Previous learning
blocks new learning.
29. Retroactive Interference occurs when new learning interferes with the ability
to remember previously learned information; Recent learning blocks previous
learning.