Day 8 - Memories...in the corner of my mind

Learning Targets - Students will be able to identify the primary models of memory formation and distinguish between the different forms of memory involved in cognition.

Opener - Word memorization w/sensory inputs

You have been given 3 "curiously strong" mints.  DON'T EAT THEM YET!

Take the first mint while the list of words is being displayed on the screen.
Take the second mint 5 minutes later when asked to recall those words.
Take the third mint 1 hour later when asked to recall the list of words.

How did this compare to your recollection in the previous class without the stimuli?

Activity #1 - What is "sticky" and what is "slippery" when it comes to our memory?

Mini-Lesson - Information can be further referenced at www.opentextbc.ca

Memory, defined as the ability to store and retrieve information over time, 

Cognition, defined as the processes of acquiring and using knowledge.

Our memories allow us to do relatively simple things, such as remembering where we parked our car or the name of the current president of the US, but also allow us to form complex memories, such as how to ride a bicycle or to write a computer program. 

To what extent do our memories define us as individuals?  They are our experiences, our relationships, our successes, and our failures. Without our memories, we would not have a life.

Once we learn a face, we can recognize that face many years later. We know the lyrics of many songs by heart, and we can give definitions for tens of thousands of words. 

Recall memory test is a measure of explicit memory that involves bringing from memory information that has previously been remembered. 

Relearning much more quickly information is processed or learned when it is studied again after it has already been learned but then forgotten.

Procedural memory refers to our often unexplainable knowledge of how to do things. When we walk from one place to another, speak to another person in English, dial a cell phone, or play a video game, we are using procedural memory. Procedural memory allows us to perform complex tasks, even though we may not be able to explain to others how we do them.

Maintenance rehearsal is the process of repeating information mentally or out loud with the goal of keeping it in memory. We engage in maintenance rehearsal to keep something that we want to remember (e.g., a person’s name, email address, or phone number) in mind long enough to write it down, use it, or potentially transfer it to long-term memory.

Primacy/Recency Effect - information presented at the beginning (Primacy) and end (Recency) of a learning episode tends to be retained better than information presented in the middle. 



Activity #2 - To what extent do our memories define us ?  

They are our experiences, our relationships, our successes, and our failures. Without our memories, we would not have a life.

Our memories allow us to do relatively simple things, such as remembering where we parked our car or the name of the current president of the US, but also allow us to form complex memories, such as how to ride a bicycle or to write a computer program. 

Once we learn a face, we can recognize that face many years later. We know the lyrics of many songs by heart, and we can give definitions for tens of thousands of words. 

Task: Give a brief account of a recent memory that you believe will help to define who you are, or will become.  Make sure that you use any appropriate terminology and precise detail in your account.  Then explain why you believe that the memory of this experience will be so transformative.

Close - Post at least 2 questions here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iKDtCmP_Q4AHlAjd2APb2qjx2U2xTSgqM71Hmvl9KK4/edit?usp=sharing

Day 7 - Memories...in the corner of my mind

Learning Targets - Students will be able to identify the primary models of memory formation and distinguish between the different forms of memory involved in cognition.

Opener - Word memorization

Activity #1 - Quick write

• Identify and explain 3 methods that you use to help you remember someone's name, directions, or "to-do's".
• Why do you think that these are effective?

Activity #2 - How memory helps define us....sort of.

After reading the brief article below explain each of the terms listed below the link.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/memory

Short term
Long term
Episodic memory
Sensory memory

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-resilient-brain/201705/need-improve-your-memory-always-losing-your-keys

1.  What does the author claim are the keys, or benefits, to improving memory?
2.  What are some of the problems that can cause poor memory or memory loss?
3.  Why is the author so personally concerned about this topic?

Close - Post at least 2 questions here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iKDtCmP_Q4AHlAjd2APb2qjx2U2xTSgqM71Hmvl9KK4/edit?usp=sharing

Day 6 - Not all learned behaviors are good behaviors

Learning Targets - Students will be able to... 

• Compare and contrast the various theories of learning: classical, operant and observational (Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, Bandura)
• Describe the reinforcement schedules and identify primary vs. secondary reinforcers
• Distinguish between negative reinforcement and punishment

Opener - Quickwrite

How is criminal behavior often reinforced?

Activity #1 - Learning, society and the criminal justice system - Mini Lecture

Deterrence - Discouraging behavior through the fear of perceived consequences.

Incarceration - The removal of an individual from society temporarily following the demonstration of undesirable behavior.

Rehabilitation - The action of restoring someone to health or normal life through training and therapy after imprisonment, addiction, or illness.

Retribution/Recompense - Focus on punishing the criminal behavior in a manner that also serves to compensate the victim/society.

Activity #2 - Reforming behavior in the "adult world"

Examine the 4 approaches to reforming criminal behavior introduced above and outline the following:

1.  What principle(s) or theories of psychology does each represent?
2.  What would be necessary for each approach to be successful in reducing criminal behavior?
3.  What would be the greatest challenge in adopting this system?

Close - Post at least 2 questions here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iKDtCmP_Q4AHlAjd2APb2qjx2U2xTSgqM71Hmvl9KK4/edit?usp=sharing

Day 5 - You just gotta want to learn!

Learning Targets - Students will be able to... 

• Compare and contrast the various theories of learning: classical, operant and observational (Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, Bandura)
• Describe the reinforcement schedules and identify primary vs. secondary reinforcers
• Distinguish between negative reinforcement and punishment

Opener - As we know from last semester, for someone to be hypnotized, they must first WANT to be hypnotized.  To what degree might this be true when it comes to learning and WANTING to learn?

Activity #1 - The passage below comes from a recently published Canadian textbook.  Read through this passage and then respond to the following questions/prompts:

1.  What are the limits of positive reinforcement in the classroom?  Describe at least 3.
2.  How does a student's expectation of rewards alter how effective the reward is in reinforcing desirable behavior?
3.  What happens if the student knows that they are being "trained" by the teacher?

Psychology in Everyday Life: Operant Conditioning in the Classroom

John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner believed that all learning was the result of reinforcement, and thus that reinforcement could be used to educate children. For instance, Watson wrote in his book on behaviourism,

Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select — doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. I am going beyond my facts and I admit it, but so have the advocates of the contrary and they have been doing it for many thousands of years (Watson, 1930, p. 82).

Skinner promoted the use of programmed instruction, an educational tool that consists of self-teaching with the aid of a specialized textbook or teaching machine that presents material in a logical sequence (Skinner, 1965). Programmed instruction allows students to progress through a unit of study at their own rate, checking their own answers and advancing only after answering correctly. Programmed instruction is used today in many classes — for instance, to teach computer programming (Emurian, 2009).

Although reinforcement can be effective in education, and teachers make use of it by awarding gold stars, good grades, and praise, there are also substantial limitations to using reward to improve learning. To be most effective, rewards must be contingent on appropriate behaviour. In some cases teachers may distribute rewards indiscriminately — for instance, by giving praise or good grades to children whose work does not warrant it — in the hope that students will “feel good about themselves” and that this self-esteem will lead to better performance. Studies indicate, however, that high self-esteem alone does not improve academic performance (Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger, & Vohs, 2003). When rewards are not earned, they become meaningless and no longer provide motivation for improvement.

Another potential limitation of rewards is that they may teach children that the activity should be performed for the reward, rather than for one’s own interest in the task. If rewards are offered too often, the task itself becomes less appealing. Mark Lepper and his colleagues (Lepper, Greene, & Nisbett, 1973) studied this possibility by leading some children to think that they engaged in an activity for a reward, rather than because they simply enjoyed it. First, they placed some fun felt-tipped markers in the classroom of the children they were studying. The children loved the markers and played with them right away. Then the markers were taken out of the classroom, and the children were given a chance to play with the markers individually at an experimental session with the researcher. At the research session, the children were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups. One group of children (the expected reward condition) was told that if they played with the markers they would receive a good drawing award. A second group (the unexpected reward condition) also played with the markers, and also got the award — but they were not told ahead of time that they would be receiving the award; it came as a surprise after the session. The third group (the no reward group) played with the markers too, but got no award.

Then the researchers placed the markers back in the classroom and observed how much the children in each of the three groups played with them. As you can see in Figure 8.9, “Undermining Intrinsic Interest,” the children who had been led to expect a reward for playing with the markers during the experimental session played with the markers less at the second session than they had at the first session. The idea is that, when the children had to choose whether or not to play with the markers when the markers reappeared in the classroom, they based their decision on their own prior behaviour. The children in the no reward group and the children in the unexpected reward group realized that they played with the markers because they liked them. Children in the expected award condition, however, remembered that they were promised a reward for the activity the last time they played with the markers. These children, then, were more likely to draw the inference that they play with the markers only for the external reward, and because they did not expect to get an award for playing with the markers in the classroom, they determined that they didn’t like them. Expecting to receive the award at the session had undermined their initial interest in the markers.

Figure 8.9 Undermining Intrinsic Interest. Mark Lepper and his colleagues (1973) found that giving rewards for playing with markers, which the children naturally enjoyed, could reduce their interest in the activity. [Long Description]

This research suggests that, although receiving a reward may in many cases lead us to perform an activity more frequently or with more effort, a reward may not always increase our liking for the activity. In some cases a reward may actually make us like an activity less than we did before we were rewarded for it. This outcome is particularly likely when the reward is perceived as an obvious attempt on the part of others to get us to do something. When children are given money by their parents to get good grades in school, they may improve their school performance to gain the reward. But at the same time their liking for school may decrease. On the other hand, rewards that are seen as more internal to the activity, such as rewards that praise us, remind us of our achievements in the domain, and make us feel good about ourselves as a result of our accomplishments, are more likely to be effective in increasing not only the performance of, but also the liking of, the activity (Hulleman, Durik, Schweigert, & Harackiewicz, 2008; Ryan & Deci, 2002).Other research findings also support the general principle that punishment is generally less effective than reinforcement in changing behaviour. In a recent meta-analysis, Gershoff (2002) found that although children who were spanked by their parents were more likely to immediately comply with the parents’ demands, they were also more aggressive, showed less ability to control aggression, and had poorer mental health in the long term than children who were not spanked. The problem seems to be that children who are punished for bad behaviour are likely to change their behaviour only to avoid the punishment, rather than by internalizing the norms of being good for its own sake. Punishment also tends to generate anger, defiance, and a desire for revenge. Moreover, punishment models the use of aggression and ruptures the important relationship between the teacher and the learner (Kohn, 1993).

- The above passage is courtesy of www.opentextbc.ca

Activity #2 - Reforming behavior in the "adult world"

One of the most important discussions that a society can have is about how we reform the behavior of those citizens that choose not to follow the law.  Drawing upon what you have learned about conditioning and learning, and using the appropriate vocabulary, answer the following:

1.  Describe the methods employed in the US criminal justice system here in the United States.
2.  What other options do we have in reforming criminal behavior?
3.  What would B.F. Skinner likely suggest?

Close - Post at least 2 questions here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iKDtCmP_Q4AHlAjd2APb2qjx2U2xTSgqM71Hmvl9KK4/edit?usp=sharing

Day 3 - Operant Conditioning - Anything can be learned!

Learning Targets - Students will be able to compare and contrast the various theories of learning: classical, operant and observational (Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, Bandura)

Opener - Is there anything that can't be taught/learned?  Like what?  Explain.

Activity #1 - Conditioning and Schedules













Continuous reinforcement schedule, in which the desired response is 
reinforced every time it occurs 

• Whenever the dog rolls over, for instance, it gets a biscuit. Continuous reinforcement results in relatively fast learning but also rapid extinction of the desired behavior once the reinforcer disappears.

Most real-world reinforcers are not continuous; they occur on a partial (or intermittent) reinforcement schedule — a schedule in which the responses are sometimes reinforced and sometimes not. 

• In comparison to continuous reinforcement, partial reinforcement schedules lead to slower initial learning, but they also lead to greater resistance to extinction.

(Tables downloaded from opentextbc.ca)

Behaviors can also be trained through the use of secondary reinforcers.  A primary reinforcer includes stimuli that are naturally preferred or enjoyed by the organism, such as food, water, and relief from pain, a secondary reinforcer (sometimes called conditioned reinforcer) is a neutral event that has become associated with a primary reinforcer through classical conditioning. 

• Example - a secondary reinforcer would be the whistle given by an animal trainer, which has been associated over time with the primary reinforcer, food. 
• An example of an everyday secondary reinforcer is money. We enjoy having money, not so much for the stimulus itself, but rather for the primary reinforcers (the things that money can buy) with which it is associated.

Activity #2 - Operant Conditioning Scenarios

The chart above provides a number of examples of operant conditioning.  What method(s) would YOU use to teach each of the skills or habits below?  Be sure to label and describe US, UR, CS, CR for each.

1. Remembering to turn off the lights before you leave the room.
2. Learning how to swim the butterfly stroke.
3. Memorizing formulas for an upcoming chemistry test.
4. Creating and recording questions everyday in your psychology notebook.

BE SURE THAT BOTH OF YOU RECORD YOUR RESPONSES IN YOUR NOTEBOOK

Close - 1-2 questions recorded in your notebook regarding conditioning, reinforcers, punishment, etc