UNIT-5 Attention, Perception,

UNIT-5 Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory and Forgetting

Learning, Memory and Forgetting

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What is Attention: Forms of attention, Models of

attention ?

Attention: Forms of attention, Models of attention

Understanding attention and its types are critical for improving our
ability to live our lives efficiently. In order to fully master the attention
mechanism, it is also necessary to learn both the external or internal
factors that strengthen and affect it.
Attention can generally be defined as the ability to produce, select,
manage and maintain sufficient stimulation at a specific amount of
time to process any kind of information. It takes place on the
cognitive level and has different types.
Attention is the key to achieve optimum functionality in our lives.
The way to do this is to parse the factors or stimuli we encounter as
relevant or irrelevant. Actually, this is when we make the most basic
choices regarding the topics we are interested in or not.
Visual Attention
Generally speaking, visual attention is thought to operate as a two-
stage process. In the first stage, attention is distributed uniformly
over the external visual scene and the processing of information. In
the second stage, attention is concentrated to a specific area of the
visual scene; it is focused on a specific stimulus. There are two
major models for understanding how visual attention operates, both
of which are loose metaphors for the actual neural processes
occurring.

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Spotlight Model
The term “spotlight” was inspired by the work of William James, who
described attention as having a focus, a margin, and a fringe. The
focus is the central area that extracts “high-resolution” information
from the visual scene where attention is directed. Surrounding the
focus is the fringe of attention, which extracts information in a much
more crude fashion. This fringe extends out to a specified area, and
the cutoff is called the margin.
Zoom-Lens Model
First introduced in 1986, this model inherits all the properties of the
spotlight model, but it has the added property of changing in size.
This size-change mechanism was inspired by the zoom lens one
might find on a camera, and any change in size can be described by
a trade-off in the efficiency of processing. The zoom-lens of
attention can be described in terms of an inverse trade-off between
the size of focus and the efficiency of processing. Because
attentional resources are assumed to be fixed, the larger the focus
is, the slower processing will be of that region of the visual scene,
since this fixed resource will be distributed over a larger area.
Cognitive Load
Think of a computer with limited memory storage: you can only give
it so many tasks before it is unable to process more. Brains work on
a similar principle, called the cognitive load theory. “Cognitive load”
refers to the total amount of mental effort being used in working
memory. Attention requires working memory; therefore devoting
attention to something increases cognitive load.

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Determining Factors That Influence the Functioning of

Attention
As we mentioned before, attention is not a one-way process. There
are a number of factors for a stimulus to attract our attention. Only a
stimulus based on these factors triggers our cognitive functions and
can initiate cognitive processing.
It is possible to examine these factors that attract our attention and
maintain focus in two main groups:
1- Internal Factors
These determinants are personal because they depend on the
individual's own cognitive resources and brain functions. Some of
them can be listed as follows:
 Mental condition
 Needs
 Emotions
 Mindset
 Interests
 Motivation
 Physical state
2- External Factors
These determinants are usually based on the characteristics of the
stimuli or come from our surroundings. Some of them can be listed
as follows:

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 Intensity
 Uniqueness
 Size
 Color
 Emotional Burden
 Contrast
The Four Types of Attention
There are several types of attention and they are shown in the chart
below:
Selective Attention
When we focus our attention on anything, we actually choose to
ignore many things. For example, imagine going to a bookstore.
There is a specific book you want to buy and you are walking
between the bookshelves to find that book.
Perhaps you are passing through hundreds of books without
actually noticing any of them. On the other hand, your eyes actually
see all of them and possibly record them deep into your mind, but
you don't even realise it. This here is a great selective attention
example.
Now that you have an understanding of the concept, let’s go over
the selective attention definition.
If we need to define selective attention we can call it the process of
focusing on a particular object in the environment for a certain
period of time. Our attention is limited. So to use this limited

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resource, we need selective attention, which allows us to ignore

details that are not important.
How Does Selective Attention Work?
The term “cocktail party effect” is also used to describe selective
attention psychology, especially in the Memory Selection Model.
Because while we're at a party, there are many things that can
distract us like music, light, and many other people talking.
However, we can still focus on one conversation with a close friend.
On the other hand, when our name is called among all the intense
stimuli in this background, this will grab our attention.
So which of the following is the reason for human attention being
selective?
It is proven that the capacity of our brains to take care of everything
around us is very limited, so it is impossible for us to pay attention to
each of these sensory experiences. Therefore, while our brain
focuses our attention on some important elements of our
environment, it puts all other stimuli in the background.
Theories of Selective Attention
In cognitive psychology, there is more than one selective attention
theory, which is focused on when our brains react and interact with
stimulating information from outside.
This model was defined by Donald Broadbent in 1958. He used a
filtering metaphor of information processing to describe attention.
Broadbent suggested that our filtering of information occurs early on
in the perceptual process. Physical characteristics like colours,

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loudness or direction of the stimulants processed before were used

to select or reject a stimulus in later operations.
Resource Theories of Selective Attention
More recent theories suggest that human attention can interact with
limited stimuli and tends to explain how these resources are divided
among competing stimuli. Hence, source theories appear to be a
much more effective metaphor to explain the phenomenon of
attention divided into complex stimuli and tasks.
Visual Selective Attention
Perhaps we are exposed to millions of ads every day on the way to
work or on the road. We don't even realize that we've seen many of
these. But some, on the other hand, manage to attract our attention,
especially if they address our current needs or taste. This shows
that these advertisements have contacted with us as a stimulus by
going through our selective perception.
Examples of Selective Attention
Cocktail Party Effect
As we’ve mentioned before, although there are many stimuli around
in crowded and noisy environments such as parties, our brain
selects certain stimuli and focuses on them.
Divided Attention
We use divided attention while simultaneously paying attention to
two or more tasks. This ability is also called Multitasking. Divided
attention uses mental focus on a very large scale. Nonetheless, this

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does not allow the brain to fully focus on any task. Therefore, this
type of attention does not last for long.
Alternating Attention
Alternating attention is the ability to change the focus of your
attention and switch between different tasks. In this type of
attention, mental flexibility is required so that one task does not limit
the performance of others.
Sustained Attention
We often use sustained attention for tasks that take a long time or
require intense focus. This type of attention allows one to
consistently perform a certain mental activity. For example, when
children study for an exam, they need to read and acquire the
information in a textbook for several hours.
Differences Among the Types of Attention

Selective Divided
Attention Attention

Focusing Unconscio Placing mental focus on multiple

on usly
tasks or ideas at once by
Tasks creating a
mental giving some attention to each
focus on a

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single task
or idea at
once while
ignoring
others

Amount of Increases Minimizes the amount of

Attention the
attention being placed on any
amount of
attention task or idea if there are multiple
being
focuses going on at once
directed to
a task or
idea
because of
a single
focus
taking
place

Condition Successful Unsuccessful tuning out of

on tuning out

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Distractions of distractions and switching tasks

& distraction
Switching s and
tasks switching
tasks.

Cognitive Strengthen Weakens cognitive ability the

Ability s cognitive
most
ability

Amount of Reduces Drives to make mistakes

Possible the rate of
Mistakes making
mistakes

Receiving Allows to Prevents missing important

Side miss information
Information important
side
information

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Now that you have discovered how your mind works, you should be
ready for the improvement! Trying MentalUP, prepared by
academicians and scientists especially to boost cognitive functions,

What is Perception: Approaches to the Study of

Perception: Gestalt and physiological approaches
Perceptual Organization: Gestalt, Figure and
Ground, Law of Organization Perceptual
Constancy: Size, Shape, and Color; Illusions
Perception of Form, Depth and Movement Role of
motivation and learning in perception?

Perception: Approaches to the Study of Perception: Gestalt

and physiological approaches Perceptual Organization:
Gestalt, Figure and Ground, Law of Organization Perceptual
Constancy: Size, Shape, and Color; Illusions Perception of
Form, Depth and Movement Role of motivation and learning in
perception

Perception: Approaches to the Study of Perception: Gestalt

and physiological approaches

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While our sensory receptors are constantly collecting information

from the environment, it is ultimately how we interpret that
information that affects how we interact with the
world. Perception refers to the way sensory information is
organized, interpreted, and consciously experienced. Perception
involves both bottom-up and top-down processing. Bottom-up
processing refers to the fact that perceptions are built from sensory
input. On the other hand, how we interpret those sensations is
influenced by our available knowledge, our experiences, and our
thoughts. This is called top-down processing.
One way to think of this concept is that sensation is a physical
process, whereas perception is psychological. For example, upon
walking into a kitchen and smelling the scent of baking cinnamon
rolls, the sensation is the scent receptors detecting the odor of
cinnamon, but the perception may be “Mmm, this smells like the
bread Grandma used to bake when the family gathered for
holidays.”
Although our perceptions are built from sensations, not all
sensations result in perception. In fact, we often don’t perceive
stimuli that remain relatively constant over prolonged periods of
time. This is known as sensory adaptation. Imagine entering a
classroom with an old analog clock. Upon first entering the room,
you can hear the ticking of the clock; as you begin to engage in
conversation with classmates or listen to your professor greet the
class, you are no longer aware of the ticking. The clock is still
ticking, and that information is still affecting sensory receptors of the
auditory system. The fact that you no longer perceive the sound
demonstrates sensory adaptation and shows that while closely
associated, sensation and perception are different.
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In the beginning of the nineteenth century, two vastly developed

areas in psychology, viz. perception and ' personality came nearer
to each other. Numerous researches were carried out to study the
relation between perception and personality. Perceptual
characteristics have some sort of relation with individual's
personality organization. Various journals have published findings of
perception personality relationship. While going through this
literature, one can find that the relation between perception and
personality was studied from different angles. In other words, there
are various approaches for studying the relation between-these two
important fields which have systematically, scientifically and
experimentally developed . in the last fifty years.
Topological Approach :
As early as 1944, Thurstone described an extensive ' factorial
exploration of various perceptual tasks in order to isolate underlying
variables which could be used to account for individual differences.
Since that time,tll©£§ have been many attempts to relate various
personality variables to differences in performance on perceptual
tasks.
Innumerable perceptual tasks have been studied, and significant
correlations have frequently been reported. For example, to mention
only a few studies, Johansson^8®^ in a study of motion perception
and personality,
constructed perceptual measures based on the fact that a perceived
velocity of a single object moving in a visual field increases
considerably when a second object moving with the same speed in
the opposite direction is introduced Ss with ns .

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extreemly slow ’velocity synthesis' (affected little by the A relativity

effect introduced by the other object in the ally motion percept) were
found to be artistic withdrawn, and to possess self-isolating
attitudes. Schumer -^found marked differences in the quality of phi-
phenomenon experiences reported by 100 college men. These
differences were found to be significantly related to productivity of
human movement in the Rorchach.
extensive factor analysis which’ included 29 simple perceptual
measures, such as visual acuity and simple closure, and more L
complex measures such as after-images, t^chistoscopic
performance and various automatic tests. The perceptual tasks, as
well as a questionnaire which was used, held up well, that is,
normal, neurotics and psychotics were differentiated. The author's
hypothesis that normality was associated with 'integrative',
'wholistic', 'synthetic' attitudes was, according to them, generally
confirmed. Vandenberg reanalyzing some of Eysenck's results,
generally confirmed his findings. It seems strange, however, that in
these studies, insufficient attention was paid to the questions of set,
attention and motivation which plagued workers in psychopathology.
The Work of Erenkel-Brunswik
E.F. Brunswik's approach to perception is still another example of
perceptual research which is almost entirely personality oriented
and which throws light on personality factors as well as social and
emotional variables. Brunswik became interested in perceptual
variables in connection with the well-known research at the Institute
of Child Welfare of the^ University of California which dealt with
prejudiced and nonprejudiced attitudes and their motivational and
cognitive correlates. Generally speaking, ethnocentric attitudes

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were found to be related to authoritarian personality structure.

Brunswik soon discovered that many of'her Ss were less able to
tolerate 'emotional ambiguities' than others. She became interested,
in whether or not this intolerance extended also to the more
traditional field of perception. As a result of some of her
explanations, she was able to offer rich evidence on the basis of
interviews, clinical evaluations etc.
Directive State Approach :
In the late 1940's, a 'new look' in perceptual theory emerged. The
approach of the workers doing the early studies within this
framework can be regarded as the single most , important influence
in the swing towards the belief that perception is essentially a
personality oriehted phenomenon. There were innumerable reports
of research, some’opposing, some defending the conclusions of the
original classic and studies; bitterness, criticalness, and deep
conviction pervaded the literature.
The'new look'-is a phrase borrowed from’ the publicity releases from
liaison Dior in Paris, which described some startling changes in
fashion. The great discovery of the 'new look* Was that the
perceiver also counts. In somejways, the introduction of the
perceiver into the process of perception can be linked to the
introduction of the observer into the measurement of velocity in the
theory of relativity.
Einstein's great contribution emerges when-he introduced the
velocity of the observer or his frame of reference into the
measurement of the velocity of an object. In the same way, the new
look hoped to revolutionize » perception by introducing the
characteristics of the perceiver, that ,is, his personality (drives,
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needs etc.). Unfortunately, the revolution in psychology did not go

off as successfully as the revolution in physics, but fizzled more like
the revolution in fashion.
Directive State Theory (Approach) - The Controversy, Re-
evaluation Approach :

McCinnies’ study (^2) which reported inereasedthresbolds for

recognition of emotionally toned, taboo words, was regarded as
strongly supportive of perceptual defence, as a special mechanism.
This specific study stimulated much controversy. Howes and
Soloman (74,75) advanced the notion that McG-innies' results could
be explained in other ways.
They noted that M&Ginnies’ taboo words were much less familiaf
than the neutral words. They demonstrated that the more familiar a
word was, the brifer was its recognition thresholds; (perceptual
defence) for S f \ the taboo words, although McGinnies defended his
original interpretation. In general, the concept of perceptual defence
began the to lose status, even among directive state workers
themselves. McGinnigs' v defence consisted of noting that
increased recognition thresholds for neutral words were found when
they followed immediately after taboo words - constituting evidence
for ’generalization' of the-avoidance (defensive) reaction.
furthermore, the analysis of pre-recognition responses suggested
that for neutral words there was a greater resemblance to the
stimulus words than there' was for the (122) taboo words. Postman,
Bronson and Gropper strongly the contested these explanations,
suggesting that uncontrolled variations in familiarity of words could
account for most of the perceptual defence effect. Solomon and
Postman^155^ had already reported a study which showed that

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recognition thresholds varied inversely with frequency of past y;

usage.
Following are the additional points to he noted.
(1) Although many correlations between needs and perception have
been demonstrated, there is a general failure to explain how and
why these take place, that is, the mediation factors are not clear.
(2) In many studies which have purporated to show the relationship
of need perception, cognitive and judgmental elements are used as
measures of perceptual response. These studies have failed to
distinguish between perception and judgment. If motivational states
influence perception per se, this should probably be demonstrated
in experimental designs which control for factors such as attitude,
set, memory, attention and familiarity.
(3) Most of the effects have been demonstrated with P maginalj
ambiguous stimulus . Are needs and motivations as powerful and
influential in ’everyday' veridical perception as they are under
marginal stimulus conditions ?
(4) Perceptual modifications as a result of motivational states should
be demonstrated through immediate perception, rather than in more
complex, cognitive, and social situations.
(5) Effects demonstrating the relation between perception and need
should probably be studied not only with other means, but with other
experimental procedures and other perceptual events and
situations.
Hypothesis or Expectancy Theory (Approach) ;

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The directive state approach face some methodological problems

and from that a theory of hypothesis or expectancy was developed.
This approach suggests that perceiving is always based on an
expectancy or hypothesis on the part of the organism, /V' that is, he
is turmed to some aspects of his surroundings.(This view of
perceiving is of course related to the approach of various set
theories. )Bruner and Postman ^ Krere the original founders of the
hypothesis or expectancy theory. Perception involves the input of
information from the environment. Input is not specified in terms of
stimulus energy, hut rather in terms of its signal value, as cue or
clue. The next process involves the checking or confirmation of the
is organism's hypothesis. Iff thereA confirmation, the hypothesis is
strengthened and its arousal will he 'easier' in future when similar
'information' from the environment is received. If the hypothesis is
not confirmed, the organism will introduce a new hypothesis, until
one of them is confirmed.
Individual Differences jka revealed in Perceptual Behaviour !
The presence of individual differences in perceptual behaviour was
recognised in psychology. Psychologists interested in the field of
perception and sensory processes have characteristically taken
considerable pains to devise experimental situations that are
sufficiently simple and controlled to minimize these individual
differences,
in the interest of studying more accurately the phenomena with
which they are'primarily concerned. Any way, little attempt was
made to study individual differences in perception systematically in
relation to other aspects of behaviour or personality.

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Thurstone’s ex-t;ensiVe factor analysis of perceptual task was

predominantly oriented towards isolating or detecting general
factors of perception, but was not particularly concerned with
personality correlates of these perceptual factors, There were no
personality’tests included in the battery that would have made such
relationships detectable.
Early investigators used Rorchach ink-blot to relate systematically
personality t traits and perception. Early in the modern revival of
interest in experimentation (84,82) on need in perception,
Klein- has drawn attention to the presence of perceptual styles and
perceptual modes of handling (82) threatening or emotional
material. Klein and his associates have gone on to show the
presence of a personality dimension labeled ’leveling1 (versus
sharpening) which is revealed not only in perceptual recognition
behaviour, but in perceptual judgmental tasks as well.
Gestalt psychology
school of psychology founded in the 20th century that provided the
foundation for the modern study of perception. Gestalt theory
emphasizes that the whole of anything is greater than its parts. That
is, the attributes of the whole are not deducible from analysis of the
parts in isolation.
The word Gestalt is used in modern German to mean the way a
thing has been “placed,” or “put together.” There is no exact
equivalent in English. “Form” and “shape” are the usual translations;
in psychology the word is often interpreted as “pattern” or
“configuration.”

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Gestalt theory originated in Austria and Germany as a reaction

against the associationist and structural schools’ atomistic
orientation (an approach which fragmented experience into distinct
and unrelated elements). Gestalt studies made use instead
of phenomenology. This method, with a tradition going back
to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, involves nothing more than the
description of direct psychological experience, with no restrictions
on what is permissible in the description. Gestalt psychology was in
part an attempt to add a humanistic dimension to what was
considered a sterile approach to the scientific study of mental life.
Gestalt psychology further sought to encompass the qualities of
form, meaning, and value that prevailing psychologists had either
ignored or presumed to fall outside the boundaries of science.
The publication of Czech-born psychologist Max Wertheimer’s
“Experimentelle Studien über das Sehen von Bewegung”
(“Experimental Studies of the Perception of Movement”) in 1912
marks the founding of the Gestalt school. In it Wertheimer reported
the result of a study on apparent movement conducted in Frankfurt
am Main, Germany, with psychologists Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt
Koffka. Together, these three formed the core of the Gestalt school
for the next few decades. (By the mid-1930s all had become
professors in the United States.)

Perceptual Organization: Gestalt, Figure and Ground, Law of

Organization

Have you noticed how a series of flashing lights often appears to be

moving, such as neon signs or strands of lights? According
to Gestalt psychology, this apparent movement happens because
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our minds fill in missing information. This belief that the whole is
greater than the sum of the individual parts led to the discovery of
several different phenomena that occur during perception.1
The law of closure is one example of a Gestalt law of perceptual
organization. According to this principle, things in the environment
often tend to be seen as part of a whole. In many cases, our minds
will even fill in the missing information to create cohesive shapes.
A Brief History of the Gestalt Laws
Gestalt psychology was founded by German thinkers Max
Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, and Kurt Koffka and focused on how
people interpret the world.2 The Gestalt perspective formed partially
as a response to the structuralism of Wilhelm Wundt, who focused
on breaking down mental events and experiences to the smallest
elements.
Max Wertheimer noted that rapid sequences of perceptual events,
such as rows of flashing lights, create the illusion of motion even
when there is none. This is known as the phi phenomenon. Motion
pictures are based on this principle, with a series of still images
appearing in rapid succession to form a seamless visual
experience.
According to Gestalt psychology, the whole is different from the sum
of its parts. Based upon this belief, Gestalt psychologists developed
a set of principles to explain perceptual organization, or how smaller
objects are grouped to form larger ones.
These principles are often referred to as the "laws of perceptual
organization." However, it is important to note that while Gestalt
psychologists call these phenomena "laws," a more accurate term

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would be "principles of perceptual organization." These principles

are much like heuristics, which are mental shortcuts for solving
problems.
Follow the links below to find more information and examples of the
different Gestalt laws of perceptual organization.
Gestalt theory [1] has provided perceptual science with a
conceptual framework relating to brain mechanisms that determine
the way we see the visual world. This is referred to as "Perceptual
Organization" and has inspired researchers in Psychology,
Neuroscience and Computational Design ever since. The major
Gestalt principles, such as the principle of Prägnanz, and more
importantly the Gestalt laws of perceptual organization, have been
critically important to our understanding of visual information
processing, how the brain detects order in what we see, and derives
likely perceptual representations from statistically significant
structural regularities. The perceptual integration of contrast
information across co-linear space for the organization of objects in
the 2D image plane into figure and ground convey the most
elementary basis to our understanding of the visual world. Gestalt
theory continues to generate powerful concepts and insights for
perceptual science even today, where it is to be placed in the
context of image-base decision making by human minds and
machines.
However, in complex images, some visible stimulus fragments
appear clearly aligned, others do not. Specific phenomenal
conditions need to be satisfied to enable collinear interpolation in
static 2D scenes, and the process of interpolation constrains the
spreading of surfaces across unspecified regions in the image

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[45,46]. Also, not all of perceptual organization is hardwired [47,48],

and the contribution of past experience and perceptual learning to
early mechanisms of perceptual integration needs to be taken into
account given that specific memory data about objects and their
most likely spatial configuration may facilitate or interfere with,
depending on conditions, ongoing visual processing of ambiguous
image data. The question relative to recovery of ‘veridical’ object
properties from image data may be seen as a byproduct of
perceptual organization, but was not an issue raised by Gestalt
theory. However, the laws of perceptual organization have
generated a conceptual framework for addressing this problem
space in a bottom-up approach. The ‘veridicality’ of perceptual
representations our brain may derive from visual stimuli raises
deeper philosophical questions. Perceptual organization as such
may be seen as resulting from pressure on the perceptual system to
actively construct ordered representations of objects in depth in
response to intrinsically ambiguous visual data. The biological role
of perceptual organization, placed in the context of evolution, would
be to ensure behavioral adaptation and success. Perceptual
organization becomes mandatory as soon as the visual signals
contained in an image or a scene reach our retina [49]. The major
part of the necessary information processing then takes place in the
visual brain, involving a whole chain of mechanisms well beyond the
retina. Perceptual neuroscience has provided us with a diversified
account for the many ways in which visual sensitivity to ordered
structure and regularities expresses itself in behavior on the basis of
cortical mechanisms. Multiple stages of neural processing transform
fragmented signals into visual key representations of 3D scenes
that can be used to control effective behavior. Since our survival
depends on our ability to pick up order in the physical world, and
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since we conceive the physical world as an ordered one, our brain

must be sensitive to structural regularities in the physical world.
Neural interactions “beyond the classic receptive field” drive the
visual processing of texture dissimilarities, boundary completion,
surface filling-in, and figure-ground segregation in the brain genesis
of “perceptual order”.
Figure-Ground Perception in Psychology

Figure-ground perception refers to the tendency of the visual

system to simplify a scene into the main object that we are looking
at (the figure) and everything else that forms the background (or
ground). The concept of figure-ground perception is often illustrated
with the classic "faces or vases" illusion, also known as the Rubin
vase. Depending on whether you see the black or the white as the
figure, you may see either two faces in profile (meaning you
perceive the dark color as the figure) or a vase in the center
(meaning you see the white color as the figure).
A History of Figure-Ground Perception
The concept of figure-ground perception emerged out of the field
of Gestalt psychology. According to the Gestalt approach, the whole
is more (or different) than the sum of its parts.1 The term Gestalt
itself comes from the German word meaning "form" or "shape."
During the 1920s, a number of German psychologists including Max
Wertheimer and Wolfgang Kohler began studying different
principles of perception that govern how people make sense of an
often disorderly world. Their work led to what is known as
the Gestalt laws of perceptual organization.

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The Gestalt theory of perception proposes that people make sense

of the world around them by talking separate and distinct elements
and combining them into a unified whole.2
For example, if you look at shapes drawn on a piece of paper, your
mind will likely group the shapes in terms of things such as similarity
or proximity. Objects that are similar to one another tend to be
grouped together. Objects that are near each other also tend to be
grouped together.
While the concept of figure-ground perception is an important
principle in Gestalt psychology, it is usually not identified as one of
the laws of perceptual organization.
People Distinguish Between Figure and Ground?
When looking at a visual scene, people tend to look for ways to
differentiate between the figure and the ground. Some ways that
people accomplish this include:1
 Blurriness: Objects in the foreground tend to be crisp and
distinct while those in the background are blurry or hazy.
 Contrast: The high contrast between objects can lead to the
perception of figure and ground. The Rubin vase is one
example.
 Size: Images that appear to be larger will be perceived as
closer and part of the figure while those that are smaller will
seem further away and part of the background.
 Separation: An object isolated from everything else in a visual
scene is more likely to be seen as a figure versus background.

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Examples
The "faces or vases" illustration is one of the most frequent
demonstrations of figure-ground. What you see when you look at
the faces or vases illusion depends on whether you see the white as
the figure or the black as the figure.
If you see the white as the figure, then you perceive a vase. If you
see the black as the figure, then you see two faces in profile.
Perceptual Constancy: Size, Shape, and Color; Illusions

Perceptual constancy is perceiving objects as having constant

shape, size, and color regardless of changes in perspective,
distance, and lighting.
KEY POINTS
 Perceptual constancy refers to perceiving familiar objects
as having standard shape, size, color, and location
regardless of changes in the angle of perspective,
distance, and lighting.
 Size constancy is when people's perception of a
particular object's size does not change regardless of
changes in distance from the object, even though
distance affects the size of the object as it is projected
onto the retina.
 Shape constancy is when people's perception of the
shape of an object does not change regardless of
changes to the object's orientation.

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 Distance constancy refers to the relationship between

apparent distance and physical distance: it can cause us
to perceive things as closer or farther away than they
actually are.
 Color constancy is a feature of the human color
perception system that ensures that the color of an object
is perceived as similar even under varying conditions.
 Auditory constancy is a phenomenon in music, allowing
us to perceive the same instrument over differing pitches,
volumes, and timbres, as well as in speech perception,
when we perceive the same words regardless of who is
speaking them.

Visual Perceptual Constancies

There are many common visual and perceptual constancies that we
experience during the perception process.
Size Constancy
Within a certain range, people's perception of a particular object's
size will not change, regardless of changes in distance or size
change on the retina. The perception of the image is still based
upon the actual size of the perceptual characteristics. The visual
perception of size constancy has given rise to many optical illusions.

The Ponzo illusion

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This famous optical illusion uses size constancy to trick us into

thinking the top yellow line is longer than the bottom; they are
actually the exact same length.
Shape Constancy
Regardless of changes to an object's orientation, the shape of the
object as it is perceived is constant. Or, perhaps more accurately,
the actual shape of the object is sensed by the eye as changing but
then perceived by the brain as the same. This happens when we
watch a door open: the actual image on our retinas is different each
time the door swings in either direction, but we perceive it as being
the same door made of the same shapes.
Shape constancy
This form of perceptual constancy allows us to perceive that the
door is made of the same shapes despite different images being
delivered to our retinae.
Distance Constancy
This refers to the relationship between apparent distance and
physical distance. An example of this illusion in daily life is the
moon. When it is near the horizon, it is perceived as closer to Earth
than when it is directly overhead.
Color Constancy
This is a feature of the human color perception system that ensures
that the color of an object remains similar under varying conditions.
Consider the shade illusion: our perception of how colors are
affected by bright light versus shade causes us to perceive the two

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squares as different colors. In fact, they are the same exact shade
of gray.
Auditory Perceptual Constancies
Our eyes aren't the only sensory organs that "trick" us into
perceptual constancy. Our ears do the job as well. In music, we can
identify a guitar as a guitar throughout a song, even when its timbre,
pitch, loudness, or environment change. In speech perception,
vowels and consonants are perceived as constant even if they
sound very different due to the speaker's age, sex, or dialect. For
example, the word "apple" sounds very different when a two year-
old boy and a 30 year-old woman say it, because their voices are at
different frequencies and their mouths form the word differently...
but we perceive the sounds to be the same. This is thanks to
auditory perceptual constancy!
Perceptual illusion
While the problem of perceptual illusion has not aroused quite the
same degree of empirical or theoretical interest among
neurophysiologists as among experimental psychologists there has
nevertheless been a continuing concern with the neural correlates
of illusory phenomena. Both Motokawa1 and Burns and Pritchard2
have recently attempted to establish the neural interactions
associated with these distortions. However, the problem has proved
extraordinarily intractable and the neural structures and processes
associated with illusory effects remain quite obscure.
Visual size constancy and illusion
As the observer recedes from an object (or vice versa) the retinal
image of the latter diminishes but its apparent size is relatively

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constant. Therefore information for distance must be involved in the

maintenance of constant apparent size. That this is so was made
clear in the classic experiments of Holway and Borings in which
distance stimuli were progressively reduced. Since then data from
three separate experiments9 " 11 have shown that when distance
stimuli are entirely eliminated an object's apparent size decreases
as a linear function of observer-object-distance, i.e., apparent size
follows the "law of the visual angle." "Cues" or stimuli for distance
fall into five classes:
(1) retinal disparity (or binocular parallax;
(2) muscular stimuli (convergence and accommodation);
(3) monocular parallax;
(4) atmospheric stimuli (aerial perspective and the Tyndall effect);
and
(5) projected stimuli (perspective, texture, overlay, elevation in field,
element and interspace size, and element and interspace
frequency. Normally all or most of these stimuli for distance are
present and visual size constancy is perfect. However, although
size constancy falls off as distance stimuli are systematically
reduced (e.g., when binocular parallax is eliminated by using one
eye and monocular parallax by holding the head stationary8 ) some
degree of constancy obtains, i.e., apparent size does not follow the
law of the visual angle, as observer-object distance increases.
Geometric size illusions
The projected stimuli for distance, stimuli which derive essentially
from the projection of a three-dimensional space on to the two-

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dimensional retinal surface, are more frequent and subtle than is

usually realized. In addition to the well-known stimuli such as
perspective, texture, overlay, and elevation, the size and frequency
of elements other than the focal object and the size and frequency
of interspaces between them vary with distance and provide
information for distance. The trees on the near side of a lake are
bigger and fewer per unit visual angle than the smaller and more
frequent trees on the far side, as indeed are the interspaces
between them. Many geometric optical illusions involve such
distance stimuli.
Of two objects one is usually located in the context of larger and
less frequent elements or spaces consonant with nearness and the
other in the context of smaller and more frequent elements
corresponding to greater distance. The former object is judged
smaller than the latter.
The Oppel-Kundt, Delboeuf, and Miiller-Lyer illusions are examples
of size illusions in which the retinal image of an object, usually a line
or simple figure, is invariant but projected stimuli for distance are
varied. It should be noted, however, that as had been pointed out
elsewhere15 the Miiller-Lyer illusion as it is classically sbown
represents two separate effects. The "short" version with "inboard"
elements is probably a different illusion than the "long" version with
"outboard" elements. Evidence for this difference has been adduced
by Erlebacher and Sekuler.
Visual orientation constancy and illusion When the observer's head
is tilted laterally as posture is changed, the retinal orientation of the
object's image relative to the normally vertical meridian of the eye
changes. When the observer is recumbent this change is nearly 90

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degrees. However, under conditions of normal illumination and

when only the object itself is visible in a dark room, its apparent tilt
is relatively stable, a phenomena called visual orientation
constancy.17 In normal illumination the bar remains perceptually
invariant even for large lateral body tilts.

Perception of Form, Depth and Movement

Form Perception
The Gestalt Psychologists studied extensively form perception,
or the perception of objects, shapes and patterns. Gestalt principles
may be broken down into two categories: perceptual organization
(grouping) and depth perception.
Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization
 How objects are grouped together (Links to an external
site.)
o Continuity
 We tend to perceive figures or objects as belonging
together if they appear to form a continuous pattern
o Closure (Connectedness)
 We perceive figures with gaps in them to be
complete
o Similarity
 We perceive figures which look alike as being
grouped together

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o Proximity
 We perceive things close together as being in sets
o Pragnanz
 We perceive reality in the simplest way rather than
inferring complexity
Take a minute to take some notes: How are Gestalt grouping
principles used in The Human Condition (above)
Monocular depth cues
 Depth cues that can be perceived by only one eye
o Interposition
 When one object partly blocks your view of another,
you perceive the partially blocked object as farther
away
o Linear perspective
 Parallel lines that are known to be the same
distance apart appear to grow closer together, or
converge, as they recede into the distance
o Relative size
 Larger objects are perceived as being closer to the
viewer, and smaller objects as being farther away
o Texture gradient
 Near objects appear to have sharply defined
textures, while similar objects appear progressively

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smoother and fuzzier as they recede into the

distance
o Atmospheric perspective
 Objects in the distance have a bluish tint and
appear more blurred than objects closer to the
viewer
Take a minute to take some notes: How are depth cues used
in The Human Condition (above)
Gestalt principles help explain how we perceive distance, depth,
organization and harmony on a 2 dimensional canvas.

Visual Perception in a nutshell – our visual perceptual system

works to heighten differences and impose constancies to help us
survive in the big, scary world, often causing disparities between
what we see and the physical world.
Or, as Aristotle succinctly put it: “our senses can be trusted but
they can be easily fooled.”

For example, in the image below both of the orange (middle) circles
are exactly the same size. This one of many visual illusions, called
the Ebbinghaus Illusion, which explore the effect of context on
perception. Our visual system compares the circles and
exaggerates the differences between them.
Our visual systems allow us to resolve fine detail, track a moving
object, perceive depth, and see colors. Somehow, all these
components of a visual scene merge so that we have one visual

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experience; for example, when we see a cat playing with a string,

we interpret the scene-paws striking the string, details of claws and
whiskers, the cat's paw in front of or behind the string, the colors of
the cat-as a unitary visual event, even though we can attend to one
or the other of these individually. How do our brains deal with such
complex visual information? First, we will consider theories on the
processing of motion, form, and color; then we will discuss binocular
vision and perceiving depth.
One possibility for how we perceive a visual scene is that a defined
series of neurons and their axons handles all information-motion,
shape, and color-from a part of the visual field in a hierarchical
manner. That is, a defined set of photoreceptors, other retinal cells,
lateral geniculate cells, and cortical cells acts as a serial pathway for
information from a block of the visual scene.
This information arrives at a "master" cell or group of cells, in a
visual association area of the cortex, which combines the current
information with memories of previous experiences and make sense
of it. In this model, pieces of the visual scene are transmitted like
sections of a photograph to the brain.
However, evidence does not support this "photographic
transmission" or serial pathway theory, but rather a parallel
pathways model. This model states that three primary types of
information-color, shape, and motion-are individually "pulled out" of
the visual scene and sent through three parallel pathways,
beginning right in the retina. In this view, one cone receptor receives
light from a small area, for example, on the face of a moving calico
cat, and signals from this cone go to several intermediate retinal
cells and from these to ganglion cells.

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Each of the ganglion cells responds to only one of the attributes-

color, form, or motion-of the cat's face. The ganglion cells forward
their signals to lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) cells in the
thalamus that respond uniquely to that one type of information
(color, form, or motion), and so on to the primary visual cortex and
further cortical areas. At higher areas, the scene is put back
together again, as discussed below.
Higher cortical areas reassemble the visual puzzle
Although parallel visual processing seems to fragment what we see,
at higher levels the puzzle is reassembled. Further, the immediate
visual scene is then interpreted in light of what we know from past
visual experiences and what the wiring of our brains allows. While
our visual experiences usually make sense to us, we are generally
unaware of the cues we are using to interpret scenes until we are
challenged with unconventional pictures such as illusions. For
example, when we see a friend at some distance, we recognize the
person and know that this is a normal adult (or child) even though
the image on the retina is much smaller than that of a person
standing right next to us.
Perceiving depth depends on both monocular and binocular
cues
Along with information on motion, shape, and color, our brains
receive input that indicates both depth, the perception that different
objects are different distances from us, and the related concept of
stereopsis, the solidity of objects. Studies show that people have
two ways of judging depth or distance: using monocular (one-eyed)
information, and using binocular (two-eyed) data. Monocular cues

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operate at distances of around 100 feet or greater, where the retinal

images seen by both eyes are almost identical. These cues include:
1. Previous familiarity: If we know the range of sizes of people,
cats, or trees, we can judge how far away they are.
2. Occlusion: If one object partly hides another, we know that the
object in front is closer.
3. Perspective: Parallel lines such as the edges of a road, the
intersections of walls and ceilings, and railroad tracks, appear
to converge at a distance. The relative distances between
objects in a scene with parallel lines are estimated by their
positions along the converging lines.
4. Motion parallax: As we move our heads or bodies, nearby
objects appear to move more quickly than distant objects; for
example, telephone poles beside the road appear to pass by
much more quickly when viewed from a moving car than do
buildings or trees hundreds of feet back from the road.
5. Shadows and light: Patterns of light and dark can give an
impression of depth, and bright colors tend to seem closer
than dull colors.
Even though these monocular cues provide some depth vision so
that the world does not look "flat" to us when we use just one eye,
viewing a scene with two eyes-binocular vision-gives most people a
more vivid sense of depth and of stereopsis. This is important when
viewing objects closer than about 100 feet. Stereoscopic (three-
dimensional) vision depends on the fact that the eyes are
separated, on average, by about six centimeters, and thus get
slightly different views of the same object. This means that when we

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fixate an object (place its image on the fovea), we can tell if another
object is in front of or behind it by the difference in location of the
second object's image on the two retinas. This difference in retinal
position is called retinal disparity (Figure 3.) and is essential for
stereoscopic vision. Experiments have shown that depth perception
occurs at the level of the primary visual cortex or perhaps higher
(association cortex), where individual neurons receiving input from
the two retinas fire specifically when retinal disparity exists.
Although scientists have located such neurons and know they are
important for merging or fusing the images from the two eyes, they
cannot yet fully explain how the brain accomplishes this.
We first scan a scene, and then we attend to individual features
Finally, what we see depends on what we pay attention to.
Sometimes the nature of the visual scene is such that one object or
feature "pops out" at us because of distinctive boundaries. If the
elements of a scene are not different enough from each other, no
one part gets our attention over another. Vision scientists describe
two sequential processes that direct our attention: the first is a rapid
scanning system that tells us if a simple property is different in one
or more parts of a scene. After the initial scan, we direct our
attention to individual features of the scene-color, shape,
orientation, size-and compare each part with others to detect subtle
differences, or we compare each with a previously known version of
the scene or object. Our ability to recognize any differences in what
appear initially to be two identical objects, or sets of objects,
depends on several factors, such as the degree of differences and
previous familiarity with the objects.

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One illustration of how we can miss differences in scenes when we

first rapidly scan them is to make a copy of a photograph of a well-
known person and to carefully alter one or two aspects of the
picture: make the eyebrows heavier, change the mouth, add bags
under the eyes. When the original and the altered copies are viewed
side by side and upside down, the changes can be very difficult to
identify. If these two pictures are viewed upright, the differences are
immediately apparent. Another way to illustrate visual attention is to
make a pattern of identical marks or simple objects, such as a sheet
of paper with row upon row of X's, with one row containing one or
two Z's. See how long it takes to identify the odd letters or objects.
Students can devise tests like these in the experimental part of this
unit.

Role of motivation and learning in perception

In this research, we have examined the characteristics of university

students’ motivation and its connection with perceptions of the
learning environment. Higher education teachers often find it
challenging to decide how to organize their lectures and what
instructional strategy they should use to be most effective.
Therefore, we endeavoured to determine which characteristics of
the learning environment best predict the motivational orientation of
students and their satisfaction with the course.
The survey included 120 postgraduate students of the Faculty of
Arts at the University of Ljubljana. In order to measure their
motivation, we employed several scales of the Motivated Strategies
for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich et al., 1991). For the purpose of
this research, we created a new questionnaire for their evaluation of
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the learning environment. The results revealed a high correlation

between the intrinsic goal orientation, self-efficacy, and control
beliefs. The most important factors of the learning environment that
are connected with the formation of intrinsic goal-orientation and the
enjoyment of education are the perception of the usefulness of the
studied topics, a feeling of autonomy, and teacher support.
To an extent, these findings are supported by the findings of those
authors who recommend using those methods of teaching that are
in compliance with the student-centred understanding of teaching
and learning.
In the previous two decades, the research conducted on
achievement goals and achievement goal orientations has become
highly prominent in the field of education (e.g. Ames, 1992; Dweck,
1986; Nicholls, 1984; Urdan, 2004). Moreover, certain meta-
analyses have shown that this field has become predominant in the
research of motivation (Austin & Vancouver, 1996). In psychology,
goals are understood as the subject, activity or phenomenon at
which our action is directed and with which we satisfy our need
(Locke & Latham, 1990),
whilst achievement goal orientations are the individuals’ general
approaches or schemes with which they undertake tasks and
evaluate their achievements (Kaplan & Maehr, 2007; Pintrich &
Schunk, 2002; Urdan, 2004).
Previous research has shown that, in order to understand the
students’ approach to studying, it is crucial to know the reasons for
their dealing with a particular task and the goals they set for
themselves in the process. In this context, the authors
predominantly differentiate between mastery goals (i.e. intrinsic
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goals for which the emphasis is placed on the development of

competence) and performance goals (i.e. extrinsic goals that place
an emphasis on achievements and comparisons with others).
The positive effects of intrinsic goals have been demonstrated in
research on a number of occasions. They express themselves in
higher diligence and assiduity in performing the task (Elliot &
Church, 1997; Elliot & McGregor, 1999; Middleton & Midgley, 1997),
increased self-efficacy (Pajares, 1997), and using advanced
learning strategies (Archer, 1994).
The negative consequences of extrinsic goals are mostly reflected
in the use of superficial learning strategies (Elliot et al., 1999),
increased perception of stress (Smith, Sinclair, & Chapman, 2002),
and self-handicapping (Urdan, 2004).
Achievement goal orientations A review of literature reveals that the
research of achievement goals orientations derives predominantly
from the work of Nicholls (1984) and Dweck (Dweck, 1985; Elliott &
Dweck, 1988). They define motivation as achieving goals, which
refer to increasing competences and assessing competence, whilst
also defining goals as purposes, which explains why an individual
undertakes a particular activity.
Nicholls (1984) was primarily researching how people define
success in performance situations, and established that an
individual can compare their achievement with their own progress,
either self-reflectively (e.g. “I have learned something new”, “I have
performed better than the last time”) or by applying some normative
criterion (e.g. “I have performed better than others have”).

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Although Nicholls pointed out the importance of the situation in

setting goals, he principally focused on establishing interpersonal
differences in setting goals or motivational orientations. Being task-
involved or being egoinvolved expresses differences in aspirations
in achieving these performance criteria.
These two orientations are supposed to be related to the perception
of reasons for success, learning approaches, school evaluation and
so on. Explicit differentiation between increasing competences and
assessing competence is what led Dweck and Nicholls to define
more precisely the two main types of performance goals: the goals
that place an emphasis on management and the goals that place an
emphasis on achievements.
The learning environment
The term “learning environment” most frequently defines the social,
psychological, or psychosocial environment in which learning or, as
the case may be, teaching takes place (Cleveland & Fisher, 2014).
For the most part, research has focused on the different elements of
classroom context. Bronfenbrenner (1979) defines the classroom
context as a microsystem, “a pattern of activities, roles and
interpersonal relations experienced by the developing person in a
given setting with particular physical and material characteristics”
(Bronfenbrenner, 1979, p. 22), i.e. it contains elements that
contribute to the understanding of the happenings in the classroom.
The belief that students and teachers should be researched as a
whole prevailed, but researchers have shown a tendency to isolate
individual variables instead of attempting to understand the complex
integration of thinking, motivation, and feelings. The authors found
that teaching never directly affects learning; on the contrary, it
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operates through intermediary factors that include perceptions of

teaching, evaluation, the climate in the classroom, the content of the
school subject, structure and similar.
Research has shown that the student’s assessment of teaching
characteristics or classroom learning environment influences a
number of cognitive and affective results (Fraser, 1989; Fraser &
Fisher, 1982; Walberg, 1969). In their meta-analysis, Wang et al.
(1990) established that the learning environment is one of the most
important factors of learning, which affects both motivation for
learning and learning achievements (Wang, Haertel, & Walberg,
1990).
Purpose of the present study
To date, research on the influence of learning context on the
formation of goal orientations and other factors of learning
motivation has primarily focused on classroom settings, specifically
on the characteristics of teaching tasks, assessment, and
instructional strategies. We believe that goal orientation is among
the most important factors of motivation.
The first and most important reason is that goal orientation directly
influences many important aspects of student motivation. For
example, it is more likely that students with intrinsic goal orientation
will have higher self-efficacy, use more complex cognitive learning
strategies, be meta-cognitively more active, and achieve better
learning outcomes. Previous research shows that goals direct, or at
least mediate, the entire process of self-regulation of learning,
wherein the use of strategies is only one of the aspects.
Method

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Participants and procedure The survey was conducted between

November and December 2014, and included students who were
enrolled in the first year of master studies at the Faculty of Arts at
the University of Ljubljana. The sample consisted of 120 students
(102 female, 17 male, 1 did not reveal his or her gender) who study
in different programs, but are also participating in the common
teaching module. This means that than 80% of all the students in
this module were included in the research.
Students from foreign language (e.g. English and German
Language and Literature), Slovenian, and Comparative Literature
study programs prevailed with 76.7% of the whole sample. Females
were also predominant in the sample (86%), which accurately
reflects the actual participants in the study programs. Students
respondents were 21 to 32 years old (M = 23.3; SD = 1.75). The
age category 22 to 25 years represents more than 80% of all
students in the research; only 9 students were older than 25 years.
Measures
Characteristics of motivation
In order to establish the connection between motivation and
perception of the learning environment, we employed motivational
scales from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire
(MSLQ) (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1991), which is
based on a social-cognitive approach to motivation and learning
characterized by stressing the interconnection of the cognitive and
emotional components of learning.
In the first part of the questionnaire, 20 items was used from the
MSLQ, specifically from the “Intrinsic goal-orientation” and “Extrinsic

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goal-orientation”, “Self-efficacy” and “Control beliefs” scales. The

respondents replied to the five-point Likert scale questionnaire with
the following answer possibilities:
1 – Definitely not true of me,
2 – Mostly not true of me,
3 – Sometimes true and sometimes not true of me,
4 – Mostly true of me,
5 – Definitely true of me. A five-point scale instead of the original
seven-point scale was used to unify scales across the
questionnaire.
Evaluation of the learning environment
In addition to the scales from Motivated Strategies for Learning
Questionnaire, we also used the Evaluation of the Learning
Environment Questionnaire. The questionnaire, developed
especially for this survey, is based on Moos’ (1974)
conceptualization of the learning environment, similar to many other
questionnaires that were developed mainly for the use in primary or
secondary education. However, the latter instruments are
inappropriate for assessing the learning environment in higher
education.
In this part of the questionnaire, 42 items were formed,
representing the main dimensions of the learning environment:
teacher support, student interaction, authentic learning, autonomy,
and personal relevance. The respondents assessed their
perceptions of learning environment on the course level by using
the five-point Likert scale, which represented the frequency of

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individual “events” in lectures. The following answers were possible:

1 – Never, 2 – Seldom, 3 – Sometimes, 4 – Often, 5 – Always. The
number of components was first evaluated with the principal
component analysis, and the results of this analysis showed six
appropriate dimensions.
Characteristics of the learning environment which predict
students’ motivation and course satisfaction
The theory and empirical findings show that perceptions of learning
environment positively influence motivation and course satisfaction.
Since correlation only tests for interdependence of the variables, we
were also interested in describing the predictive value of learning
environment. Correlation analysis (presented in Table 3) showed
many moderate to high connections between motivation and
evaluation of learning environment. Since learning environment
variables were mostly correlated to intrinsic goal-orientation, we
were interested to determine which of these variables is the most
important in predicting intrinsic motivation.
The regression model is highly statistically significant and explains
no less than 43% of the prediction of the dimensions of the learning
environment of setting of intrinsic goals during learning (F = 21.34; p
< 0.001). As can be seen in Table 4, two characteristics of the
learning environment statistically significant affect the Intrinsic goal-
orientation: perception of learning as authentic, connected to
practical problems (β = 0.43) and perceived autonomy during their
study (β = 0.20). These results show that the more that students
see their learning as relevant and valuable for their practical
experiences, the more intrinsically motivated they feel. Intrinsic
orientation was also emphasized with the possibilities of taking

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control over learning. This means that the more a teacher

(according to the opinion of students) encourages and allows the
autonomous decisions of students and provides them with
opportunities to make co-decisions, the more the students perceive
the studied topics as useful and the greater the probability they will
be intrinsically motivated during their study.
Learning environment’s effect on motivation
The results have shown that students who set themselves intrinsic
goals have a greater sense of control of their learning and a feeling
of self-efficacy. Furthermore, our study revealed that students who
perceive their learning environment as a place that fosters
autonomy and self-direction and find their education to be useful
and relevant are more intrinsically motivated.
The importance of collaborative learning and teacher support is also
underscored. The results of the regression analysis reflect the
findings from the correlation analysis and give even more
significance to the real-life problems of the studied topics, and
support in developing autonomy.
The importance of the perceived authenticity of learning have also
been proven in the correlation analysis. In this study, the
interconnectedness of theoretical knowledge and practical
application seems to be among the most important determinants of
students’ motivation for studying in higher education.
These findings are also supported by the research that has been
done on goal-orientations. Ames and Archer (1988) found that goals
set on the classroom level also affect the goals set by individual
students. Students who believed that their learning environment

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was performance-oriented and encouraging with regards to good

grades and competition set themselves extrinsic goals also with
learning.

Signal detection theory: Assumptions and applications

The Utility of Signal Detection Theory

Signal detection theory (SDT) is a technique that can be used to
evaluate sensitivity in decision-making. Initially developed by radar
researchers in the early 1950s (Peterson et al., 1954), the value of
SDT was quickly recognized by cognitive scientists and adapted for
application in human decision-making (Tanner and Swets,
1954; Green and Swets, 1966). The general premise of SDT is that
decisions are made against a background of uncertainty, and the
goal of the decision-maker is to tease out the decision signal from
background noise. SDT can be applied to any binary decision-
making situation where the response of the decision maker can be
compared to the actual presence or absence of the target. The
advantage of SDT as a measure of decision-making is that it
provides a unitless measure of sensitivity, regardless of subject
bias, that can be compared to other sensitivities over widely
different situations.
Introduction and Scope
Signal detection theory (SDT) sprouted from World War II research
on radar into a probability-based theory in the early 1950s. It
specifies the optimal observation and decision processes for
detecting electronic signals against a background of random
interference or noise. The engineering theory, culminating in the
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work of Wesley W. Peterson and Theodore G. Birdsall (Peterson et

al. 1954), had foundations in mathematical developments for
theories of statistical inference, beginning with those advanced by
Jerzy Neyman and E. S. Pearson (1933).
SDT was taken into psychophysics, then a century-old branch of
psychology, when the human observer's detection of weak signals,
or discrimination between similar signals, was seen by
psychologists as a problem of inference. In psychology,
SDT is a model for a theory of how organisms make fine
discriminations and it specifies model-based methods of data
collection and analysis. Notably, through its analytical technique
called the receiver operating characteristic (ROC), it separates
sensory and decision factors and provides independent measures
of them. SDT's approach is now used in many areas in which
discrimination is studied in psychology, including cognitive as well
as sensory processes.
SDT has been applied within a broad range of topics, including
memory research (e.g., Banks, 1970), accuracy in radiology
diagnostics (e.g., Obuchowski, 2003), and sustained attention in
individuals with ADHD (e.g., Huang-Pollock et al., 2012). Further
testament to the utility of SDT comes from the fact that SDT is often
discussed in introductory courses and textbooks (e.g., Wade et al.,
2013; Lilienfeld et al., 2015). However even with the ubiquity of SDT
as an evaluative tool, the mechanics of SDT are not typically
discussed in undergraduate textbooks, suggesting that many
students are not taught how to practically apply SDT in their
university careers. One reason for this is that the procedure itself
may appear deceptively complex. Most SDT sources discuss the

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theory with a rigor that is beyond the mathematical knowledge of

most undergraduate students (Fisher, 2014). However, the
application of basic SDT principles requires only rudimentary
statistical knowledge and can easily be taught at an undergraduate
level.
Another reason that SDT may not typically be covered in the
undergraduate curriculum is a lack of compelling examples to
demonstrate the utility of SDT. Oftentimes, examples are related to
sensory performance and the practical application of SDT
techniques to more high-level decision-making situations is not
immediately apparent to students. For example, Goldstein
(2014) and Wolfe et al. (2015), two common introductory textbooks
for Sensation and Perception, discuss the theory of SDT in relation
to hearing sensitivity in the context of noise.
However, there are more inherently interesting examples that can
be used in the classroom to demonstrate the versatility of SDT to
learners. Given the importance of active learning through concrete
examples when learning inherently abstract statistical principles
such as SDT (e.g., Watts, 1991; Garfield and Ben-Zvi, 2007) the
onus is on educators to develop compelling examples to capture the
interest of undergraduate students. Here,
I argue that pseudoscientific “principles” can be used to
demonstrate the power of SDT, given that many pseudoscientific
results can be explained as the detection of patterns in meaningless
noise.
The Mechanics of Signal Detection Theory: A Brief Overview

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The basic premise behind SDT is that both signal and noise are
represented probabilistically within the decision-maker, and the
extent to which those representations overlap can be estimated
based on the decision-maker's responses and whether or not the
signal is present The decision-maker bases their decision relative
to their criterion (β), where a signal will be reported present when
the internal signal is stronger than β and absent when the internal
signal is weaker than β. A hit represents the probability that the
subject reports the signal present when it is and a false alarm
represents the probability that the subject reports the signal present
when it is absent.
Alternatively, a miss represents the probability that the subject
reports the signal absent when it is present and a correct rejection
represents the probability that the subject reports the signal absent
when it is absent. All response probabilities are reflected as a part
of the area underneath a normal curve. If the probability of each
response type is therefore known, both the signal and the noise
distributions can be estimated based on simple statistical principles.
Signal detection theory (SDT) is a framework for interpreting data
from experiments in which accuracy is measured. In such
experiments, two or more stimulus classes (signal and noise in a
detection experiment, old and new items in a memory task) are
sampled repeatedly, and an observer must select a response
corresponding to the class actually presented. According to SDT,
performance in such tasks is limited by observer sensitivity, which
depends on the degree of overlap between the distributions of a
decision variable produced by the stimulus classes.

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Within this sensitivity constraint, observers can select from among a

range of decision rules in order to satisfy performance goals.
Experiments in which appropriate decision rules are manipulated
allow the construction of receiver operating characteristics (ROCs);
these functions allow response bias and sensitivity to be
distinguished, and can be used to evaluate assumptions about the
presumed distributions.
Because it specifies the manner in which accuracy in different
discrimination methods depends on sensitivity, SDT allows
performance to be predicted across paradigms.

Subliminal perception and related factors, information

processing approach

The meaning of the term subliminal perception has changed over

the years, and some prefer to use perception without awareness as
an alternative that avoids the sometimes contentious issue of limen
(threshold). Generally speaking, “Subliminal perception occurs
whenever stimuli presented below the threshold or limen for
awareness are found to influence thoughts, feelings, or actions”
(Merikle, 2000).
Because an influence on thoughts, feelings, or actions is relatively
easy to measure experimentally, the difficult part about the field is
evaluating awareness of a stimulus below the subject's threshold.
Central to the issue is knowing when a subject is consciously aware
of a stimulus, and how this can be reliably ascertained in
experiments.
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Traditionally, the subjects themselves report awareness. While

other areas of psychology may disapprove of introspection as a
source of data, in the field of subliminal perception this self-report of
“awareness” seems to be unavoidable. The inevitable use of the
self-report has also lead to much debate over how these self-reports
should be interpreted. The dissociation paradigm is the predominant
experimental approach used in research on subliminal perception.
The term subliminal is derived from the terms sub (below) and limen
(threshold), and it refers to perception so subtle it cannot reach
conscious awareness. Most of the research on subliminal
perception is done on visual subliminal perception. For instance,
one can flash words or pictures so quickly on a computer screen
(generally faster than 10-15 milliseconds) that perceivers have the
feeling they do not see anything at all.
The first documented findings suggesting an effect that has come to
be called “subliminal perception” (or perception without awareness)
came from Pierce and Jastrow's (1884) work testing the human
response to very similar, barely distinguishable stimuli. Pierce and
Jastrow devised an experiment in which they each had to evaluate
which of two pressures on skin was greater, along with a reported
confidence level. The significant, and surprising, finding was that
even when the subject indicated that they were guessing (zero
confidence, implied 50% chance),
they were actually correct about which pressure was greater more
than 60% of the time. The subjects were consistently more accurate
than chance, but were not aware of any difference between the two
stimuli.

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These findings were later confirmed by other researchers, stirring

interest about stimuli that were beneath the threshold of conscious
awareness. Popular interest in this field was spurred by the claims
of a marketing researcher, James Vicary (Merikle, 2000).
In 1957, Vicary claimed that patrons at a movie theatre were
exposed to advertising messages Eat Popcorn and Drink Coca-Cola
flashed for 3 millisecond durations and repeated throughout a
movie. According to Vicary, patrons were not consciously aware of
these hidden messages but responded favourably by significantly
increasing their purchases of popcorn and drinks. There has not
been any independent evidence to support the claims, and Vicary
himself stated that the research was a fabrication (Merikle, 2000).
In other words, they are not consciously aware of the presented
words or pictures. However, such visual stimuli are processed
unconsciously, and they can have brief and subtle effects on our
feeling and thinking. In addition, some research has been done on
auditory subliminal perception. No reliable scientific evidence exists,
however, for psychological effects of auditory subliminal perception.
The idea of an objective “threshold’ is misleading. No objective
threshold exists for conscious perception. Whether a briefly
presented stimulus reaches conscious awareness depends on
many different factors, including individual differences. The
threshold is merely subjective.
Effects of subliminal perception are generally small and not easy to
establish in controlled laboratory research. However, a few findings
are reasonably well established, the most prominent being
subliminal mere exposure; Repeated subliminal exposure to a
stimulus (for example a picture) leads perceivers to like this picture
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a little more. Effects of mere exposure have even been obtained for
stimuli that were perceived for only one millisecond. Perceivers can
to some extent infer the valence (is something good or bad?) from
subliminal stimuli. This is shown in research on the subliminal
perception of short positive (e.g., sun) and negative (e.g., death)
words.
Subliminal perception is controversial mainly because of the notion
of subliminal persuasion: The strategy that may be used by
marketers or politicians to deliberately influence customers or voters
subliminally. In 1957, James Vicary claimed that he increased the
sale of cola and popcorn in a New Jersey cinema by subliminally
flashing “Drink Coke” and “Eat popcorn” during movies.
This however, turned out to be a myth. Perhaps because of the
media attention subliminal perception and persuasion sometimes
receives, most of the American population does believe subliminal
persuasion to have far reaching consequences. However, although
subliminal perception exists, research shows the effects to be minor
and usually short-lived. There is no scientific reason to believe it can
substantially change consumer behavior.
Debate over terms and methodology
The field of subliminal perception, or perception without awareness,
has been marked by continual controversy. In recent years, experts
within the field have been debating what qualifies as perception
without awareness, and which forms of measurement are valid for
experiments. Specifically, researchers question self reports from a
subject in an experiment.

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While Cheesman and Merikle (1984) have addressed the issue by

classifying types of self reports, this controversy is far from
resolved. Reingold and Toth (1996) describe one of the
fundamental issues: . . . factors unrelated to awareness, such as
demand characteristics and preconceived biases, may lead subjects
to adopt a conservative response criterion and report null perceptual
awareness even under conditions in which conscious perceptual
information is available.
Response bias represents a threat not only to the validity of the
subjective report measure of awareness, but also to its reliability. In
particular, variability in response criteria makes it difficult to
compare reports of null subjective confidence across-subjects, or
within-subjects across conditions.
Just-Noticeable Differences (Pierce and Jastrow, 1884)
The first documented experiments by Pierce and Jastrow are not
only interesting from a historical viewpoint, but also because the
experiment alludes to subjective/objective thresholds discussed a
century later (Kihlstrom et al., 1992). Pierce set out to research just-
noticeable differences when the difference between stimuli was
below a physiological threshold.
Two very similar pressures were exerted on the subject's hands,
and the subject was forced to choose which of the two pressures
was greater. Along with each choice, the subject rated their
confidence on a scale of 0-3. Zero confidence denoted “absence of
any preference for one answer over its opposite, so that it seemed
nonsensical to answer at all” (Pierce and Jastrow, p. 77).

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The results indicated a correlation between guesses and the actual

proportion of pressures, even when the subjects were guessing (i.e.
subliminal). Of the results at zero confidence, subjects guessed the
greater pressure correctly in 62%, 70%, and 67% of trials (under
different conditions). These results were consistently above 50%,
the expected value for guessing.
Therefore, the subjects did perceive the stimuli even though they
were not aware of them. A century later, Cheesman and Merikle
(1984) defined a subjective versus objective criteria for the
threshold which proves to have a major impact on the interpretation
of this early experiment and all the others like it.
The subjective threshold would be the point at which subjects in the
experiment could no longer report a difference in the stimuli (zero
confidence).
However, the objective threshold would take into account the
successes of the guesses and would rule out subliminal perception
in this case (Kihlstrom et al., 1992, p. 20). Visual Masking and Word
Recognition (Marcel, 1983) Marcel's famous experiments during the
1970s on visual masking and word recognition exemplify an entire
class of experiments on the priming effects of words.
Subjects were shown a masked prime word (or not) and then a
target consisting of a string of letters that was sometimes
semantically associated to the target. This string of letters
sometimes formed a real world, but other times was nonsense.
Under one condition, subjects were asked whether the prime word
was present. In the other condition, subjects were asked whether
the target string was a word.

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Subliminal Mere Exposure (Kunst-Wilson and Zajonc, 1980) The

“mere exposure” effect refers to the finding that merely being
exposed to a stimulus such as an object enhances the subject's
attitude toward the stimulus (Zajonc, 1968). This phenomenon is
one of affect rather than cognition, and emotional liking or
preference after repeated exposure is exhibited both in humans and
in animals.
Kunst-Wilson and Zajonc (1980) performed experiments to
determine whether the mere exposure effect occurs when the
stimulus is presented subliminally, under degraded conditions
where subjects indicate no recollection of the stimulus. Their
findings are quite surprising, and have since been replicated in
many similar experiments. In Kunst-Wilson and Zajonc's (1980)
experiment, subjects were exposed to irregular octagons that could
easily be discriminated under normal circumstances.
In the exposure phase, the subjects first saw half of the octagons
under “degraded” conditions (1 millisecond duration and poor
illumination) which were determined to yield only chance level
recognition. In other words, the subjects were later unable to
recognize the stimuli they had seen during the exposure phase and
so the stimuli were presented subliminally.
In the second phase, subjects had to make comparisons between
two octagons under normal viewing conditions. One octagons had
been subliminally presented to the subject during the exposure
phase, and the other octagon was novel. Subjects were asked to
both indicate which octagon they had seen before (recognition), and
which octagon they liked better.
Exclusion Paradigm (Debner and Jacoby, 1994)

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Recently, Debner and Jacoby (1994) have offered an “exclusion

paradigm” which may be able to avoid the disputed aspects of the
dissociation paradigm. The word completion experiment illustrates
how the exclusion paradigm puts conscious and unconscious
processes in conflict with each other. Subjects were first briefly
flashed priming words for durations that ranged from subliminal to
clearly perceptible. Subjects were then given word stems of partially
completed words, and asked to complete the words.
However, subjects were instructed to not use the priming word in
order to complete the partial word. If subjects were aware of the
priming word, then they should avoid using it in the word completion
task. However,
if the subjects were not aware of the priming word but had
nevertheless perceived it (subliminal perception), then the priming
word might influence their word completion task.
Debner and Jacoby (1994) found that indeed, priming words
presented for very brief durations – the subliminal stimuli – were
much more likely to be used in completing words than the priming
words shown for longer durations. This provides an interesting new
experimental format in contrast to the usual dissociation, since the
exclusion paradigm shows distinct results for consciously versus
unconsciously perceived stimuli.
Conclusion
While there is much evidence supporting the existence of some
kind of perception without awareness, controversy has underscored
research in the field. Experts disagree on what should be called
subliminal perception, and how such effects can be measured

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experimentally. Certainly, research has overwhelmingly

demonstrated that people can perceive stimuli and act on them
without reporting being consciously aware of the stimuli. However,
whether or not this qualifies as true subliminal perception is a matter
that is hotly debated.
The dissociation paradigm, as well as the thresholds for conscious
awareness, have been thoroughly criticized.
However, newer findings – those of Kunst-Wilson and Zajonc
(1980), and more recently Debner and Jacoby (1994) – tread in new
directions that avoid the classical pitfalls of subliminal experiments.
While the controversy will no doubt continue, the overwhelming
body of evidence from a diverse set of independent experiments is
hard to ignore. It seems that subliminal perception, in some form,
does exist and can be reliably measured.

Information Processing

Basic Assumptions
The information processing approach is based on a number of
assumptions, including:
(1) information made available by the environment is processed by
a series of processing systems (e.g. attention, perception, short-
term memory);
(2) these processing systems transform or alter the information in
systematic ways;

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(3) the aim of research is to specify the processes and structures

that underlie cognitive performance;
(4) information processing in humans resembles that in computers.
The development of the computer in the 1950s and 1960s had an
important influence on psychology and was, in part, responsible for
the cognitive approach becoming the dominant approach in modern
psychology (taking over from Behaviorism).
The computer gave cognitive psychologists a metaphor, or analogy,
to which they could compare human mental processing. The use of
the computer as a tool for thinking how the human mind handles
information is known as the computer analogy.
Essentially, a computer codes (i.e., changes) information, stores
information, uses information, and produces an output (retrieves
info). The idea of information processing was adopted by cognitive
psychologists as a model of how human thought works.
For example, the eye receives visual information and codes
information into electric neural activity which is fed back to the brain
where it is “stored” and “coded”. This information is can be used by
other parts of the brain relating to mental activities such as memory,
perception and attention. The output (i.e. behavior) might be, for
example, to read what you can see on a printed page.
Hence the information processing approach characterizes thinking
as the environment providing input of data, which is then
transformed by our senses. The information can be stored, retrieved
and transformed using “mental programs”, with the results being
behavioral responses.

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Cognitive psychology has influenced and integrated with many other

approaches and areas of study to produce, for example, social
learning theory, cognitive neuropsychology and artificial intelligence
(AI).

Information Processing and Selective Attention

When we are selectively attending to one activity, we tend to ignore
other stimulation, although our attention can be distracted by
something else, like the telephone ringing or someone using our
name.
Psychologists are interested in what makes us attend to one thing
rather than another (selective attention); why we sometimes switch
our attention to something that was previously unattended (e.g.
Cocktail Party Syndrome), and how many things we can attend to at
the same time (attentional capacity).
One way of conceptualizing attention is to think of humans as
information processors who can only process a limited amount of
information at a time without becoming overloaded.
Broadbent and others in the 1950s adopted a model of the brain as
a limited capacity information processing system, through which
external input is transmitted.

Information processing models consist of a series of stages, or

boxes, which represent stages of processing. Arrows indicate the
flow of information from one stage to the next.

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 Input processes are concerned with the analysis of the stimuli.

 Storage processes cover everything that happens to stimuli
internally in the brain and can include coding and manipulation
of the stimuli.
 Output processes are responsible for preparing an
appropriate response to a stimulus.
Critical Evaluation
A number of models of attention within the Information Processing
framework have been proposed including:
Broadbent'sFilter Model (1958), Treisman's Attenuation
Model (1964) and Deutsch and Deutsch's Late Selection Model
(1963).
However, there are a number of evaluative points to bear in mind
when studying these models, and the information processing
approach in general. These include:

1. The information processing models assume serial processing of

stimulus inputs.
 Serial processing effectively means one process has to be
completed before the next starts.
 Parallel processing assumes some or all processes involved
in a cognitive task(s) occur at the same time.
There is evidence from dual-task experiments that parallel
processing is possible. It is difficult to determine whether a particular

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task is processed in a serial or parallel fashion as it probably

depends (a) on the processes required to solve a task, and (b) the
amount of practice on a task.
Parallel processing is probably more frequent when someone is
highly skilled; for example a skilled typist thinks several letters
ahead, a novice focuses on just 1 letter at a time.

2. The analogy between human cognition and computer functioning

adopted by the information processing approach is limited.
Computers can be regarded as information processing systems
insofar as they:
(i) combine information presented with stored information to provide
solutions to a variety of problems, and
(ii) most computers have a central processor of limited capacity and
it is usually assumed that capacity limitations affect the human
attentional system.

Culture and perception

How much alike, then, are two persons’ sensations? Individuals

raised in diverse cultures can actually sense the world differently.
For example, Marshall Segall and his associates (Segall, Campbell,
& Herskovits, 1966) found that people who live in forests or in rural
areas can sense crooked and slanted lines more accurately than
can people who live in urban areas.

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This demonstrates that the rural and urban groups sense the same
event differently as a result of their diverse cultural learnings. The
term field dependence refers to the degree to which perception of
an object is influenced by the background or environment in which it
appears.
Some people are less likely than others to separate an object from
its surrounding environment. When adults in Japan and the United
States are shown an animated underwater scene in which one large
fish swims among small fish and other marine life, the Japanese
describe the scene and comment more about the relationships
among the objects in the scene.
The Americans were more likely to begin with a description of the
big fish and make only half as many comments about the
relationships among the objects. Not surprisingly, when showed a
second scene with the same big fish, the Americans were more
likely to recognize the big fish as the same one as in the first scene
(Nisbett, 2003).
More recently, Kitayama, Duffy, Kawamura, and Larsen (2003)
showed Japanese and European Americans a picture of a square
with a line inside it (see Figure 3.1). They were then given an empty
square of a different size and asked to either draw a line the same
length as the one they had seen or a line of the same relative length
to the one they had seen.
The European Americans were significantly more accurate in
drawing the line of the same length while the Japanese were
significantly more accurate in drawing the line of relative length.
Differences in the environment and culture affected sensation.

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The researchers then compared Americans who had been living in

Japan and Japanese who had been living in the United States. The
time for both was a few years. Given the same picture and task, the
Americans who had been living in Japan were close to the
Japanese in the original study while the Japanese who had been
living in the United States were virtually the same as the native-born
Americans.
While other explanations are possible, one strong suggestion is that
even living for an extended time in new culture can modify
sensation and cognitive processes.
PERCEIVING
Culture also has a great effect on the perception process (Tajfel,
1969; Triandis, 1964). Human perception is usually thought of as a
three-step process of selection, organization, and interpretation.
Each of these steps is affected by culture.
Selection
The first step in the perception process is selection. Within your
physiological limitations, you are exposed to more stimuli than you
could possibly manage. To use sight as an example, you may feel
that you are aware of all stimuli on your retinas, but most of the data
from the retinas are handled on a subconscious level by a variety of
specialized systems. Parts of our brains produce output from the
retinas that we cannot “see.” No amount of introspection can make
us aware of those processes. In an interesting study by Simons and
Chabris (1999), participants viewed videotape of a basketball game.
They were told to count the number of passes one team made. In
the video, a woman dressed as a gorilla walks into the game, turns

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to face the camera, and beats her fists on her chest. Fifty percent of
all people who watch the video don’t see the gorilla. Mack and Rock
(1998) argue that we don’t consciously see any object unless we
are paying direct, focused attention on that object.

Perceptual Styles

Perceptual Style is the way you take in information through your five
senses and make that information meaningful to you.
Your Perceptual Style acts as a filter between sensation and
understanding. It is at the core of who you are, and it impacts your
values, your beliefs, your feelings, and your psychology.

Each of us has one of six unique Perceptual Styles that is innate.

Our individual Perceptual Style is literally hard wired and has grown
with us as we’ve aged and developed. The decisions you make, the
actions you take, and the directions you choose, are all influenced
by your Perceptual Style. This is because our Perceptual
Style defines our reality.

We often assume perceive and respond to the same objective

reality and that there is one absolute “right.” Research implies that
not only is that untrue, but perception is actually a filter applied to
objective reality, resulting in natural differences between people.

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It is because of our varying Perceptual Styles that we

all experience a different reality.
Here is a brief look at the six Perceptual Styles (presented in
alphabetical order):
• Activity: People with the Activity Perceptual Style jump into life
with both feet. They fully engage with the confidence that the details
will sort themselves out. Direction, ideas, and pursuits emerge as
the result of constant action and involvement with others and their
surroundings. They engage until some new possibility or interest
emerges to capture their attention. They cultivate extensive
networks of friends and associates.
• Adjustments: People with the Adjustments Perceptual Style see
the world as an objective reality that can be known if they take the
time to gather complete information about its intricacies and
complexities. They pursue the acquisition and application of
knowledge as the basis for their life experience. They enjoy sharing
their knowledge with others and gathering new information from
research or conversation. They have a strong sense of diplomacy
and project a calm certainty.
• Flow: People with the Flow Perceptual Style are instinctive
advocates for the natural rhythms of life. They see the complex
connectivity among seemingly unrelated people, environments, and
situations. They intuitively integrate and harmonize their actions
within a broadly defined community that provides them and others
with a sense of belonging. They honor the continuity between past,
present, and future.

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• Goals: People with the Goals Perceptual Style stride through life
focused on the accomplishment of specific results and well-defined
objectives. They experience a sense of urgency and clarity of
purpose. They believe achievement is primary and method or
process secondary – the end justifies the means. They evaluate all
activities based on possible contribution towards the achievement of
the results they expect. They thrive on competition and believe that
life is a constant competition with winners and losers.
• Methods: People with the Methods Perceptual Style approach life
in a practical, matter-of-fact manner. They focus on how things need
to be done. They believe that ordered processes, properly followed,
will produce the desired results. They will discern the best process
or technique to apply to any specific situation in order to produce
reliable, repeatable outcomes. They impose order and they believe
that everyone prefers to use well known and proven methods.
• Vision: People with the Vision Perceptual Style approach life as a
singular experience, a journey toward the future. They face the
realities of a situation with serious intent, an optimistic perspective
that a solution will be found, and confidence that if one is not, there
are always other alternatives to explore. They intuitively see new
directions, and actions are taken or dropped opportunistically based
on a sense of future possibilities and potential. They are highly
persuasive and easily convince others to follow their vision.
All six Perceptual Styles provide distinctly different experiences of
the world. These differences result in a profound psychological and
perceptual diversity that is the most important diversity there is
because it helps explain the differences between people.

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The six Perceptual Styles together describe the total range of

perceptual reality. However, individually each Perceptual Style has
access to only 1/6 of the total. Everyone has one Perceptual
Style that is innate and unchanging. All six Perceptual Styles are
evenly distributed in the world, and research confirms there is no
difference in regards to culture, race, gender, or age. All six have
unique strengths and challenges.
The Perceptual Styles displayed in the circle graph below show the
relationships between them.
Although all six are psychologically unique, each Perceptual
Style shares some similarities with neighboring styles. Each is also
attracted and repelled by its opposite style, and each finds the “one-
off styles” somewhat puzzling.
Now let’s take an in-depth look at each Perceptual Style.
Activity
Activity people develop an intense fascination with things that
captivate their imagination, and they seek to share the excitement of
their experience within their personal network. They are
uninterested in things they find tedious or no longer hold their
curiosity. They move rapidly from one experience to the next.
Activity people draw on knowledge and previous experience from
seemingly unrelated sources to create original and distinctive
approaches and results. They find more enjoyment in activities that
include members of their personal network. Positive response from
their personal network is what drives them, and to that end they pay
attention to cultivating and sustaining that network.

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Activity people bring energy and vitality to their activities and are
often instrumental in getting things started. They believe that life
should be fun as well as productive.
Activity people resist details and analysis. They get easily bored
with repetitive and routine tasks. They are always ready to jump into
something new, and they lose interest in activities that do not deliver
attention-grabbing results. They quickly abandon anything they find
boring and will wander off in search of other groups or activities that
need energizing
Activity people function best in settings that require interaction and
allow them to get involved, share insight, tell stories, provide help,
and communicate their perspective to others.
Adjustments
The actions of Adjustments people reflect their skills in collating,
analyzing, and sharing what they know in useful ways. They create
intricate systems for the storage and retrieval of their knowledge.
The greatest satisfaction for Adjustments people comes from being
an information resource for others rather than only applying the
information themselves. As such, they are good at explaining and
describing complex, detailed, or technical information. Their
thoroughness, patience with repetitive tasks, and desire for
perfection allow them to spot where information is missing or fuzzy.
They edit the written work of others effectively. They actively polish
and hone their knowledge, their systems, and their processes to
increase elegance and accuracy. They are at their best when given
the time to do things carefully and systematically.

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Time pressure, competition, and a drive for the bottom-line all

violate their view of the world. They believe these conditions lead to
a false sense of urgency and impulsive actions that are based on
incomplete understanding. They are intrigued by the exploration of
ideas when the exploration is characterized by careful and
comprehensive analysis that leads to slow evolutionary change.
Because Adjustments people see an effective environment as a
complex system that usually requires only incremental alterations
and additions rather than wholesale rework, they modify and correct
existing processes judiciously.
Flow
They create and sustain powerful but subtle relationships that form
the glue of a community (family, friends, workgroup, social group,
etc). They move smoothly and easily between daily events as their
awareness emerges and recedes. They attend, in proper proportion,
to events and people that require their attention, trusting that what
needs to be done will be done.
Flow people facilitate the development of an environment that is
comfortable, one that fosters and encourages people. When their
environment shifts away from people centered community, they
quietly influence its realignment, putting their personal needs aside
if necessary to bring it back into harmony.
Flow people welcome new events that support their traditions and
values. They use relational communities to gather and transmit
informal information, after they have decided what to pass on and
what to withhold. Their information sharing is so subtle that others

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experience the contribution Flow people make to create connection

within the community but are often unaware of its source
Flow people provide aid and assistance to the members of a
community by serving as a listening post, encouraging development
and growth, and empathizing with those who are struggling
They are excellent administrators who interpret policy and
procedure for their community. It is important to them that the value
of the community is accurately perceived by outsiders. They
are keepers of community history and tradition and provide
continuity between the past, present, and future. They use the
history of the community to keep it grounded
The activities of Flow people are ultimately focused on support and
maintenance of their community.
Goals
Goals people distrust complexity, subtlety, and solutions that evolve
slowly over time. They believe that if a problem needs a solution,
there is no time like the present to solve it.
Goals people approach the world with intense energy and have a
high level of endurance that allows them to push themselves well
after others have given up. They take action with personal intensity
and urgency, and they are always anxious to get on to the next task
even before the current one is complete. What needs to be done
next is obvious to them, so they do not understand why others
around them do not see and act on it.

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Goals people are very outcome oriented and as such prefer to focus
on the accomplishment of goals on which they can see immediate
progress. They have no loyalty to current processes or methods and
will abandon them quickly if progress towards a solution is slowing
down and stagnating. They make high achievement demands on
others but never more than they demand from themselves.
Goals people approach life as a competition, and if they find no
other worthy competitor they will compete with themselves to see
how far they can push themselves in terms of speed, quantity, and
endurance.
Goals people are decisive in crises and adept at bringing structure
out of chaotic situations. Their single-minded focus allows them to
see the fundamental issues in problem situations, to determine the
most important task, and to prioritize the steps necessary to
accomplish their goal.
Methods
Methods people follow an ordered set of steps that when performed
in a repeatable, logical sequence, inevitably end with the
achievement of their objectives. They believe there is a correct
method by which each problem, undertaking, or objective can be
best handled. Discovering and applying this method is what drives
them.
Once the desired result has been determined Methods people do
not question it. Instead, they seek to find the steps that will produce
the desired outcome with the most efficient use of time, money, and
energy. They believe that failure of a solution to work is due to

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human error in the application of a correctly designed course of

action
Methods people analyze, manipulate, and apply facts. They use a
rational application of facts to make decisions and solve problems,
and they are confident that through this method they will arrive at
the correct conclusion.
Methods people avoid becoming overly involved on a personal or
emotional level and view both as distractions from the objectivity
necessary to function effectively
Methods people are matter-of-fact and consistent in high-pressure
environments. Their ability to see structure and impose order allows
them to help others function in the face of chaos and uncertainty.
Vision
Vision people face the realities of a situation with serious intent, an
optimistic perspective that a solution will be found, and confidence
that if one is not, there are always other alternatives to explore.
Vision people intuitively see new directions that others do not and
make the most of this advantage by moving decisively. This ability
to intuit new, useful directions and to take swift advantage of
opportunities as they arise, gives them a strategic edge over others.
Vision people are unafraid of taking risks and accept that the
possibility of high rewards carries with it an equal possibility of
failure. However, they view failure as only a temporary setback.
They love to play with, explore, and develop new ideas, and they
examine all aspects, possible outcomes, and consequences without
preconception or judgment

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Vision people change direction when progress towards achievement

of their vision is slow or blocked, and as they move forward, they
constantly tinker, experiment, and improvise with their actions in
order to increase the likelihood of success. They are strongly
committed to achieving their vision but are extremely flexible about
the path taken to get there.
Vision people think non-linearly about problems, use their intuition,
and try multiple possible solutions as they troubleshoot. When
focused on an issue they work it to the exclusion of all else, often
until they are exhausted.
Vision people are highly persuasive and easily convince others that
the current topic is most important. They enlist others to join them
with equal excitement and commitment.
Vision people see multiple successful scenarios, and they
coordinate complex information and activities so that all efforts lead
towards success.
Understanding Different Perceptual Styles For Life Success
The differences between people are often seen as the result of a
lack of knowledge, bias, or stubbornness when in truth they are
simply a matter of unchangeable biology. Instead of taking a stance
that there is a right and wrong way to view things, its best to
acknowledge that variations in opinion are due to biologically based
perceptual differences.

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People literally perceive the world differently, and this differing

perception leads to different conclusions about what is important,
how things should be done, and what is the “truth” of any situation.

Pattern Recognition

Pattern recognition is the process of recognizing patterns by using

machine learning algorithm. Pattern recognition can be defined as
the classification of data based on knowledge already gained or on
statistical information extracted from patterns and/or their
representation. One of the important aspects of the pattern
recognition is its application potential.

Examples: Speech recognition, speaker identification, multimedia

document recognition (MDR), automatic medical diagnosis.
In a typical pattern recognition application, the raw data is
processed and converted into a form that is amenable for a machine
to use. Pattern recognition involves classification and cluster of
patterns.
 In classification, an appropriate class label is assigned to a
pattern based on an abstraction that is generated using a set
of training patterns or domain knowledge. Classification is
used in supervised learning.
 Clustering generated a partition of the data which helps
decision making, the specific decision making activity of
interest to us. Clustering is used in an unsupervised learning.

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Features may be represented as continuous, discrete or discrete

binary variables. A feature is a function of one or more
measurements, computed so that it quantifies some significant
characteristics of the object.

Example: consider our face then eyes, ears, nose etc are features
of the face.
A set of features that are taken together, forms the features vector.
Example: In the above example of face, if all the features (eyes,
ears, nose etc) taken together then the sequence is feature
vector([eyes, ears, nose]). Feature vector is the sequence of a
features represented as a d-dimensional column vector. In case of
speech, MFCC (Melfrequency Cepstral Coefficent) is the spectral
features of the speech. Sequence of first 13 features forms a
feature vector.
Pattern is everything around in this digital world. A pattern can
either be seen physically or it can be observed mathematically by
applying algorithms.

Example: The colours on the clothes, speech pattern etc. In

computer science, a pattern is represented using vector features
values.
Pattern recognition possesses the following features:


Pattern recognition system should recognise familiar pattern

quickly and accurate

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 Recognize and classify unfamiliar objects

 Accurately recognize shapes and objects from different angles
 Identify patterns and objects even when partly hidden
 Recognise patterns quickly with ease, and with automaticity.
Training and Learning in Pattern Recognition
Learning
is a phenomena through which a system gets trained and becomes
adaptable to give result in an accurate manner. Learning is the most
important phase as how well the system performs on the data
provided to the system depends on which algorithms used on the
data. Entire dataset is divided into two categories, one which is
used in training the model i.e. Training set and the other that is used
in testing the model after training, i.e. Testing set.
Training
Training set is used to build a model. It consists of the set of images
which are used to train the system. Training rules and algorithms
used give relevant information on how to associate input data with
output decision. The system is trained by applying these algorithms
on the dataset, all the relevant information is extracted from the data
and results are obtained. Generally, 80% of the data of the dataset
is taken for training data.
Testing
Testing data is used to test the system. It is the set of data which is
used to verify whether the system is producing the correct output
after being trained or not. Generally, 20% of the data of the dataset
is used for testing. Testing data is used to measure the accuracy of

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the system. Example: a system which identifies which category a

particular flower belongs to, is able to identify seven category of
flowers correctly out of ten and rest others wrong, then the accuracy
is 70 %
Real-time Examples and Explanations:
A pattern is a physical object or an abstract notion. While talking
about the classes of animals, a description of an animal would be a
pattern. While talking about various types of balls, then a description
of a ball is a pattern. In the case balls considered as pattern, the
classes could be football, cricket ball, table tennis ball etc. Given a
new pattern, the class of the pattern is to be determined. The choice
of attributes and representation of patterns is a very important step
in pattern classification. A good representation is one which makes
use of discriminating attributes and also reduces the computational
burden in pattern classification.
An obvious representation of a pattern will be a vector. Each
element of the vector can represent one attribute of the pattern. The
first element of the vector will contain the value of the first attribute
for the pattern being considered.
Example: While representing spherical objects, (25, 1) may be
represented as an spherical object with 25 units of weight and 1 unit
diameter. The class label can form a part of the vector. If spherical
objects belong to class 1, the vector would be (25, 1, 1), where the
first element represents the weight of the object, the second
element, the diameter of the object and the third element represents
the class of the object.
Advantages:
 Pattern recognition solves classification problems

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 Pattern recognition solves the problem of fake bio metric

detection.
 It is useful for cloth pattern recognition for visually impaired
blind people.
 It helps in speaker diarization.
 We can recognise particular object from different angle.
Disadvantages:
 Syntactic Pattern recognition approach is complex to
implement and it is very slow process.
 Sometime to get better accuracy, larger dataset is required.
 It cannot explain why a particular object is recognized.
Example: my face vs my friend’s face.
Applications:
 Image processing, segmentation and analysis
Pattern recognition is used to give human recognition
intelligence to machine which is required in image processing.
 Computer vision
Pattern recognition is used to extract meaningful features from
given image/video samples and is used in computer vision for
various applications like biological and biomedical imaging.
 Seismic analysis
Pattern recognition approach is used for the discovery,
imaging and interpretation of temporal patterns in seismic

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array recordings. Statistical pattern recognition is implemented

and used in different types of seismic analysis models.
 Radar signal classification/analysis
Pattern recognition and Signal processing methods are used in
various applications of radar signal classifications like AP mine
detection and identification.
 Speech recognition
The greatest success in speech recognition has been obtained
using pattern recognition paradigms. It is used in various
algorithms of speech recognition which tries to avoid the
problems of using a phoneme level of description and treats
larger units such as words as pattern
 Finger print identification
The fingerprint recognition technique is a dominant technology
in the biometric market. A number of recognition methods have
been used to perform fingerprint matching out of which pattern
recognition approaches is widely used.
Ecological Theory of Perception
During World War II, difficulties had been encountered in the flying
of aircraft, particularly landing, and in the training of pilots (Gibson,
1979/1986). Tests had been given for depth perception using the
static, frozen-in-time, stimulus presentations in two dimensions that
are intended to assess perception of monocular and binocular depth
cues. Tests might be for linear perspective or apparent size, or
other monocular or binocular cues of depth. None of these tests, as
it turned out, were able to predict how well a student pilot would
perform. The traditional theory of depth perception was not working;

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it failed to apply where it should have. Gibson puzzled over this and
came to realize that the traditional theory of depth perception was
wrong.
Helmholtz (1866, in F. H. Allport, 1955) had struggled with the fact
that visual perception of three dimensions was based upon a two-
dimensional structure—the retina (the retina was flat and visual
sensations without depth; Gibson, 1966). It was not possible, given
that barrier, to perceive the three dimensions immediately.
Helmholtz proposed that cues, which were signs of distance,
provided the basis for making unconscious inferences regarding
size and distance (Hilgard, 1987).
Based upon his research Gibson (1979/1986) began to suspect that
the traditional list of depth cues was simply not sufficient. Pondering
the situation, he theorized that light provided information and that
the changes taking place
in the surrounding field of light (an array of reflections from objects)
provided a form of information that the static displays did not. In the
“optic array,” an “optic flow pattern” was provided, by the changes in
the structure of surrounding light, with information about one’s
position relative to environmental objects, and changes in that
relation as one moves through time and space.
It was clear to Gibson that each approach—the classical approach
and his—had a very different conception regarding the stimulus of
perception.
Gibson was of the view that visual perception is due to the fact that
ambient (surrounding) light conveys visual information that is
accessible directly rather than being based upon visual cues (or

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clues) from the retina which have to be interpreted. Regarding his

work prior to this realization, Gibson wrote: I failed to distinguish
between stimulation proper and stimulus information, between what
happens at passive receptors and what is available to active
perceptual systems.
Traditional psychophysics is a laboratory discipline in which physical
stimuli are applied to an observer. He is prodded with controlled and
systematically varied bits of energy so as to discover how his
experience varies correspondingly.
Gibson was working from the assumption that humans actively
extract information from the environment that they use to guide their
deliberations regarding how to act next. More than that, Gibson was
putting forward an “ecological theory” that proposed that there was
no absolute division between subject and object, perceiver and
perceived (analogous to the assumed division into the
stimulus‒response sequences of discrete events).
There was a symbiosis between the perceptual apparatus and the
environment that it evolved to perceive; perceiver and thing
perceived were a system in which there was a constant, ongoing
provision of feedback that served as information for the purposeful
regulation of continuing activities.
Based upon his recent revelations, regarding the apparent, direct
access to the real environment for perception, Gibson, between
1957 and 1961, worked toward developing a new theory of
perception that would be consistent with direct realism ‒ an
ecological theory of perception (Lombardo, 1987). Up to that point,
the person was seen as an individual who was isolated from the
environment and that resulted in a metaphysical dichotomy (in the
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sense that two divisible and completely separate entities confronted

and opposed each other). There was the subject (the individual who
perceived the world) and the object (that which was perceived).
The result of such conceptual dichotomization was the puzzle of
how an individual could perceive the world and to what degree
phenomenological experience reflects the true nature of that
objective world. This was the difficulty that Gibson would struggle
with.
Psychology has long paid homage to evolutionary theory without
appreciating the full implication of that theory for psychology.
Darwin, on the other hand, was completely aware of the possible
contribution of his theory to psychology: In the distant future I see
open fields for far more important researches. Psychology will be
based on a new foundation, that of the necessary acquirement of
each mental power and capacity by gradation. Light will be thrown
on the origin of man and his history.
Mental powers evolved. They are not of a separate realm called
mind nor are they apart from the world of nature; they are processes
of nature, natural and material. Humans do not gaze upon the world
from some distant, non-organic, supra-natural, plateau, separate
from and independent of the remainder of living forms. We are of
nature, bound to nature, its product. Mental processes are material
processes (not of some separate substance called mind) that
evolved because they were serviceable to continued existence in a
material world.
Darwin’s theory was that nature provides obstacles to survival, e.g.,
drought, famine, pestilence, changing climate, and so on, and that
those individuals that were suited to these changed conditions
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would thrive and survive. This meant that variability of

characteristics, within a species, would enhance chances for the
survival of the species (not particular individuals). Those individuals,
from the species as a whole, that could adapt to changing
conditions would be the ones that would carry the species forward
(in terms of evolutionary development).
The adapting individuals were selected by nature (a purely random,
nonconscious, unintentional process) to continue to exist and have
offspring. The adaptive characteristics were passed on to offspring
through reproduction. By these means adaptive characteristics
would be passed throughout the surviving members of the species
and, through a very gradual process, could result in alterations of
the species characteristics (morphologically or behaviorally). Darwin
surmised that mental processes, upon appearing, were serviceable
to continued existence and would therefore be favored by random
selection processes.
Gibson’s Ecological Theory In his ecological theory,
Gibson (1966, 1979/1986) emphasizes the inseparable relation
between perceptual systems and the physical world in which they
evolved. The words animal and environment, from this perspective,
imply each other; they cannot be disconnected. Reciprocity exists
between animal and environment and, while they are
distinguishable, they are mutually supportive (Lombardo, 1987). The
ecological approach takes as its unit of study the animal in its
environment, considered as an interactive system.
The relations within this system are reciprocal, with the reciprocity
including a species evolving in an environment to which it becomes
adapted, and an individual acting in its own niche, developing and
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learning. (Gibson and Pick, 2000, p. 14) In this reciprocal interaction

the environment makes available resources, opportunities and
information for action.
Actions themselves result in feedback (more information) that can
lead to alterations in action. When chasing down prey, for instance,
if it begins to pull away from one, speed can either be increased to
compensate and overtake, or the chase broken off if that is not
possible. In progressing toward some end, whatever that may be,
one can continuously monitor one’s progress and make adjustments
as required.
Perception can be conceived of as an evolved adaptation to lawful
relations between the environment and the energy arrays, e.g.,
optic, acoustic, chemical, that surround individuals and act upon
their sensory receptors. It is through the ecological reciprocity that
Gibson transcends the barrier of the senses and discovers the basis
for direct realism. This was not a position, however, that Gibson
arrived at easily or without a great deal of thought and
experimentation. In order to get to that point Gibson, who had
originally been aligned with the constructionists, had to realize that
problems existed for that perspective.
Gibson’s discontent was not simply with the stimulus materials and
experimental methods of the constructionists. With Helmholtz the
place of commencement for the study of vision was at the retina,
with sense impressions and receptor reactions. Up to 1950 this had
been Gibson’s focus, i.e., the retinal image as the stimulus for the
eye (Gibson, 1966). With a change in perspective, he proposed that
Newton had misled us when he suggested that light rays painted a
picture of the visible object on the back of the eye. The retinal

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image, contrary to this, is not a picture. That is misleading since it

suggests something looked at. The retinal image is a scintillation—a
flash or a trace—because the retina jerks about (saccadic
movement) and it has a gap called the blind spot where the optic
nerve leaves the eye. It was a further misconception,
argued Gibson, to think that a retinal sensory pattern can be
impressed on the brain neural tissue since the neural pattern never
existed in the retinal mosaic. A further reason for discounting the
retina as the basis for visual perception was what was found
through cross-species comparisons.
The visual organs of octopi, rabbits, bees, spiders, flies, and
humans differ widely but all suggest visual perception of those
conditions in the environment that are essential to surviving.

What is Learning Process: Fundamental theories:

Thorndike, Guthrie, Hull Classical Conditioning:
Procedure, phenomena and related issues
Instrumental learning: Phenomena, Paradigms
and theoretical issues; Reinforcement: Basic
variables and schedules; Behaviour modification
and its applications Cognitive approaches in
learning: Latent learning, observational learning.
Verbal learning and Discrimination learning
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Recent trends in learning: Neurophysiology of

learning?

Learning Process: Fundamental theories: Thorndike, Guthrie,

Hull Classical Conditioning: Procedure, phenomena and
related issues Instrumental learning: Phenomena, Paradigms
and theoretical issues; Reinforcement: Basic variables and
schedules; Behaviour modification and its applications
Cognitive approaches in learning: Latent learning,
observational learning. Verbal learning and Discrimination
learning Recent trends in learning: Neurophysiology of
learning

Learning Process: Fundamental theories: Thorndike, Guthrie,

Hull Classical

The underlying ability a teacher must have to orchestrate

differentiated instruction day after day, hour after hour, by assessing
his/her students and adjusting strategies and tactics moment by
moment, requires sophisticated knowledge and skills.
To successfully use differentiated instruction, a teacher must first
have a firm understanding of each of the cognitive components of
the learning process, what they look like when they are working,
and what the specific subcomponents of each look like when they
are breaking down. Next, a teacher must develop a rich repertoire of
strategies and tactics from which to pull the exact strategy or tactic

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that will address a specific breakdown for a specific task, at the right
moment. Using a great strategy at the wrong time, or mismatching a
strategy with breakdown for which the strategy will yield no gains,
will frustrate students and teachers alike when the strategy fails to
produce the desired result.
There are six interactive components of the learning
process: attention, memory, language, processing and organizing,
graphomotor (writing) and higher order thinking. These processes
interact not only with each other, but also with emotions, classroom
climate, behavior, social skills, teachers and family.
In order to engage, motivate and teach all learners at optimal levels,
teachers must understand the learning process in general,
understand and respond to students’ individual emotional and
cognitive profiles and select instructional strategies and tactics that
are effective for diverse learners.
Attention
Paying attention is the first step in learning anything. It is easy for
most of us to pay attention to things that are interesting or exciting
to us. It is difficult for most of us to pay attention to things that are
not. When something is not interesting to us, it is easier to become
distracted, to move to a more stimulating topic or activity, or to tune
out.
The teacher’s job is to construct lessons that connect to the learner.
Relating what is to be taught to the students’ lives can accomplish
this. Relate Romeo and Juliet, for example, to the realities in our
communities of prejudice, unfounded hatred and gang wars. Or
relate today’s discrimination to The Diary of Anne Frank, and hold

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class discussions of discrimination that students have personally

experienced or witnessed.
Physical movement can help to “wake up” a mind. When a student
shows signs of inattentiveness and/or restlessness, teachers can
provide the student with opportunities to move around. Many
students with attention challenges actually need to move in order to
remain alert. It is wise to find acceptable, non-destructive ways for
these students to be active. Responsibilities such as erasing the
board, taking a message to the office, and collecting papers can
offer appropriate outlets for activity.
Memory
Memory is the complex process that uses three systems to help a
person receive, use, store, and retrieve information. The three
memory systems are (1) short-term memory (e.g., remembering a
phone number you got from information just long enough to dial it),
(2) working memory (e.g., keeping the necessary information “files”
out on the mind’s “desktop” while performing a task such as writing
a paragraph or working a long division problem), and (3) long-term
memory (a mind’s ever expanding file cabinet for important
information we want to retrieve over time).
Children in school have to remember much more information every
day than most adults do. Adults generally have more specialized
days – mechanics use and remember mechanical information,
dentists use and remember information about dentistry, and so on.
On the other hand, school expects that children become experts in
several subjects – e.g., math, language, science, social studies, a
foreign language, the arts.

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It is important to remember that when a student understands

something, it does not guarantee that he will remember it. For
example, a person may understand a joke that he heard at a party
on Saturday night, but he may have trouble remembering it when he
tries to tell it to his friends on Monday.
In order to enhance the likelihood that all students will elaborate on
new information, teachers should activate their prior knowledge and
make new information meaningful to them. For example, a teacher
may ask second graders how to divide a pan of brownies evenly
among the 20 students in the class, and then connect their solution
to the concept of equivalent fractions. Relating how algebraic
equations need to be equal or balanced on both sides to the
benefits of dividing candy or cookies evenly between friends also
connects to prior knowledge.
Students who have difficulty with both short-term and working
memory may need directions repeated to them. Giving directions
both orally and in written form, and giving examples of what is
expected will help all students. All students will benefit from self-
testing. Students should be asked to identify the important
information, formulate test questions and then answer them. This
tactic is also effective in cooperative learning groups and has been
shown by evidence-based research to increase reading
comprehension (NICHD, 2000).
Language
Language is the primary means by which we give and receive
information in school. The two language processing systems
are expressive and receptive. We use expressive language when
we speak and write, and we use receptive language when we read

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and listen. Students with good language processing skills usually do

well in school. Problems with language, on the other hand, can
affect a student’s ability to communicate effectively, understand and
store verbal and written information, understand what others say,
and maintain relationships with others.
Most students, especially those with weaknesses in written
language, will benefit from using a staging procedure for both
expository and creative writing. With this procedure, students first
generate ideas. Next they may organize their ideas. Third, they may
look at sentence structure. Then they examine their spelling. Finally,
they attend to mechanical and grammatical rules. It is also helpful
for students to list their most frequently occurring errors in a
notebook and refer to this list when self-correcting.
All students will benefit from systematic, cumulative, and explicit
teaching of reading and writing.
Students who have receptive language challenges such as a slower
processing speed must use a lot of mental energy to listen, and,
therefore, may tire easily. Consequently, short, highly structured
lectures or group discussion times should be balanced with frequent
breaks or quiet periods. Oral instructions may also need to be
repeated and/or provided in written form.
Cooperative Strategic Reading (Klinger, Vaughan, Hughes,
Schumm, and Elbaum as referenced in Marzola 2006) is another
way to engage students in reading and at the same time increase
oral language skills. This tactic is ideal for promoting intellectual
discussion and improving reading comprehension of expository text
in mixed-level classrooms across disciplines. Using this tactic,
students are placed into cooperative learning groups of four to six
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students of mixed abilities. The students work together to

accomplish four main tasks: (1) preview (skim over the material,
determine what they know and what they want to learn), (2) identify
clicks and clunks (clicks = we get it; clunks = we don’t understand
this concept, idea or word), (3) get the gist (main idea) and (4) wrap
up (summarize important ideas and generate questions (think of
questions the teacher might ask on a test). Each student in the
group is assigned a role such as the leader/involver/taskmaster, the
clunk expert, the gist expert, and the timekeeper/pacer (positive
interdependence). Each student should be prepared to report the on
the group’s conclusions (individual accountability).
Broadening the way we communicate information in the classroom
can connect all students more to the topic at hand, and especially
students with language challenges. Using visual communication
such as pictures and videos to reinforce verbal communication is
helpful to all students, and especially to students with receptive
language challenges. Challenge students to invent ways to
communicate with pictures and other visuals, drama, sculpture,
dance and music, and watch memory of key concepts increase and
classrooms come alive.
Organization
We process and organize information in two main
ways: simultaneous (spatial) and successive (sequential).
Simultaneous processing is the process we use to order or organize
information in space. Having a good sense of direction and being
able to “see” how puzzle pieces fit together are two examples of
simultaneous processing. Successive processing is what we use to
order or organize information in time and sequence. Concepts of
time, dates, and order – yesterday, today, and tomorrow, months of
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the year, mathematical procedures such as division and

multiplication, word order in sentences, and sentence order in
paragraphs are examples of sequential processing. Students who
are good at successive organization usually have little or no trouble
with time management and usually find it easy to organize an essay
in a sequence that is logical.
Students who have trouble with understanding spatial or
geographical problems may need successive verbal explanations
given to them. They may benefit from writing written explanations
and descriptions of the information contained in charts, graphs or
diagrams. Teachers should model this process for all students.
Students who have trouble remembering sequences of information
but who are strong in simultaneous processing should benefit from
graphic organizers, and making diagrams or flow charts of
sequential information such as events in history rather than the
standard timeline. They may benefit from software programs such
as Inspiration that organize concepts and information into visual
maps.
Practicing cooperative learning allows each student’s processing
and organizing strengths to be utilized to the benefit of the group.
For example, those who are strong in simultaneous organization
may create the group’s chart, visual, or map, and those strong in
successive organization may be the task step organizers, the
taskmasters, timekeepers and pace setters.
Graphomotor
The writing process requires neural, visual, and muscular
coordination to produce written work. It is not an act of will but rather
an act of coordination among those functions. Often the student
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who seems unmotivated to complete written work is the student

whose writing coordination is klutzy. We have long accepted that
students may fall on a continuum from very athletic to clumsy when
it comes to sports, but we have not known until recently that some
students are writing “athletes” while others writing klutzes. Just as
practice, practice, practice will not make a football all-star out of an
absolute klutz, practice and acts of will not make a writing all-star
out of someone whose neurological wiring does not allow her to be
a high performing graphomotor athlete.
Students with handwriting difficulties may benefit from the
opportunity to provide oral answers to exercises, quizzes, and tests.
Having computers in place for all children helps level the playing
field for the graphomotor klutz. Parents and teachers should be
aware, however, that many children with graphomotor challenges
may also have difficulty with the quick muscular coordination
required by the keyboard.
Higher Order Thinking
Higher order thinking (HOT) is more than memorizing facts or
relating information in exactly the same words as the teacher or
book expresses it. Higher order thinking requires that we do
something with the facts. We must understand and manipulate the
information.
HOT includes concept formation; concept connection; problem
solving; grasping the “big picture”; visualizing; creativity;
questioning; inferring; creative, analytical and practical thinking; and
metacognition. Metacognition is thinking about thinking, knowing
about knowing, and knowing how you think, process information,
and learn.

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All students will benefit from advance organizers that relate the big
picture and the main concepts to be covered. Also, all students
should be explicitly taught how to build concept maps (graphic
organizers that connect all components of a concept, and may also
connect one concept to another concept).
Give choices for projects and exams that include analytical,
practical and creative thinking options. For example, an analytical
choice might be to compare and contrast the events of the
Holocaust to events in Rwanda. A practical choice might be to show
how we can apply the lessons learned from the Holocaust to how
we treat one another in our schools. A creative choice might be to
write a play about tolerance, create a dance that communicates the
emotions of the Holocaust, or write a poem or paint a picture that
tells a story about how you feel about the conditions in Darfur.
Providing ample opportunities in the classroom for self-evaluation
and self-reflection helps students develop self-understanding. Self-
Evaluation… Helping Students Get Better At It! By Carol Rolheiser
is listed in the reference section following this article and is a helpful
resource for teachers who want to incorporate more student self-
evaluation in their classrooms.
A student with metacognition can answer the question, “How am I
smart?” The first part of metacognition is thinking about thinking. If a
person has metacognition, he understands the way he thinks, and
he understands his strengths and challenges in specific skill areas,
subjects and activities.
A person with metacognition also monitors and regulates how he
learns. He can take a task and decide how best to accomplish it by
using his strategies and skills effectively. He knows how he would
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best learn a new math procedure and which strategies he would use
to understand and remember a science concept. He understands
the best way for him to organize an essay – whether he would be
more successful by using an outline, a graphic organizer or a mind
map. He has mental self-management.
Psychologist Robert Sternberg lists six components of mental self-
management:
1. Know your strengths and weaknesses.
2. Capitalize on your strengths and compensate for your
weaknesses.
3. Defy negative expectations.
4. Believe in yourself (self-efficacy).
5. Seek out role models.
6. Seek out an environment where you can make a difference.
Ultimately, this is where we hope students who attend our schools
will be upon graduation. As adults, we should model our own
metacognition, talk about metacognition, and give meaningful
examples of metacognition often and well.
Teaching students about the six components of the learning
process – attention, memory, language, processing and organizing,
graphomotor (writing) and higher order thinking, then, demystifies
learning and provides an opportunity to increase their
metacognition. It also enhances their sense of self-worth. A student
who understands that she may need to use a particular strategy to
help her working memory function better or that taking frequent
breaks will help her stay more focused on her homework
assignments is much better off than thinking that she is stupid or
lazy.

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Emotions
Emotions control the on-off switch to learning. When we are relaxed
and calm, our learning processes have a green light. When we are
uptight, anxious, or afraid, our learning processes have a red light.
In the classroom, tension slams the steel door of the mind shut.
Creating a non-threatening classroom environment or climate where
mistakes are welcomed as learning opportunities reduces tension,
opens the mind and increases the opportunity for learning.
The more teachers know about how learning takes place – how
information is processed, manipulated and created, the more we will
know about what it looks like when it’s working and what it looks like
when it starts to break down. Then, rather than thinking a student
isn’t motivated, teachers will look to see if it is attention, memory,
language, organizing, graphomotor or higher order thinking that
needs an intervention.
Motivation
It is every teacher’s job to motivate every student. Learning more
about the brain and the development of the mind, studying new
information on learning, making learning meaningful and learning
about learning, watching the learning process, monitoring closely for
breakdowns, and celebrating the successes of every student –
these are our challenges as we create schools that honor diversity –
the schools all children deserve.

Fundamental theories: Thorndike

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Edward Thorndike (1898) is famous in psychology for his work on

learning theory that lead to the development of operant
conditioning within Behaviorism.
Whereas classical conditioning depends on developing associations
between events, operant conditioning involves learning from the
consequences of our behavior.
Skinner wasn’t the first psychologist to study learning by
consequences. Indeed, Skinner's theory of operant conditioning is
built on the ideas of Edward Thorndike.
Thorndike studied learning in animals (usually cats). He devised a
classic experiment in which he used a puzzle box (see fig. 1) to
empirically test the laws of learning.
He placed a cat in the puzzle box, which was encourage to escape
to reach a scrap of fish placed outside. Thorndike would put a cat
into the box and time how long it took to escape. The cats
experimented with different ways to escape the puzzle box and
reach the fish.
Eventually they would stumble upon the lever which opened the
cage. When it had escaped it was put in again, and once more the
time it took to escape was noted. In successive trials the cats would
learn that pressing the lever would have favorable consequences
and they would adopt this behavior, becoming increasingly quick at
pressing the lever.
Edward Thorndike put forward a “Law of effect” which stated that
any behavior that is followed by pleasant consequences is likely to
be repeated, and any behavior followed by unpleasant
consequences is likely to be stopped.

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Critical Evaluation
Thorndike (1905) introduced the concept of reinforcement and was
the first to apply psychological principles to the area of learning.
His research led to many theories and laws of learning, such as
operant conditioning. Skinner (1938), like Thorndike, put animals in
boxes and observed them to see what they were able to learn.
The learning theories of Thorndike and Pavlov were later
synthesized by Hull (1935). Thorndike's research drove comparative
psychology for fifty years, and influenced countless psychologists
over that period of time, and even still today.
The theory suggests that transfer of learning depends upon the
presence of identical elements in the original and new learning
situations; i.e., transfer is always specific, never general. In later
versions of the theory, the concept of “belongingness” was
introduced; connections are more readily established if the person
perceives that stimuli or responses go together (c.f. Gestalt
principles). Another concept introduced was “polarity” which
specifies that connections occur more easily in the direction in
which they were originally formed than the opposite. Thorndike also
introduced the “spread of effect” idea, i.e., rewards affect not only
the connection that produced them but temporally adjacent
connections as well.
Application
Connectionism was meant to be a general theory of learning for
animals and humans. Thorndike was especially interested in the
application of his theory to education including mathematics
(Thorndike, 1922), spelling and reading (Thorndike, 1921),

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measurement of intelligence (Thorndike et al., 1927) and adult

learning (Thorndike at al., 1928).
Example
The classic example of Thorndike’s S-R theory was a cat learning to
escape from a “puzzle box” by pressing a lever inside the box. After
much trial and error behavior, the cat learns to associate pressing
the lever (S) with opening the door (R). This S-R connection is
established because it results in a satisfying state of affairs (escape
from the box). The law of exercise specifies that the connection was
established because the S-R pairing occurred many times (the law
of effect) and was rewarded (law of effect) as well as forming a
single sequence (law of readiness).

Fundamental theories: Guthrie

Guthrie attempted to explain learning through association of stimuli

with responses.
Learning, in terms of behavior is a function of the environment.
According to Guthrie, learning is associating a particular stimulus
with a particular response. This association, however, will only
occur if stimuli and responses occur soon enough one after
another (the contiguity law). The association is established on
the first experienced instance of the stimulus (one trial
learning). Repetitions or reinforcements in terms of reward or
punishment do not influence the strength of this connection. Still,
every stimulus is a bit different, which results in many trials in order
to form a general response. This was according to Guthrie the only

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type of learning identifying him not as reinforcement theorist,

but contiguity theorist.
More complex behaviors are composed of a series of
movements (habits where each movement is a small stimulus-
response combination. This movements or are actually what is
being learned in each one trial learning rather than behaviors.
Learning a number of moves forms an act (incremental learning).
Unsuccessful acts remain not learned because they are replaced by
later successfully learned acts.
Other researchers like John Watson studied whole acts just
because it was easier, but movements are, according to Guthrie
what should actually be studied.
Forgetting occurs not due to time passage, but due to interference.
As time passes, stimulus can become associated with new
responses. Three different methods can help in forgetting an
undesirable old habit and help replacing it
 Fatigue method - using numerous repetitions, an animal
becomes so fatigued that it is unable to reproduce the old
response, and introduces a new response (or simply doesn't
react).
 Threshold method - first, a very mild version of the stimulus
below the threshold level is introduced. Its intensity is then
slowly increased until the full stimulus can be tolerated without
causing the undesirable response
 Incompatible stimuli method - the response is “unlearned”
by placing the animal in a situation where it cannot exhibit the
undesirable response.

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Although it was intended to be a general theory of learning,

Guthrie's theory was tested mostly on animals.
What is the practical meaning of contiguity theory and one trial
learning?
In Guthrie's own words, “we learn only what we ourselves do”.
Learning must be active, but as such must involve both teacher's
and students' activity in order to relate stimulus with a response
within a time limit. Guthrie also applied his ideas to treatment
of personality disorders.
Criticisms
Guthrie's theory was first preferred, due to its simplicity, but later
criticized for the same reason. Its simplicity was later turned
into incompleteness. It was also based on too little experimental
data and criticized for being unable to explain why people often
behave differently in same situations
Guthrie’s contiguity theory specifies that “a combination of stimuli
which has accompanied a movement will on its recurrence tend to
be followed by that movement”. According to Guthrie, all learning
was a consequence of association between a particular stimulus
and response. Furthermore, Guthrie argued that stimuli and
responses affect specific sensory-motor patterns; what is learned
are movements, not behaviors.
In contiguity theory, rewards or punishment play no significant role
in learning since they occur after the association between stimulus
and response has been made. Learning takes place in a single trial
(all or none). However, since each stimulus pattern is slightly

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different, many trials may be necessary to produce a general

response. One interesting principle that arises from this position is
called “postremity” which specifies that we always learn the last
thing we do in response to a specific stimulus situation.
Contiguity theory suggests that forgetting is due to interference
rather than the passage of time; stimuli become associated with
new responses. Previous conditioning can also be changed by
being associated with inhibiting responses such as fear or fatigue.
The role of motivation is to create a state of arousal and activity
which produces responses that can be conditioned.
Application
Contiguity theory is intended to be a general theory of learning,
although most of the research supporting the theory was done with
animals. Guthrie did apply his framework to personality disorders
(e.g. Guthrie, 1938).
Example
The classic experimental paradigm for Contiguity theory is cats
learning to escape from a puzzle box (Guthrie & Horton, 1946).
Guthrie used a glass paneled box that allowed him to photograph
the exact movements of cats. These photographs showed that cats
learned to repeat the same sequence of movements associated
with the preceding escape from the box. Improvement comes about
because irrelevant movements are unlearned or not included in
successive associations.
Principles

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1. In order for conditioning to occur, the organism must actively

respond (i.e., do things).
2. Since learning involves the conditioning of specific
movements, instruction must present very specific tasks.
3. Exposure to many variations in stimulus patterns is desirable
in order to produce a generalized response.
4. The last response in a learning situation should be correct
since it is the one that will be associated.
Hull - learning theory
INTRODUCTION
Learning is one of the most important topics in present-day
psychology, yet it is an extremely difficult concept to define.
Learning occupies a very important place in our life. Most of what
we do or do not do is influenced by what we learnt it. Learning
therefore provides a key to the structure of our personality and
behavior. An individual starts to learning immediately after his birth
or in a strict sense even in womb of the mother. Experience direct or
indirect is found to play a dominant role in molding and shaping our
behavior of the individual from the very beginning. The change in
behavior brought about by experience is commonly known as
learning. In this way, the term learning broadly speaking, stands for
all those changes and modifications in the behavior of the individual
which he undergoes during his life time.
DEFINITION
Gardner Murphy (1968)

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The term learning covers every modification in behavior to meet

environmental requirements.
Henry P. Smith (1962)
Learning is the acquisition of new behavior or the strengthening or
weakening of old behavior as the result of experience.
Crow and Crow (1973)
Learning is the acquisition of habits, knowledge and attitudes. It
involves new ways of doing things, and it operates in an individual’s
attempts to overcome obstacles or to adjust to new situation. It
represents progressive changes in behavior. It enables him to
satisfy interests to attain goals.
Kimble (1961)
Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavioral potentiality
that occurs as a result of reinforced practice.
The above definition reveals the following facts:
1. Learning is a process and not a product.
2. It involves all those experience and training of an individual
(right from birth) which help him to produce changes in his behavior
3. Learning leads to changes in behavior but this does not
necessarily mean that these changes always bring about
improvement or positive development. One has an equal chance to
drift to the negative side of human personality.
4. Learning prepares an individual for any adjustment and
adaptation that may be necessary

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Clark Hull grew up handicapped and contracted polio at the age of

24, yet he became one of the great contributors to psychology. His
family was not well off so his education had to be stopped at times.
Clark earned extra money through teaching. Originally Clark aspired
to be a great engineer, but that was before he fell in love with the
field of Psychology.
By the age of 29 he graduated from Michigan University.
When Clark was 34 when he received his Ph.D. in Psychology at
the University of Wisconsin in 1918.
Soon after graduation he became a member of the faculty at the
University of Wisconsin, where he served for 10 years. Although
one of his first experiments was an analytical study of the effects of
tobacco on behavioral efficiency, his lifelong emphasis was on the
development of objective methods for psychological studies
designed to determine the underlying principles of behavior.
Hull devoted the next 10 years to the study of hypnosis and
suggestibility, and in 1933 he published Hypnosis and
Suggestibility, while employed as a research professor at Yale
University. This is where he developed his major contribution, an
elaborate theory of behavior based on Pavlov's laws of conditioning.
Pavlov provoked Hull to become greatly interested in the problem of
conditioned reflexes and learning. In 1943 Hull published, Principles
of Behavior, which presented a number of constructs in a detailed
Theory of Behavior. Soon he became the most cited psychologist.
For his effort, Hull received the Warren medal in 1945 from the
society of Experimental Psychology. Hull was physically disabled
most of his life. In 1948 he had coronary attack, and four years later
he died. In his last book he wrote (A behavior system), he
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expressed regret that the third book that he had intended to write on
learning would never be written.
HULL LEARNING THEORY
1. DERIVE REDUCTION THEORY
Drive Reduction Theory - the notion that behavior occurs in
response to "drives" such as hunger, thirst, sexual interest, feeling
cold, etc. When the goal of the drive is attained (food, water, mating,
warmth) the drive is reduced, and this constitutes reinforcement of
the behaviors that lead to the drive reduction, and ultimately
learning.

Hull viewed the drive as a stimulus, arising from a tissue need,

which in turn stimulates behavior. The strength of the drive is
determined upon the length of the deprivation, or the intensity /
strength of the resulting behavior. He believed the drive to be non-
specific, which means that the drive does not direct behavior rather
it functions to energize it. In addition this drive reduction is the
reinforcement.
Hull's learning theory focuses mainly on the principle of
reinforcement; when an S-R relationship is followed by a reduction
of the need, the probability increases that in future similar situations
the same stimulus will create the same prior response.
Reinforcement can be defined in terms of reduction of a primary
need. Just as Hull believed that there were secondary drives, he
also felt that there were secondary reinforcements - “If the intensity
of the stimulus is reduced as the result of a secondary or learned

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drive, it will act as a secondary reinforcement" (Schultz & Schultz,

1987, p 241). The way to strengthen the S-R response is to
increase the number of reinforcements, habit strength.
1. Change in the traditional S-R notion
Hull introduced concept of intervening variables between S and R.
Accordingly, when a stimulus(S) impinges on the organism, it
results in a sensory neural impulse(s) a kind of stimulus trace. This
stimulus trace ultimately causes a motor neural reaction(r) those
results in an overt response (R). Thus we may have the formula S-
s-r-R instead of the traditional S-R. However, there are so many
other things within the inner mechanism of the organism like his
interest, needs and drives also the reinforcing mechanism that may
influence his response or behavior.
The link between the S-R relationships could be anything that might
affect how an organism responds; learning, fatigue, disease, injury,
motivation, etc. He labeled this relationship as "E", a reaction
potential, or as sEr. Clark goal was to make a science out of all of
these intervening factors. He classified his formula.
The concept of Drive Stimuli Reduction
Originally, Hull had a drive reduction theory of learning, but later he
revised it to a Drive Stimuli Reduction theory of learning. One
reason for the change was the realization that if a thirsty animal is
given water as a reinforce for performing some act, it takes a
considerable amount of time for the thirst drive to be satisfied by the
water. The water goes into the mouth, the throat, the stomach, and
eventually the blood. The effects of ingestion of water must
ultimately reach the brain, and finally the thirst drive will be reduced.

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Hull concluded that the drive reduction was too far removed from
the presentation of the reinforce to explain how learning could take
place. What was needed to explain learning was something that
occurred soon after the presentation of a reinforce, and that
something was the reduction of drive stimuli (SD).

REASONS
1. Drive stimuli for thirst include dryness in the mouth and
parched lips. Water almost immediately reduces such stimulation
thus hull had the mechanism he needed for explaining learning.
2. It was provided by Sheffield and Roby (1950), who found that
hungry rats were reinforced by non- nutritive saccharine, which
could not possibly have reduced the hunger drive.

Incentive motivation (K)

Results found by Crepsi and Zeaman led hull to reach the
conclusion that organism learn as rapidly for a small incentive as
they do for large one, but they perform differently as size of the
incentive (K) varies. The rapid change in performance following a
change in reinforcement size is referred to as the Crepsi effect,
after the man who first observed it.

Stimulus-Intensity Dynamism
According to hull, Stimulus-Intensity Dynamism (V) is an intervening
variable that varies along with the intensity of the external

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stimulus(S). Stated simply, Stimulus-Intensity Dynamism indicates

that the greater the intensity of a stimulus, the greater the probability
that a learned response will be elicited. Thus we must revise hull’s
earlier formula as follows
sEr = (sHr x D x K x V) - (sIr + Ir) – sOr
It is interesting to note that because sHr , D, K and V are multiplied
together, if any one had a value of zero, reaction potential would be
zero. For example there could have been many pairings between S
and R (sHr), but if drive is zero, reinforcement is zero or the
organism cannot detect the stimulus, a learned response will not
occur.
Hull’s final system summarized
There are three kinds of variable in hull’s theory:
1. Independent variable –which are stimulus events
systematically manipulated by the experimenter.
2. Intervening variables – which are process thought to be
taking place within the organism but directly observable.
3. Dependent variables – which are some aspect of behavior
that is measured by the experimenter in order to determine whether
the independent variables had any effect.

EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATION
The development of curriculum

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In this reference hull emphasized the importance of needs in

learning process and accordingly the needs of all categories of
children should be incorporated in the curriculum learning becomes
meaningful only when it satisfies the needs of children.
The know actual needs of the students by teacher and parents
Hull is fells that teachers and parents of the student should also
share their responsibility in teaching the actual needs of the student
through various means proper guidance is must for their attitude
and aptitudes.
Emphasized anxiety as a drive in human learning
From this line of reasoning, it follows that encouraging some anxiety
in students that could subsequently be reduced by success is a
necessary condition for classroom learning. Too little anxiety results
in no learning (because there is no drive to be reduced), and too
much anxiety is disruptive. Therefore, students who are mildly
anxious are in the best position to learn and are therefore easiest to
teach.
Hull’s system of learning advocated the following chain sequence
for improved results in the teaching-learning process:
a. Drive – This is something which is needed by the learner in
order to behave or respond.
b. Cue – There must be something to which the learner must
respond.
c. Response – The learner must be made to respond in order to
learn some act.

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d. Reward – The learner’s response must be reinforced or

rewarded, thus enabling him to learn what he wants to learn.
Hull developed a version of behaviorism in which the stimulus (S)
affects the organism (O) and the resulting response (R) depends
upon characteristics of both O and S. In other words, Hull was
interested in studying intervening variables that affected behavior
such as initial drive, incentives, inhibitors, and prior training (habit
strength). Like other forms of behavior theory, reinforcement is the
primary factor that determines learning. However, in Hull’s theory,
drive reduction or need satisfaction plays a much more important
role in behavior than in other frameworks
(i.e., connectionism, operant conditioning).
Hull’s theoretical framework consisted of many postulates stated in
mathematical form; They include:
(1) organisms possess a hierarchy of needs which are aroused
under conditions of stimulation and drive,
(2) habit strength increases with activities that are associated with
primary or secondary reinforcement,
(3) habit strength aroused by a stimulus other than the one originally
conditioned depends upon the closeness of the second stimulus in
terms of discrimination thresholds,
(4) stimuli associated with the cessation of a response become
conditioned inhibitors,
(5) the more the effective reaction potential exceeds the reaction
theshold, the shorter the latency of response. As these postulates

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indicate, Hull proposed many types of variables that accounted for

generalization, motivation, and variability (oscillation) in learning.
One of the most important concepts in Hull’s theory was the habit
strength hierarchy: for a given stimulus, an organism can respond in
a number of ways. The likelihood of a specific response has a
probability which can be changed by reward and is affected by
various other variables (e.g. inhibition). In some respects, habit
strength hierarchies resemble components of cognitive theories
such as schema and production systems .
Application
Hull’s theory is meant to be a general theory of learning. Most of the
research underlying the theory was done with animals, except for
Hull et al. (1940) which focused on verbal learning. Miller & Dollard
(1941) represents an attempt to apply the theory to a broader range
of learning phenomena. As an interesting aside, Hull began his
career researching hypnosis – an area that landed him in some
controversy at Yale (Hull, 1933).
Example
Here is an example described by Miller & Dollard (1941): A six year
old girl who is hungry and wants candy is told that there is candy
hidden under one of the books in a bookcase. The girl begins to pull
out books in a random manner until she finally finds the correct
book (210 seconds). She is sent out of the room and a new piece of
candy is hidden under the same book. In her next search, she is
much more directed and finds the candy in 86 seconds. By the ninth
repetition of this experiment, the girl finds the candy immediately (2
seconds). The girl exhibited a drive for the candy and looking under

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books represented her responses to reduce this drive. When she

eventually found the correct book, this particular response was
rewarded, forming a habit. On subsequent trials, the strength of this
habit was increased until it became a single stimulus-response
connection in this setting.
Principles
1. Drive is essential in order for responses to occur (i.e., the
student must want to learn).
2. Stimuli and responses must be detected by the organism in
order for conditioning to occur ( i.e., the student must be
attentive).
3. Response must be made in order for conditioning to occur
(i.e., the student must be active).
4. Conditioning only occurs if the reinforcement satisfied a need
(i.e, the learning must satisfy the learner’s wants).
CONCLUSION
Hull’s system of learning is acclaimed and remembered for putting
forward a most systematic, scientific and mathematical theory of
learning. Hull was able to popularize a very innovative and objective
behavioristic approach to learning which was more effective in
comparison to the approach of his predecessors. The greatest
contribution of hull’s theory lies in its emphasis on linking the
learning to the needs of the children.
He says that it is the need, drive or drive stimuli that energies an
individual to act or learn or behave. Therefore, he advocated the
need-based goals of education, including need-based curricula and

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methods of teaching. Whereas needs start the process of learning,

reinforcement and incentives act as catalytic agents for increasing
one’s efforts towards achieving the goals of learning.
Therefore in any education process we must involve sufficient
possibilities of proper motivation and reinforcement incentives.

Classical Conditioning: Procedure, phenomena and related

issues

Classical conditioning (also known as Pavlovian conditioning) is

learning through association and was discovered by Pavlov, a
Russian physiologist. In simple terms, two stimuli are linked
together to produce a new learned response in a person or animal.
John Watson proposed that the process of classical conditioning
(based on Pavlov’s observations) was able to explain all aspects of
human psychology.
Everything from speech to emotional responses was simply patterns
of stimulus and response. Watson denied completely the existence
of the mind or consciousness. Watson believed that all individual
differences in behavior were due to different experiences of
learning.
Stage 1: Before Conditioning:
In this stage, the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) produces an
unconditioned response (UCR) in an organism.

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In basic terms, this means that a stimulus in the environment has

produced a behavior / response which is unlearned (i.e.,
unconditioned) and therefore is a natural response which has not
been taught. In this respect, no new behavior has been learned yet.
This stage also involves another stimulus which has no effect on a
person and is called the neutral stimulus (NS). The NS could be a
person, object, place, etc.
The neutral stimulus in classical conditioning does not produce a
response until it is paired with the unconditioned stimulus.
During Conditioning:
During this stage, a stimulus which produces no response (i.e.,
neutral) is associated with the unconditioned stimulus at which point
it now becomes known as the conditioned stimulus (CS).
For example, a stomach virus (UCS) might be associated with
eating a certain food such as chocolate (CS). Also, perfume (UCS)
might be associated with a specific person (CS).
For classical conditioning to be effective, the conditioned stimulus
should occur before the unconditioned stimulus, rather than after it,
or during the same time. Thus, the conditioned stimulus acts as a
type of signal or cue for the unconditioned stimulus.
After Conditioning:
Now the conditioned stimulus (CS) has been associated with the
unconditioned stimulus (UCS) to create a new conditioned response
(CR).

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For example, a person (CS) who has been associated with nice
perfume (UCS) is now found attractive (CR). Also, chocolate (CS)
which was eaten before a person was sick with a virus (UCS) now
produces a response of nausea (CR).
Classical Conditioning in the Classroom

The implications of classical conditioning in the classroom are less

important than those of operant conditioning, but there is a still need
for teachers to try to make sure that students associate positive
emotional experiences with learning.
If a student associates negative emotional experiences with school,
then this can obviously have bad results, such as creating a school
phobia.
For example, if a student is bullied at school they may learn to
associate the school with fear. It could also explain why some
students show a particular dislike of certain subjects that continue
throughout their academic career. This could happen if a student is
humiliated or punished in class by a teacher.
Critical Evaluation
Classical conditioning emphasizes the importance of learning from
the environment, and supports nurture over nature. However, it is
limiting to describe behavior solely in terms of either nature or
nurture, and attempts to do this underestimate the complexity of
human behavior. It is more likely that behavior is due to an
interaction between nature (biology) and nurture (environment).
A strength of classical conditioning theory is that it is scientific. This
is because it's based on empirical evidence carried out by controlled

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experiments. For example, Pavlov (1902) showed how classical

conditioning could be used to make a dog salivate to the sound of a
bell.
Classical conditioning is also a reductionist explanation of behavior.
This is because a complex behavior is broken down into smaller
stimulus-response units of behavior.
Supporters of a reductionist approach say that it is scientific.
Breaking complicated behaviors down to small parts means that
they can be scientifically tested. However, some would argue that
the reductionist view lacks validity. Thus, while reductionism is
useful, it can lead to incomplete explanations.
A final criticism of classical conditioning theory is that it
is deterministic. This means that it does not allow for any degree of
free will in the individual. Accordingly, a person has no control over
the reactions they have learned from classical conditioning, such as
a phobia.
Basic Principles of Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning is a form of learning whereby a conditioned
stimulus (CS) becomes associated with an unrelated unconditioned
stimulus (US) in order to produce a behavioral response known as
a conditioned response (CR). The conditioned response is the
learned response to the previously neutral stimulus. The
unconditioned stimulus is usually a biologically significant stimulus
such as food or pain that elicits an unconditioned response
(UR) from the start. The conditioned stimulus is usually neutral and
produces no particular response at first, but after conditioning it
elicits the conditioned response.

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Extinction is the decrease in the conditioned response when the

unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with the conditioned
stimulus. When presented with the conditioned stimulus alone, the
individual would show a weaker and weaker response, and finally
no response. In classical-conditioning terms, there is a gradual
weakening and disappearance of the conditioned response. Related
to this, spontaneous recovery refers to the return of a previously
extinguished conditioned response following a rest period.
Research has found that with repeated extinction/recovery cycles,
the conditioned response tends to be less intense with each period
of recovery.
Pavlov’s Famous Study
The best-known of Pavlov’s experiments involves the study of the
salivation of dogs. Pavlov was originally studying the saliva of dogs
as it related to digestion, but as he conducted his research, he
noticed that the dogs would begin to salivate every time he entered
the room—even if he had no food. The dogs were associating his
entrance into the room with being fed. This led Pavlov to design a
series of experiments in which he used various sound objects, such
as a buzzer, to condition the salivation response in dogs.
He started by sounding a buzzer each time food was given to the
dogs and found that the dogs would start salivating immediately
after hearing the buzzer—even before seeing the food. After a
period of time, Pavlov began sounding the buzzer without giving any
food at all and found that the dogs continued to salivate at the
sound of the buzzer even in the absence of food. They had learned
to associate the sound of the buzzer with being fed.

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If we look at Pavlov’s experiment, we can identify the four factors of

classical conditioning at work:
 The unconditioned response was the dogs’ natural salivation in
response to seeing or smelling their food.
 The unconditioned stimulus was the sight or smell of the food
itself.
 The conditioned stimulus was the ringing of the bell, which
previously had no association with food.
 The conditioned response, therefore, was the salivation of the
dogs in response to the ringing of the bell, even when no food
was present.
Pavlov had successfully associated an unconditioned
response (natural salivation in response to food) with a conditioned
stimulus (a buzzer), eventually creating a conditioned
response (salivation in response to a buzzer). With these results,
Pavlov established his theory of classical conditioning.
Neurological Response to Conditioning
Consider how the conditioned response occurs in the brain. When a
dog sees food, the visual and olfactory stimuli send information to
the brain through their respective neural pathways, ultimately
activating the salivation glands to secrete saliva. This reaction is a
natural biological process as saliva aids in the digestion of food.
When a dog hears a buzzer and at the same time sees food, the
auditory stimulus activates the associated neural pathways.
However, because these pathways are being activated at the same
time as the other neural pathways, there are weak synapse

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reactions that occur between the auditory stimulus and the

behavioral response. Over time, these synapses are strengthened
so that it only takes the sound of a buzzer (or a bell) to activate the
pathway leading to salivation.
Behaviorism and Other Research

Pavlov’s research contributed to other studies and theories in

behaviorism, which is an approach to psychology interested in
observable behaviors rather than the inner workings of the mind.
The philosopher Bertrand Russell argued that Pavlov’s work was an
important contribution to a philosophy of mind. Pavlov’s research
also contributed to Hans Eysench’s personality theory of
introversion and extroversion. Eysench built upon Pavlov’s research
on dogs, hypothesizing that the differences in arousal that the dogs
displayed was due to inborn genetic differences. Eysench then
extended the research to human personality traits.
Pavlov’s research further led to the development of important
behavior-therapy techniques, such as flooding and desensitizing, for
individuals who struggle with fear and anxiety. Desensitizing is a
kind of reverse conditioning in which an individual is repeatedly
exposed to the thing that is causing the anxiety. Flooding is similar
in that it exposes an individual to the thing causing the anxiety, but it
does so in a more intense and prolonged way.
Classical Conditioning in Humans
The influence of classical conditioning can be seen in responses
such as phobias, disgust, nausea, anger, and sexual arousal. A
familiar example is conditioned nausea, in which the sight or smell
of a particular food causes nausea because it caused stomach

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upset in the past. Similarly, when the sight of a dog has been
associated with a memory of being bitten, the result may be a
conditioned fear of dogs.
As an adaptive mechanism, conditioning helps shield an individual
from harm or prepare them for important biological events, such as
sexual activity. Thus, a stimulus that has occurred before sexual
interaction comes to cause sexual arousal, which prepares the
individual for sexual contact. For example, sexual arousal has been
conditioned in human subjects by pairing a stimulus like a picture of
a jar of pennies with views of an erotic film clip. Similar experiments
involving blue gourami fish and domesticated quail have shown that
such conditioning can increase the number of offspring. These
results suggest that conditioning techniques might help to increase
fertility rates in infertile individuals and endangered species.
Issues
Classical conditioning is one of those introductory psychology terms
that gets thrown around. Many people have a general idea that it is
one of the most basic forms of associative learning, and people
often know that Ivan Pavlov's 1927 experiment with dogs has
something to do with it, but that is often where it ends.
Classical Conditioning, Explained
The most important thing to remember is that classical conditioning
involves automatic or reflexive responses, and not voluntary
behavior (that's operant conditioning, and that is a different post).
What does this mean? For one thing, that means that the only
responses that can be elicited out of a classical conditioning
paradigm are ones that rely on responses that are naturally made

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by the animal (or human) that is being trained. Also, it means that
the response you hope to elicit must occur below the level of
conscious awareness - for example, salivation, nausea, increased
or decreased heartrate, pupil dilation or constriction, or even a
reflexive motor response (such as recoiling from a painful stimulus).
In other words, these sorts of responses are involuntary.
The basic classical conditioning procedure goes like this:
a neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditional stimulus (UCS).
The neutral stimulus can be anything, as long as it does not provoke
any sort of response in the organism. On the other hand, the
unconditional stimulus is something that reliably results in a natural
response. For example, if you shine a light into a human eye, the
pupil will automatically constrict (you can actually see this happen if
you watch your eyes in a mirror as you turn on and off a light).
Pavlov called this the "unconditional response." (UCR)
As soon as the neutral stimulus is presented with the UCS, it
becomes a conditional stimulus (CS). If the CS and UCS always
occur together, then the two stimuli would become associated over
time. The response that was initially produced in response to the
UCS would also be produced in response to the CS, even if it was
presented alone. Pavlov called this the "conditional response." (CR)
To make this a bit more concrete, we'll use Pavlov's dogs as an
example. Before learning took place, the dogs would reliably
salivate (UCR) when given meat powder (UCS), but they gave no
response to the ringing of a bell (neutral). Then Pavlov would
always ring a bell just before he would present the dogs with some
meat powder. Pretty soon, the dogs began to associate the sound
of the bell with the impending presence of meat powder. As a result,

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they would begin to salivate (CR) as soon as they heard the bell
(CS), even if it was not immediately followed by the meat powder
(UCS). In other words, they learned that the bell was a reliable
predictor of meat powder. In this way, Pavlov was able to elicit
an involuntary, automatic, reflexive response to a previously neutral
stimulus.
Classical conditioning can help us understand how some forms
of addiction, or drug dependence, work. For example, the repeated
use of a drug could cause the body to compensate for it, in an effort
to counterbalance the effects of the drug. This causes the user to
require more of the substance in order to get the equivalent effect
(this is called tolerance). However, the development of tolerance
also takes into account other environmental variables (the
conditional variables) - this is called the situational specificity of
tolerance. For example, alcohol tends to taste a certain way, and
when alcohol is consumed in the usual way, the body responds in
an effort to counteract the effect. But, if the alcohol is delivered in a
novel way (such as in Four Loko), the individual could overdose.
This effect has also been observed among those who have become
tolerant to otherwise lethal amounts of opiates: they may experience
an overdose if they take their typical dose in an atypical setting.
These results have been found in species ranging from rats and
mice to humans.
In these examples, it's the environmental context (conditional
stimuli) that prompts the body to prepare for the drug (the
conditional response). But if the conditional stimuli are absent, the
body is not able to adequately prepare itself for the drug, and bad
things could happen.

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Another example of classical conditioning is known as the appetizer

effect. If there are otherwise neutral stimuli that consistently predict
a meal, they could cause people to become hungry, because those
stimuli induce involuntary changes in the body, as a preparation for
digestion. There's a reason it's called the "dinner bell," after all.
Classical conditioning is also being used in wildlife conservation
efforts! At Extinction Countdown, John Platt pointed out last month
that taste aversion, which is a form of classical conditioning, is being
used to keep lions from preying on cattle. This should, in turn,
prevent farmers from killing the lions.
Instrumental learning: Phenomena, Paradigms and theoretical
issues;

Introduction To Instrumental Conditioning

We now shift from the topic of classical conditioning to that
of instrumental (or as Skinner terms it, operant) conditioning.
This topic will prove a bit more complex in its findings. As you will
see, however, many of the ideas that were important in classical
conditioning will prove relevant here. Indeed, there has long been a
debate over whether classical and operant conditioning ought to be
regarded as truly different forms of learning. They appear to differ in
the sense that classical conditioning generally involves the
presence of reflex actions, whereas instrumental conditioning
generally involves modifications of voluntary behavior contingent
on presence of reinforcers or punishers. Whether that is a
sufficient reason to distinguish them is arguable, as we will see
later. My sense of the field today is that most theorists would like to
see similar theories explain the results in both. Thus, it will not
surprise you, for example, that a modified version of the Rescorla-
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Wagner model has also been proposed for instrumental

conditioning.
Two Early Views Of Instrumental Conditioning
We will look at two quite different claims about the nature of
instrumental conditioning. One comes from Watson, the author of
the 1913 behaviorist manifesto, Psychology as the behaviorist views
it, and the second comes from Thorndike, who can probably safely
be credited with conducting the first truly sophisticated and careful
observations of complex animal learning. Their accounts differ in
ways that prefigured an important debate about what was needed
for learning to occur.
First, however, let us distinguish instrumental conditioning from
classical conditioning. In instrumental conditioning, an animal
makes one of a number of possible responses in the presence of
some stimulus complex or context. That response may lead to some
outcome. We typically define learning in this circumstance as an
alteration in some observed characteristic of the response such as
its frequency, latency, or amplitude. We will revisit this definition in
more detail later, once we have examined several theories of what
gets acquired, and why. For now, we can talk about instrumental
conditioning as the type of learning involved in navigating a maze,
choosing the correct one of several doors to run to, or even
performing some response that will be successful in avoiding a
future shock. In instrumental conditioning, new responses may be
taught that differ from any reflexive response already in the animal's
behavioral repertoire.
Basic Paradigms

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We have already introduced two general paradigms

involving acquisition and extinction. In acquisition, an outcome is
typically paired with making a response in the presence of a
stimulus; in extinction, that pairing typically ceases. Within this
broad framework (particularly with respect to acquisition), we may
distinguish several additional paradigms.
In appetitive or approach learning, the animal makes a
response that results in a desired reward. This is the type of
learning involving reinforcement that we have implicitly and explicitly
discussed so far. But it is not the only paradigm based on
reinforcement. Another that deserves particular note is omission
training, in which an animal has to suppress or withhold a response
in order to get its reward. Sheffield, for example, trained dogs to
salivate in the presence of a tone associated with food, and then
shifted them to omission training. In this latter phase, the dogs had
to avoid salivating to the tone for several seconds to get the food.
Omission training is initially typically difficult, and displays a
relatively slow learning curve. However, there are several studies
suggesting that in the long run, it will be as effective as extinction in
decreasing the frequency of a response. Omission training is
sometimes referred to as negative punishment to indicate
that making the response is associated with removal of a
reinforcer (which thus acts as a punishment).
Another paradigm based on reinforcement is escape learning.
In escape learning, the animal learns a response that gets it away
from punishment, either by turning off the punisher, or by allowing
the animal to leave the area where the punishment was
administered. Escape learning is closely associated with another
paradigm, avoidance learning. In avoidance learning, the
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punishment is intermittent rather than continuous. If the animal

makes the proper response before the punishment comes on, it will
succeed in canceling that punishment. In avoidance learning,
animals typically start out by escaping the aversive stimulation
(making a response during the punishment that stops it), and then
come to make the response early enough that they subsequently
successfully avoid the aversive stimulation.
Punishment training (or aversive learning), of course,
involves the administration of an unpleasant, aversive outcome
following a response. Thus, punishment training, omission
training, and extinction all have in common reducing the level of a
given response, whereas appetitive learning, escape learning,
and avoidance learning attempt to increase response level. There
are some obvious interplays in paradigms here, depending on which
response you focus on. Often, aspects of several different
paradigms combine: One response may be punished while another
is reinforced.
We may also distinguish between signaled and unsignaled
learning. A discrete, distinct stimulus is present in signaled
learning, but not in unsignaled learning. Thus, for example,
in unsignaled avoidance, shocks can occur at regular intervals
that could be avoided if the animal responds shortly before the
shock's onset. There is no physical stimulus signaling the shock; the
animal in this case needs to rely on an internal sense of time. In
unsignaled conditions, features such as time or the contextual cues
presumably act as stimuli.
Another paradigm, transfer training will prove important,
especially when we focus on discrimination in a later chapter. In

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transfer training, we look at the effects of learning one task on

another. Transfer might be nonexistent
(zero), positive (facilitation: the learning is faster),
or negative (inhibition: there is interference). In addition, transfer
effects might be proactive (in which we look at the effect of an
earlier task on the learning or performance of a later task),
or retroactive (in which we saw how the later task influences
performance on the earlier one).
A final paradigm involves shaping. Normally, approach
learning applies to responses that are not especially frequent to
start with, since we want to track an increase in frequency as one of
our measures of learning. Thus, we find ourselves in the following
situation: We sit in the lab, watching our animal subject, waiting for it
to make the desired response so that we can administer the
reinforcer.
Such a procedure will obviously be inefficient. In some cases
(such as a pig rolling a coin), the wait may be very long indeed!
Hence, a technology has developed that involves increasing the
probability of having the animal emit that response so that we can
then train it further through reinforcement. This technology, called
shaping, requires reinforcing successive approximations to the
desired response.
Shaping works as follows. We start out by identifying a high-
frequency component of the response we want, and we reinforce
that. So, if we want our rat to press a bar on the left side of an
experimental chamber, then a high-frequency component would
involve having the rat be in the left half of the chamber. While it is
exploring its environment, we reinforce for crossing over to the left.

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Then, as it increases its time on the left, we drop the reinforcer. That
will cause the behavior to become more variable. We await some
response yet closer to what we want to train (such as being near the
bar), and when that occurs we reintroduce the reinforcer. And then,
of course, we cycle the process through again in order to obtain yet
a closer approximation (such as touching the bar). Shaping is a very
powerful technique, not only because of its ability to 'coax' low
frequency responses out of an animal, but also -- and especially --
because of its ability to mold a response that is not normally
part of the animal's repertoire! Thus, by
combining shaping and chaining, instrumental conditioning allows
us to train totally new responses, rather than just transfer stimulus
control of an old response to a new stimulus.

Operant behavior involves adaptation to the consequences of

responding; it is the prototype of adaptive behavior during the life of
the individual – the ontogenetic equivalent of Darwinian natural
selection in phylogeny. Techniques for exploring operant behavior
exploded with the invention of the Skinner box and the discovery of
the orderly and powerful effects of schedules of reinforcement. In
the 1950s and 1960s, much research addressed the limits of
operant conditioning and in particular the intimate relationship
between the processes underlying operant and classical
conditioning. In recent decades, two research areas, interval timing
and choice, have dominated the field. We have reviewed these
topics and, in addition, discussed post-Skinner developments in the
economics of operant behavior. We hope, with this chapter, to have
aroused the interest of the reader for this fascinating and lively field
of behavioral science.
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Instrumental Conditioning of Avoidance. Another important model of

learning and stress reactivity derived from research with animals
was pioneered by B. F. Skinner (1938; Ferster & Skinner, 1957) in
landmark works on “contingencies of reinforcement” affecting the
behaviors of animals such as rats and pigeons. Skinner observed
that animals tend to increase the rate of behaviors that are followed
by certain changes in their environment.
He called this phenomenon “reinforcement” that occurs due to the
animal’s learning that there is a “contingent” relationship between
doing that behavior (e.g., pecking or pushing a lever in the cage)
and receiving a desired outcome (the reinforce—for example, a
pellet of food). Behavior that might previously have been rare or
sporadic can become regular and frequent if the contingency of
reinforcement is set up to teach the animal that the behavior seems
to produce the reinforcer.
This is another form of conditioned learning, which is called
instrumental conditioning because the animal learns that a behavior
is “instrumental” in increasing the likelihood that a reinforcer will
occur.
“Operant conditioning” does not refer to a single therapeutic
technique. Instead, the term refers to an important form of learning,
or conditioning, in which behavior is primarily controlled by its
consequences. The consequences of a particular kind of behavior in
one setting can either increase or decrease the probability of such
behavior occurring in similar settings in the future. Descriptions of
the consequences of behavior, called rules, can have similar
effects. A great deal is known concerning how consequences affect
behavior, and this knowledge has been put to good use in designing

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interventions shown to be effective across a wide range of client

populations, behavior problems, and settings.
The Major Phenomena of Instrumental Conditioning
As Skinner noted, classical and instrumental conditioning are
different in impor-tant ways: Classical conditioning builds on a
response (UR) that’s automatically triggered by a stimulus (US);
instrumental conditioning involves behaviors that appear to be
voluntary. Classical conditioning involves learning about the relation
between two stimuli (US and CS); instrumental conditioning involves
learning about the relation between a response and a stimulus (the
operant and a reward). Even with these differences, modern
theorists have argued that the two forms of conditioning have a lot
in common. This makes sense because both involve learning
about relationships among simple events (stimuli or responses).
It’s perhaps inevitable, then, that many of the central
phenomena of instrumental learning parallel those of classical
conditioning. For example, in classical conditioning, learning trials
typically involve the presentation of a CS followed by a US. In
instrumental conditioning, learning trials typically involve a response
by the organ-ism followed by a reward or reinforcer. The
reinforcement often involves the presenta-tion of something good,
such as grain to a hungry pigeon. Alternatively, reinforcement may
involve the termination or prevention of something bad, such as the
cessation of a loud noise.
In both forms of conditioning, the more such pairings there are, the
stronger the learning. And if we discontinue these pairings so that
the CS is no longer followed by the US or the response by a
reinforcer, the result is extinction.
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GENERALIZATION AND DISCRIMINATION

An instrumental response is not directly triggered by an external
stimulus, the way a CR or UR is. But that doesn’t mean external
stimuli have no role here. In instrumental con-ditioning, external
events serve as discriminative stimuli, signaling for an animal what
sorts of behaviors will be rewarded in a given situation. For
example, suppose a pigeon is trained to hop onto a platform to get
some grain. When a green light is on, hopping on the platform pays
off. But when a red light is on, hopping gains no reward. Under
these circumstances, the green light becomes a positive
discriminative stimulus and the red light a negative one (usually
labeled S+ and S–, respectively). The pigeon swiftly learns this
pattern and so will hop in the presence of the first and not in the
presence of the second.
Other examples are easy to find. A child learns that pinching her
sister leads to pun-ishment when her parents are on the scene but
may have no consequences otherwise. In this situation, the child
may learn to behave well in the presence of the S+ (i.e., when her
parents are there) but not in other circumstances. A hypochondriac
may learn that loud groans will garner sympathy and support from
others but may bring no benefits when others are not around. As a
result, he may learn to groan in social settings but not when alone.
Let’s be clear, though, about the comparison between these stimuli
and the stimuli central to classical conditioning. A CS+ tells the
animal about events in the world: “No matter what you do, the US is
coming.” The S+, on the other hand, tells the animal about the
impact of its own behavior: “If you respond now, you’ll get
rewarded.” The CS– indicates that no matter what the animal does,

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no US is coming. The S–, in con-trast, tells the animal something

about its behavior—namely, that there’s no point in responding right
now.
Despite these differences, generalization in instrumental
conditioning functions much the way it does in classical
conditioning, and likewise for discrimination. One illustration of
these parallels lies in the generalization gradient. We saw earlier
that if an organism is trained with one CS (perhaps a high tone) but
then tested with a differ-ent one (a low tone), the CR will be
diminished. The greater the change in the CS, the greater the drop
in the CR’s strength. The same pattern emerges in instrumental
condi-tioning. In one experiment, pigeons were trained to peck at a
key illuminated with yellow light. Later, they were tested with lights
of varying wavelengths, and the results showed an orderly
generalization gradient (Figure 7.22). As the test light became less
similar to the original S+, the pigeons were less inclined to peck at it
(Guttmann & Kalish, 1956).
BEHAVIOR MOTIVATION
Once we’ve identified a stimulus as a reinforcer, what determines
how effective the reinforcer will be? We know that some reinforcers
are more powerful than others—and so an animal will respond more
strongly for a large reward than for a small one. However, what
counts as large or small depends on the context. If a rat is used to
get-ting 60 food pellets for a response, then 16 pellets will seem
measly and the animal will respond only weakly for this puny
reward. But if a rat is used to getting only 4 pellets for a response,
then 16 pellets will seem like a feast and the rat’s response will be
fast and strong (for the classic demonstration of this point, see

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Crespi, 1942). Thus, the effectiveness of a reinforcer depends

largely on what other rewards are available (or have recently been
available); this effect is known as behavioral contrast.
Contrast effects are important for their own sake, but they may also
help explain another (somewhat controversial) group of findings. In
one study, for example, nursery-school children were given an
opportunity to draw pictures. The children seemed to enjoy this
activity and produced a steady stream of drawings. The
experimenters then changed the situation: They introduced an
additional reward so that the children now earned an attractive
“Good Player” certificate for producing their pictures. Then, later on,
the chil-dren were again given the opportunity to draw pictures—but
this time with no provision for “Good Player” rewards. Remarkably,
these children showed considerably less interest in drawing than
they had at the start and chose instead to spend their time on other
activ-ities (see, for example, Lepper, Greene, & Nisbett, 1973; also
Kohn, 1993).

Some theorists say these data illustrate the power of behavioral

contrast. At the start of the study, the activity of drawing was
presumably maintained by certain reinforce-ments in the situation—
perhaps encouragement from the teachers or comments by other
children. Whatever the reinforcements were, they were strong
enough to maintain the behavior; we know this because the children
were producing drawings at a steady pace. Later on, though, an
additional reinforcement (the “Good Player” certifi-cate) was added
and then removed. At that point the children were back to the same
rewards they’d been getting at the start, but now these rewards

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seemed puny in com-parison to the greater prize they’d been

earning during the time when the “Good Player” award was
available. As a consequence, the initial set of rewards was no
longer enough to motivate continued drawing.
Other theorists interpret these findings differently. In their view,
results like this one suggest that there are actually two different
types of reward. One type is merely tacked onto a behavior and is
under the experimenter’s control; it’s the sort of reward that’s in play
when we give a pigeon a bit of food for pecking a key, or hand a
factory worker a paycheck for completing a day’s work. The other
type of reward is intrinsic to the behav-ior and independent of the
experimenter’s intentions; these rewards are in play when someone
is engaging in an activity just for the pleasure of the activity itself.
In addition, these two forms of reward can interfere with each other.
Thus, in the study with the “Good Player” certificates, the children
were initially drawing pictures for an intrinsic reward. Drawing, in
other words, was a form of play engaged in for its own sake.
However, once the external rewards (the certificates) entered the
situation, the same activity became a form of work—something you
do for a payoff. And once the
activity was redefined in this way, then the absence of a payoff
meant there was no longer any point in drawing.
Debate continues about which of these interpretations is
preferable—the one based on behavioral contrast or the one based
on intrinsic motivation. (It also seems plausi-ble
that both interpretations may capture aspects of what’s going on
here.) Clearly, there’s more to be learned about reinforcement and
the nature of motivation. (For further exploration, see Bowles, 2008;
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Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 1999a, 1999b; Eisenberger, Pierce, &

Cameron, 1999; Henderlong & Lepper, 2002.)

Reinforcement-Based Learning

Rewards and punishers, in contrast, played a pivotal role in the

work of Thorndike, who is often credited with founding the field of
instrumental conditioning. Thorndike published a monograph in
1898 on his studies with animals such as cats. He set up an
experimental apparatus termed a puzzle box: a cage in which the
animal was placed, and which could be escaped through the
performance of a simple response such as pulling on a rope
attached to a door. These studies really involved the first careful,
detailed observations of what animals in general learned, as
opposed to anecdotal stories collected of amazing things animals
did that obviously proved their intelligence. (Television still plays into
that sort of approach, needless to say!)
Thorndike asked a very simple question: Would escape from a
puzzle box exhibit any signs of intelligence? Would it display
evidence of insight, in which the animal would be able to glance
about its environment, understand that the rope was attached to the
door, and realize that it needed only to pull on the rope to get out?
To answer this question, Thorndike repeatedly placed animals in the
same puzzle box, and measured how long it took them to escape.
And what he found was that the time to escape decreased only
gradually. By the end of the experiment, after 20 or so trials, cats
would easily leave the box by performing the appropriate response
as soon as they were placed in it. But, their history clearly
demonstrated that this had to have been a learned response. In
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particular, Thorndike pointed out that an animal making the correct

response on a given trial early in training would not necessarily
choose that same response as its first response on the next trial.
So, rather than insight, he concluded that learning involved trial-
and-error.
Trial-and-error refers to the gradual accumulation of correct
responses through a slow process of trying out all sorts of
possibilities, and slowly weeding out the ones that do not work. As
did Watson, Thorndike thought animals were acquiring associations
between stimulus configurations (such as the puzzle box) and
certain responses. But unlike Watson, he claimed that an additional
factor was important in the acquisition of these associations: They
would depend on the outcome of the animal's actions. This involved
a principle Thorndike termed the Law of Effect. Put briefly, this law
claimed that an association between a stimulus and a response
would strengthen if the response were followed by a satisfactory
state of affairs, and would weaken if the response were followed
by an unsatisfactory state of affairs. Thus, Thorndike deliberately
included Bentham's notion of hedonistic value as a principle
governing the formation of an association, in contrast to Watson.
Rather than being a simple contiguity theory, this was
a reinforcement theory: In modern terms, learning of an
association will occur when there is a reinforcer following a
response.
There are, of course, a number of interpretations available to
account for how a reinforcer might operate according to the law of
effect. One of the first to come to most people's minds is
a teleological or purposive explanation: The animal performs a
response because it desires the outcome. But of course, desiring an
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outcome is a mental state that involves an object not present at the

time the animal is performing the response. That type of an
explanation would violate the positivist program Watson insisted
everyone follow. Thus, as an alternative, we might propose that a
positive outcome has an automatic effect of strengthening the
association: The animal does not perform the response because it
wants the outcome, but rather because the response is strongly
associated to the stimulus that is present.
Here is what Thorndike actually said regarding satisfying and
unsatisfying states (1913, p. 2):
By a satisfying state of affairs is meant one which the animal does
nothing to avoid, often doing things which maintain or renew it. By
an annoying state of affairs is meant one which the animal does
nothing to preserve, often doing things which put an end to it.
Although he was accused of using hopelessly mentalistic terms in
describing learning as depending on satisfactory or unsatisfactory
states, his actual definition provided a clear behavioral test for
determining when one or the other state was present. In that sense,
it ought to have troubled people no more than Watson's use of the
term "emotional."
Note too that Thorndike did not include the outcome in the
association. As we will see, other theorists have claimed that
associations to the outcome may also form, so that we can have S-
R associations, R-O associations, and even S-O associations. To
anticipate how such a model might differ from Thorndike's, a
strong S-R association may exist despite a highly unpleasant or
unsatisfying outcome: The presence of an R-O association in that

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event may serve to inhibit the R excited by presence of an

associated stimulus.
Thorndike also proposed another principle, the Law of
Exercise (sometimes called the Law of Use). This was essentially
a principle of practice, somewhat similar to Watson's notion
of frequency: An association would strengthen if practiced. Both
laws were revised in his later work: the Law of Effect was essentially
restricted to satisfactory outcomes, and the Law of Use was
modified to include outcomes rather than simple exercise.
Thorndike also spoke of the value of different satisfactory
states, so that strong satisfiers would do a better job of
strengthening an association than weak satisfiers. And as an
interesting historical footnote, he actually contradicted one of the
major principles of strict contiguity by proposing an early version
of belongingness by which some things would be more likely to
associate together than others.
In some sense, Skinner may be regarded as Thorndike's
intellectual successor. Skinner proposed similar ideas involving
the law of reinforcement and the law of punishment. According
to Skinner, a reinforcer was any event that, following a response,
made that response more likely, whereas a punisher was any event
that had the opposite effect. To try to identify reinforcers and
punishers in a way that wasn't completely circular (and also wasn't
mentalistic), Skinner imposed a condition of transituationality: A
reinforcer or punisher, once identified in terms of its effects
on one response, also has to be shown capable of having a similar
effect in other situations, on other responses. Otherwise, we find
ourselves defining a response as that which, when followed by a

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reinforcer, increases in frequency. And that type of definition, of

course, reciprocally defines responses and reinforcers in terms of
one another in an uninteresting, circular fashion.
With this as background, let us look at some of the basic
findings in instrumental conditioning.

Reinforcement: Basic variables

One of the most critical challenges in applied empirical research is

to draw causal inference from observational data. Empirical
marketing research, which often involves causal analysis of the
impact of marketing strategy, is no exception. A central difficulty is
endogeneity of variables entering the causal relationship, arising
from either omitted variable bias, simultaneity bias, sample selection
bias, or measurement errors. According to recent research,
mentions of endogeneity and procedures to address it have risen 5x
across the field’s top four journals (Rutz and Watson (2019)).
Instrumental Variable (IV) methods are among the most frequently
used techniques to address such endogeneity issues. Instruments
that are correlated with the endogenous variable but are otherwise
not associated with the outcome variable can be used to partition
the variance of the endogenous variable into endogenous and
exogenous components.
The method of instrumental variables is based on using the
variation in the exogenous component of the endogenous variable
induced by the the variation in the instrumental variable to make
inference of causal effects In recent years, use of the IV method has
come under criticism in Marketing (e.g. Rossi (2014)) and multiple

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other disciplines (e.g. Bound et al. (1995) and Young (2017) in

Economics; Yogo (2004), Stock and Yogo (2002), and Hausman et
al. (2005) in Finance).
This is because IVs used in practice are often weakly correlated
with the endogenous variables, e.g. the instruments used in practice
induce limited variation in the endogenous variables leading to
impractically large imprecision of estimates of causal effects.
In the extreme case when the correlation becomes sufficiently
weak, this leads to a formal “weak instruments” problem whereby
standard asymptotics break down, and the estimated parameters
are no longer even consistent and have a non-standard asymptotic
distribution (see Stock and Wright (2000) and Staiger and Stock
(1994)). The bias becomes worse (Hausman et al. (2005)) when the
researcher adds more weak instruments.
The problem can be acute for industrial organization models (e.g.,
Berry et al. (1995), Arellano and Bond (1991), Arellano and Bover
(1995), Blundell and Bond (1998), Hendel and Nevo (2006)), which
involve estimating parameters from highly nonlinear functions and
makes even the detection of weak IV’s more challenging.
Such models have been widely used in marketing literature and
remain the workhorse models for studying many marketing
problems (see Goldfarb et al. (2009), Chintagunta and Nair (2011)
and many others) Constructing strong and valid instruments is,
therefore, an important endeavor for causal inference from
observational data. In this paper, we approach the problem of
constructing strong instrumental variables from exogenous
information in causal models as a (supervised) machine learning
problem. We first formulate the choice of construction of instruments
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in a causal model as a decision problem that is amenable to the

learning approach. The key empirical problem which arises for the
econometrician that is distinct from the machine learner is that, in
the typical applied context, the econometrician does not have the
luxury of treating the sample in-hand as the training sample for the
decision problem. Instead, the sample in-hand is typically the only
information from which instruments must be constructed and causal
inference must simultaneously be derived. We extend the standard
learning framework to develop an algorithm we term “MLIV
Algorithm”, which allows training of instruments and causal
inference to be simultaneously performed from sample data.
Related Literature
As discussed above, the standard existing approach to weak IV
concerns is approached through approximation of optimal
instruments. Most work on optimal instrument variables in linear
models casts the problem as a selection problem among the
available exogenous variables (and their transformations e.g., b-
splines). Early work on instrument selection goes back to ((Kloek
and Mennes 1960) and Amemiya (1966)) where they studied using
“selected” principal components of the many available instruments
to counter inference issues due to many instruments. Further work
by (Kapetanios and Marcellino (2010)) proposed using factor
analysis for decomposing the high-dimensional instruments onto a
lowdimensional space.
Both principal component analysis and factor analysis are not
targeted at approximating the optimal instruments, but rather at
coming up with a low dimensional vector that summarizes the high-
dimensional instruments, which could potentially yield (Amemiya
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(1966)) better performance in terms of bias and mean squared

error. Recent work on instrument selection assumes strong sparsity
of the optimal instruments structure (i.e. a small set of the available
IVs are valid and sufficient for first stage).
Work by (Bai and Ng (2009)) demonstrate how boosting can be
used for recovering the sparse structure but do not provide any
formal proof. (Belloni et al. (2012)) explicitly shows how Lasso can
be used for instrument selection among a large set of candidate
instruments under the strong sparsity assumption. Further they are
also able to prove theoretical consistency and other inference
results for their IV estimator.
Their proposed approach does not work as well when sparsity is
violated, i.e. most instruments are weak, as it selects all of the weak
IVs or drops them all. Unlike the extant literature, our learning
approach to instrumental variables still exhibits asymptotic
guarantees and does not rely on any sparsity assumption on the
optimal instrument structure. Further, our approach allows the
researcher to apply a broad arsenal of machine learning methods in
constructing the instrumental variables.

Reinforcement Schedules

Remember, the best way to teach a person or animal a behavior is

to use positive reinforcement. For example, Skinner used positive
reinforcement to teach rats to press a lever in a Skinner box. At first,
the rat might randomly hit the lever while exploring the box, and out
would come a pellet of food. After eating the pellet, what do you
think the hungry rat did next? It hit the lever again, and received

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another pellet of food. Each time the rat hit the lever, a pellet of food
came out. When an organism receives a reinforcer each time it
displays a behavior, it is called continuous reinforcement. This
reinforcement schedule is the quickest way to teach someone a
behavior, and it is especially effective in training a new behavior.
Let’s look back at the dog that was learning to sit earlier in the
module. Now, each time he sits, you give him a treat. Timing is
important here: you will be most successful if you present the
reinforcer immediately after he sits, so that he can make an
association between the target behavior (sitting) and the
consequence (getting a treat).
Once a behavior is trained, researchers and trainers often turn to
another type of reinforcement schedule—partial reinforcement.
In partial reinforcement, also referred to as intermittent
reinforcement, the person or animal does not get reinforced every
time they perform the desired behavior. There are several different
types of partial reinforcement schedules (Table 1). These schedules
are described as either fixed or variable, and as either interval or
ratio. Fixed refers to the number of responses between
reinforcements, or the amount of time between reinforcements,
which is set and unchanging. Variable refers to the number of
responses or amount of time between reinforcements, which varies
or changes. Interval means the schedule is based on the time
between reinforcements, and ratio means the schedule is based on
the number of responses between reinforcements.

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Reinforce
ment Description Result
Schedule

Reinforceme
nt is delivered
at predictable Moderate response rate with significant
Fixed
time intervals
interval pauses after reinforcement
(e.g., after 5,
10, 15, and
20 minutes).

Reinforceme
nt is delivered
at
Variable unpredictable
Moderate yet steady response rate
interval time intervals
(e.g., after 5,
7, 10, and 20
minutes).

Reinforceme
nt is delivered
High response rate with pauses after
Fixed ratio after a
predictable reinforcement
number of
responses

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Reinforce
ment Description Result
Schedule

(e.g., after 2,
4, 6, and 8
responses).

Reinforceme
nt is delivered
after an
unpredictable
Variable
number of High and steady response rate
ratio
responses
(e.g., after 1,
4, 5, and 9
responses).

Table 1. Reinforcement Schedules

Now let’s combine these four terms. A fixed interval

reinforcement schedule is when behavior is rewarded after a set
amount of time. For example, June undergoes major surgery in a
hospital. During recovery, she is expected to experience pain and
will require prescription medications for pain relief. June is given an
IV drip with a patient-controlled painkiller. Her doctor sets a limit:
one dose per hour. June pushes a button when pain becomes
difficult, and she receives a dose of medication. Since the reward
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(pain relief) only occurs on a fixed interval, there is no point in

exhibiting the behavior when it will not be rewarded.
With a variable interval reinforcement schedule, the person or
animal gets the reinforcement based on varying amounts of time,
which are unpredictable. Say that Manuel is the manager at a fast-
food restaurant. Every once in a while someone from the quality
control division comes to Manuel’s restaurant. If the restaurant is
clean and the service is fast, everyone on that shift earns a $20
bonus. Manuel never knows when the quality control person will
show up, so he always tries to keep the restaurant clean and
ensures that his employees provide prompt and courteous service.
His productivity regarding prompt service and keeping a clean
restaurant are steady because he wants his crew to earn the bonus.
With a fixed ratio reinforcement schedule, there are a set number
of responses that must occur before the behavior is rewarded. Carla
sells glasses at an eyeglass store, and she earns a commission
every time she sells a pair of glasses. She always tries to sell
people more pairs of glasses, including prescription sunglasses or a
backup pair, so she can increase her commission. She does not
care if the person really needs the prescription sunglasses, Carla
just wants her bonus. The quality of what Carla sells does not
matter because her commission is not based on quality; it’s only
based on the number of pairs sold. This distinction in the quality of
performance can help determine which reinforcement method is
most appropriate for a particular situation. Fixed ratios are better
suited to optimize the quantity of output, whereas a fixed interval, in
which the reward is not quantity based, can lead to a higher quality
of output.

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In a variable ratio reinforcement schedule, the number of

responses needed for a reward varies. This is the most powerful
partial reinforcement schedule. An example of the variable ratio
reinforcement schedule is gambling. Imagine that Sarah—generally
a smart, thrifty woman—visits Las Vegas for the first time. She is
not a gambler, but out of curiosity she puts a quarter into the slot
machine, and then another, and another. Nothing happens. Two
dollars in quarters later, her curiosity is fading, and she is just about
to quit. But then, the machine lights up, bells go off, and Sarah gets
50 quarters back. That’s more like it! Sarah gets back to inserting
quarters with renewed interest, and a few minutes later she has
used up all her gains and is $10 in the hole. Now might be a
sensible time to quit. And yet, she keeps putting money into the slot
machine because she never knows when the next reinforcement is
coming. She keeps thinking that with the next quarter she could win
$50, or $100, or even more. Because the reinforcement schedule in
most types of gambling has a variable ratio schedule, people keep
trying and hoping that the next time they will win big. This is one of
the reasons that gambling is so addictive—and so resistant to
extinction.
Types of Reinforcement Schedules
The two foundational forms of reinforcement schedules are referred
to as continuous reinforcement and partial reinforcement.
Continuous Reinforcement
In continuous reinforcement, the desired behavior is
reinforced every single time it occurs. 1 This schedule is best used
during the initial stages of learning to create a strong association
between the behavior and response.
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Imagine, for example, that you are trying to teach a dog to shake
your hand. During the initial stages of learning, you would stick to a
continuous reinforcement schedule to teach and establish the
behavior. This might involve grabbing the dog's paw, shaking it,
saying "shake," and then offering a reward each and every time you
perform these steps. Eventually, the dog will start to perform the
action on its own.
Continuous reinforcement schedules are most effective when trying
to teach a new behavior. It denotes a pattern to which every
narrowly-defined response is followed by a narrowly-defined
consequence.
Partial Reinforcement
Once the response is firmly established, a continuous reinforcement
schedule is usually switched to a partial reinforcement schedule.1 In
partial (or intermittent) reinforcement, the response is reinforced
only part of the time. Learned behaviors are acquired more slowly
with partial reinforcement, but the response is more resistant
to extinction.
Think of the earlier example in which you were training a dog to
shake and. While you initially used continuous reinforcement,
reinforcing the behavior every time is simply unrealistic. In time, you
would switch to a partial schedule to provide additional
reinforcement once the behavior has been established or after
considerable time has passed.
There are four schedules of partial reinforcement:
Fixed-Ratio Schedules

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Fixed-ratio schedules are those in which a response is reinforced

only after a specified number of responses. This schedule produces
a high, steady rate of responding with only a brief pause after the
delivery of the reinforcer. An example of a fixed-ratio schedule
would be delivering a food pellet to a rat after it presses a bar five
times.
Variable-Ratio Schedules
Variable-ratio schedules occur when a response is reinforced after
an unpredictable number of responses. This schedule creates a
high steady rate of responding. Gambling and lottery games are
good examples of a reward based on a variable ratio schedule. In a
lab setting, this might involve delivering food pellets to a rat after
one bar press, again after four bar presses, and then again after two
bar presses.
Fixed-Interval Schedules
Fixed-interval schedules are those where the first response is
rewarded only after a specified amount of time has elapsed. This
schedule causes high amounts of responding near the end of the
interval but slower responding immediately after the delivery of the
reinforcer. An example of this in a lab setting would be reinforcing a
rat with a lab pellet for the first bar press after a 30-second interval
has elapsed.
Variable-Interval Schedules
Variable-interval schedules occur when a response is rewarded
after an unpredictable amount of time has passed. This schedule
produces a slow, steady rate of response.

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An example of this would be delivering a food pellet to a rat after the

first bar press following a one-minute interval; a second pellet for
the first response following a five-minute interval; and a third pellet
for the first response following a three-minute interval.
Using the Appropriate Schedule

Deciding when to reinforce a behavior can depend on a number of

factors. In cases where you are specifically trying to teach a new
behavior, a continuous schedule is often a good choice. Once the
behavior has been learned, switching to a partial schedule is often
preferable.
In daily life, partial schedules of reinforcement occur much more
frequently than do continuous ones. For example, imagine if you
received a reward every time you showed up to work on time. Over
time, instead of the reward being a positive reinforcement, the
denial of the reward could be regarded as negative reinforcement.
Instead, rewards like these are usually doled out on a much less
predictable partial reinforcement schedule. Not only are these much
more realistic, but they also tend to produce higher response rates
while being less susceptible to extinction.1
Partial schedules reduce the risk of satiation once a behavior has
been established. If a reward is given without end, the subject may
stop performing the behavior if the reward is no longer wanted or
needed.
For example, imagine that you are trying to teach a dog to sit. If you
use food as a reward every time, the dog might stop performing
once it is full. In such instances, something like praise or attention

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may be more effective in reinforcing an already-established

behavior.

Behaviours by reinforcement
Highlights
•
Developmental differences in acquiring and adapting behaviours by
reinforcement were examined.
•
Children and adults acquired simple new behaviours by feedback
comparably.
•
Children's performance was more disrupted than adults’ when
adapting behaviours.
•
P3 ERP changes indicated children consolidated adapted
behaviours less than adults.
•
FRN ERP changes showed children relied more on feedback than
adults in adaptation.
Reinforcement learning in development
The ability to learn and modify behaviours based on the positive and
negative outcomes of our actions is an important skill used

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throughout the lifespan. This skill, known as reinforcement learning

(Holroyd and Coles, 2002, Thorndike and Bruce, 1911), may be
particularly valuable in the first two decades of life, affording the
naïve developing child an effective method of identifying
advantageous behaviours and discerning when and how learned
actions should be adapted for changing contexts. Indeed, impaired
reinforcement learning has been implicated in the pathology of
several neurodevelopmental disorders, including Tourette
syndrome and ADHD (Marsh et al., 2004, Sagvolden et al., 2005),
although the precise deficits in these conditions are unclear. A
thorough understanding of the typical development of reinforcement
learning may help clarify these deficits, but few studies have
examined this aspect of cognitive development.
1.2. Differences in reinforcement learning across typical
development
Previous studies have consistently reported performance
differences between children and adults in reinforcement learning.
Younger children are less accurate when learning associations
between stimuli and responses (S–R associations) by positive and
negative feedback than older children and adults (Baldwin et al.,
2012, Crone et al., 2004). Children learn at a slower rate than adults
(Crone et al., 2004) and show particular difficulties when
reinforcements are inconsistent. Specifically, performance
differences between children and adults increase when feedback is
probabilistic and does not correctly reinforce performance 100% of
the time (Eppinger et al., 2009, Hämmerer et al., 2010).
Neural processes underlying these developmental differences have
been examined using EEG, particularly the feedback-related

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negativity (FRN) event-related potential (ERP). The FRN is a

negative deflection in the waveform at ∼250 ms following feedback
(Miltner et al., 1997). FRN amplitude is larger following negative
than positive feedback, and in some studies positive feedback elicits
a positive-going deflection in the FRN time-range, the feedback-
positivity (FP) (Holroyd et al., 2008). Evidence suggests the FRN/FP
is generated by prefrontal cortical regions associated with
performance monitoring, and reflects the processing
of dopaminergic reinforcement learning signals triggered by
feedback indicating behaviour was better or worse than expected
(Bellebaum and Daum, 2008, Luque et al., 2012, Oliveira et al.,
2007). FRN/FP amplitudes decrease during a reinforcement
learning episode, likely reflecting decreased reliance on external
feedback with increasing knowledge of the to-be-learned behaviours
(Eppinger et al., 2009, Holroyd and Coles, 2002).
Children show less enhancement of the FRN for negative compared
with positive feedback, suggesting children are poorer at
differentiating between types of feedback than adults (Hämmerer et
al., 2010). The authors suggest this may explain why learning is
more disrupted in children when feedback is probabilistic and
difficult to discriminate. FP amplitude decreases less across
learning in children than adults and ERP correlates of monitoring
errors in performance differentiate less between correct and error
responses in children than in adults (Eppinger et al., 2009). Based
on these differences between children and adults, Eppinger et al.
(2009) suggested that children have weaker internal representations
of whether a response is correct or erroneous, resulting in a greater
reliance on feedback processing to achieve successful
performance. In a recent review of this literature, Hämmerer and

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Eppinger (2012) proposed that increasing reinforcement learning

ability reflects developing efficiency in processing feedback, using
reinforcements effectively to guide goal-directed behaviour, and
building internal representations of correct behaviours, as prefrontal
cortical regions mature.
However, due to the scarcity of research in this area further studies
are needed (Hämmerer and Eppinger, 2012). Furthermore, previous
research has not addressed an important aspect of reinforcement
learning, that is, the ability to alter and re-learn behaviours following
changes in reinforcements. A robust finding in the executive
function literature is that children are poorer than adults in switching
to new behaviours when prompted by cues (Koolschijn et al., 2011).
This suggests that children will have particular difficulty with learning
when reinforcement contingencies change. Furthermore, the
learning tasks used previously have been complicated, with multiple
feedback conditions presented for different S–R associations within
task blocks, creating considerable working memory demands
(Crone et al., 2004, Eppinger et al., 2009, Hämmerer et al.,
2010). Crone et al. (2004) and Eppinger et al. (2009) controlled for
this problem by allocating children extra response time, but
nevertheless the difficulty of these tasks may have enhanced
developmental differences.
1.3. The current study
The study aims were firstly to further investigate neurocognitive
differences in the typical development of reinforcement learning
using a simple task designed to reduce the influence of age-related
performance differences on ERP correlates of learning. The
intention was to ensure all participants could perform the task

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adequately regardless of age so that any ERP differences are more

likely to reflect differences in the recruitment of neural
networks underlying task performance, rather than floor or ceiling
effects in one age group. Secondly, to assess developmental
differences in the ability to change and re-learn acquired behaviour
in response to altered reinforcement contingencies we compared
children aged 9–11 years with adults aged 21 years and over. Our
aim was to establish whether children differ from adults in
behavioural and brain correlates of learning before they undergo the
significant maturational changes that take place during
adolescence. During EEG recording typically developing children
and adults performed a task in which they learned four S–R
associations by positive and negative feedback and then reversed
the associations after an unexpected change in reinforcement
contingencies. Changes in performance and feedback processing,
indexed by the FRN, related to learning and reversal were
examined across the task and between age groups. Additionally,
changes in the P3 ERP, a positive deflection at ∼300 ms post-
stimulus, were examined. P3 amplitude increases with progressing
reinforcement learning in adults, which is thought to reflect
increasing consolidation of to-be-learned behaviours). The P3 may
further elucidate neurocognitive differences between children and
adults, for example, children may show weaker consolidation of
associations than adults reflected by smaller P3 amplitude
increases with learning. We predicted children would show smaller
learning-related changes in performance and ERP amplitudes
during the initial acquisition of S–R mappings than adults, reflecting
poorer learning ability at this age. Further, we expected children to
show greater disruptions to performance and greater reliance on

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feedback, indexed by smaller FRN amplitude changes, when the

reversal occurred.
2. Method
2.1. Participants
Fourteen 9–11 year olds (12 male, mean age: 10.2 years) and 15
adults (5 male, mean age: 25.5 years) were recruited from local
primary schools and the University of Nottingham, UK to take part in
this study. Participants were typically developing with no known
neurological or psychiatric problems which may have affected brain
function, right-handed (determined by the dominant hand for writing)
and had normal or corrected-to-normal vision. Participants were
tested in accordance with procedures approved by the University of
Nottingham Medical School Ethics Committee and/or the East
Midlands NHS Research Ethics Committee. Monetary
reimbursement (£10) was provided for taking part.
2.2. Reinforcement learning task and testing procedure
The reinforcement learning task required participants to learn by
trial-and-error, using deterministic (always valid) performance
feedback, to associate a set of two visual stimuli with a right hand
button-press and another two stimuli with a left hand button-press.
Three blocks of trials were presented for participants to learn the
stimulus–response (S–R) associations. The S–R mappings
reversed unexpectedly in a fourth block, requiring participants to re-
learn the correct response for each stimulus. In a fifth block, the
mappings remained reversed. Every block contained 48 trials, with
each stimulus presented 12 times in random order in each block.
Particular S–R associations were counterbalanced across

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participants. Stimuli were four cartoon characters from a popular

animated film, presented in colour and surrounded by a rectangular
3 mm thick green frame. Stimuli measured 60 mm × 57 mm
including the frame. Circular yellow happy-face images and blue
sad-face images (both 60 mm in diameter) were used as positive
and negative feedback. The words ‘Too slow!’ (10 mm × 90 mm)
were displayed in green for late responses.
Acquisition of simple new behaviours by reinforcement
Children and adults showed equivalent increases in accuracy and
P3 amplitude and decreases in FRN amplitude as they learned the
S–R associations. Therefore, in contrast to previous research
children in this study acquired and consolidated new behaviours
and gradually decreased their use of external feedback at the same
rate as adults. Accuracy significantly correlated with FRN amplitude
during the first task block in children, indicating that feedback
processing was related to the correct production of S–R
associations in children in this study. This extends previous
research by indicating that feedback processing and guidance of
goal-directed behaviour by reinforcement information is not deficient
in children compared with adults, as has previously been proposed .
Our findings indicate that when reinforcement learning is non-
probabilistic the neural mechanisms underlying this basic form of
learning work as efficiently in children as in adults. Problems with
acquiring new behaviours may only appear in children when
reinforcement learning becomes more complicated, for instance
when reinforcements are unclear, for example probabilistic, and
demands on other maturing cognitive functions such as working
memory or executive function are high. As such, our findings

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highlight the importance of ensuring task difficulty is appropriate for

children in developmental investigations of reinforcement learning.
4.2. Developmental differences in altering learned behaviours
by reinforcement
Performance was significantly more impaired in children than adults
when reinforcements changed and the reversal of S–R associations
was required in block 4 of the task. Nevertheless, following the
reversal children improved their performance at the same rate as
adults (task block 5). These findings suggest that children have
specific performance difficulties when unexpected changes in
reinforcements occur, but are eventually able to re-acquire simple
behaviours in a similar manner to adults. Analysis of the P3 and
FRN revealed further developmental differences in neurocognitive
processes underlying performance.
The magnitude of P3 amplitude changes during learning can be
considered to index the strength of internal representation of correct
S–R associations in working memory (Barceló et al., 2000, Rose et
al., 2001). P3 amplitude changes were significantly greater in adults
than children, decreasing more during reversal of associations and
increasing more with re-acquisition of reversed mappings, indicating
that internal representations of the S–R associations underwent less
adaptation and re-consolidation in children than adults. In contrast,
FRN amplitude changes were greatest in children, decreasing more
with re-learning of the associations in block 5 than in adults. Indeed,
FRN amplitude showed little variation after the first task block in
adults while a prominent increase with reversal and decrease with
re-acquisition was observed in children, indicating that feedback
processing varied more with reversal and re-learning in children

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than adults. Previous authors have emphasised that difficulties with

feedback processing, resulting from immature performance
monitoring functions of the developing prefrontal cortex, underlie
children's poorer reinforcement learning performance (Hämmerer
and Eppinger, 2012, Hämmerer et al., 2010). It has been suggested
that children are less successful than adults in integrating feedback
information with motor action plans, or that children use feedback in
a less goal-directed manner than adults (Hämmerer and Eppinger,
2012, Hämmerer et al., 2010). In contrast to the latter proposal, our
findings suggest that children do use feedback to drive goal-directed
learning behaviour. Changes in FRN amplitude were associated
with changes in performance accuracy in children when most re-
learning was occurring (block 4). Furthermore, FRN changes were
largest in children, indicating children were using feedback more
than adults to guide behaviour. However, as children performed
more poorly than adults, children may have had greater difficulty in
integrating feedback information to consolidate S–R associations
and so produce the correct behaviours, consistent with other work
using a probabilistic learning task (Van Duijvenvoorde et al., 2013).
Errors were not sufficiently numerous to allow analysis of the ERN
in this study. However, the profile of P3 and FRN effects here are
similar to the ERN and FP findings reported by Eppinger et al.
(2009), and support the proposal put forward by those authors that
children build weaker internal representations of to-be-learned
behaviours and engage in greater processing of external feedback
than adults when alterations in reinforcement learning are required.
This may be due to interference arising from the extra cognitive
processing demands of reversing the S–R associations, such as the
requirement to suppress the previously correct behaviours and

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produce new responses that conflict with the original S–R

associations. A wealth of evidence demonstrates that such
executive functions are poorer in children than adults (Johnstone et
al., 2005, Ladouceur et al., 2007, Rueda et al., 2004). Therefore, it
may be that these additional processing requirements reduce
children's cognitive capacity for learning, decreasing the efficiency
of the processes of consolidating the reversed S–R associations
and integrating new feedback information with behaviour plans.
Children may exercise greater feedback processing to compensate
for these difficulties. Alternatively, the enhanced FRN in children
may reflect a greater affective or motivational response to correct
responses during the more challenging phases of the task.
Amplitude of the FRN to negative feedback has been related to
individual differences in punishment sensitivity in adolescence and
adults (Santesso et al., 2011) and may reflect evaluation of good
versus bad outcomes based on motivational as well as cognitive
goals (Hajcak et al., 2006). It is possible therefore that the children
in the present study invoked this evaluative process more strongly
than adults having encountered greater difficulty during the reversal
phase of the task. However, the present task was not designed with
this question in mind and further research is needed to investigate
the role of the FRN in children in this age range.
Another possible explanation for our findings is that children learn in
a different manner from adults. Research in adults has shown that
providing information about reward likelihood enhances the
reinforcement learning process. For example, Li et al.
(2011) and Walsh and Anderson (2011) compared adults’
performance on a probabilistic S–R learning task when no
information about reinforcement probabilities was given and adults

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were required to learn the S–R associations solely by feedback,

with a separate condition in which participants were instructed as to
the probability that each S–R pair would be followed by valid
feedback, for example that one S–R association would be correctly
reinforced on 30% of trials. Adults’ performance increased gradually
in the no-instruction learning condition, but began and remained at
asymptote in the instruction condition. The enhancing effect of
instruction on learning is suggested to reflect the top-down influence
of rules for learning represented in prefrontal regions on striatal
reinforcement learning mechanisms (Li et al., 2011).
In the current study, a rule for how the S–R associations should be
re-learned would have been acquired easily after only a few trials in
block 4 based on knowledge of what the original S–R mappings
were and identifying that the mappings simply had to be reversed. If
implemented, this rule would facilitate faster re-learning of the
associations. Adults verbally reported that they realised the S–R
combinations in block 4 were simply the opposite of those in blocks
1–3. Adults’ rapid increase in consolidation of the new S–R
associations, improvement in performance and minimal variation of
the FRN suggests that they used this inferred rule to guide re-
learning rather than relied on external feedback. Children's slower
consolidation of reversed S–R associations, more disrupted
performance, and greater feedback processing suggests that they
were relying on external reinforcement information rather than the
internally derived rule for re-learning that adults appeared to
employ. Therefore, a possible explanation for the developmental
difference in performance and neurocognitive processing in the
reversal phase is that unlike adults, children do not infer and use
rules for learning, and instead rely on slower feedback-based

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learning. It is unclear whether this reflects an inability of children to

infer learning rules and use them to drive performance due to
under-developed prefrontal regions, or a strategic preference for
experience-based learning in children. Future studies comparing
instruction-based and experience-based learning in children and
adults would be useful in clarifying this issue.
One final observation to discuss is the prolonged negativity
following the FRN observed in the feedback-locked waveforms in all
learning blocks in children but not in adults . A detailed analysis of
this component was beyond the scope of this article, but would be
worthy of future research. It is likely that this second negative peak
in the children reflects a second oscillation of the same on-going
physiological process (feedback-processing), and may occur due to
additional or more effortful processing of the feedback information in
children to compensate for their greater difficulty in learning the S–R
associations. Alternatively, this negativity might index different
learning strategies used in children compared with adults. A recent
study comparing feedback-locked potentials between groups of
adults using different learning strategies to acquire new behaviours
reported strategy-related differences in the morphology of positive
feedback components.

Behaviour modification and its applications of Reinforcement:

 Agent: It is an assumed entity which performs actions in an

environment to gain some reward.
 Environment (e): A scenario that an agent has to face.

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 Reward (R): An immediate return given to an agent when he

or she performs specific action or task.
 State (s): State refers to the current situation returned by the
environment.
 Policy (π): It is a strategy which applies by the agent to
decide the next action based on the current state.
 Value (V): It is expected long-term return with discount, as
compared to the short-term reward.
 Value Function: It specifies the value of a state that is the
total amount of reward. It is an agent which should be
expected beginning from that state.
 Model of the environment: This mimics the behavior of the
environment. It helps you to make inferences to be made and
also determine how the environment will behave.
 Model based methods: It is a method for solving
reinforcement learning problems which use model-based
methods.
 Q value or action value (Q): Q value is quite similar to value.
The only difference between the two is that it takes an
additional parameter as a current action.

Reinforcement Learning works

Let's see some simple example which helps you to illustrate the
reinforcement learning mechanism.

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Consider the scenario of teaching new tricks to your cat

 As cat doesn't understand English or any other human
language, we can't tell her directly what to do. Instead, we
follow a different strategy.
 We emulate a situation, and the cat tries to respond in many
different ways. If the cat's response is the desired way, we will
give her fish.
 Now whenever the cat is exposed to the same situation, the
cat executes a similar action with even more enthusiastically in
expectation of getting more reward(food).
 That's like learning that cat gets from "what to do" from positive
experiences.
 At the same time, the cat also learns what not do when faced
with negative experiences.
Model-Based:
In this Reinforcement Learning method, you need to create a virtual
model for each environment. The agent learns to perform in that
specific environment.
Characteristics of Reinforcement Learning
Here are important characteristics of reinforcement learning
 There is no supervisor, only a real number or reward signal
 Sequential decision making
 Time plays a crucial role in Reinforcement problems

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 Feedback is always delayed, not instantaneous

 Agent's actions determine the subsequent data it receives
Types of Reinforcement Learning
Two kinds of reinforcement learning methods are:
Positive:

It is defined as an event, that occurs because of specific behavior. It

increases the strength and the frequency of the behavior and
impacts positively on the action taken by the agent.
This type of Reinforcement helps you to maximize performance and
sustain change for a more extended period. However, too much
Reinforcement may lead to over-optimization of state, which can
affect the results.
Negative:
Negative Reinforcement is defined as strengthening of behavior that
occurs because of a negative condition which should have stopped
or avoided. It helps you to define the minimum stand of
performance. However, the drawback of this method is that it
provides enough to meet up the minimum behavior.
Learning Models of Reinforcement
There are two important learning models in reinforcement learning:
 Markov Decision Process
 Q learning
Markov Decision Process

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The following parameters are used to get a solution:

 Set of actions- A
 Set of states -S
 Reward- R
 Policy- n
 Value- V
The mathematical approach for mapping a solution in reinforcement
Learning is recon as a Markov Decision Process or (MDP).
Reinforcement Learning vs. Supervised Learning

Parameters Reinforcement Learning

Decision style reinforcement learning helps you to take

your decisions sequentially.

Works on Works on interacting with the environment.

Dependency In RL method learning decision is dependent.

on decision
Therefore, you should give labels to all the dependent
decisions.

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Best suited Supports and work better in AI, where human

interaction is prevalent.

Example Chess game

Applications of Reinforcement Learning

Here are applications of Reinforcement Learning:
 Robotics for industrial automation.
 Business strategy planning
 Machine learning and data processing
 It helps you to create training systems that provide custom
instruction and materials according to the requirement of
students.
 Aircraft control and robot motion control
Why use Reinforcement Learning?
Here are prime reasons for using Reinforcement Learning:
 It helps you to find which situation needs an action
 Helps you to discover which action yields the highest reward
over the longer period.
 Reinforcement Learning also provides the learning agent with
a reward function.

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 It also allows it to figure out the best method for obtaining large
rewards.
When Not to Use Reinforcement Learning?
You can't apply reinforcement learning model is all the situation.
Here are some conditions when you should not use reinforcement
learning model.
 When you have enough data to solve the problem with a
supervised learning method
 You need to remember that Reinforcement Learning is
computing-heavy and time-consuming. in particular when the
action space is large.
Challenges of Reinforcement Learning
Here are the major challenges you will face while doing
Reinforcement earning:
 Feature/reward design which should be very involved
 Parameters may affect the speed of learning.
 Realistic environments can have partial observability.
 Too much Reinforcement may lead to an overload of states
which can diminish the results.
 Realistic environments can be non-stationary.
Summary:
 Reinforcement Learning is a Machine Learning method

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 Helps you to discover which action yields the highest reward

over the longer period.
 Three methods for reinforcement learning are 1) Value-based
2) Policy-based and Model based learning.
 Agent, State, Reward, Environment, Value function Model of
the environment, Model based methods, are some important
terms using in RL learning method
 The example of reinforcement learning is your cat is an agent
that is exposed to the environment.
 The biggest characteristic of this method is that there is no
supervisor, only a real number or reward signal
 Two types of reinforcement learning are 1) Positive 2)
Negative
 Two widely used learning model are 1) Markov Decision
Process 2) Q learning
 Reinforcement Learning method works on interacting with the
environment, whereas the supervised learning method works
on given sample data or example.
 Application or reinforcement learning methods are: Robotics
for industrial automation and business strategy planning
 You should not use this method when you have enough data
to solve the problem
 The biggest challenge of this method is that parameters may
affect the speed of learning

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Cognitive approaches in learning: Latent learning,

observational learning

Cognitive approaches to learning are concerned with how

information is processed by learners.
Cognitive theories view students as active in “an internal learning
process that involves memory, thinking, reflection, abstraction,
motivation, and meta-cognition” (Ally, 2008). Students organize old
knowledge, scripts, and schema, find relationships, and link new
information to old (Cognitive Theories of Learning, n.d.). Ertmer and
Newby (1993) note that “learning is a change in the state of
knowledge, and is a mental activity where an active learner
internally codes and structures knowledge” (p. 58). They believe
that “the real focus of the cognitive approach is on changing the
learner by encouraging him/her to use appropriate learning
strategies” (Ertmer & Newby, 1993, p. 59).
Cognition refers to mental activity including thinking, remembering,
learning and using language. When we apply a cognitive approach
to learning and teaching, we focus on theunderstaning of
information and concepts. If we are able to understand
theconnections between concepts, break down information and
rebuild with logicalconnections, then our rention of material and
understanding will increase.
When we are aware of these mental actions, monitor them and
control ourlearning processes it is called metacognition
Classifying Cognitivist Theories

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Behaviorist, cognitivist, and constructivist ideas and principles

overlap in many areas (Ally, 2008). Therefore, classifying theories is
challenging; some theories fit in more than one classification and
different sources classify the theories in different ways. For
example, in some sources Jerome Bruner‘s Discovery Learning
Theory is classified as cognitive (Using the Web for Learning:
Background, n.d.) and not developmental (Cognitive Theories of
Learning, n.d.). In other sources, Bruner is deemed developmental
(Driscoll, 2005/2007). In still other sources, Bruner is considered
constructivist (Learning Theories Knowledgebase, 2009). In
addition, Albert Bandura is often classified as a behaviorist;
however, Bandura, himself, claimed that he was never a behaviorist
(From Behaviorism to Social Cognition??, n.d.).
Classifications
Course materials in ETEC 512 classified theorists as follows:
Cognitive
 Social Cognitive Theory (Social Learning Theory) by Bandura
 Bandura focused on observational learning and self-
efficacy (Zeldin, Britner, & Pajares, 2008).
 Information Processing Theories by various theorists
 The computer was seen as a metaphor for the mind
(Schunk 2004/2007a).
 Information was input and the mind processed the
information, creating output (Information Processing,
n.d.).

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 Assimilation Theory (Meaningful Learning) by Ausubel

 Ausubel focused on reception learning; he noted that the
learner was active and thus he differentiated between
rote and meaningful learning (Novak, 1998/2007).
 Ausubel stressed the importance of the advance
organizer.
Developmental
 Genetic Epistemology by Piaget
 Piaget believed that experience with the environment
affected knowledge acquisition.
 His four stages of development detail how humans
develop cognitively.
 Sociocultural Theory by Vygotsky
 Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) details
the difference between what a learner can do
independently and what the leaner can do with help;
independent learning may not take place, but scaffolded
learning can.
 Discovery Learning by Bruner
 Bruner describes representational stages, and
emphasizes exploring the environment.

Concept Map of Cognitive and Developmental Theories

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Using the computer metaphor of input and output, this concept

map of the theories organizes the main principles. The component
referring to an individual is shown on the left hand side of each
theory diagram, while the social contribution is shown on the right
hand side.
Components of Cognitive Learning Approaches
Ertmer and Newby (1993) describe the commonalities that exist
between the many different cognitive theories:
How Learning Occurs
 mental activity: internal coding and structuring by the learner
 change occurs in state of knowledge
Factors Influencing Learning
 environmental conditions
 practice with corrective feedback
 processes of mental planning, goal-setting, and organizational
strategies
 way learners attend to, code, transform, rehearse, store and
retrieve information
 learners’ thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and values
Role of Memory
 information is stored in an organized, meaningful manner;
need to relate new information to prior knowledge
Transfer

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 function of how information is stored in memory

 occurs when learner understands how to apply knowledge in
different contexts
Types of Learning Best Explained
 complex forms of learning (reasoning, problem-solving,
information-processing)
 communicate/transfer knowledge in an efficient effective
manner: simplification, standardization (knowledge analyzed,
decomposed, simplified into basic building blocks; irrelevant
information eliminated)
Instructional Design
 feedback to help create accurate mental representations and
connections
 learner and task analysis: determine learner’s predisposition to
learning; look at existing mental structures to design instruction
so it can be readily assimilated
Major Tasks of Teacher/Designer
 understand that learners have different
backgrounds/experiences which can impact learning outcomes
 determine the most effective manner in which to organize and
structure new information to work with these
backgrounds/experiences

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 arrange practice with feedback so that the new information is

effectively and efficiently assimilated and /or accommodated
with the learner’s cognitive structure
Relevance of Cognitivist Approaches
Cognitivist approaches to learning are relevant to today’s educators.
Pratt (n.d.) cautions “while I do not argue with the basic tenets of
constructivism, I do resist the rush to adopt any single, dominant
view of learning or teaching” (p. 1). Hung (2001) advises that
“instead of regarding the different learning theories as discordant,
we rather adopt the instructional approaches derived from each of
the learning theories and situate them in the appropriate
instructional context based on the learning objectives” (Conclusion).
Ertmer and Newby (1993) suggest that the best theoretical
approach depends on the learner’s experience with the knowledge,
and the level of cognitive processing required by the task;
behaviourist approaches can allow the learner to master content
(know what), cognitivist approaches are better for problem-solving
with facts and rules applied in unfamiliar situations (know how), and
constructivist approaches are better for ill-defined problems
(reflection-in-action).
Distributed Learning
In a Distributed Learning (DL) program, parents are very involved in
helping their children learn. The parents are not trained teachers,
and have difficulty with using pedagogy to inform their practices at
home. The parents find value in the efficient delivery method
inherent in cognitivist approaches. DL students in programs that
have social/interactive components ( face-to-face classes or online
discussions) can use the knowledge and skills learned from a
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cognitivist approach, from content to critical thinking and problem-

solving strategies, to engage in knowledge construction. Pratt (n.d.)
states “that teachers are ‘pedagogical engineers’ with the
responsibility to plan a lesson(s) with the most relevant instructional
approaches and technologies at his or her disposal” (Conclusion). In
a DL program, it is the teacher’s responsibility to understand the
needs of parents and learners; this makes it even more important
that teachers understand and choose the most relevant approach.

Latent Learning

Strict behaviorists like Watson and Skinner focused exclusively on

studying behavior rather than cognition (such as thoughts and
expectations). In fact, Skinner was such a staunch believer that
cognition didn’t matter that his ideas were considered radical
behaviorism. Skinner considered the mind a “black box”—
something completely unknowable—and, therefore, something not
to be studied. However, another behaviorist, Edward C. Tolman,
had a different opinion. Tolman’s experiments with rats
demonstrated that organisms can learn even if they do not receive
immediate reinforcement (Tolman & Honzik, 1930; Tolman, Ritchie,
& Kalish, 1946). This finding was in conflict with the prevailing idea
at the time that reinforcement must be immediate in order for
learning to occur, thus suggesting a cognitive aspect to learning.

Latent learning is a form of learning that is not immediately

expressed in an overt response. It occurs without any obvious
reinforcement of the behavior or associations that are learned.
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Latent learning is not readily apparent to the researcher because it

is not shown behaviorally until there is sufficient motivation. This
type of learning broke the constraints of behaviorism, which stated
that processes must be directly observable and that learning was
the direct consequence of conditioning to stimuli.
In the experiments, Tolman placed hungry rats in a maze with no
reward for finding their way through it. He also studied a comparison
group that was rewarded with food at the end of the maze. As the
unreinforced rats explored the maze, they developed a cognitive
map: a mental picture of the layout of the maze (Figure 1).
After 10 sessions in the maze without reinforcement, food was
placed in a goal box at the end of the maze. As soon as the rats
became aware of the food, they were able to find their way through
the maze quickly, just as quickly as the comparison group, which
had been rewarded with food all along. This is known as latent
learning: learning that occurs but is not observable in behavior until
there is a reason to demonstrate it.
Latent learning also occurs in humans. Children may learn by
watching the actions of their parents but only demonstrate it at a
later date, when the learned material is needed. For example,
suppose that Ravi’s dad drives him to school every day. In this way,
Ravi learns the route from his house to his school, but he’s never
driven there himself, so he has not had a chance to demonstrate
that he’s learned the way. One morning Ravi’s dad has to leave
early for a meeting, so he can’t drive Ravi to school. Instead, Ravi
follows the same route on his bike that his dad would have taken in
the car. This demonstrates latent learning. Ravi had learned the

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route to school, but had no need to demonstrate this knowledge

earlier.
EVERYDAY CONNECTION: THIS PLACE IS LIKE A MAZE
Have you ever gotten lost in a building and couldn’t find your way
back out? While that can be frustrating, you’re not alone. At one
time or another we’ve all gotten lost in places like a museum,
hospital, or university library. Whenever we go someplace new, we
build a mental representation—or cognitive map—of the location, as
Tolman’s rats built a cognitive map of their maze. However, some
buildings are confusing because they include many areas that look
alike or have short lines of sight. Because of this, it’s often difficult to
predict what’s around a corner or decide whether to turn left or right
to get out of a building.
Psychologist Laura Carlson (2010) suggests that what we place in
our cognitive map can impact our success in navigating through the
environment. She suggests that paying attention to specific features
upon entering a building, such as a picture on the wall, a fountain, a
statue, or an escalator, adds information to our cognitive map that
can be used later to help find our way out of the building.

Observational learning

Observational learning, method of learning that consists of

observing and modeling another individual’s behavior, attitudes, or
emotional expressions. Although it is commonly believed that the
observer will copy the model, American psychologist Albert
Bandura stressed that individuals may simply learn from the
behavior rather than imitate it. Observational learning is a major
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component of Bandura’s social learning theory. He also emphasized

that four conditions were necessary in any form of observing and
modeling behavior: attention, retention, reproduction, and
motivation.
Conditions For Observational Learning
Attention
If an organism is going to learn anything from a model, he or she
must be paying attention to it and the behavior it exhibits. Many
conditions can affect the observer’s attention. For instance, if the
observer is sleepy, ill, or distracted, he or she will be less likely to
learn the modeled behavior and imitate it at a later date. In addition,
the characteristics of the model have an influence on the observer’s
attention. Bandura and others have shown that humans pay more
attention to models that are attractive, similar to them, or prestigious
and are rewarded for their behaviors. This explains the appeal that
athletes have on the behavior of young children and that successful
adults have on college students. Unfortunately, this aspect of
modeling can also be used in detrimental ways. For example, if
young children witness gang members gaining status or money,
they may imitate those behaviors in an effort to gain similar rewards.
Retention
The second requirement of observational learning is being able to
remember the behavior that was witnessed. If the human or animal
does not remember the behavior, there is a less than probable
chance that they will imitate it.
Reproduction

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This requisite of behavior concerns the physical and mental ability

of the individual to copy the behavior he or she observed. For
instance, a young child may observe a college basketball player
dunk a ball. Later, when the child has a basketball, he or she may
attempt to dunk a ball just like the college player. However, the
young child is not nearly as physically developed as the older
college player and, no matter how many times he or she tries, will
not be able to reach the basket to dunk the ball.
An older child or an adult might be able to dunk the ball but likely
only after quite a bit of practice. Similarly, a young colt observes
another horse in the herd jump over the creek while running in the
pasture. After observing the model’s jumping behavior, the colt
attempts to do the same only to land in the middle of the creek. He
simply was not big enough or did not have long enough legs to clear
the water. He could, however, after physical growth and some
practice, eventually be able to replicate the other horse’s jump.
Motivation
Perhaps the most important aspect of observational learning
involves motivation. If the human or animal does not have a reason
for imitating the behavior, then no amount of attention, retention, or
reproduction will overcome the lack of motivation. Bandura identified
several motivating factors for imitation. These include knowing that
the model was previously reinforced for the behavior, being offered
an incentive to perform, or observing the model receiving
reinforcement for the behavior. These factors can also be negative
motivations. For instance, if the observer knew that the model was
punished for the behavior, was threatened for exhibiting the

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behavior, or observed the model being punished for the behavior,

then the probability of mimicking the behavior is less.
Applications Of Observational Learning
Modeling has been used successfully in many therapeutic
conditions. Many therapists have used forms of modeling to assist
their patients to overcome phobias. For example, adults with
claustrophobia may observe a model in a video as they move closer
and closer to an enclosed area before entering it. Once the model
reaches the enclosed area, for instance a closet, he or she will open
the door, enter it, and then close the door. The observer will be
taught relaxation techniques and be told to practice them anytime
he or she becomes anxious while watching the film. The end result
is to continue observing the model until the person can enter the
closet himself or herself.
Bandura’s findings in the Bobo doll experiments have greatly
influenced children’s television programming. Bandura filmed his
students physically attacking the Bobo doll, an inflatable doll with a
rounded bottom that pops back up when knocked down. A student
was placed in the room with the Bobo doll. The student punched the
doll, yelled “sockeroo” at it, kicked it, hit it with hammers, and sat on
it. Bandura then showed this film to young children. Their behavior
was taped when in the room with the doll. The children imitated the
behaviors of the student and at times even became more
aggressive toward the doll than what they had observed. Another
group of young children observed a student being nice to the doll.
Ironically, this group of children did not imitate the positive
interaction of the model. Bandura conducted a large number of
varied scenarios of this study and found similar events even when

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the doll was a live clown. These findings have prompted many
parents to monitor the television shows their children watch and the
friends or peers with which they associate. Unfortunately, the
parental saying “Do as I say, not as I do” does not hold true for
children. Children are more likely to imitate the behaviors versus the
instructions of their parents.
One of the most famous instances of observational learning in
animals involves the blue , a small European bird. During the 1920s
and through the 1940s, many people reported that the cream from
the top of the milk being delivered to their homes was being stolen.
The cream-stealing incidents spread all over Great Britain. After
much speculation about the missing cream, it was discovered that
the blue tit was the culprit. Specifically, one bird had learned to peck
through the foil top of the milk container and suck the cream out of
the bottle. It did not take long before other blue tit birds imitated the
behavior and spread it through the country.

Verbal Learning

Verbal learning is the process of acquiring, retaining and recalling of

verbal material. At its most elementary level, it can be defined as a
process of building associations between a stimulus and a
response, with both of them being verbal. At a broader level, verbal
learning includes the processes of organizing the stimulus material
by the learner and the related changes in the learner's behavior.
At different stages of the development of the verbal learning studies,
a variety of aspects of this phenomenon were highlighted. For
example, German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)

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in his book On Memory (1885), focused on the processes of

association building and recall, which shaped his experiments with
verbal material. Ebbinghaus's work, albeit not dealing explicitly with
verbal learning, is considered as the first seminal work in the field,
due to the material and the methods used.
Verbal learning can be based on different processes and can be
classified in several types. The first process is serial verbal learning.
People engage in it when they learn a list of verbal items (for
example, words or syllables) while maintaining the order of the
items. Psychologists test this type of learning by asking subjects to
read a list of verbal stimuli and then reproduce this list while keeping
the original order of the items. Such experiments have been widely
used in tests of short- and long-term memory.
A useful strategy that can be used while remembering such lists of
words is to build associations between them. Thus, the first word
"anticipates" the second, and, analogically, every word points to the
one after it. Ebbinghaus called this learning strategy the serial
anticipation method. Studies of this type of learning have also
discovered the serial position effect, which says that different parts
of the list are learned with different difficulty. Usually, the first few
items are the easiest to learn, then come those at the end of the list.
The hardest to learn are the items just after the middle.
Another type of verbal learning is referred to paired associate
learning. It happens when people read pairs of words, or other
verbal stimuli, then get to see just one item of a pair and have to say
what the other is. This type of learning is largely used in education,
especially in learning foreign languages. Pupils learn vocabularies
as pairs of known English words and words from another language,

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building associations between the items of a pair. Then, when

presented with a foreign word (stimulus), the pupil has to name the
corresponding English word (response).
Free verbal learning is a type of learning, which people use when
they learn lists of items regardless of their order. A task used to test
this type of learning is free recall. The subject is asked to recall as
many items from a list as possible, regardless of their sequence.
Such tests are often used to establish organizational patterns of
learning and memory. For example, the subject may use a
clustering strategy - grouping items according to their similarity or
the number of letters in them.
Another kind of verbal learning is verbal discrimination (or
recognition) learning. It is studied by a task which requires of the
subject, after reading a list of items, to read another one and to say
which items of the second list were present in the first. Verbal
learning theorists use different materials in their tests. Ebbinghaus
used nonsense syllables - syllables of the type consonant-vowel-
consonant, such as GOC, TER, and BIV. He argued that these
stimuli were easily controlled and thus had an advantage for being
used in the studies of memory compared to meaningful words.
In 1932, British psychologist Frederic Bartlett (1886-1969)
challenged Ebbinghaus's view that nonsense syllables were easily
controlled and that they eliminated meaning as a factor in
learning. Another influential perspective and perhaps the most
important contribution to this field was The Psychology of Human
Learning: An Introduction (1942) by John McGeoch (1897-1942), a
book which summarized many of the trends in verbal learning.

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In the 1950s, the verbal learning studies focused on verbal behavior

- the characteristics of language and its use. In the 1960s through to
the 1980s, psycholinguists developed models of word acquisition,
verbal information processing and lexicon building. Examples of
such models are the logogen model of John Morton (1969), which
was considered to be an important theory, along with the PDP
(parallel distributed processing) model of Mark Seidenberg and
James Lloyd McClelland (1989).

Discrimination learning

Learning Set and Learning by Exclusion

Discrimination learning can be generalized. The point is illustrated
by experiments with monkeys on learning set. In the typical
procedure, a monkey is presented with two objects; under one is a
piece of food. When it learns the discrimination, two new objects are
presented, and so on. Learning proceeds more rapidly after each
problem until it learns new discriminations in a single trial. Learning
set has also been demonstrated in other species and with other
tasks.
Learning set is evident in a word-learning discrimination called
learning by exclusion. In typical experiments employing nonverbal
humans with mental retardation, subjects are first taught names for
several foods. Then a new food is placed among foods with known
names. Without any further training or prompts, subjects are asked
to point to the new food that is given a never before heard name.
Experienced subjects correctly select the novel food on the first test,
and in subsequent tests with that food and new foods they

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demonstrate retention of the new name. These experiments show

that after learning several names, individuals learn the contingency
that exists between new names and new objects.
Discrimination Learning
Discrimination learning can be used as a part of training for more
difficult tasks, including the judgement bias tasks and Iowa
gambling task described earlier in the chapter. It can, however, also
be used as a task in and of itself, to determine the ability of animals
to discriminate between two stimuli and the capacity of animals to
learn and perform tasks based on discrimination in different
modalities.
Visual discrimination is frequently used in discrimination learning in
various species. This can entail the use of lights, including
discrimination between light color, intensity, or frequency of flashing
lights. Visual stimuli can also include the use of pictures or patterns.
Pigs have visual acuity which is inferior to humans, sheep, and
cattle (Entsu et al., 1992; Tanaka et al., 1995; Zonderland
et al., 2008) but which should, in theory, be quite sufficient for
learning visual discriminations. In practice, however, discrimination
based on visual stimuli in pigs has proven quite difficult, requiring
lengthy training to show operant responses to distinct 2D shapes
(Gieling et al., 2012a; Graf, 1976; Haagensen et al., 2013).
Discrimination of conspecifics based on photographs, which has
been demonstrated in domestic sheep (Ferreira et al., 2004) and
cows (Coulon et al., 2009) did not seem to be possible in pigs
(Gieling et al., 2012a).
Discrimination tasks based on auditory stimuli have been more
successful, with pigs showing distinct operant responses to auditory
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stimuli of different frequencies (Murphy et al., 2013a). Other

modalities, such as odor cues or tactile cues, have yet to be tested
in pigs. Given their strong olfactory and tactile abilities (the snout is
particularly sensitive), this may be an interesting avenue to explore
to improve discrimination learning.
Neural Basis
The different forms of discrimination learning and reversal tasks
seem to have distinct neural bases. Rapid acquisition of object
discrimination problems seems to involve the inferotemporal cortex
and ventral prefrontal cortex, as well as the
mediodorsal thalamus (Gaffan and Murray, 1990; Gaffan et
al., 1993; Baxter and Murray, 2000). The entorhinal and perirhinal
cortices seem to be required for rapid learning of visual
discrimination problems only to the extent that these cortical areas
are involved in identification of the stimuli to be discriminated (see
discussion in Baxter et al., 1999). Other medial temporal
lobe structures may be involved in retention of these rapidly learned
discrimination problems (Zola-Morgan et al., 1994; Alvarez et
al., 1995). In contrast, slow learning of object discrimination
problems (e.g., in the “24-hr ITI” task) is independent of limbic
structures (amygdala and hippocampus) but does require inferior
temporal cortical area TE (Phillips et al., 1988) and again the
entorhinal and perirhinal cortices only to the extent that object
identification is taxed (Buckley and Gaffan, 1997; Thornton et
al., 1998); as well as the ventral and orbital frontal cortices (Murray
and Wise, 1997) and the tail of the caudate nucleus (Wang et
al., 1990). The commonality between cortical systems required for
learning of visual discrimination problems and visual recognition
memory is notable (see Section II,B). Interestingly, individual
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monkeys who are impaired on DNMS performance also appear to

demonstrate an impairment in object discrimination learning (Rapp,
1993), suggesting a common neural substrate for these deficits,
likely inferior temporal-prefrontal connections (see Section II,B).
Spatial discrimination learning appears to involve hippocampal
formation and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Monkeys with
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex lesions are markedly impaired on
acquisition of a spatial discrimination problem (Pohl, 1973), as are
monkeys with aspiration lesions of the hippocampus that include the
overlying parahippocampal cortex (Jones and Mishkin, 1972). The
contribution of the hippocampus proper to spatial discrimination
learning is unclear, as monkeys with neurotoxic hippocampal
lesions (sparing the parahippocampal cortex) are not impaired on
this particular spatial discrimination learning task (Murray et
al., 1998).
Reversal learning appears to recruit additional neural systems.
Lesions that impair the initial discrimination also produce
impairment in subsequent reversals of that discrimination. However,
lesions of the orbitofrontal cortex, which produce no impairment in
initial acquisition of a spatial discrimination, produce a marked
impairment in reversal of that discrimination (Jones and Mishkin,
1972). Similarly, rhinal cortex lesions, which have little effect on
object discriminations, produce an impairment in subsequent
reversals of that discrimination (Murray et al., 1998).
Lesions restricted to the hippocampus also appear to produce an
impairment in object reversals, milder than that produced by rhinal
cortex lesions (Mahut, 1971; Murray et al., 1998). Of note is the
pattern of errors made during reversal learning: Jones and Mishkin

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(1972) analyzed errors in reversal learning based on whether the

monkey was performing below chance (stage 1), at chance (stage
2), or above chance but not yet at criterion (stage 3).
Damage to the orbitofrontal cortex is characterized by a marked
increase in stage 1 errors, suggestive of perseverative behavior
(Jones and Mishkin, 1972). Rhinal cortex lesions produce similar
perseverative behavior (Murray et al., 1998).
Hence, perseverative behavior on reversals may suggest damage
to the prefrontal cortex, rhinal cortex, or both. It is also worth noting
that impairments in reversal learning may be limited to the first time
a particular type of reversal problem is encountered (Dias et
al., 1997); this may explain why a lack of impairment on reversal
learning is observed when the monkeys have previously performed
reversals in a different stimulus domain (e.g., testing on spatial
reversals after having performed object reversals).

Recent trends in learning: Neurophysiology of learning

Each new year brings with it new learning and development trends,
and a few key themes are already shining through in
2019. Organisations are placing a strong emphasis on learning,
while employees want more control of what, where and when they
learn. They’re also adopting both conventional and unconventional
approaches to maximise their learning. This blog will uncover the
latest trends in learning for 2019 including:
 Continuous learning culture
 Employee led learning

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 People leaders as coaches

 Social learning
 Employee-curated content
 Mobile (aka on-demand)
 Microlearning
 Data and analytics
 Learning Experience Platform (LXP)
 Gamification, Augmented and Virtual Reality
 People data
The learning landscape is shifting. With continuous advances in
technology, employees are taking control of their own education and
development. Organisations are stepping up to help shape the
future of learning. They’re focusing on providing coaching, ongoing
feedback and resources for learning opportunities.
Technologies which focus on usability and experience are helping
improve learner engagement. Unsurprisingly, mobile and social
learning are gaining traction and feature heavily in a modern
learning environment. Learners are demanding just-in-time learning,
where and when they want it.
Explore the shifts in learning with our updated learning trends for
2019.
1. Continuous learning culture

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The shelf-life of skills is diminishing. The need for ongoing learning

and development is greater than at any previous point in history.
38% of CEOs believe a shortage of key skills is the top people-
related threat to growth. That’s up from 31% in 2017. With this in
mind, it’s no surprise that building a culture of continuous learning is
currently a priority for L&D leaders. This encompasses just-in-time
learning designed to close a specific knowledge gap in a current
role, right through to development of competencies and behaviours
needed for future roles.
Today’s learner expects (and is expected to) continually learn and
develop. This culture of continual learning is simultaneously driving
and being reinforced by the shifting attitude to performance
management. As everyday performance and ongoing feedback
approaches gain momentum, the desire to upskill, develop and
close skill gaps reinforces the symbiotic relationship between
performance and development.
2. Employee-led learning
Organisations are moving away from top-down driven development
frameworks and empowering employees to lead their own learning.
Some examples of employee-led learning include:
 moving away from a one-size-fits-all’ approach
 creating personalised learning paths to help develop
employees in their current role, next role and future roles;
 basing content on both development needs and interests.
68% of employees prefer to learn at work, according to recent
research by LinkedIn, but they don’t always have time to complete

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learning activities. In fact, the same research found that the #1

challenge for talent development is getting employees to make time
for learning.

As the above diagram suggests, over half of employees (58%) want

to learn at their own pace depending on their requirements,
development needs and interests. But employees still want their
manager’s input on how to improve, with 56% saying they would
spend more time learning if their manager suggested activities.
Instead of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, organisations are
creating personalised learning paths that develop employees in their
current role, next role and future career paths.”
3. People leaders as coaches
Finding the time for learning is the number one development
challenge employees face. The second-largest challenge is getting
people leaders to take an active role in employee development. It’s
no longer only the responsibility of the L&D department to ensure
employees get the training they need. Learning professionals are
now looking to people managers to own and develop their teams.
Empowering people leaders to help employees on their continuous
learning journey is becoming a priority. When it’s done well, it’s
highly successful. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of employees who
felt empowered to drive their own career say that their manager
provides coaching and supports their development.
4. Social learning
In addition to social collaborative tools, organisations are also
experimenting with cross-functional project-based learning, creating

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online learning marketplaces and structured mentoring forums. At

the very minimum, employees expect workplace technologies that
allow:
 social networking
 instant messaging,
 online collaboration;
 video conferencing.
Humans are social by nature: 87% of employees say that
sharing knowledge with their team is critical for learning. 34%
of organisations are already investing in social learning tools and
over the next few years we anticipate the uptake will accelerate.
The increasing complexity of work, rise of the contingent and
freelance workforce, and the desire to work ‘anywhere, anytime’ will
drive the adoption of social collaboration and knowledge-sharing
tools.
5. Employee-curated content
Relevant content is what matters most to employees. Yet less than
half (46%) of employees are satisfied with the relevance of the
content provided by their organisation. How can we help employees
cut through the clutter? Employees want the ability to create their
own online content and share learning resources. It’s no surprise
that peer-to-peer learning continues to gain traction – empowering
people to share relevant content with their colleagues.
Organisations are also supporting apps which curate, publish and
share content to keep peers, teammates and managers across the
latest and most relevant content. Crowdsourcing means content is

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constantly refreshed, removing the barrier of irrelevant information

which can deter time-poor learners.
6. Mobile (aka on-demand)
Employees expect to access content anytime, anywhere via a
mobile device. Although this trend isn’t new, corporate adoption
levels have lagged behind employee expectations. Over three-
quarters of employees do at least some of their learning on a mobile
device and 99% of mobile learners believe the mobile
format enhanced their learning. Despite this, mobile access is
ranked as the second-largest challenge to learning from an
employee’s perspective. Tellingly, access to mobile learning doesn’t
register within the top three perceived challenges L&D professionals
face. Looking to the future, 23% plan to purchase mobile learning
solutions and this trend is expected to
accelerate. Organisations that want to improve the learning
experience of their employees need to ensure mobile is part of the
solution.
7. Microlearning
Making time for learning isn’t easy. Our constantly-connected
lifestyles also means that attention spans are shrinking. A solution
could lie in Microlearning: this is bite-sized chunks of learning
content, completed in three to five minutes, that makes learning
easily digestible. Some examples of successful microlearning can
be found on popular mediums including:
 podcasts
 blogs

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 eLearning
 videos
As a medium, videos are still a popular way to learn.
More organisations are turning to mobile devices to create quick,
inexpensive, easily uploadable content. According to Training
Journal (TJ) “In 2019, we can expect to see even more of this
‘guerilla’ film production with high-end features with interactivity that
will be distributed on mobile devices and applications for easy
accessibility.”
Online content can be parceled into smaller components, so
employees can learn where and when it suits them.
This trend has been driven not only by a better understanding of
how we learn, but also by advances in technology. The uptake of
mobile and cloud technologies means content can be accessed as
needed. This can have a positive impact on a company’s bottom
line. Organisations that empower their employees with
microlearning experience a 63% increase in revenue compared to
their peers.

Neuro-physiology of Learning

Many seem to be the points of contact that relate the analysis of

studies on the neuro-phenomenological vision of knowledge (and
the occurrence of states of consciousness in relation to the act of
knowing) and further studies phenomena related to bio physical and
neuro-logical that govern and influence the physiology of learning.

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A study conducted by several parties on the subject show that

individual neurons are able to recognize people, landscapes,
objects and even written and names. The finding suggests the
existence of a consistent and explicit code that could play a role in
the transformation of complex visual representations into long-term
memories.
This conception of individual neurons as 'thinking cells' - says the
neuro-surgeon Itzhak Fried - represents an important step toward
deciphering the code of the cognitive brain. If we can understand
this process, maybe one day we will be able to build cognitive
prostheses to replace functions lost due to brain injury or disease,
and perhaps even to improve memory
Angeles is based on a new conception of the mode of storage of
memories, stating that encode memories are small sets of neurons
located in specific regions of the brain. These small clusters of
neural cells simultaneously represent many aspects of the same
thing.
This statement leads to the conclusion that each neuron has its own
memory and that groups of neurons fire selectively to images of
faces, animals, objects or scenes. In this perspective are here
analyzed two different areas of research that are based on two
different approaches: one referring to the neuro-phenomenological
studies (total embodiment of Varela and Thompson), and the other
in reference to the neuro-physiological and bio-medical studies
(neurophysiology of learning of Zhuo Joseph Tsien).
But as you can remember the mental states activated by past
perceptions and refer back to an object in the world, even when it is
not present or does not exist? How is it that a model of external
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reality emerges in the physical system, which is the brain? What

role has the intentionality and the emergence of consciousness in
this process?
The answers to these problems are numerous and controversial
and detection of connection points difficult and problematic
(hampered by the differentiation of the areas of inquiry: Philosophy
of mind, Philosophy of language, Cognitive science, Neuroscience,
etc.). This basically means that “Philosophy” speaks little of
“Biology” and “Biology” of “Philosophy” speaks even less.
Tsien founded the Shanghai Institute of Brain Functional Genomics
at East China Normal University and is now director of the Center
for Systems Neurobiology at Boston University. His studies are
focused on the search for a neural code that can explain the
experience phenomenologically lived through the observation of
specific biological processes.
For a long time research of the neural mechanisms by which
memories are stored in the brain has been studied by
neuroscientists. Learning and memory are very important in the
structuring of knowledge: learning is the process by which one
acquires knowledge and memory is the process by which
knowledge is preserved in time. For many years we have tried,
therefore, to investigate the intricacies of cellular memory and to
understand the functional basis for action at the neural level.
Tsien and his team, in a biomedical field and through combined and
complex experiments, have developed an interesting theory on the
basic mechanism by which the brain would be able to transform
experience into memory. Clans of neurons involved in coding, they
say, make a selection of experiences stored, giving a sense of the
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experience and transforming it into knowledge. This extraordinary

research could allow, in the near future, to decipher the neural
universal code allowing the reading of the memories of a human
being by monitoring brain activity. Interesting observations are: a)
the nature of the mechanisms of action and the behavior of neural
cells, b) the sophisticated mechanism of action research (covering
the area CA1 of the hippocampus).
In this theoretical model each event is represented by a group of
neuronal clans that encode different characteristics; a clan is
represented by a set of neurons that responds in a similar manner
to each stimulus, working in harmony in the encoding of events. It is
believed, therefore, that it is the clan to generate neural memories,
acting in unison on the information conveyed phenomenal
experience. Does this mean that behavior is also the derivation of
genetic relational nature of man and his predisposition to the
“lineage"? (Maturana Dàvila, 2006)
The brain is, in this perspective, the clan for neural discrimination of
events encoded in memory. In a threedimensional view, each
experience is represented on a pyramid at various levels; each
pyramid is considered an integral part of a polyhedron which, in
turn, represents the category common to all the pyramids. This
model represents a consolidation of memories in a clear and
inconceivable way and demonstrate the dynamic nature of the
human brain and its extraordinary ability.
organization and on the categorization as universal principles of the
functioning of our brain. In the case of memory these properties
allow you to create an unlimited number of patterns of neuronal
activation (corresponding to the number of experiences that an

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organism can live). In this perspective, Tsien and his research team
in a recent article say “The ability to learn and remember
conspecifics is essential for the establishment and maintenance of
social groups. Many animals, including humans, primates and
rodents, depend on stable social relationships for survival. Social
learning and social recognition have become emerging areas of
interest for neuroscientists but are still not well understood. It has
been established that several hormones play a role in the
modulation of social recognition including estrogen, oxytocin and
arginine vasopression. Relatively few studies have investigated how
social recognition might be improved or enhanced. In this study,
we investigate the role of the NMDA receptor in social recognition
memory, specifically the consequences of altering the ratio of the
NR2B:NR2A subunits in the forebrain regions in social behavior. We
produced transgenic mice in which the NR2B subunit of the NMDA
receptor was overexpressed postnatally in the excitatory neurons of
the forebrain areas including the cortex, amygdala and
hippocampus. We investigated the ability of both our transgenic
animals and their wild-type littermate to learn and remember
juvenile conspecifics using both 1-hr and 24-hr memory tests.
Our experiments show that the wild-type animals and NR2B
transgenic mice preformed similarly in the 1-hr test. However,
transgenic mice showed better performances in 24-hr tests of
recognizing animals of a different strain or animals of a different
species. We conclude that NR2B overexpression in the forebrain
enhances social recognition memory for different strains and animal
species”(Jacobs,Tsien, 2012).
Conclusion

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That having been said, the paideia-society interrelation stands

within a paradigmatic vision of contemporary pedagogy like the
double–faced Janus, from which a new dimension of man and
citizen arises along with a new way of understanding
education//educability of the subject-person (Pastena 2011). It is all
about suggesting a new way of interpreting pedagogy where the
teaching- learning interaction becomes alternative teaching
methodology to the many current practices.
No doubt so much uneasiness and failure to achieve success in the
schools are caused by the nature and the way of teaching
approaches, by an agency that is often too prone to hyper-
didacticisms that bring about confusion and disconcert rather than
self-orientating enaction. In fact, enaction means understanding
learning as the creation of worlds, where the student experiences
the didactic action in structural coupling with the teacher. In short, it
is a Paideia that is seen in its atropo-ethical dimension as the hard
core that allows interaction (in an enactive circuit) between “sense”,
“logic” and “evolution”

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What is Memory and Forgetting Memory

processes: Encoding, Storage, Retrieval Stages of
memory: Sensory memory, Short-term memory
(Working memory), Long-term Memory
(Declarative – Episodic and Semantic; Procedural)
Theories of Forgetting: Interference, Retrieval
Failure, Decay, Motivated forgetting?

Memory and Forgetting Memory processes: Encoding, Storage,

Retrieval Stages of memory: Sensory memory, Short-term
memory (Working memory), Long-term Memory (Declarative –
Episodic and Semantic; Procedural) Theories of Forgetting:
Interference, Retrieval Failure, Decay, Motivated forgetting

Memory and Forgetting Memory processes: Encoding, Storage

Human Memory
Human memory, like memory in a computer, allows us to store
information for later use. In order to do this, however, both the
computer and we need to master three processes involved in
memory. The first is called encoding; the process we use to
transform information so that it can be stores. For a computer this
means transferring data into 1’s and 0’s. For us, it means
transforming the data into a meaningful form such as an association
with an existing memory, an image, or a sound.

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Next is the actual storage, which simply means holding onto the
information. For this to take place, the computer must physically
write the 1’ and 0’s onto the hard drive. It is very similar for us
because it means that a physiological change must occur for the
memory to be stored. The final process is called retrieval, which is
bringing the memory out of storage and reversing the process of
encoding. In other words, return the information to a form similar to
what we stored.
The major difference between humans and computers in terms of
memory has to do with how the information is stored. For the most
part, computers have only two types; permanent storage and
permanent deletion. Humans, on the other hand are more complex
in that we have three distinct memory storage capabilities (not
including permanent deletion). The first is Sensory memory,
referring to the information we receive through the senses. This
memory is very brief lasting only as much as a few seconds.
Short Term Memory(STM) takes over when the information in our
sensory memory is transferred to our consciousness or our
awareness (Engle, Cantor, & Carullo, 1993; Laming, 1992). This is
the information that is currently active such as reading this page,
talking to a friend, or writing a paper. Short term memory can
definitely last longer than sensory memory (up to 30 seconds or so),
but it still has a very limited capacity. According to research, we can
remember approximately 5 to 9 (7 +/- 2) bits of information in our
short term memory at any given time (Miller, 1956)
If STM lasts only up to 30 seconds, how do we ever get any work
done? Wouldn’t we start to lose focus or concentrate about twice
every minute? This argument prompted researchers to look at a

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second phase of STM that is now referred to as Working Memory.

Working Memory is the process that takes place when we
continually focus on material for longer than STM alone will allow
(Baddeley, 1992).
What happens when our short term memory is full and another bit of
information enters? Displacement means that the new information
will push out part of the old information. Suddenly some one says
the area code for that phone number and almost instantly you forget
the last two digits of the number. We can further sharpen our short
term memory skills, however, by mastering chunking and using
rehearsal (which allows us to visualize, hear, say, or even see the
information repeatedly and through different senses).
Finally, there is long term memory (LTM), which is most similar to
the permanent storage of a computer. Unlike the other two types,
LTM is relatively permanent and practically unlimited in terms of its
storage capacity. Its been argued that we have enough space in our
LTM to memorize every phone number in the U.S. and still function
normally in terms of remembering what we do now. Obviously we
don’t use even a fraction of this storage space.
There are several subcategories of LTM. First, memories for facts,
life events, and information about our environment are stored in
declarative memory. This includes semantic memory, factual
knowledge like the meaning of words, concepts, and our ability to
do math (Lesch & Pollatsek, 1993, Rohrer et al., 1995) and episodic
memory, memories for events and situations (Goldringer, 1996;
Kliegel & Lindberger, 1993). The second subcategory is often not
thought of as memory because it refers to internal, rather than
external information. When you brush your teeth, write your name,

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or scratch your eye, you do this with ease because you previously
stored these movements and can recall them with ease. This is
referred to as nondeclarative (or implicit) memory. These are
memories we have stored due to extensive practice, conditioning, or
habits.
Why We Remember What We Remember
Short Term Memory. There are typically six reasons why
information is stored in our short term memory.
primacy effect – information that occurs first is typically remembered
better than information occurring later. When given a list of words
or numbers, the first word or number is usually remembered due to
rehearsing this more than other information.
recency effect – often the last bit of information is remembered
better because not as much time has past; time which results in
forgetting.
distinctiveness – if something stands out from information around it,
it is often remembered better. Any distinctive information is easier
to remember than that which is similar, usual, or mundane.
frequency effect – rehearsal, as stated in the first example, results
in better memory. Remember trying to memorize a formula for your
math class. The more you went over it, the better you knew it.
associations – when we associate or attach information to other
information it becomes easier to remember. Many of us use this
strategy in our professions and everyday life in the form of
acronyms.

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reconstruction – sometimes we actually fill in the blanks in our

memory. In other words, when trying to get a complete picture in
our minds, we will make up the missing parts, often without any
realization that this is occurring.
Long Term Memory. Information that passes from our short term to
our long term memory is typically that which has some significance
attached to it. Imagine how difficult it would be to forget the day you
graduated, or your first kiss. Now think about how easy it is to
forget information that has no significance; the color of the car you
parked next to at the store or what shirt you wore last Thursday.
When we process information, we attach significance to it and
information deemed important is transferred to our long term
memory.
There are other reasons information is transferred. As we all know,
sometimes our brains seem full of insignificant facts. Repetition
plays a role in this, as we tend to remember things more the more
they are rehearsed. Other times, information is transferred because
it is somehow attached to something significant. You may
remember that it was a warm day when you bought your first car.
The temperature really plays no important role, but is attached to
the memory of buying your first car.
Forgetting
You can’t talk about remembering without mentioning its
counterpart. It seems that as much as we do remember, we forget
even more. Forgetting isn’t really all that bad, and is in actuality, a
pretty natural phenomenon. Imagine if you remembered every
minute detail of every minute or every hour, of every day during
your entire life, no matter how good, bad, or insignificant. Now
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imagine trying to sift through it all for the important stuff like where
you left your keys.
There are many reasons we forget things and often these reasons
overlap. Like in the example above, some information never makes
it to LTM. Other times, the information gets there, but is lost before it
can attach itself to our LTM. Other reasons include decay, which
means that information that is not used for an extended period of
time decays or fades away over time. It is possible that we are
physiologically preprogrammed to eventually erase data that no
longer appears pertinent to us.
Failing to remember something doesn’t mean the information is
gone forever though. Sometimes the information is there but for
various reasons we can’t access it. This could be caused by
distractions going on around us or possibly due to an error of
association (e.g., believing something about the data which is not
correct causing you to attempt to retrieve information that is not
there). There is also the phenomenon of repression, which means
that we purposefully (albeit subconsciously) push a memory out of
reach because we do not want to remember the associated
feelings. This is often sited in cases where adults ‘forget’ incidences
of sexual abuse when they were children. And finally, amnesia,
which can be psychological or physiological in origin.
Forgetting is an all too common part of daily life. Sometimes
these memory slips are simple and fairly innocuous, such as
forgetting to return a phone call. Other times, forgetting can be
much more dire and even have serious consequences, such as an
eyewitness forgetting important details about a crime.

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Memory failures are an almost daily occurrence. Forgetting is so

common that you probably rely on numerous methods to help you
remember important information, such as jotting down notes in a
daily planner or scheduling important events on your phone's
calendar.
As you are frantically searching for your missing car keys, it may
seem that the information about where you left them is permanently
gone from your memory. However, forgetting is generally not about
actually losing or erasing this information from your long-term
memory.
Time Plays a Key Role in Forgetting
Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus was one of the first to
scientifically study forgetting. In experiments where he used himself
as the subject, Ebbinghaus tested his memory using three-letter
nonsense syllables. He relied on such nonsense words because
using previously known words would have involved drawing on his
existing knowledge and associations in his memory.2
In order to test for new information, Ebbinghaus tested his memory
for periods of time ranging from 20 minutes to 31 days. He then
published his findings in 1885 in Memory: A Contribution to
Experimental Psychology.
His results, plotted in what is known as the Ebbinghaus forgetting
curve, revealed a relationship between forgetting and time. Initially,
information is often lost very quickly after it is learned. Factors such
as how the information was learned and how frequently it
was rehearsed play a role in how quickly these memories are lost.
Information stored in long-term memory is surprisingly stable.

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The forgetting curve also showed that forgetting does not continue
to decline until all of the information is lost.2 At a certain point, the
amount of forgetting levels off.
How to Measure Forgetting
Sometimes it might seem that information has been forgotten, but
even a subtle cue can help trigger the memory. Imagine the last
time you took an exam for school. While you might have initially felt
forgetful and unprepared, seeing the information presented on the
test probably helped cue the retrieval of information you might not
have known you even remembered.
So how do we know when something has been forgotten? There
are a few different ways to measure this:3
 Recall: People who have been asked to memorize something,
such as a list of terms, might be asked to recall the list from
memory. By seeing how many items are remembered,
researchers are able to identify how much information has
been forgotten. This method might involve the use of free
recall (recalling items without hints) or prompted recall (utilizing
hints to trigger memories).
 Recognition: This method involves identifying information that
was previously learned. On a test, for example, students might
have to recognize which terms they learned about in a chapter
of their assigned reading.
Theories About Why We Forget
Of course, many factors can contribute to forgetting. Sometimes you
might be distracted when you learn new information, which might

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mean that you never truly retain the information long enough to
remember it later. Well-known memory researcher Elizabeth
Loftus has proposed four key explanations for why forgetting
occurs. These have led to some major theories of forgetting.

Memory processes: Encoding, Storage, Retrieval

“Memory” is a single term that reflects a number of different abilities:

holding information briefly while working with it (working memory),
remembering episodes of one’s life (episodic memory), and our
general knowledge of facts of the world (semantic memory), among
other types.
Remembering episodes involves three processes: encoding
information (learning it, by perceiving it and relating it to past
knowledge), storing it (maintaining it over time), and then retrieving
it (accessing the information when needed). Failures can occur at
any stage, leading to forgetting or to having false memories. The
key to improving one’s memory is to improve processes of encoding
and to use techniques that guarantee effective retrieval.
Good encoding techniques include relating new information to what
one already knows, forming mental images, and creating
associations among information that needs to be remembered. The
key to good retrieval is developing effective cues that will lead the
rememberer back to the encoded information. Classic mnemonic
systems, known since the time of the ancient Greeks and still used
by some today, can greatly improve one’s memory abilities.

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Key Points
 The three main stages of memory are encoding, storage, and
retrieval. Problems can occur at any of these stages.
 The three main forms of memory storage are sensory
memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.
 Sensory memory is not consciously controlled; it allows
individuals to retain impressions of sensory information after
the original stimulus has ceased.
 Short-term memory lasts for a very brief time and can only
hold 7 +/- 2 pieces of information at once.
 Long-term storage can hold an indefinitely large amount of
information and can last for a very long time.
 Implicit and explicit memories are two different types of long-
term memory. Implicit memories are of sensory and
automatized behaviors, and explicit memories are of
information, episodes, or events.
Key Terms
 memory: The ability of an organism to record information
about things or events with the facility of recalling them later at
will.
 rehearsal: Repetition of an item in short-term memory in order
to store it in long-term memory.
Memory is the ability to take in information, store it, and recall it at a
later time. In psychology, memory is broken into three stages:
encoding, storage, and retrieval. The Memory Process

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1. Encoding (or registration): the process of receiving,

processing, and combining information. Encoding allows
information from the outside world to reach our senses in the
forms of chemical and physical stimuli. In this first stage we
must change the information so that we may put the memory
into the encoding process.
2. Storage: the creation of a permanent record of the encoded
information. Storage is the second memory stage or process in
which we maintain information over periods of time.
3. Retrieval (or recall, or recognition): the calling back of stored
information in response to some cue for use in a process or
activity. The third process is the retrieval of information that we
have stored. We must locate it and return it to our
consciousness. Some retrieval attempts may be effortless due
to the type of information.
Problems can occur at any stage of the process, leading to anything
from forgetfulness to amnesia. Distraction can prevent us from
encoding information initially; information might not be stored
properly, or might not move from short-term to long-term storage;
and/or we might not be able to retrieve the information once it’s
stored.
Memory Encoding

Our memory has three basic functions: encoding, storing, and

retrieving information. Encoding is the act of getting information into
our memory system through automatic or effortful processing.
Storage is retention of the information, and retrieval is the act of
getting information out of storage and into conscious awareness

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through recall, recognition, and relearning. There are various

models that aim to explain how we utilize our memory. In this
section, you’ll learn about some of these models as well as the
importance of recall, recognition, and relearning.
Encoding

We get information into our brains through a process

called encoding, which is the input of information into the memory
system. Once we receive sensory information from the environment,
our brains label or code it. We organize the information with other
similar information and connect new concepts to existing concepts.
Encoding information occurs through automatic processing and
effortful processing. If someone asks you what you ate for lunch
today, more than likely you could recall this information quite easily.
This is known as automatic processing, or the encoding of details
like time, space, frequency, and the meaning of words. Automatic
processing is usually done without any conscious awareness.
Recalling the last time you studied for a test is another example of
automatic processing. But what about the actual test material you
studied? It probably required a lot of work and attention on your part
in order to encode that information.
What are the most effective ways to ensure that important
memories are well encoded? Even a simple sentence is easier to
recall when it is meaningful (Anderson, 1984). Read the following
sentences (Bransford & McCarrell, 1974), then look away and count
backwards from 30 by threes to zero, and then try to write down the
sentences (no peeking back at this page!).
1. The notes were sour because the seams split.

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2. The voyage wasn’t delayed because the bottle shattered.

3. The haystack was important because the cloth ripped.
How well did you do? By themselves, the statements that you wrote
down were most likely confusing and difficult for you to recall. Now,
try writing them again, using the following prompts: bagpipe, ship
christening (shattering a bottle over the bow of the ship is a symbol
of good luck), and parachutist. Next count backwards from 40 by
fours, then check yourself to see how well you recalled the
sentences this time. You can see that the sentences are now much
more memorable because each of the sentences was placed in
context. Material is far better encoded when you make it
meaningful.
There are three types of encoding. The encoding of words and their
meaning is known as semantic encoding. It was first demonstrated
by William Bousfield (1935) in an experiment in which he asked
people to memorize words. The 60 words were actually divided into
4 categories of meaning, although the participants did not know this
because the words were randomly presented. When they were
asked to remember the words, they tended to recall them in
categories, showing that they paid attention to the meanings of the
words as they learned them.
Visual encoding is the encoding of images, and acoustic
encoding is the encoding of sounds, words in particular. To see
how visual encoding works, read over this list of words: car, level,
dog, truth, book, value. If you were asked later to recall the words
from this list, which ones do you think you’d most likely remember?
You would probably have an easier time recalling the words car,
dog, and book, and a more difficult time recalling the words level,
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truth, and value. Why is this? Because you can recall images
(mental pictures) more easily than words alone. When you read the
words car, dog, and book you created images of these things in
your mind. These are concrete, high-imagery words. On the other
hand, abstract words like level, truth, and value are low-imagery
words. High-imagery words are encoded both visually and
semantically (Paivio, 1986), thus building a stronger memory.
Now let’s turn our attention to acoustic encoding. You are driving in
your car and a song comes on the radio that you haven’t heard in at
least 10 years, but you sing along, recalling every word. In the
United States, children often learn the alphabet through song, and
they learn the number of days in each month through rhyme: “Thirty
days hath September, / April, June, and November; / All the rest
have thirty-one, / Save February, with twenty-eight days clear, / And
twenty-nine each leap year.” These lessons are easy to remember
because of acoustic encoding. We encode the sounds the words
make. This is one of the reasons why much of what we teach young
children is done through song, rhyme, and rhythm.
Which of the three types of encoding do you think would give you
the best memory of verbal information? Some years ago,
psychologists Fergus Craik and Endel Tulving (1975) conducted a
series of experiments to find out. Participants were given words
along with questions about them. The questions required the
participants to process the words at one of the three levels. The
visual processing questions included such things as asking the
participants about the font of the letters. The acoustic processing
questions asked the participants about the sound or rhyming of the
words, and the semantic processing questions asked the
participants about the meaning of the words. After participants were
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presented with the words and questions, they were given an

unexpected recall or recognition task.
Words that had been encoded semantically were better
remembered than those encoded visually or acoustically. Semantic
encoding involves a deeper level of processing than the shallower
visual or acoustic encoding. Craik and Tulving concluded that we
process verbal information best through semantic encoding,
especially if we apply what is called the self-reference effect. The
self-reference effect is the tendency for an individual to have better
memory for information that relates to oneself in comparison to
material that has less personal relevance (Rogers, Kuiper & Kirker,
1977).
Recoding
The process of encoding is selective, and in complex situations,
relatively few of many possible details are noticed and encoded.
The process of encoding always involves recoding—that is, taking
the information from the form it is delivered to us and then
converting it in a way that we can make sense of it. For example,
you might try to remember the colors of a rainbow by using the
acronym ROY G BIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo,
violet). The process of recoding the colors into a name can help us
to remember. However, recoding can also introduce errors—when
we accidentally add information during encoding, then remember
that new material as if it had been part of the actual experience (as
discussed below).
Varieties of Memory

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To be a good chess player you have to learn to increase working

memory so you can plan ahead for several offensive moves while
simultaneously anticipating - through use of memory - how the other
player could counter each of your planned moves. [Image: karpidis,
https://goo.gl/EhzMKM, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://goo.gl/jSSrcO]
For most of us, remembering digits relies on short-term
memory, or working memory—the ability to hold information in our
minds for a brief time and work with it (e.g., multiplying 24 x 17

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without using paper would rely on working memory). Another type of

memory is
episodic memory—the ability to remember the episodes of our
lives. If you were given the task of recalling everything you did 2
days ago, that would be a test of episodic memory; you would be
required to mentally travel through the day in your mind and note
the main events.
Semantic memory
is our storehouse of more-or-less permanent knowledge, such as
the meanings of words in a language (e.g., the meaning of
“parasol”) and the huge collection of facts about the world (e.g.,
there are 196 countries in the world, and 206 bones in your
body). Collective memory refers to the kind of memory that people
in a group share (whether family, community, schoolmates, or
citizens of a state or a country). For example, residents of small
towns often strongly identify with those towns, remembering the
local customs and historical events in a unique way. That is, the
community’s collective memory passes stories and recollections
between neighbors and to future generations, forming a memory
system unto itself.
Psychologists continue to debate the classification of types of
memory, as well as which types rely on others (Tulving, 2007), but
for this module we will focus on episodic memory. Episodic memory
is usually what people think of when they hear the word “memory.”
For example, when people say that an older relative is “losing her
memory” due to Alzheimer’s disease, the type of memory-loss they
are referring to is the inability to recall events, or episodic memory.
(Semantic memory is actually preserved in early-stage Alzheimer’s
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disease.) Although remembering specific events that have

happened over the course of one’s entire life (e.g., your experiences
in sixth grade) can be referred to as autobiographical memory, we
will focus primarily on the episodic memories of more recent
events.

Storage Memory

Every experience we have changes our brains. That may seem like
a bold, even strange, claim at first, but it’s true. We encode each of
our experiences within the structures of the nervous system, making
new impressions in the process—and each of those impressions
involves changes in the brain. Psychologists (and neurobiologists)
say that experiences leave memory traces, or engrams (the two
terms are synonyms).
Memories have to be stored somewhere in the brain, so in order to
do so, the brain biochemically alters itself and its neural tissue. Just
like you might write yourself a note to remind you of something, the
brain “writes” a memory trace, changing its own physical
composition to do so. The basic idea is that events (occurrences in
our environment) create engrams through a process
of consolidation: the neural changes that occur after learning to
create the memory trace of an experience. Although neurobiologists
are concerned with exactly what neural processes change when
memories are created, for psychologists, the term memory
trace simply refers to the physical change in the nervous system
(whatever that may be, exactly) that represents our experience.

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Although the concept of engram or memory trace is extremely

useful, we shouldn’t take the term too literally. It is important to
understand that memory traces are not perfect little packets of
information that lie dormant in the brain, waiting to be called forward
to give an accurate report of past experience. Memory traces are
not like video or audio recordings, capturing experience with great
accuracy; as discussed earlier, we often have errors in our memory,
which would not exist if memory traces were perfect packets of
information.
Thus, it is wrong to think that remembering involves simply “reading
out” a faithful record of past experience. Rather, when we
remember past events, we reconstruct them with the aid of our
memory traces—but also with our current belief of what happened.
For example, if you were trying to recall for the police who started a
fight at a bar, you may not have a memory trace of who pushed
whom first. However, let’s say you remember that one of the guys
held the door open for you. When thinking back to the start of the
fight, this knowledge (of how one guy was friendly to you) may
unconsciously influence your memory of what happened in favor of
the nice guy. Thus, memory is a construction of what you actually
recall and what you believe happened. In a phrase, remembering is
reconstructive (we reconstruct our past with the aid of memory
traces) not reproductive (a perfect reproduction or recreation of the
past).
Psychologists refer to the time between learning and testing as the
retention interval. Memories can consolidate during that time, aiding
retention. However, experiences can also occur that undermine the
memory. For example, think of what you had for lunch yesterday—a
pretty easy task. However, if you had to recall what you had for
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lunch 17 days ago, you may well fail (assuming you don’t eat the
same thing every day). The 16 lunches you’ve had since that one
have created retroactive interference. Retroactive interference
refers to new activities (i.e., the subsequent lunches) during the
retention interval (i.e., the time between the lunch 17 days ago and
now) that interfere with retrieving the specific, older memory (i.e.,
the lunch details from 17 days ago). But just as newer things can
interfere with remembering older things, so can the opposite
happen. Proactive interference is when past memories interfere with
the encoding of new ones. For example, if you have ever studied a
second language, often times the grammar and vocabulary of your
native language will pop into your head, impairing your fluency in
the foreign language.
in which she shows how memory for an event can be changed via
misinformation supplied during the retention interval. For example, if
you witnessed a car crash but subsequently heard people
describing it from their own perspective, this new information may
interfere with or disrupt your own personal recollection of the crash.
In fact, you may even come to remember the event happening
exactly as the others described it! This misinformation effect in
eyewitness memory represents a type of retroactive interference
that can occur during the retention interval (see Loftus [2005] for a
review). Of course, if correct information is given during the
retention interval, the witness’s memory will usually be improved.
Retrieval Memory

Endel Tulving argued that “the key process in memory is retrieval”

(1991, p. 91). Why should retrieval be given more prominence than
encoding or storage? For one thing, if information were encoded

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and stored but could not be retrieved, it would be useless. As

discussed previously in this module, we encode and store
thousands of events—conversations, sights and sounds—every
day, creating memory traces. However, we later access only a tiny
portion of what we’ve taken in. Most of our memories will never be
used—in the sense of being brought back to mind, consciously. This
fact seems so obvious that we rarely reflect on it. All those events
that happened to you in the fourth grade that seemed so important
then? Now, many years later, you would struggle to remember even
a few. You may wonder if the traces of those memories still exist in
some latent form. Unfortunately, with currently available methods, it
is impossible to know.
Psychologists distinguish information that is available in memory
from that which is accessible (Tulving & Pearlstone,
1966). Available information is the information that is stored in
memory—but precisely how much and what types are stored cannot
be known. That is, all we can know is what information we can
retrieve—accessible information. The assumption is that accessible
information represents only a tiny slice of the information available
in our brains. Most of us have had the experience of trying to
remember some fact or event, giving up, and then—all of a
sudden!—it comes to us at a later time, even after we’ve stopped
trying to remember it. Similarly, we all know the experience of failing
to recall a fact, but then, if we are given several choices (as in a
multiple-choice test), we are easily able to recognize it.
What factors determine what information can be retrieved from
memory? One critical factor is the type of hints, or cues, in the
environment. You may hear a song on the radio that suddenly
evokes memories of an earlier time in your life, even if you were not
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trying to remember it when the song came on. Nevertheless, the

song is closely associated with that time, so it brings the experience
to mind.
The general principle that underlies the effectiveness of retrieval
cues is the encoding specificity principle (Tulving & Thomson,
1973): when people encode information, they do so in specific
ways. For example, take the song on the radio: perhaps you heard it
while you were at a terrific party, having a great, philosophical
conversation with a friend. Thus, the song became part of that
whole complex experience. Years later, even though you haven’t
thought about that party in ages, when you hear the song on the
radio, the whole experience rushes back to you. In general, the
encoding specificity principle states that, to the extent a retrieval cue
(the song) matches or overlaps the memory trace of an experience
(the party, the conversation), it will be effective in evoking the
memory. A classic experiment on the encoding specificity principle
had participants memorize a set of words in a unique setting. Later,
the participants were tested on the word sets, either in the same
location they learned the words or a different one. As a result of
encoding specificity, the students who took the test in the same
place they learned the words were actually able to recall more
words (Godden & Baddeley, 1975) than the students who took the
test in a new setting.
One caution with this principle, though, is that, for the cue to work, it
can’t match too many other experiences (Nairne, 2002; Watkins,
1975). Consider a lab experiment. Suppose you study 100 items; 99
are words, and one is a picture—of a penguin, item 50 in the list.
Afterwards, the cue “recall the picture” would evoke “penguin”
perfectly. No one would miss it. However, if the word “penguin” were
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placed in the same spot among the other 99 words, its memorability
would be exceptionally worse. This outcome shows the power of
distinctiveness that we discussed in the section on encoding: one
picture is perfectly recalled from among 99 words because it stands
out. Now consider what would happen if the experiment were
repeated, but there were 25 pictures distributed within the 100-item
list. Although the picture of the penguin would still be there, the
probability that the cue “recall the picture” (at item 50) would be
useful for the penguin would drop correspondingly. Watkins (1975)
referred to this outcome as demonstrating the cue overload
principle. That is, to be effective, a retrieval cue cannot be
overloaded with too many memories. For the cue “recall the picture”
to be effective, it should only match one item in the target set (as in
the one-picture, 99-word case).
To sum up how memory cues function: for a retrieval cue to be
effective, a match must exist between the cue and the desired
target memory; furthermore, to produce the best retrieval, the cue-
target relationship should be distinctive. Next, we will see how the
encoding specificity principle can work in practice.
Psychologists measure memory performance by using production
tests (involving recall) or recognition tests (involving the selection of
correct from incorrect information, e.g., a multiple-choice test). For
example, with our list of 100 words, one group of people might be
asked to recall the list in any order (a free recall test), while a
different group might be asked to circle the 100 studied words out of
a mix with another 100, unstudied words (a recognition test). In this
situation, the recognition test would likely produce better
performance from participants than the recall test.

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We usually think of recognition tests as being quite easy, because

the cue for retrieval is a copy of the actual event that was presented
for study. After all, what could be a better cue than the exact target
(memory) the person is trying to access? In most cases, this line of
reasoning is true; nevertheless, recognition tests do not provide
perfect indexes of what is stored in memory. That is, you can fail to
recognize a target staring you right in the face, yet be able to recall
it later with a different set of cues (Watkins & Tulving, 1975). For
example, suppose you had the task of recognizing the surnames of
famous authors. At first, you might think that being given the actual
last name would always be the best cue. However, research has
shown this not necessarily to be true (Muter, 1984). When given
names such as Tolstoy, Shaw, Shakespeare, and Lee, subjects
might well say that Tolstoy and Shakespeare are famous authors,
whereas Shaw and Lee are not. But, when given a cued recall test
using first names, people often recall items (produce them) that they
had failed to recognize before. For example, in this instance, a cue
like George Bernard ________ often leads to a recall of “Shaw,”
even though people initially failed to recognize Shaw as a famous
author’s name. Yet, when given the cue “William,” people may not
come up with Shakespeare, because William is a common name
that matches many people (the cue overload principle at work). This
strange fact—that recall can sometimes lead to better performance
than recognition—can be explained by the encoding specificity
principle. As a cue, George Bernard _________ matches the way
the famous writer is stored in memory better than does his surname,
Shaw, does (even though it is the target). Further, the match is quite
distinctive with George Bernard ___________, but the
cue William _________________ is much more overloaded (Prince
William, William Yeats, William Faulkner, will.i.am).
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The phenomenon we have been describing is called the recognition

failure of recallable words, which highlights the point that a cue will
be most effective depending on how the information has been
encoded (Tulving & Thomson, 1973). The point is, the cues that
work best to evoke retrieval are those that recreate the event or
name to be remembered, whereas sometimes even the target itself,
such as Shaw in the above example, is not the best cue. Which cue
will be most effective depends on how the information has been
encoded.
Whenever we think about our past, we engage in the act of retrieval.
We usually think that retrieval is an objective act because we tend
to imagine that retrieving a memory is like pulling a book from a
shelf, and after we are done with it, we return the book to the shelf
just as it was. However, research shows this assumption to be false;
far from being a static repository of data, the memory is constantly
changing. In fact, every time we retrieve a memory, it is altered. For
example, the act of retrieval itself (of a fact, concept, or event)
makes the retrieved memory much more likely to be retrieved again,
a phenomenon called the testing effect or the retrieval practice
effect (Pyc & Rawson, 2009; Roediger & Karpicke, 2006). However,
retrieving some information can actually cause us to forget other
information related to it, a phenomenon called retrieval-induced
forgetting (Anderson, Bjork, & Bjork, 1994). Thus the act of retrieval
can be a double-edged sword—strengthening the memory just
retrieved (usually by a large amount) but harming related
information (though this effect is often relatively small).
As discussed earlier, retrieval of distant memories is reconstructive.
We weave the concrete bits and pieces of events in with
assumptions and preferences to form a coherent story (Bartlett,
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1932). For example, if during your 10th birthday, your dog got to
your cake before you did, you would likely tell that story for years
afterward. Say, then, in later years you misremember where the dog
actually found the cake, but repeat that error over and over during
subsequent retellings of the story. Over time, that inaccuracy would
become a basic fact of the event in your mind. Just as retrieval
practice (repetition) enhances accurate memories, so will it
strengthen errors or false memories (McDermott, 2006). Sometimes
memories can even be manufactured just from hearing a vivid story.
Consider the following episode, recounted by Jean Piaget, the
famous developmental psychologist, from his childhood:
One of my first memories would date, if it were true, from my
second year. I can still see, most clearly, the following scene, in
which I believed until I was about 15. I was sitting in my pram . . .
when a man tried to kidnap me. I was held in by the strap fastened
round me while my nurse bravely tried to stand between me and the
thief. She received various scratches, and I can still vaguely see
those on her face. . . . When I was about 15, my parents received a
letter from my former nurse saying that she had been converted to
the Salvation Army. She wanted to confess her past faults, and in
particular to return the watch she had been given as a reward on
this occasion. She had made up the whole story, faking the
scratches. I therefore must have heard, as a child, this story, which
my parents believed, and projected it into the past in the form of a
visual memory. . . . Many real memories are doubtless of the same
order. (Norman & Schacter, 1997, pp. 187–188)
Piaget’s vivid account represents a case of a pure reconstructive
memory. He heard the tale told repeatedly, and doubtless told it
(and thought about it) himself. The repeated telling cemented the
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events as though they had really happened, just as we are all open
to the possibility of having “many real memories ... of the same
order.” The fact that one can remember precise details (the location,
the scratches) does not necessarily indicate that the memory is true,
a point that has been confirmed in laboratory studies, too
(e.g., Norman & Schacter, 1997).
Putting It All Together: Improving Your Memory
A central theme of this module has been the importance of the
encoding and retrieval processes, and their interaction. To recap: to
improve learning and memory, we need to encode information in
conjunction with excellent cues that will bring back the remembered
events when we need them. But how do we do this? Keep in mind
the two critical principles we have discussed: to maximize retrieval,
we should construct meaningful cues that remind us of the original
experience, and those cues should be distinctive and not associated
with other memories. These two conditions are critical in maximizing
cue effectiveness (Nairne, 2002).
So, how can these principles be adapted for use in many situations?
Let’s go back to how we started the module, with Simon Reinhard’s
ability to memorize huge numbers of digits. Although it was not
obvious, he applied these same general memory principles, but in a
more deliberate way. In fact, all mnemonic devices, or memory
aids/tricks, rely on these fundamental principles. In a typical case,
the person learns a set of cues and then applies these cues to learn
and remember information. Consider the set of 20 items below that
are easy to learn and remember (Bower & Reitman, 1972).
1. is a gun. 11 is penny-one, hot dog bun.

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2. is a shoe. 12 is penny-two, airplane glue.

3. is a tree. 13 is penny-three, bumble bee.
4. is a door. 14 is penny-four, grocery store.
5. is knives. 15 is penny-five, big beehive.
6. is sticks. 16 is penny-six, magic tricks.
7. is oven. 17 is penny-seven, go to heaven.
8. is plate. 18 is penny-eight, golden gate.
9. is wine. 19 is penny-nine, ball of twine.
10. is hen. 20 is penny-ten, ballpoint pen.
It would probably take you less than 10 minutes to learn this list and
practice recalling it several times (remember to use retrieval
practice!). If you were to do so, you would have a set of peg words
on which you could “hang” memories. In fact, this mnemonic device
is called the peg word technique. If you then needed to remember
some discrete items—say a grocery list, or points you wanted to
make in a speech—this method would let you do so in a very
precise yet flexible way. Suppose you had to remember bread,
peanut butter, bananas, lettuce, and so on. The way to use the
method is to form a vivid image of what you want to remember and
imagine it interacting with your peg words (as many as you need).
For example, for these items, you might imagine a large gun (the
first peg word) shooting a loaf of bread, then a jar of peanut butter
inside a shoe, then large bunches of bananas hanging from a tree,
then a door slamming on a head of lettuce with leaves flying
everywhere. The idea is to provide good, distinctive cues (the

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weirder the better!) for the information you need to remember while
you are learning it. If you do this, then retrieving it later is relatively
easy. You know your cues perfectly (one is gun, etc.), so you simply
go through your cue word list and “look” in your mind’s eye at the
image stored there (bread, in this case).

This peg word method may sound strange at first, but it works quite
well, even with little training (Roediger, 1980). One word of warning,
though, is that the items to be remembered need to be presented

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relatively slowly at first, until you have practice associating each

with its cue word. People get faster with time. Another interesting
aspect of this technique is that it’s just as easy to recall the items in
backwards order as forwards. This is because the peg words
provide direct access to the memorized items, regardless of order.
How did Simon Reinhard remember those digits? Essentially he has
a much more complex system based on these same principles. In
his case, he uses “memory palaces” (elaborate scenes with discrete
places) combined with huge sets of images for digits. For example,
imagine mentally walking through the home where you grew up and
identifying as many distinct areas and objects as possible. Simon
has hundreds of such memory palaces that he uses. Next, for
remembering digits, he has memorized a set of 10,000 images.
Every four-digit number for him immediately brings forth a mental
image. So, for example, 6187 might recall Michael Jackson. When
Simon hears all the numbers coming at him, he places an image for
every four digits into locations in his memory palace. He can do this
at an incredibly rapid rate, faster than 4 digits per 4 seconds when
they are flashed visually, as in the demonstration at the beginning of
the module. As noted, his record is 240 digits, recalled in exact
order. Simon also holds the world record in an event called “speed
cards,” which involves memorizing the precise order of a shuffled
deck of cards. Simon was able to do this in 21.19 seconds! Again,
he uses his memory palaces, and he encodes groups of cards as
single images.
Many books exist on how to improve memory using mnemonic
devices, but all involve forming distinctive encoding operations and
then having an infallible set of memory cues. We should add that to
develop and use these memory systems beyond the basic peg
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system outlined above takes a great amount of time and

concentration. The World Memory Championships are held every
year and the records keep improving. However, for most common
purposes, just keep in mind that to remember well you need to
encode information in a distinctive way and to have good cues for
retrieval. You can adapt a system that will meet most any purpose.

Stages of memory: Sensory memory, Short-term memory

(Working memory), Long-term Memory (Declarative – Episodic
and Semantic; Procedural)

Types of Memory
Sensory Memory
Sensory memory allows individuals to retain impressions of sensory
information after the original stimulus has ceased. One of the most
common examples of sensory memory is fast-moving lights in
darkness: if you’ve ever lit a sparkler on the Fourth of July or
watched traffic rush by at night, the light appears to leave a trail.
This is because of “iconic memory,” the visual sensory store. Two
other types of sensory memory have been extensively studied:
echoic memory (the auditory sensory store) and haptic memory (the
tactile sensory store). Sensory memory is not involved in higher
cognitive functions like short- and long-term memory; it is not
consciously controlled. The role of sensory memory is to provide a
detailed representation of our entire sensory experience for which
relevant pieces of information are extracted by short-term memory
and processed by working memory.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
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Key Points
 Sensory memory allows individuals to recall great detail about
a complex stimulus immediately following its presentation.
 There are different types of sensory memory, including iconic
memory, echoic memory, and haptic memory.
 In sensory memory, no manipulation of the incoming
information occurs, and the input is quickly transferred to the
working memory.
Key Terms
 sensory memory: The brief storage (in memory) of
information experienced by the senses; typically only lasts up
to a few seconds.
 iconic: Visually representative.
 echoic: Imitative of a sound; onomatopoeic.
Sensory memory allows individuals to retain impressions of sensory
information for a brief time after the original stimulus has ceased. It
allows individuals to remember great sensory detail about a
complex stimulus immediately following its presentation. Sensory
memory is an automatic response considered to be outside of
cognitive control. The information represented in this type of
memory is the “raw data” which provides a snapshot of a person’s
overall sensory experience. Information from sensory memory has
the shortest retention time, ranging from mere milliseconds to five
seconds. It is retained just long enough for it to be transferred to
short-term (working) memory.

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In sensory memory, no manipulation of the incoming information

occurs as it is transferred quickly to working memory. The amount
of information is greatly reduced during this transfer because the
capacity of working memory is not large enough to cope with all the
input coming from our sense organs.
Types of Sensory Memory
It is assumed that there is a subtype of sensory memory for each of
the five major senses (touch, taste, sight, hearing, and smell);
however, only three of these types have been extensively studied:
echoic memory, iconic memory, and haptic memory.
Iconic Memory
Sensory input to the visual system goes into iconic memory, so
named because the mental representations of visual stimuli are
referred to as icons. Iconic memory has a duration of about 100 ms.
One of the times that iconic memory is noticeable is when we see
“light trails.” This is the phenomenon when bright lights move rapidly
at night and you perceive them as forming a trail; this is the image
that is represented in iconic memory.

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Light trails: In iconic memory, you perceive a moving bright light as

forming a continuous line because of the images retained in sensory
memory for milliseconds.
Echoic Memory
Echoic memory is the branch of sensory memory used by the
auditory system. Echoic memory is capable of holding a large
amount of auditory information, but only for 3–4 seconds. This
echoic sound is replayed in the mind for this brief amount of time
immediately after the presentation of the auditory stimulus.
Haptic Memory
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Haptic memory is the branch of sensory memory used by the sense

of touch. Sensory receptors all over the body detect sensations like
pressure, itching, and pain, which are briefly held in haptic memory
before vanishing or being transported to short-term memory. This
type of memory seems to be used when assessing the necessary
forces for gripping and interacting with familiar objects. Haptic
memory seems to decay after about two seconds. Evidence of
haptic memory has only recently been identified and not as much is
known about its characteristics compared to iconic memory.

Short-Term Memory
Short-term memory is also known as working memory. It holds only
a few items (research shows a range of 7 +/- 2 items) and only lasts
for about 20 seconds. However, items can be moved from short-
term memory to long-term memory via processes like rehearsal. An
example of rehearsal is when someone gives you a phone number
verbally and you say it to yourself repeatedly until you can write it
down. If someone interrupts your rehearsal by asking a question,
you can easily forget the number, since it is only being held in your
short-term memory.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Key Points
 Short-term memory acts as a scratchpad for temporary recall
of information being processed. It decays rapidly and has a
limited capacity.

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 Rehearsal and chunking are two ways to make information

more likely to be held in short-term memory.
 Working memory is related to short-term memory. It contains a
phonological loop that preserves verbal and auditory data, a
visuospatial scratchpad that preserves visual data, and a
central manager that controls attention to the data.
Key Terms
 chunking: The splitting of information into smaller pieces to
make reading and understanding faster and easier.
 encoding: The process of converting information into a
construct that can be stored within the brain.
 consolidation: A process that stabilizes a memory trace after
its initial acquisition.
Short-term memory is the capacity for holding a small amount of
information in an active, readily available state for a brief period of
time. It is separate from our long-term memory, where lots of
information is stored for us to recall at a later time. Unlike sensory
memory, it is capable of temporary storage. How long this storage
lasts depends on conscious effort from the individual; without
rehearsal or active maintenance, the duration of short-term memory
is believed to be on the order of seconds.
Capacity of Short-Term Memory

Short-term memory acts as a scratchpad for temporary recall of

information. For instance, in order to understand this sentence you
need to hold in your mind the beginning of the sentence as you read

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the rest. Short-term memory decays rapidly and has a limited

capacity.
The psychologist George Miller suggested that human short-term
memory has a forward memory span of approximately seven items
plus or minus two. More recent research has shown that this
number is roughly accurate for college students recalling lists of
digits, but memory span varies widely with populations tested and
with material used.
For example, the ability to recall words in order depends on a
number of characteristics of these words: fewer words can be
recalled when the words have longer spoken duration (this is known
as the word-length effect) or when their speech sounds are similar
to each other (this is called the phonological similarity effect). More
words can be recalled when the words are highly familiar or occur
frequently in the language. Chunking of information can also lead to
an increase in short-term memory capacity. For example, it is easier
to remember a hyphenated phone number than a single long
number because it is broken into three chunks instead of existing as
ten digits.
Rehearsal is the process in which information is kept in short-term
memory by mentally repeating it. When the information is repeated
each time, that information is re-entered into the short-term
memory, thus keeping that information for another 10 to 20
seconds, the average storage time for short-term memory.
Distractions from rehearsal often cause disturbances in short-term
memory retention. This accounts for the desire to complete a task
held in short-term memory as soon as possible.
Working Memory

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Though the term “working memory” is often used synonymously

with “short-term memory,” working memory is related to but actually
distinct from short-term memory. It holds temporary data in the mind
where it can be manipulated. Baddeley and Hitch’s 1974 model of
working memory is the most commonly accepted theory of working
memory today. According to Baddeley, working memory has a
phonological loop to preserve verbal data, a visuospatial scratchpad
to control visual data, and a central executive to disperse attention
between them.
Phonological Loop
The phonological loop is responsible for dealing with auditory and
verbal information, such as phone numbers, people’s names, or
general understanding of what other people are talking about. We
could roughly say that it is a system specialized for language. It
consists of two parts: a short-term phonological store with
auditory memory traces that are subject to rapid decay, and
an articulatory loop that can revive these memory traces. The
phonological store can only store sounds for about two seconds
without rehearsal, but the auditory loop can “replay them” internally
to keep them in working memory. The repetition of information
deepens the memory.
Visuospatial Sketchpad
Visual and spatial information is handled in the visuospatial
sketchpad. This means that information about the position and
properties of objects can be stored. The phonological loop and
visuospatial sketchpad are semi-independent systems; because of
this, you can increase the amount you can remember by engaging
both systems at once. For instance, you might be better able to
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remember an entire phone number if you visualize part of it (using

the visuospatial sketchpad) and then say the rest of it out loud
(using the phonological loop).
Central Executive
The central executive connects the phonological loop and the
visuospatial sketchpad and coordinates their activities. It also links
the working memory to the long-term memory, controls the storage
of long-term memory, and manages memory retrieval from storage.
The process of storage is influenced by the duration in which
information is held in working memory and the amount that the
information is manipulated. Information is stored for a longer time if
it is semantically interpreted and viewed with relation to other
information already stored in long-term memory.
Transport to Long-Term Memory
The process of transferring information from short-term to long-term
memory involves encoding and consolidation of information. This is
a function of time; that is, the longer the memory stays in the short-
term memory the more likely it is to be placed in the long-term
memory. In this process, the meaningfulness or emotional content
of an item may play a greater role in its retention in the long-term
memory.
This greater retention is owed to an enhanced synaptic response
within the hippocampus, which is essential for memory storage. The
limbic system of the brain (including the hippocampus and
amygdala) is not necessarily directly involved in long-term memory,
but it selects particular information from short-term memory and

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consolidates these memories by playing them like a

continuous tape.

Long-Term Memory
Long-term memories are all the memories we hold for periods of
time longer than a few seconds; long-term memory encompasses
everything from what we learned in first grade to our old addresses
to what we wore to work yesterday. Long-term memory has an
incredibly vast storage capacity, and some memories can last from
the time they are created until we die.
There are many types of long-term
memory. Explicit or declarative memory requires conscious recall; it
consists of information that is consciously stored or retrieved.
Explicit memory can be further subdivided into semantic memory
(facts taken out of context, such as “Paris is the capital of France”)
and episodic memory (personal experiences, such as “When I was
in Paris, I saw the Mona Lisa“).
In contrast to explicit/declarative memory, there is also a system for
procedural/implicit memory. These memories are not based on
consciously storing and retrieving information, but on implicit
learning. Often this type of memory is employed in learning new
motor skills. An example of implicit learning is learning to ride a
bike: you do not need to consciously remember how to ride a bike,
you simply do. This is because of implicit memory.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Key Points

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 Long-term memory is the final, semi-permanent stage of

memory; it has a theoretically infinite capacity, and information
can remain there indefinitely.
 Long-term memories can be categorized as either explicit or
implicit memories.
 Explicit memories involve facts, concepts, and events, and
must be recalled consciously.
 Explicit memories can be either semantic (abstract, fact-
based) or episodic (based on a specific event).
 Implicit memories are procedures for completing motor
actions.
Key Terms
 long-term memory: Memory in which associations among
items are stored indefinitely; part of the theory of a dual-store
memory model.
 script: A “blueprint” or routine for dealing with a specific
situation.
If we want to remember something tomorrow, we have to
consolidate it into long-term memory today. Long-term memory is
the final, semi-permanent stage of memory. Unlike sensory and
short-term memory, long-term memory has a theoretically infinite
capacity, and information can remain there indefinitely. Long-term
memory has also been called reference memory, because an
individual must refer to the information in long-term memory when
performing almost any task. Long-term memory can be broken
down into two categories: explicit and implicit memory.

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Explicit Memory
Explicit memory, also known as conscious or declarative memory,
involves memory of facts, concepts, and events that require
conscious recall of the information. In other words, the individual
must actively think about retrieving the information from memory.
This type of information is explicitly stored and retrieved—hence its
name. Explicit memory can be further subdivided into semantic
memory, which concerns facts, and episodic memory, which
concerns primarily personal or autobiographical information.
Semantic Memory
Semantic memory involves abstract factual knowledge, such as
“Albany is the capital of New York.” It is for the type of information
that we learn from books and school: faces, places, facts, and
concepts. You use semantic memory when you take a test. Another
type of semantic memory is called a script. Scripts are like
blueprints of what tends to happen in certain situations. For
example, what usually happens if you visit a restaurant? You get the
menu, you order your meal, you eat it, and then you pay the bill.
Through practice, you learn these scripts and encode them into
semantic memory.
Episodic Memory
Episodic memory is used for more contextualized memories. They
are generally memories of specific moments, or episodes, in one’s
life. As such, they include sensations and emotions associated with
the event, in addition to the who, what, where, and when of what
happened. An example of an episodic memory would be recalling
your family’s trip to the beach. Autobiographical memory (memory

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for particular events in one’s own life) is generally viewed as either

equivalent to, or a subset of, episodic memory. One specific type of
autobiographical memory is a flashbulb memory, which is a highly
detailed, exceptionally vivid “snapshot” of the moment and
circumstances in which a piece of surprising and consequential (or
emotionally arousing) news was heard. For example, many people
remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when
they heard of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. This is
because it is a flashbulb memory.
Semantic and episodic memory are closely related; memory for
facts can be enhanced with episodic memories associated with the
fact, and vice versa. For example, the answer to the factual
question “Are all apples red?” might be recalled by remembering the
time you saw someone eating a green apple. Likewise, semantic
memories about certain topics, such as football, can contribute to
more detailed episodic memories of a particular personal event, like
watching a football game. A person that barely knows the rules of
football will remember the various plays and outcomes of the game
in much less detail than a football expert.
Implicit Memory
In contrast to explicit (conscious) memory, implicit (also called
“unconscious” or “procedural”) memory involves procedures for
completing actions. These actions develop with practice over time.
Athletic skills are one example of implicit memory. You learn the
fundamentals of a sport, practice them over and over, and then they
flow naturally during a game. Rehearsing for a dance or musical
performance is another example of implicit memory. Everyday
examples include remembering how to tie your shoes, drive a car,

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or ride a bicycle. These memories are accessed without conscious

awareness—they are automatically translated into actions without
us even realizing it. As such, they can often be difficult to teach or
explain to other people. Implicit memories differ from the semantic
scripts described above in that they are usually actions that involve
movement and motor coordination, whereas scripts tend to
emphasize social norms or behaviors.

Working Memory from the Psychological

Since the concept of working memory was introduced over 50 years

ago, different schools of thought have offered different definitions for
working memory based on the various cognitive domains that it
encompasses.
The general consensus regarding working memory supports the
idea that working memory is extensively involved in goal-directed
behaviors in which information must be retained and manipulated to
ensure successful task execution. Before the emergence of other
competing models, the concept of working memory was described
by the multicomponent working memory model proposed by
Baddeley and Hitch. In the present article, the authors provide an
overview of several working memory-relevant studies in order to
harmonize the findings of working memory from the neurosciences
and psychological standpoints, especially after citing evidence from
past studies of healthy, aging, diseased, and/or lesioned brains.
In particular, the theoretical framework behind working memory, in
which the related domains that are considered to play a part in

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different frameworks (such as memory’s capacity limit and

temporary storage) are presented and discussed.
From the neuroscience perspective, it has been established that
working memory activates the fronto-parietal brain regions,
including the prefrontal, cingulate, and parietal cortices. Recent
studies have subsequently implicated the roles of subcortical
regions (such as the midbrain and cerebellum) in working memory.
Aging also appears to have modulatory effects on working memory;
age interactions with emotion, caffeine and hormones appear to
affect working memory performances at the neurobiological level.
Moreover, working memory deficits are apparent in older
individuals, who are susceptible to cognitive deterioration. Another
younger population with working memory impairment consists of
those with mental, developmental, and/or neurological disorders
such as major depressive disorder and others.
A less coherent and organized neural pattern has been consistently
reported in these disadvantaged groups. Working memory of
patients with traumatic brain injury was similarly affected and shown
to have unusual neural activity (hyper- or hypoactivation) as a
general observation. Decoding the underlying neural mechanisms of
working memory helps support the current theoretical
understandings concerning working memory, and at the same time
provides insights into rehabilitation programs that target working
memory impairments from neurophysiological or psychological
aspects.
Working memory has fascinated scholars since its inception in the
1960’s (Baddeley, 2010; D’Esposito and Postle, 2015). Indeed,
more than a century of scientific studies revolving around memory in
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the fields of psychology, biology, or neuroscience have not

completely agreed upon a unified categorization of memory,
especially in terms of its functions and mechanisms (Cowan,
2005, 2008; Baddeley, 2010).
From the coining of the term “memory” in the 1880’s by Hermann
Ebbinghaus, to the distinction made between primary and
secondary memory by William James in 1890, and to the now
widely accepted and used categorizations of memory that include:
short-term, long-term, and working memories, studies that have
tried to decode and understand this abstract concept called memory
have been extensive (Cowan, 2005, 2008).
Short and long-term memory suggest that the difference between
the two lies in the period that the encoded information is retained.
Other than that, long-term memory has been unanimously
understood as a huge reserve of knowledge about past events, and
its existence in a functioning human being is without dispute
(Cowan, 2008). Further categorizations of long-term memory
include several categories:
(1) episodic;
(2) semantic;
(3) Pavlovian; and
(4) procedural memory (Humphreys et al., 1989). For example,
understanding and using language in reading and writing
demonstrates long-term storage of semantics. Meanwhile, short-
term memory was defined as temporarily accessible information that
has a limited storage time (Cowan, 2008).

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Holding a string of meaningless numbers in the mind for brief delays

reflects this short-term component of memory.
Thus, the concept of working memory that shares similarities with
short-term memory but attempts to address the oversimplification of
short-term memory by introducing the role of information
manipulation has emerged (Baddeley, 2012). This article seeks to
present an up-to-date introductory overview of the realm of working
memory by outlining several working memory studies from the
psychological and neurosciences perspectives in an effort to refine
and unite the scientific knowledge concerning working memory.
Episodic memory
Episodic memory refers to any events that can be reported from a
person’s life.
This covers information such as any times, places involved – for
example, when you went to the zoo with a friend last week. It is a
type of ‘declarative’ memory, i.e. it can be explicitly inspected and
recalled consciously. Episodic memory can be split further
into autobiographical episodic memory (memories of specific
episodes of one’s life) and experimental episodic memory (where
learning a fact [a semantic memory, below] has been associated
with memory of the specific life episode when it was
learned). Flashbulb memories are detailed autobiographical
episodic memories that are stored permanently in LTM when they
are first learned, often because they were of emotional or historical
importance in that person’s life (e.g. a birth or a death).
Semantic memory

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Like episodic memory, semantic memory is also a type of

‘declarative’ (explicit, consciously recalled) memory.
However, the conscious recall here is of facts that have meaning, as
opposed to the recall of past life events associated with episodic
memory. For instance, recalling that you listen to music using your
ears does not require knowing when or where you first learned this
fact.
Procedural memory
Procedural memory describes our implicit knowledge of tasks that
usually do not require conscious recall to perform them. One
example would be riding a bike –you might struggle to consciously
recall how to manage the task, but we can [unconsciously] perform
it with relative ease.

Theories of Forgetting: Interference, Retrieval Failure, Decay,

Motivated forgetting

The Interference Theory

What did you have for dinner Tuesday night of last week? Is that
difficult to recall? If someone had asked you that question
Wednesday morning, you probably would have had no problem
recalling what you had for dinner the night before.
But as intervening days pass, the memories of all the other meals
you have eaten since then start to interfere with your memory of that
one particular meal. This is a good example of what psychologists
call the interference theory of forgetting.4

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According to interference theory, forgetting is the result of different

memories interfering with one another. The more similar two or
more events are to one another, the more likely interference will
occur.
It is difficult to remember what happened on an average school day
two months ago because so many other days have occurred since
then. Unique and distinctive events, however, are less likely to
suffer from interference. Your high school graduation, wedding, and
the birth of your first child are much more likely to be recalled
because they are singular events—days like no other.
Interference also plays a role in what is known as the serial
position effect, or the tendency to recall the first and last items of a
list.5 For example, imagine that you wrote down a shopping list but
forgot to take it with you to the store. In all likelihood, you will
probably be able to easily recall the first and last items on your list,
but you might forget many of the items that were in the middle.
The first thing you wrote down and the last thing you wrote down
stand out as being more distinct, while the fourth item and seventh
item might seem so similar that they interfere with each other. There
are two basic types of interference that can occur:4
 Retroactive interference happens when newly acquired
information interferes with old memories. For example, a
teacher learning the names of her new class of students at the
start of a school year might find it more difficult to recall the
names of the students in her class last year. The new
information interferes with the old information.

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 Proactive interference occurs when previously learned

information makes it more difficult to form new memories.
Learning a new phone number or locker combination might be
more difficult, for example, because your memories of your old
phone number and combination interfere with the new
information.
Eliminating interference altogether is impossible, but there are a few
things you can do to minimize its effects. One of the best things you
can do is rehearse new information in order to better commit it to
memory. In fact, many experts recommend overlearning important
information, which involves rehearsing the material over and over
again until it can be reproduced perfectly with no errors.6
Another tactic to fight interference is to switch up your routine and
avoid studying similar material back to back. For example, don't try
to study vocabulary terms for your Spanish language class right
after studying terms for your German class. Break up the material
and switch to a completely different subject each study session.
Sleep also plays an essential role in memory formation.
Researchers suggest that sleeping after you learn something new is
one of the best ways to turn new memories into lasting ones.

The Decay Theory of Forgetting

According to the trace theory of memory, physical and chemical

changes in the brain results in a memory "trace." Information
in short-term memory lasts several seconds and if it is not
rehearsed, the neurochemical memory trace quickly fades.8
According to the trace decay theory of forgetting, the events that
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happen between the formation of a memory and the recall of the

memory have no impact on recall.9
Trace theory proposes that the length of time between the memory
and recalling that information determines whether the information
will be retained or forgotten. If the time interval is short, more
information will be recalled. If a longer period of time passes, more
information will be forgotten and memory will be poorer.
The idea that memories fade over time is hardly new. The Greek
philosopher Plato suggested such a thing more than 2,500 years
ago. Later, experimental research by psychologists such as
Ebbinghaus bolstered this theory.2
One of the problems with this theory is that it is difficult to
demonstrate that time alone is responsible for declines in recall. In
real-world situations, many things happen between the formation of
a memory and the recall of that information. A student who learns
something in class, for example, might have hundreds of unique
and individual experiences between learning that information and
having to recall it on an exam.
Was forgetting the date that the American Revolutionary War began
due to the length of time between learning the date in your
American History class and being tested on it? Or did the multitude
of information acquired during that interval of time play a role?
Testing this can be exceedingly difficult. It is nearly impossible to
eliminate all the information that might have an influence on the
creation of the memory and the recall of the memory.
Another problem with decay theory is it does not account for why
some memories fade quickly while others linger. Novelty is one

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factor that plays a role. For example, you are more likely to
remember your very first day of college than all of the intervening
days between it and graduation. That first day was new and
exciting, but all the following days probably seem quite similar to
each other.
Retrieval Failure Theory
Retrieval failure is where the information is in long term memory, but
cannot be accessed. Such information is said to be available (i.e. it
is still stored) but not accessible (i.e. it cannot be retrieved). It
cannot be accessed because the retrieval cues are not present.
When we store a new memory we also store information about the
situation and these are known as retrieval cues. When we come
into the same situation again, these retrieval cues can trigger the
memory of the situation. Retrieval cues can be:
External / Context - in the environment, e.g. smell, place etc.

Internal / State- inside of us, e.g. physical, emotional, mood, drunk

etc.
There is considerable evidence that information is more likely to be
retrieved from long-term memory if appropriate retrieval cues are
present. This evidence comes from both laboratory experiments
and everyday experience. A retrieval cue is a hint or clue that can
help retrieval.
Tulving (1974) argued that information would be more readily
retrieved if the cues present when the information was encoded
were also present when its retrieval is required. For example, if you

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proposed to your partner when a certain song was playing on the

radio, you will be more likely to remember the details of the proposal
when you hear the same song again. The song is a retrieval cue - it
was present when the information was encoded and retrieved.
Tulving suggested that information about the physical surroundings
(external context) and about the physical or psychological state of
the learner (internal context) is stored at the same time as
information is learned. Reinstating the state or context makes recall
easier by providing relevant information, while retrieval failure
occurs when appropriate cues are not present. For example, when
we are in a different context (i.e. situation) or state.
Context (external) Cues
Retrieval cues may be based on context-the setting or situation in
which information is encoded and retrieved. Examples include a
particular room, driving along a motorway, a certain group of
people, a rainy day and so on.
Context also refers to the way information is presented. For
example, words may be printed, spoken or sung, they may be
presented in meaningful groups - in categories such as lists of
animals or furniture - or as a random collection without any link
between them. Evidence indicates that retrieval is more likely when
the context at encoding matches the context at retrieval.
You may have experienced the effect of context on memory if you
have ever visited a place where you once lived (or an old school).
Often such as visit helps people recall lots of experiences about the
time they spent there which they did not realize were stored in their
memory.

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A number of experiments have indicated the importance of context-

based cues for retrieval. An experiment conducted by Tulving and
Pearlstone (1966) asked participants to learn lists of words
belonging to different categories, for example names of animals,
clothing and sports.
Participants were then asked to recall the words. Those who were
given the category names recalled substantially more words than
those who were not. The categories provided a context, and naming
the categories provided retrieval cues. Tulving and Pearlstone
argued that cue-dependent forgetting explains the difference
between the two groups of participants. Those who recalled fewer
words lacked appropriate retrieval cues.
An interesting experiment conducted by Baddeley (1975) indicates
the importance of setting for retrieval. Baddeley (1975) asked deep-
sea divers to memorize a list of words. One group did this on the
beach and the other group underwater. When they were asked to
remember the words half of the beach learners remained on the
beach, the rest had to recall underwater.
Half of the underwater group remained there and the others had to
recall on the beach. The results show that those who had recalled
in the same environment (i.e. context) which that had learned
recalled 40% more words than those recalling in a different
environment. This suggests that the retrieval of information is
improved if it occurs in the context in which it was learned.
State (internal) Dependent Cues

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The basic idea behind state-dependent retrieval is that memory will

be best when a person's physical or psychological state is similar at
encoding and retrieval.
For example, if someone tells you a joke on Saturday night after a
few drinks, you'll be more likely to remember it when you're in a
similar state - at a later date after a few more drinks. Stone cold
sober on Monday morning, you'll be more likely to forget the joke.
State retrieval clues may be based on state-the physical or
psychological state of the person when information is encoded and
retrieved. For example, a person may be alert, tired, happy, sad,
drunk or sober when the information was encoded. They will be
more likely to retrieve the information when they are in a similar
state.
Tulving and Pearlstone’s (1966) study involved external
cues (e.g. presenting category names). However, cue-dependent
forgetting has also been shown with internal cues (e.g. mood
state). Information about current mood state is often stored in the
memory trace, and there is more forgetting if the mood state at the
time of retrieval is different. The notion that there should be less
forgetting when the mood state at learning and at retrieval is the
same is generally known as mood-state-dependent memory.
A study by Goodwin et al. (1969) investigated the effect of alcohol
on state-dependent retrieval. They found that when people encoded
information when drunk, they were more likely to recall it in the
same state. For example, when they hid money and alcohol when
drunk, they were unlikely to find them when sober. However, when
they were drunk again, they often discovered the hiding place.

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Other studies found similar state-dependent effects when

participants were given drugs such as marijuana.
People tend to remember material better when there is a match
between their mood at learning and at retrieval. The effects are
stronger when the participants are in a positive mood than a
negative mood. They are also greater when people try to remember
events having personal relevance.
Evaluation
According to retrieval-failure theory, forgetting occurs when
information is available in LTM but is not accessible. Accessibility
depends in large part on retrieval cues. Forgetting is greatest when
context and state are very different at encoding and retrieval. In this
situation, retrieval cues are absent and the likely result is cue-
dependent forgetting.
There is considerable evidence to support this theory of forgetting
from laboratory experiments. The ecological validity of these
experiments can be questioned, but their findings are supported by
evidence from outside the laboratory.
For example, many people say they can't remember much about
their childhood or their school days. But returning to the house in
which they spent their childhood or attending a school reunion often
provides retrieval cues which trigger a flood of memories.

Motivated Forgetting in Early

Educators assume that students are motivated to retain what they

are taught. Yet, students commonly report that they forget most of
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what they learn, especially in mathematics. In the current study I

ask whether students may be motivated to forget mathematics
because of academic experiences threaten the self-perceptions
they are committed to maintaining. Using a large dataset of 1st and
2nd grade children (N = 812), I hypothesize that math anxiety
creates negative experiences in the classroom that threaten
children’s positive math self-perceptions, which in turn spurs a
motivation to forget mathematics.
I argue that this motivation to forget is activated during the winter
break, which in turn reduces the extent to which children grow in
achievement across the school year. Children were assessed for
math self-perceptions, math anxiety and math achievement in the
fall before going into winter break. During the spring, children’s math
achievement was measured once again.
A math achievement growth score was devised from a regression
model of fall math achievement predicting spring achievement.
Results show that children with higher math self-perceptions
showed reduced growth in math achievement across the school
year as a function of math anxiety. Children with lower math interest
self-perceptions did not show this relationship. Results serve as a
proof-of-concept for a scientific account of motivated forgetting
within the context of education.
Introduction
Despite all of the effort that students put into studying, they
commonly report that knowledge is rapidly lost once a course is
over. While the belief in a total loss of formally acquired knowledge
is false (Bahrick, 1979), it is true that students experience a
significant amount of forgetting soon after the completion of a
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course (Conway et al., 1991; Kamuche and Ledman, 2011).

Research on long-term retention of classroom knowledge reports
that forgetting arises because of blocked learning schedules
(Landauer and Bjork, 1978; Dempster, 1992), a lack of subsequent
relearning (Bahrick and Phelps, 1987; Bahrick and Hall,
1991; Cooper et al., 2000; Deslauriers and Wieman, 2011), poor
initial knowledge structures and shallow levels of understanding
gained during the course itself (Conway et al., 1991). In this article, I
consider an alternative explanation. I draw on the suppression and
threat based coping literature to argue that students themselves
may be motivated to forget due to negative academic experiences
that threaten their self-perceptions.
Motivated Forgetting
Motivated forgetting is the active process of forgetting memories
that are unpleasant, painful, or generally threating to the self-image
that individuals strive to maintain (Tajfel and Turner,
1986; Thompson et al., 1997). Research in cognitive psychology
demonstrates that people can intentionally down-prioritize unwanted
memories from entering consciousness via control processes. For
instance, studies using the think-no-think paradigm (Anderson and
Green, 2001; Anderson and Levy, 2009) demonstrate that
individuals are capable of intentionally forgetting memories for
words that were previously encoded. The think-no-think paradigm
begins by requiring students to first learn a list of cue-target pairs
(e.g., Ordeal-Roach). After this initial learning phase, individuals are
presented with a previously studied cue (i.e., Ordeal) and are
instructed to either remember the associated target word (i.e., Think
of Roach) or to suppress the associated target word (i.e., No-think;
Roach). During a memory test at the end, individuals are again
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presented with the same cues and asked to try their best to recall
the correct target memory words. These studies consistently reveal
that individuals have more difficulty recalling words that they were
previously instructed to suppress relative to words they were
instructed to remember. Additionally, individuals are also worse at
recalling suppressed words relative to baseline words which were
previously studied but were not paired with either “remember” or
“suppress” instructions.
Threat Based Model of Motivated Forgetting
The cognitive literature on intentional forgetting provides compelling
evidence that forgetting previously encoded information is possible,
yet it has not provided an account for why individuals engage in
intentional forgetting outside of the laboratory. Recent social
psychological investigations have advanced the motivated forgetting
literature by developing a framework to predict the social and
intrapersonal circumstances that elicit motivated forgetting.
A growing body of research draws on threat-based theories to
argue that motivated forgetting arises as a possible coping
mechanism to defend against memories that threaten the integrity of
the self (Tajfel and Turner, 1986; Aronson et al., 1999; Sherman
and Cohen, 2006). Threat-based theories begin with the premise
that people are motivated to see themselves in an overly positive
light and will fundamentally alter their behaviors, attention, and even
memory processes to maintain this positive internal representation
(Greenwald, 1980; Taylor and Brown, 1994).
Motivated Forgetting and Academic Break Periods

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A recent study examined the consequences of motivated forgetting

within the context of education, where students are generally
motivated to remember. Ramirez et al. (2017) asked whether we
can draw on the basic premises underlying the research on
psychological threat and motivated forgetting to predict the
circumstances under which students forget course content once the
class is over. To test this, students enrolled in a multivariable
calculus course were asked to report their math self-perceptions
and course relevant stress. At the end of the quarter, students
completed their final exam per usual which served as a baseline
measure of acquired knowledge. The authors measured how much
content students forgot by asking them to re-take some items from
their final exam 2 weeks into the summer break.
Current Study
To summarize, memory research suggests that people are capable
of intentional forgetting. Threat-based theories identify self-
perceptions and experiences that threaten self-perceptions as key
ingredients in creating a defensive memory reaction that leads to a
motivation to forget. Recent neuro investigations of threat suggests
that brain activity during rest periods is associated with activation in
areas involved in defensive memory adaptations. The aim of the
current proof-of-concept study is to address whether children at risk
for motivated forgetting may be forgetting important course relevant
content during academic break periods.
Limitations
The current study holds several limitations which warrant attention.
For instance, the data collection timeline makes it difficult to make a
strong case that the winter break period was responsible for
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allowing students to engage in motivated forgetting; all of the

students in the study underwent a winter break period. Future
research should examine achievement immediately prior to and
after the winter break period using assessments that measure what
children are learning in their specific class. The reliability for my
measure of math self-perceptions could have been higher if children
had been presented with more items, as well. The correlational
research design also did not allow me to manipulate extensive rest
periods or identity threat, which could have provided causal
evidence for the account I put forth. Lastly, I was also not able to
assess perceived threat, intention to forget, or suppression-
avoidance processes, which limited my ability to provide greater
evidence for the mechanism of motivated forgetting.
Implications and Future Directions
The work reported here extends research on motivated forgetting to
an educational context where students typically exert a great deal of
effort to avoid forgetting. This work also makes a novel contribution
by providing evidence that even young children are capable of
experiencing threat-based motivated forgetting. If motivated
forgetting is indeed a factor reducing children’s accessibility of
memories for important course content, then ensuring that children
begin and leave the classroom with a restored sense of self
(Walton, 2014) could be quite useful in reducing motivated
forgetting.
Conclusion
Taken together, the promising findings of this proof-of-concept study
suggests that children may deal with threatening classroom
experiences by forgetting important course relevant knowledge.
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Although there has been a recent interest in using a motivated

forgetting framework to understand defensive adaptations in the
social psychology literature (Shu et al., 2011; Dalton and Huang,
2014; Kouchaki and Gino, 2016), the work reported here and
elsewhere (Ramirez et al., 2017) is the first to extend research on
motivated forgetting to the classroom. These findings lead to a
novel conception of the defensive adaptations that students engage
in when they are “at rest” from schooling.

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 UNIT-5 Attention, Perception,
Learning, Memory and Forgetting
MCQs

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 UNIT-5 Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory 2020
and Forgetting MCQs
1. When an object is moved farther (a) Eyes
away, we tend to see it as more or (b) Motivaton
less invariant in size. This is due to: (c) Experiene
(a) Shape Constancy (d) Learning
(b) Colour Constancy (e) None of the above
(c) Size Constancy Answer: C
(d) Brightness Constancy
(e) None of the above 5. William James characterised the
Answer: C perception of an infant as a :
(a) Blooming buzzing confusion
2. Reversible goblet is a favourite (b) Haphazard Stimulation of nerve
demonstration of: cells
(a) A figure-ground reversal (c) Stimulation of nerve cells in the
(b) A focus-margin reversal eyes
(c) A shape-size reversal (d) Stimulation of rods and cones
(d) A size-contour reversal (e) None of the above
(e) None of the above Answer: A
Answer: A
6. Behaviourists have:
3. A simpler form of stroboscopic (a) No theory of learning
motion is : (b) No theory of thinking
(a) Psychokinesis (c) No theory of memory
(b) Autokinetic Effect (d) No theory of perception
(c) Phi-Phenomenon (e) None of the above
(d) Illusion Answer: D
(e) Hallucination
Answer: C 7. The process by which the eyes get
prepared to see very dimlight is
4. Empiricists (Barkeley, Locke) known as:
maintained that we learn our ways (a) Light Adaptation
of perceiving through : (b) Dark Adaptation

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and Forgetting MCQs
(c) Brightness Adaptation
(d) Colour Adaptation 11. When the lens cannot bulge out
(e) None of the above to the extent necessary due to
Answer: B muscular defects, the individual
suffers from:
8. The partially colour blind people (a) Double Vision
are known as: (b) Astigmatism
(a) Blind (c) Myopia
(b) Colour-blind (d) Farsightedness
(c) Achromats (e) None of the above
(d) Dichromats Answer: D
(e) None of the above
Answer: D 12. Due to the irregularities in the
formation of the lens or the cornea,
9. Totally colour blind people are the object viewed will be partly clear
otherwise known as : and partly blurred. This occurs when
(a) Colour-blind the individual suffers from:
(b) Achromats (a) Astigmatism
(c) Monochromats (b) Colour-blindness
(d) Dichromats (c) Distraction
(e) None of the above (d) Ratinal Disparity
Answer: C (e) None of the above
Answer: A
10. The phenomenon of sifting from
one picture to another is known as : 13. The length of car number has
(a) Retina Rivalry reference to:
(b) Eyes Rivalry (a) Shifting of Attention
(c) Attention Rivalry (b) Distraction
(d) Perception Rivalry (c) Span of Attention
(e) None of the above (d) Focus and Margin
Answer: A (e) Focus of Consciousness

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and Forgetting MCQs
Answer: C Answer: D

14. Sensations of movement from 17. The study on the Zulu tribes of
inside our bodies are called: Africa revealed that the Zulu
(a) Proprioception individuals would be less susceptible
(b) Perception to the:
(c) Interoception (a) Figure-Ground Phenomenon
(d) Sensation (b) Zollner Illusion
(e) Attention (c) Ponzo illusion
Answer: A (d) Muller-Lyer Illusion
(e) None of the above
15. Sensation increases by a Answer: D
constant amount each time the
stimulus is doubled. This is called: 18. A complete change of vitreous
(a) Lewin-Zeigamik Effect humour occurs approximately once
(b) Lewin-Prentice Effect in:
(c) Mallinoswki Law (a) Every four hours
(d) Webber-Fechner Law (b) Every three hours
(e) None of the above (c) Every two hours
Answer: D (d) Every one hour
(e) None of the above
16. The experiments which tell us Answer: A
about the relationship between the
intensity of stimulus and the 19. The theory of colour perception
consequent changes in the intensity which seems to be the most
of sensation are included in : acceptable one today is called the:
(a) Psychoanalysis (a) Retinex Theory
(b) Gestalt Psychology (b) Perspective Theory
(c) Parapsychology (c) Confusion Theory
(d) Psychophysics (d) Young-Helmholtz Theory
(e) None of the above (e) None of the above

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and Forgetting MCQs
Answer: A 23. As compared with cones, rods
appear to be more sensitive to:
20. Who developed the ‘Retinex (a) Longer Wavelengths
Theory” of colour perception? (b) Any wavelengths
(a) Thomas Young (c) Both shorter and longer
(b) Hermann Von Helmholtz wavelengths
(c) Edward Herring (d) Shorter wavelengths
(d) Edwin Land (e) None of the above
(e) None of the above Answer: D
Answer: D
24. The alteration in the
21. Who received Nobel Prize for his comparative sensitivity of the retinal
research on the mechanisms of the apparatus which accompanies
cochlea? change in the level of light energy is
(a) Snyder known as:
(b) Pronko (a) Purkinje Effect
(c) VonBekesy (b) Dark Adaptation
(d) Stratton (c) Scotopic Vision
(e) Turnbull (d) Visual Acuity
Answer: C (e) None of the above
Answer: A
22. The condition of night-blindness
is a consequence of: 25. An increase in sensitivity of
(a) Rhodopsin deficiency in rods retina owing to absence of
(b) Defective rods stimulation in darkness is known as:
(c) Defective Cones (a) Dark Adaptation
(d) Defective Retina (b) Scotopic Vision
(e) None of the above (c) Visual Acuity
Answer: A (d) Photopic Vision
(e) None of the above
Answer: A

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29. Visual reaction of the dark
26. The decrease in sensitivity of the adapted eye to very feeble light is
eye which occurs on account of its called :
stronger stimulation is known as: (a) Photopic Vision
(a) Light Adaptation (b) Scotopic vision
(b) Photopic Vision (c) Visual Acuity
(c) Scotopic Vision (d) Colourless Vision
(d) Visual Acuity (e) None of the above
(e) None of the above Answer: B
Answer: A
30. Visual angle varies inversely
27. In cone adaptation experiment, with:
test field is strictly limited to the: (a) Acuity
(a) Cone-free fovea (b) Light
(b) Cornea (c) Brightness
(c) Retina (d) Length of cones
(d) Rod-free fovea (e) Length of rods
(e) None of the above Answer: A
Answer: D
31. Ability to discriminate fine
28. Reaction to powerful light, differences in visual detail or visual
primarily by cones, is called: sharpness is otherwise known as:
(a) Photopic Vision (a) Photopic Vision
(b) Scotopic Vision (b) Scotopic Vision
(c) Colourless Vision (c) Visual Acuity
(d) Visual Acuity (d) Colourless Vision
(e) None of the above (e) None of the above
Answer: A Answer: C

32. Intensity multiplied by its

duration brings about a constant

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perceptual effect. Let “I” stands for Answer: C
light intensity and “T” for time or
duration, then IXT=C, where “C” is 35. “It is not a different process; it is
constant perceptual effectiveness. just attention to irrelevant stimuli
This above principle is called: that are not a part of the main
(a) Roscoe-Bunsen Law assigned task.” Then what is it?
(b) Hess and Polt Law (a) Distraction
(c) Evans Principle (b) Shifting of Attention
(d) Landis Principle (c) Span of attention
(e) None of the above (d) Involuntary Attention
Answer: A (e) Voluntary Attention
Answer: A
33. Cases of yellow-blue colour
blindness are: 36. Simultaneous focussing on two
(a) Maximum separate activities is otherwise
(b) Exceedingly Rare known as:
(c) Mostly found in children (a) Span of attention
(d) Mostly found in women (b) Shifting of attention
(e) Mostly found in men (c) Division of attention
Answer: B (d) Distraction
(e) None of the above
34. “Interest is latent attention and Answer: C
attention is interest in action.” This
statement deals with the: 37. When familiar large objects look
(a) Objective determinants of smaller than they are known to be,
attention they are regarded as being at a
(b) Span of attention distance. This is an instance of what
(c) Subjective determinants of is called:
attention (a) Visual Acuity
(d) Shifting of attention (b) Monocular Parallax
(e) None of the above (c) Linear Perspective

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 UNIT-5 Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory 2020
and Forgetting MCQs
(d) Scotopic Vision compactness of de signs which is
(e) Pliotopic Vision related to perspectives is called:
Answer: C (a) Rods
(b) Cones
38. Movement Parallax is a (c) Gradients
monocular cue of distance or depth (d) Perspectives
and for this reason it is also called: (e) None of the above
(a) Visual Acuity Answer: C
(b) Monocular parallax
(c) Linear Perspective 41. The apparent displacement of an
(d) Scotopic vision object resulting from an actual
(e) Photopic Vision change of observer’s position is
Answer: B known as:
(a) Parallax
39. Certain alterations in the colour (b) Acuity
of objects occur depending upon (c) Scotopic Vision
their relative distances from the (d) Photopic Vision
observer. For this reason, distant (e) None of the above
hills look blue on account of the light Answer: A
rays travelling through haze. This
illustrates: 42. The phenomenon of “induced
(a) Linear Perspective movement” occurs when there is
(b) Monocular Parallax some real movement which is
(c) Aerial Perspective attributed to:
(d) Visual Acuity (a) A right objects
(e) Scotopic Vision (b) A real object
Answer: C (c) A wrong object
(d) A substitute object
40 A set of depth cues of the nature (e) None of the above
of some sort of arrangement of Answer: C
proportional rise and fall in

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 UNIT-5 Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory 2020
and Forgetting MCQs
43. “It has been said that beauty is in
the eye of the beholder”—With 46. Who was/were the Subject (S) in
what factors of perception this Jevon’s first experiment on span of
statement deals? apprehension?
(a) Objective Factors (a) Boys from different SES
(b) Figure and Ground (b) Girls from different SES
(c) Phi-phenomenon (c) A friend of Jevons
(d) Functional Factors (d) Jevons himself
(e) None of the above (e) The wife of Jevons
Answer: D Answer: D

44. According to Woodworth (1938), 47. The first person to document the
the first systematic experiment that existence of the sensory register and
attempted to measure the span of to explore its properties was:
apprehension was carried out by: (a) George Sperling (1960)
(a) Jevons (b) Paulham (1887)
(b) Paulham (c) Cairnes (1891)
(c) Jastrow (d) Hersey (1936)
(d) Cairnes (e) O’comer (1958)
(e) Hersey Answer: A
Answer: A
48. From his experiments of sensory
45. The first experiment to measure register, Sperling suggested that
span of attention (apprehension) there is some visual trace available
was designed by: to the Subject that prolongs the life
(a) Coren and Porac in 1979 of the image. He calls this visual
(b) Coren and Girgus in 1978 trace as the:
(c) Jevons in 1871 (a) Sensory Information Centre
(d) Watkins in 1973 (b) Perceptual Information Centre
(e) None of the above (c) Attending Information Centre
Answer: C

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(d) Apprehension Information 51. A basis on which one stream of
Centre information can be segregated and
(e) None of the above attended to while others can be
Answer: A ignored is known as:
(a) Basilar Membrane
49. In 1976, Neisser introduced a (b) Cochlea
term for “Sensory Information (c) Tympanic Membrane
Store.” That term is called as: (d) Channel
(a) Focus (e) Eustachian tube
(b) Margin Answer: D
(c) Prepotency
(d) Icon 52. The most important school of
(e) Extensity psychology which has contributed a
Answer: D lot toward perception is:
(a) Psychoanalysis
50. When tachistoscope exposures (b) Behaviouristic School
are short and there is no post (c) Structuralistic School
exposure masking field, we can be (d) Gestalt Psychology
fairly sure that the Subject is actually (e) Functionalistic School
reading the stimulus: Answer: D
(a) From the icon rather than from
the visual image itself 53. Autokinetic movement does not
(b) From the image occur if there is a fixed:
(c) From the short-term memory (a) Frame of Reference
storage (b) Illusion
(d) From the long-term memory (c) Vision
storage (d) Distance between stimulus and
(e) None of the above the eye
Answer: A (e) None of the above
Answer: A

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54. A stimulus is any change in 57. The important part of the inner
external energy that activates: ear for hearing is the snail-shaped:
(a) An effector organ (a) Cochlea
(b) A sense organ and its receptors (b) Round Window
(c) A cell (c) Oval Window
(d) A neuron (d) Semicircular Canals
(e) Any cell of the sense organs (e) Auditory Nerve
Answer: B Answer: A

55. Hue, saturation and brightness 58. The most primitive and oldest
are the conventional terms which feature of music is:
are used to characterise the (a) Harmony
attributes of: (b) Melody
(a) Brightness (c) Rhythm
(b) Colours (d) Song
(c) Light (e) None of the above
(d) Darkness Answer: C
(e) None of the above
Answer: B 59. Phi-phenomenon is a form of:
(a) Stroboscopic Motion
56. Vision in the ordinary ranges of (b) Photopic Vision
daylight from fairly faint twilight up (c) Scotopic Vision
to the brightest blaze of the sun is (d) Autokinetic Effect
called: (e) Illusion
(a) Photopic Vision Answer: A
(b) Scotopic Vision
(c) Autokinetic Effect 60. Which one of the following is not
(d) Phi-phenomenon a principle of Organization of
(e) Illusion Perception?
Answer: A (a) The Law of Proximity
(b) The Law of Similarity

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 UNIT-5 Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory 2020
and Forgetting MCQs
(c) The Law of Pragnaz 64. Young-Helmholtz theory of
(d) The Law of Contrast colour vision can otherwise be
(e) None of the above called:
Answer: D (a) Trichromatic Theory
(b) Opponent Process Theory
61. Alcohol is/an: (c) Ladd-Franklin Theory
(a) Stimulant (d) Scientific Validity Theory
(b) Sensory Stimulus (e) None of the above
(c) Effective Stimulus Answer: A
(d) Depressant
(e) None of the above 65. A continuous small tremor of the
Answer: D eyes is known as:
(a) Rod-Cone breaks
62. The name given to the cone (b) Purkinje Effect
pigments is: (c) Physiological Nystagmus
(a) Idopsin (d) Acuity
(b) Bipolar Cells (e) None of the above
(c) Ganglian Cells Answer: C
(d) Rhodopsin
(e) None of the above 66. The eye is sensitive to
Answer: A wavelengths of light that range from
about:
63. Ishihara test is meant for testing: (a) 380 to about 760 nm
(a) Visual Experience (b) 300 to about 500 nm
(b) Principal complementary Colour (c) 200 to about 300 nm
(c) Wavelengths (d) 160 to about 200 nm
(d) Colour-blindness (e) None of the above
(e) None of the above Answer: A
Answer: D
67. Different wavelengths produce
the experience of different:

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 UNIT-5 Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory 2020
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(a) Colours (b) Perceiving Size
(b) Brightness (c) Perceiving Depth
(c) Hues (d) Perceiving Colour
(d) Lights (e) Perceiving Brightness
(e) None of the above Answer: A
Answer: C
71. Helmholtz’s treatment of
68. The Scottish Philosopher Thomas perception is the extension of:
Reid (1710- 1796) has first (a) Herring’s opponent-process
developed the distinction between: theory
(a) Sensation and Attention (b) Ladd-Franklin Theory
(b) Attention and Perception (c) Lotze’s local-sign theory
(c) Audition and Vision (d) Recurrent inhibition theory
(d) Sensation and Perception (e) None of the above
(e) Vision and Recurrent Inhibition Answer: C
Answer: D
72. Who defined apperception as the
69. Helmholtz’s theory of space awareness of any conscious content
perception centred around the that is clearly comprehended or
concept of: grasped?
(a) Unconscious inference (a) Ratliff
(b) Conscious inference (b) E. B. Titchener
(c) Recurrent Inhibition (c) J.B.Watson
(d) Mechanism of Vision (d) Wilmhelm Wundt
(e) The Static sense (e) Kurt Lewin
Answer: A Answer: D

70. RundolfLotze (1817-1881) 73. Harvey Carr defined perception

assumed that mind is inherently as the cognition of a present object
capable of: in relation to:
(a) Perceiving Space (a) Recurrent Inhibition

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 UNIT-5 Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory 2020
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(b) Some acts of adjustment principles of organization that
(c) Some acts of stimulation govern original perception.”
(d) Simultaneous Contrast This definition of memory was given
(e) None of the above by:
Answer: B (a) Behaviourists
(b) Structuralists
74. Gestalt Psychology looks upon (c) Functionalists
the world as: (d) Gestalt Psychologists
(a) Psychophysical (e) Psychoanalysts
(b) Psychological Answer: D
(c) Physical
(d) Neuro-physiological 77. Who defined ‘perception’ as the
(e) Neurological process of maintaining contact with
Answer: A the world?
(a) Helmholtz
75. Which principle states that (b) Lorrin A. Riggs
because Gestalten are isomorphic to (c) Herring
stimulus patterns, they may undergo (d) Gibson
extensive changes without losing (e) None of the above
their identities? Answer: D
(a) Simultaneous Contrast
(b) Recurrent Inhibition 78. When the sense organs are
(c) Transposition oriented towards the environment
(d) Phi-phenomenon and are actively seeking information,
(e) Autokinetic Effect we call it—
Answer: C (a) Obtained Perception
(b) Illusion
76. “Memory is a dynamic process in (c) Hallucination
which traces undergo progressive (d) Attention
changes according to some (e) Distraction
Answer: A

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 UNIT-5 Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory 2020
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82. In 1915; Edgar Rubin introduced
79. The perception which arises from the idea of:
the skin, nose, ears, eyes or other (a) Figure and Ground
organs is called: (b) Phi-phenomenon
(a) Obtained Perception (c) Physiological Nystagmus
(b) Illusion (d) Illusion
(c) Hallucination (e) Hallucination
(d) Imposed Perception Answer: A
(e) None of the above
Answer: D 83. The ‘Law of Closure’ reflects the
idea of striving for:
80. The distinction between (a) Goodflgure
“Obtained and Imposed Perception” (b) Continuity
was brought out by: (c) Completion
(a) Helmholtz (d) Good Contour
(b) Herring (e) None of the above
(c) Franklin Answer: C
(d) Gibson
(e) Riggs 84. Which law of organization in
Answer: D perception has become a principle of
temporal contiguity in the learning
81. The gestalt concept of theory?
equilibrium is expressed by the law (a) The Law of Similarity
of: (b) The Law of Pragnaz
(a) Similarity (c) The Law of Proximity
(b) Proximity (d) The La of Good Figure
(c) Continuity (e) None of the above
(d) Pragnaz Answer: C
(e) Good Figure
Answer: D

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85. The contrast between a dynamic 88. Wavelength is obtained by
field and a mechine was brought out dividing the speed of the light by
by: the:
(a) KurtKoffka (a) Frequency
(b) Wertheimer (b) Brightness
(c) KurtLewin (c) Illumination
(d) W. G. Kohler (d) Colour
(e) Helmholtz (e) None of the above
Answer: D Answer: A

86. The Gestalt Psychologists learned 89. For constancy to operate in the
their “Principles of Organization” world of normal objects, the more
from the study of: distant features must be:
(a) Perception (a) Perceptually expanded
(b) Sensory Experience (b) Clearly Visualised
(c) Attention (c) Projected in sufficient light
(d) Consciousness (d) Clearly Spaced
(e) Insightful Learning (e) None of the above
Answer: B Answer: A

87. Reinforcing factors in perceptual 90. Outline or boundary of an object

organization are analogous to the: is called:
(a) Reinforcement of a conditioned (a) Contour
response (b) Figure
(b) The Law of Effect (c) Ground
(c) Both (a) and (b) (d) Brightness
(d) The Law of Exercise (e) None of the above
(e) None of the above Answer: A
Answer: C
91. Prolongation or renewal of a
sensory experience after the

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 UNIT-5 Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory 2020
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stimulus has ceased to affect the 94. The protective colouration of
sense organ is called: many animals is an example of:
(a) After image (a) Figure and Ground
(b) Illusion (b) Camouflage
(c) Hallucination (c) Reversible Figures
(d) Autokinetic Effect (d) Phi-phenomenon
(e) Stroboscopic Motion (e) Autokinetic Effect
Answer: A Answer:B

92. A familiar study on perception 95. Sense Organs in the muscles,

which has shown that the poor tendons and joints tell us about the
children overestimated the size of position of our limbs and the state of
coins to a greater degree than tension in the muscles. They serve
wealthy children, was done by: the sense called:
(a) Bruner and Goodman (a) Kinesthesis
(b) Osgood (b) Transduction
(c) Dember (c) Vision
(d) Murray (d) Auditory Sense
(e) Mc Ginnis (e) None of the above
Answer: A Answer: A

93. Camouflage is the deliberate 96. The process of converting

confusion of: physical energy into nervous system
(a) Illusion and Hallucination activity is called:
(b) Stroboscopic Motion (a) Transmission
(c) Figure and Ground (b) Nerve Impluse
(d) Autokinetic Effect (c) Inhibition
(e) Phi-phenomenon (d) Transduction
Answer: C (e) None of the above
Answer: D

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97. Receptor cells convert physical 100. The tendency to perceive a line
energy into an electric voltage or that starts in one way as continuing
potential called: in the same way is called the
(a) Receptor Potential principle of:
(b) Generator Potential (a) Proximity
(c) Vestibular Sense (b) Similarity
(d) Spike Potential (c) Closure
(e) None of the above (d) Continuation
Answer: A (e) None of the above
Answer: D
98. Whether it is the receptor
potential itself or some other 101. The idea that we may be ‘ready’
voltage, the electrical event that and ‘primed for’ certain kinds of
triggers nerve impulses is known as sensory input is known as:
the: (a) Set
(a) Spike Potential (b) Cognitive Style
(b) Generator Potential (c) Sensory System
(c) Receptor Potential (d) Mood
(d) Nerve Impulse (e) None of the above
(e) None of the above Answer: A
Answer: B
102. The spatial-frequency theory
99 The entire range of wavelengths maintains that form vision depends
is called the: on the firing pattern of brain cells
(a) Electromagnetic Spectrum that respond to variations in the
(b) Visible Spectrum rates of change in brightness from:
(c) Photosensitive Area (a) One part of a visual scene to
(d) Blind Spot another
(e) None of the above (b) Temporal lobe to Frontal lobe
Answer: A (c) One part of the brain to another
(d) Spinal cord to brain

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(e) None of the above Answer: B
Answer: A
106. In a study on the Zulu tribes of
103. The receptors for taste are Africa, the Experimenters reasoned
specialized cells grouped together in that the Zulu individuals would be
little clusters known as: less susceptible to the Muller- Lyer
(a) Tongue illusion than the European people in
(b) Taste Buds Africa. This illustration states that:
(c) Taste Nerves (a) Perception of illusions depends
(d) Sweet Glands on the culture of the perceiver
(e) None of the above (b) Perception of illusion depends on
Answer: B the Socio-economic Status
(c) Perception of illusions depends
104. The audible range for human on the educational qualification of
beings is from about: the individuals
(a) 20 hertz to about 20,000 hertz (d) Perception of illusion depends on
(b) 200 hertz to about 2000 hertz the colour of the individuals
(c) 400 hertz to about 4000 hertz (e) None of the above
(d) 300 hertz to about 3000 hertz Answer: A
(e) 600 hertz to about 6000 hertz
Answer: A 107. Sometimes it is very difficult to
find an empty seat in a dark cinema
105. On a dark night, we may hear hall. We bump against people and
the footsteps of a thief outside the sometimes try to sit on them after
house, where as in reality, a cat may entering to the dark hail in a sunny
be passing by. This is an example of: afternoon. After a brief span of time,
(a) Hallucination we may adapt to darkness and see.
(b) Illusion This is an example of:
(c) Linear perspective (a) Dark Adaptation
(d) Law of Pragnaz (b) Perceptual Constancy
(e) None of the above (c) Depth Perception

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 UNIT-5 Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory 2020
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(d) Brightness Constancy closer to you from a distance, you do
(e) Colour Constancy not think that he is getting larger
Answer: A and larger. This is an illustration of:
(a) Size Constancy
108. One psychologist has developed (b) Object Constancy
a theory of colour vision as well as a (c) Height Constancy
theory of hearing. Who is he? (d) Depth Constancy
(a) Von Bekesy (e) Binocular Vision
(b) Helmholtz Answer: A
(c) Hubel
(d) Wiesel 111. The mechanism of reflex action
(e) N.R. Carlson is called:
Answer: B (a) Reflexology
(b) Reflex Path
109. From the following, who won (c) Reflex Arc
the Nobel Prize for his research on (d) Reflexon
the mechanisms of the cochlea? (e) None of the above
(a) Helmholtz Answer: C
(b) Von Bekesy
(c) E. Gardner 112. Figure-ground relationship was
(d) Schiffman first established by:
(e) Leiman (a) Gestalt Psychologists
Answer: B (b) Behaviourists
(c) Structuralists
110. When your friend is at a (d) Functionalists
distance, certainly he looks smaller (e) None of the above
than when he is standing close to Answer: A
you. But you do not think that really
he is smaller or shorter. The size of 113. Closure is a basic principle of:
familiar objects does not change (a) Perceptual defence
with distance. As your friend comes (b) Perceptual Organization

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 UNIT-5 Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory 2020
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(c) Depth Perception Answer: B
(d) Phi-phenomenon
(e) None of the above 117. The gap between cornea and
Answer: B lens is known as:
(a) Posterior Chamber
114. Personal factors in perception (b) Anterior Chamber
are otherwise known as: (c) Inner Chamber
(a) Functional factors in perception (d) Secular Chamber
(b) Motivational factors in (e)None of the above
perception Answer: B
(c) Social factors in perception
(d) Cultural factors in perception 118. The innermost layer of the eye
(e) None of the above is called:
Answer: A (a) Cornea
(b) Retina
115. The gap between Cornea and (c) Blind Spot
lens is filled with: (d) Fovea
(a) Amino Acid (e) None of the above
(b) Vitreous Humour Answer: B
(c) Unknown Fluid
(d) Aqueous Humour 119. The point at which the optic
(e) None of the above nerve gets out of the retina is called
Answer: D the:
(a) Light Spot
116. The image of an object falling (b) Fovea
on the blind spot of the eye : (c) Blind Spot
(a) Will be visible (d) Yellow Spot
(b) Will not be visible (e) None of the above
(c) Automatically vanishes Answer: C
(d) Is not clear
(e) None of the above

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120. A person who has no cones at Answer: C
the fovea:
(a) Is a colour blind 123. The classic example of
(b) Is very often a colour blind perceiving a coil of rope in darkness
(c) Is not able to see yellow colour at as a snake depicts about:
all (a) Hallucination
(d) Is deprived of black and white (b) Illusion
vision (c) Phi-phenomenon
(e) (d) Autokinetic Effect
None of the above (e) Perceptual Constancy
Answer: A Answer: B

121. Perception without sensory 124. Meaningful sensation is

stimulus is called: otherwise known as:
(a) Illusion (a) Attention
(b) Phi-phenomenon (b) Sensation
(c) Hallucination (c) Emotion
(d) Perceptual Defence (d) Perception
(e) Perceptual Constancy (e) None of the above
Answer: C Answer: D

122. As the eyes become adapted to 125. Size judgement is based on:
dark at one particular point, red (a) Retinal Image
colours begin to darken and the (b) Clarity of Object
green and blues become brighter. (c) Object Size
This change is known as: (d) Distance Information
(a) Duplicity theory of Colour Vision (e) None of the above
(b) Herring’s theory of Colour Vision Answer: D
(c) Purkinje Effect
(d) Perceptual Constancy 126. “Perceived Size” approaches
(e) None of the above “physical size” when:

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 UNIT-5 Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory 2020
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(a) Depth and Distance Cues are (b) Absolute Threshold
available (c) Boundary Threshold
(b) Object is small (d) Contour Threshold
(c) Information is Minimum (e) None of the above
(d) Object is Old Answer: B
(e) None of the above
Answer: A 130. A general principle of
perception of form is the law of
127. Which one of the following Pragnaz which was termed by:
happens to be an important factor in (a) Behaviourists
selectivity of attention? (b) Structuralists
(a) Attitude (c) Functionalists
(b) Interest (d) Gestalt Psychologists
(c) Boredom (e) None of the above
(d) Concentration Answer: D
(e) None of the above
Answer: B 131. Which one of the following is a
stimulus variable in the
128. An incorrect interpretation of determination of attending?
the stimulus input is called: (a) Interest
(a) Illusion (b) Attitude
(b) Hallucination (c) Size
(c) Sensation (d) Aptitude
(d) Perception (e) None of the above
(e) Attention Answer: C
Answer: A
132. The perception of the
129. Each receptor requires some whiteness of the snow even though
minimum level of energy to excite it. the night dark can be explained on
That minimum energy is called: the basis of:
(a) Minimum Threshold (a) Purkinje Effect

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 UNIT-5 Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory 2020
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(b) Dark Adaptation (c) The closer a stimulus is, the more
(c) Brightness Constancy likely it is to be attended
(d) Perceptual Defence (d) Stimuli coming from equal
(e) None of the above distance are perceived as part of the
Answer: C same figure
(e) None of the above
133. Perception of “Figure and Answer: A
Ground” results from:
(a) Experience 136. Even though parallel, the rails
(b) Sensation Pattern appear to be meeting at a distance.
(c) Trial and Error This is a bright illustration of:
(d) The structure of Nervous System (a) Linear Perspective
(e) None of the above (b) Distance Perception
Answer: B (c) Visual Illusion
(d) Aerial perspective
134. An one-eyed person would lose (e) None of the above
precision in the perception of: Answer: C
(a) Height
(b) Weight 137. In a normal waking state, if an
(c) Colour individual gets certain sensation
(d) Depth with particular stimulus which is not
(e) None of the above available to others, this person is
Answer: D said to have:
(a) An illusion
135. The perceptual principle of (b) A phi-phenomenon
‘proximity’ states that: (c) A sensation
(a) When stimuli are close together (d) A hallucination
they tend to be grouped (e) None of the above
(b) The nearer an object is, the more Answer: D
likely it is to be perceived

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138. Figure and Ground perception (c) Wrong perception
results from: (d) Delayed Perception
(a) Attention Pattern (e) None of the above
(b) Sensation pattern Answer: C
(c) Perception Pattern
(d) Emotional pattern 142. Hallucinations occur to
(e) None of the above individuals suffering from:
Answer: B (a) Hysteria
(b) Epilepsy
139. Perception is a: (c) Peptic Ulcer
(a) Psychological Process (d) Schizophrenia
(b) Physiological Process (e) Asthma
(c) Physical Process Answer: D
(d) Psycho-physiological Process
(e) None of the above 143. A normal individual may
Answer: D experience hallucinations after
taking drugs like:
140. We perceive a square as a (a) Heroin
square in whatever position it is (b) Morphine
held, this constancy in perception (c) Seconel
relates to: (d) Pethedine
(a) Size (e) None of the above
(b) Depth Answer: A
(c) Shape
(d) Height 144. The tendency to see the
(e) Weight immobility of objects when he
Answer: C moves about is called:
(a) Location Constancy
141. Illusion is the: (b) Size Constancy
(a) False perception (c) Shape Constancy
(b) Right perception (d) Depth Constancy

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(e) None of the above changes in the retinal image, it is
Answer: A known as:
(a) Size Constancy
145. A contour is the boundary (b) Depth Constancy
between: (c) Shape Constancy
(a) A figure and its ground (d) Height Constancy
(b) A figure and another figure’s (e) None of the above
ground Answer: C
(c) Two similar figures
(d) Two dissimilar figures 148. A red ball looks red in broad
(e) None of the above daylight as well as in dark night. This
Answer: A is due to:
(a) Light Constancy
146. An object that has been (b) Brightness Constancy
constituted perceptually as a (c) Size Constancy
permanent and stable thing continue (d) Colour Constancy
to be perceived as such, regardless (e) None of the above
of illumination, position, distance Answer: A
etc. This kind of stability of the
environment experienced by human 149. Soldiers dressed in colours of
beings is termed as: uniform that merge with the
(a) Depth Constancy background is called:
(b) Perceptual Constancy (a) Colour Matching
(c) Size Constancy (b) Colour Constancy
(d) Shape constancy (c) Brightness Constancy
(e) None of the above (d) Camaouflage
Answer: B (e) None of the above
Answer: D
147. Whenever an object appears to
maintain its shape despite marked 150. When there is a deliberate
confusion of figure and ground and it

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 UNIT-5 Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory 2020
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is difficult to organise form and (c) Closure
distinguish objects from one (d) Continuation
another, it is called: (e) Pragnaz
(a) Camaouflage Answer: D
(b) Phi-phenomenon
(c) Colour Constancy 153. “Why do things look the way
(d) Brightness Constancy they do”? —This question was asked
(e) None of the above by the Gestalt Psychologist:
Answer: A (a) W. G. Kohler
(b) M. Wertheimer
151. Which principle/law of (c) Kurt Lewin
organization in perception states (d) K. Koffka
that there is a tendency to organize (e) None of the above
stimuli to make a balanced or sym- Answer: D
metrical figure that includes all
parts? 154. An illusion is not a trick or
(a) Law of Similarity misperception. It is a/an:
(b) Law of Symmetry (a) Attention
(c) Law of Proximity (b) Sensation
(d) Law of Closure (c) Perception
(e) Law of Pragnaz (d) Emotion
Answer: B (e) Motive
Answer: C
152. Stimuli that make the lowest
interruptions in contour also tend to 155. “The whole (perception) is
be grouped together. The tendency more than the sum of its parts
to organize the fragmentary stimuli (Sensory inputs)”. This statement
into a familiar pattern is called the was given by:
principle of: (a) Behaviourists
(a) Similarity (b) Gestalt Psychologists
(b) Proximity (c) Functionalists

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(d) Psychoanalysts Answer: A
(e) Structuralists
Answer: B 159. Which principle of perceptual
organization makes our perceived
156. The events, we perceive clearly, world of form more complete than
are at the: the sensory stimulation that is
(a) Margin presented?
(b) Centre (a) The Law of Pragnaz
(c) Side (b) The Law of Closure
(d) Focus (c) The Law of Similarity
(e) None of the above (d) The Law of Proximity
Answer: D (e) The Law of Continuity
Answer: B
157. Attention is the term given to
the processes that select certain 160. The device which is used in
inputs for inclusion in the focus of: perceptual experiments for the very
(a) Sensation brief presentation of stimuli is
(b) Consciousness known as:
(c) Unconsiousness (a) Psycho galvanometer
(d) Experience (b) Tachistoscope
(e) None of the above (c) Aesthesiometer
Answer: B (d) Electroencephalograph
(e) Polygraph
158. The most fundamental process Answer: B
in form perception is the recognition
of: 161. Coal looks black even in very
(a) A figure on a ground bright sunlight, while snow
(b) A picture without background continues to look white even at
(c) A figure without ground night. This is due to:
(d) The contour of a figure (a) Colour Constancy
(e) None of the above (b) Size Constancy

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(c) Shape Constancy
(d) Constancy of Brightness 165. Who conducted a pioneering
(e) Colour Reflection experiment to show that “Value”
Answer: D has a considerable effect on
perception?
162. Monocular Cues are those (a) Bruner and Goodman
which can operate when: (b) Osgood
(a) Two eyes are looking (c) Dember
(b) Both eyes are invalid (d) Carter
(c) Only one eye is looking (e) Postman
(d) Only one eye is invalid Answer: A
(e) None of the above
Answer: C 166. Which one of the following is a
term given to the processes that
163. A gradient is a continuous select certain inputs for inclusion in
change: the focus of experience?
(a) Without abrupt transitions (a) Sensation
(b) With abrupt transitions (b) Emotion
(c) With highest stimulating agent (c) Affection
(d) With lowest stimulating agent (d) Attention
(e) None of the above (e) Conation
Answer: A Answer: D

164. Retinal disparity is the 167. Which are the well known
difference in the images falling on: examples of the transformations and
(a) The retinas of the two eyes elaborations of sensory input that
(b) The foveas of the two eyes occur in the process of perceiving
(c) The blind spots of the two eyes the world?
(d) The corneas of the two eyes (a) Hallucinations
(e) None of the above (b) Sensations
Answer: A (c) Illusions

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(d) Conation (c) Real motion
(e) Attention (d) Apparent Motion
Answer: C (e) None of the above
Answer: D
168. Who has first pointed out that
the ‘Whole’ is more than the sum 171. Which one of the following is an
total of its parts? increase in the activity to extract
(a) Kohler information from the environment
(b) Wertheimer as a result of experience or practice
(c) KurtLewin with the stimulation coming from it?
(d) KurtKoffka (a) Convergence
(e) Otto Rank (b) Divergence
Answer: D (c) Perceptual Learning
(d) Plasticity of Perception
169. Which one of the following is (e) None of the above
formed whenever a marked Answer: C
difference occurs in the brightness or
colour of the background? 172. The ability to read other
(a) Sizes people’s thoughts is called
(b) Shapes (a) Prerecognition
(c) Contours (b) Telepathy
(d) Sets (c) Psychokinesis
(e) None of the above (d) Clairvoyance
Answer: C (e) None of the above
Answer: B
170. Perceived motion also occurs
without any energy movement 173. “We perceive things as we are”.
across the receptor surface. This This statement emphasises upon:
type of motion is called: (a) Functional Factors in Perception
(a) Constant Motion (b) Objective Patterns in Perception
(b) Retinal Disparity

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 UNIT-5 Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory 2020
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(c) Organizational factors in (d) Conation
perception (e) Stimulation
(d) Voluntary Attention Answer: B
(e) Involuntary Attention
Answer: A 177. The stimulus is explicit in:
(a) Hallucination
174. The fact that the moon looks (b) Illusion
larger near the horizon than high in (c) Affection
the sky is called the: (d) Conation
(a) MullerLyer Illusion (e) Stimulation
(b) Jastrow Illusion Answer: B
(c) Ponzo illusion
(d) Moon Illusion 178. In illusion, the stimulation is
(e) Height-Width Illusion usually external, while the
Answer: D stimulations in hallucinations are:
(a) In the person himself
175. One of the causes of the mental (b) In the stimulus itself
set is: (c) Both in stimulus and perceiver
(a) Mood (d) In the external world
(b) Emotion (e) None of the above
(c) Sensation Answer: A
(d) Habit
(e) Span 179. Muller-Lyer illusion is:
Answer: D (a) Also a hallucination Jastrow
illusion
176. The old saying “Seeing is (b) An individual illusion
believing” does not hold good in (c) Otherwise called as
case of: (d) An optical illusion
(a) Hallucination (e) None of the above
(b) Illusion Answer: D
(c) Affection

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180. We are able to separate forms 183. Attention divides our perceived
from the general ground in our world into:
visual perception only because we (a) Focus and Margin
can perceive: (b) Margin and Centre
(a) Size (c) Nucleus and Focus
(b) Shape (d) Focus and centre
(c) Side (e) None of the above
(d) Contours Answer: A
(e) Colours
Answer: D 184. The tendency to see the colour
of a familiar object as the same,
181. The thought perception without regardless of the actual light
any known means of communication conditions is called:
is known as: (a) Colour Constancy
(a) Preognition (b) Brightness Constancy
(b) Psychokinesis (PK) (c) Light Constancy
(c) Clairovoyance (d) Dark Constancy
(d) Telepathy (e) None of the above
(e) None of the above Answer: A
Answer: D
185. By comparing experimental
182. The perception of future events outcomes, which model provides
or happenings through dreams or more accurate predictions?
hallucinations is known as: (a) Averaging Model
(a) Psychokinesis (PK) (b) Additive Model
(b) Clairovoyance (c) Self-attribution Model
(c) Precognition (d) Personal-attribution Model
(d) Telepathy (e) None of the above
(e) None of the above Answer: A
Answer: C

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186. Experimental evidences suggest 189. “Schemas” are organized bodies
that people use a weighted of information stored in:
averaging model to combine: (a) Perceptual Field
(a) Type information (b) Cognitive Field
(b) Attribute information (c) Emotion field
(c) Non-common Effects (d) Memory
(d) Trait information (e) Sensation
(e) None of the above Answer: D
Answer: D
190. In case of personality traits, we
187. The way in which individuals organize information into schemas
focus on specific traits to form an called:
overall impression of others is (a) Common Effects
known as: (b) Non-common Effects
(a) Social perception (c) Prototypes
(b) Perceptual organization (d) Somatotypes
(c) Person Perception (e) Stereotypes
(d) Phi-phenomenon Answer: C
(e) Perceptual Constancy
Answer: C 191. Prototypes are schemas that
organize a group of personality traits
188. Averaging models suggest that into a/an:
the mean of the information is: (a) Meaningful Personality Type
(a) Most appropriate (b) Meaningless Personality Type
(b) Not most appropriate (c) Emotional Trauma
(c) Predictable (d) Avoidance conflicting situation
(d) Unpredictable (e) None of the above
(e) None of the above Answer: A
Answer: A
192. The personality types that we
derive in the case of person

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perception are organized into 195. Information processing
schemas known as: capabilities are enhanced through
(a) Prototypes the use of:
(b) Stereotypes (a) Stereotypes
(c) Somatotypes (b) Prototypes
(d) Phi-phenomenon (c) Prejudices
(e) None of the above (d) Attitudes
Answer: A (e) None of the above
Answer: B
193. Nancy Cantor and Walter
Mischel suggest a frequently held 196. With any schema, prototypes
prototypes concerns a person help us to organize:
labelled on a general level as: (a) The social world around us
(a) “Permitted” (b) The psychological world around
(b) “Submitted” us
(c) “Dedicated” (c) The psychophysical world around
(d) “Committed” us
(e) None of the above (d) The physical world around us
Answer: D (e) None of the above
Answer: A
194. At what level, the prototype
consists of different types of 197. Covariation principle suggests
committed individuals like monks, that we try to analyse the
nuns and activists? relationships among a multitude of
(a) Personal Level possible cause-and-effect variables
(b) Environmental Level inherent in a situation:
(c) Subordinate Level (a) To pin point a cause of behaviour
(d) Secondary Level (b) To find out the cause of
(e) Primary Level perceptual errors
Answer: C (c) To find out cause of sensational
errors

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(d) To find out the cause of social (a) Different situations
perception (b) Similar situations
(e) None of the above (c) Both similar and dissimilar
Answer: A situations
(d) Other situations
198. The Covariation Principle” (e) None of the above
states that the cause that will be Answer: D
choosen to explain an effect a cause
that is present when the effect is 201. “A goal refers to some
also absent. This principle was substance, objects or environmental
introduced by: condition capable of reducing or
(a) T. D. Wilson temporarily eliminating the complex
(b) Keith Davis of internal conditions which initiated
(c) Harold Kelley action.” This definition of “goal” was
(d) E.E. Jones given by:
(e) I.J. Stone (a) Janis& Mann (1977)
Answer: C (b) Ruch (1970)
(c) Solomon and Corbit (1974)
199. Consensus is the degree to (d) Neal Miller (1959)
which other people react similarly in (e) None of the above
the: Answer: B
(a) Same situation
(b) Different situation 202. Cannon called the concept of
(c) Different emotional setup internal equilibrium and function as:
(d) Different sensational setup (a) Imprinting
(e) None of the above (b) Instinct
Answer: A (c) Homeostasis
(d) Substitute Behaviour
200. Consistency refers to the degree (e) None of the above
to which the actor behaves the same Answer: C
way in :

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203. The expectations or goal that
one sets to achieve in future keeping 206. Intrinsic Motivational Theory
in view his past performance is was propounded by:
called: (a) Mc Clelland
(a) Valence (b) Maslow
(b) Vector (c) Harry Harlow
(c) Vigilance (d) Solomon
(d) Level of Aspiration (e) Corbit
(e) None of the above Answer: C
Answer: D
207. Psychoanalytic theory of
204. “The need for achievement” motivation was developed by:
was first defined largely on the basis (a) Sigmund Freud
of clinical studies done by: (b) Maslow
(a) Murray (1938) (c) Harry Harlow
(b) Janis and Mann (1977) (d) McClelland
(c) Solomon (1974) (e) None of the above
(d) Corbit (1974) Answer: A
(e) None of the above
Answer: A 208. The goals which the person tries
to escape are called:
205. The achievement motivation (a) Positive goals
theory of Mc Clelland is explained in (b) Vectors
terms of: (c) Valences
(a) “Affective Arousal model of moti- (d) Negative goals
vation” (e) None of the above
(b) Action Specific energy Answer: D
(c) Innate Releasing Mechanism
(d) Displacement Behaviour 209. A person’s need for feeling
(e) Opponent Process Theory competent and self-determining in
Answer: A

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dealing with his environment is Answer: D
called:
(a) Intrinsic Motivation 212. The conditions which influence
(b) Instinct the arousal, direction and
(c) Imprinting maintenance of behaviours relevant
(d) Coolidge Effect in work settings are called:
(e) None of the above (a) Work Motivation
Answer: A (b) Drive stimuli
(c) Substitute behaviour
210. When the motive is directed (d) Consummatory behaviour
towards goals external to the person (e) None of the above
such as money or grade, it is called: Answer: A
(a) Extrinsic Motivation
(b) Intrinsic Motivation 213. Intrinsic motivation as currently
(c) Imprinting conceived is championed by:
(d) Instinct (a) Janis (1977)
(e) None of the above (b) Soloman (1974)
Answer: A (c) Deci (1975)
(d) Mann (1977)
211. Steers and Porter (1975) in their (e) Corbit (1974)
text entitled “Motivation and work Answer: C
behaviour” identified:
(a) Two major components of 214. Most of the research on
motivation intrinsic motivation has
(b) Four major components of concentrated on the interaction
motivation between:
(c) Five major components of (a) Intrinsic and extrinsic rewards
motivation (b) Instinct and imprinting
(d) Three major components of (c) Action specific energy and
motivation balance sheet grid
(e) None of the above

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(d) Substitute behaviour and (d) Both subjective and objective
consummatory behaviour sources of behaviour
(e) None of the above (e) None of the above
Answer: A Answer: A

215. An individual’s affective 218. Motives move a person from:

orientation towards particular (a) Within
outcomes is called the: (b) Outside
(a) Vector of the outcome (c) Beginning
(b) Approach gradient of the (d) Birth
outcome (e) Death
(c) Valence of the outcome Answer: A
(d) Avoidance gradient of the
outcome 219. Literally, motivation means the
(e) None of the above process of inducing:
Answer: C (a) Movement
(b) Excitement
216. Dipboye (1977) distinguished (c) Tension
between the strong and weak (d) Conflict
version of: (e) None of the above
(a) Achievement theory Answer: A
(b) Two-factor theory
(c) Valence theory 220. Motivation is defined as a state
(d) Consistency theory of the organism in which bodily
(e) None of the above energy is mobilised and selectively
Answer: D directed towards parts of the:
(a) Stimulus
217. Motives are: (b) Response
(a) Internal sources of behaviour (c) World
(b) External sources of behaviour (d) Environment
(c) Natural sources of behaviour (e) None of the above

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Answer: D
224. When a motive is aroused and
221. “Mobilisation of bodily energy” the organism is driven to a goal, a
is otherwise known as: condition is produced within the
(a) Drive organism called:
(b) Need (a) Conflict
(c) Motive (b) Tension
(d) Incentive (c) Anxiety
(e) None of the above (d) Jealousy
Answer: A (e) None of the above
Answer: B
222. The selected part of
environment refers to the end 225. The tension increases when the
results of behaviour sequence which goal is:
are known as: (a) Free
(a) Aims (b) Easy to achieve
(b) Objectives (c) Obstructed
(c) Goals (d) Static
(d) Destinations (e) None of the above
(e) None of the above Answer: C
Answer: C
226. Those internal mechanisms of
223. Goal refers to: the body which, by controlling
(a) Directional aspects of behaviour numerous highly complicated
(b) End result of instrumental physiological processes, keep it in a
behaviour state of equilibrium are known as:
(c) Destination after conscious (a) Homeostases
activities (b) Nervous System
(d) Occasional halts (c) Nutrition
(e) None of the above (d) None of the above
Answer: A Answer: A

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227. Homeostasis is the overall term 230. Maslow’s idea about the
for equilibrium preserving structure of needs is known as:
tendencies with an organism by (a) Self-actualisation theory of
which: motivation
(a) Neurophysiological condition is (b) Physiological theory of
maintained motivation
(b) Psychological condition is (c) Psychological theory of
maintained motivation
(c) Physiological condition is (d) Psychophysical theory of
maintained motivation
(d) Psychophysical condition is (e) None of the above
maintained Answer: A
(e) None of the above
Answer: A 231. “Intrinsic motivation theory”
was developed by:
228. Curiosity comes under: (a) Halow (1950)
(a) Social Motives (b) Sigmund Freud (1902)
(b) Personal motives (c) Mark and Ervin (1970)
(c) Non-homeostatic motives (d) Dollard (1939)
(d) Both (b) and (c) (e) Bandura (1973)
(e) None of the above Answer: A
Answer: B
232. A person who is motivated
229. Sex is a: displays:
(a) Biological motive (a) Unconscious Behaviour
(b) Physiological motive (b) Conscious Behaviour
(c) Both (a) and (b) (c) Hapazard Behaviour
(d) Psychological motive (d) Goal-directed Behaviour
(e) None of the above (e) Erratic Behaviour
Answer: C Answer: D

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233. The process of maintaining the 236. An object or thing which directs
biochemical balance or equalibrium or stimulates behaviour:
throughout human body is referred (a) Instinct
as: (b) Incentive
(a) Osmosis (c) Need
(b) Circulation (d) Motive
(c) Hoeostasis (e) Drive
(d) Nervous System Answer: B
(e) Diffusion
Answer: C 237. A pituitary hormone associated
with the secretion of milk is known
234. Which one of the following is as:
not a psychological motive? (a) Prolactin
(a) Need for achievement (b) Adrenalin
(b) Need for affection (c) Estrogens
(c) Need for belonging (d) Progesterones
(d) Need for Oxygen (e) Insulin
(e) None of the above Answer: A
Answer: D
238. A motive that is primarily
235. ‘The competition of two or learned rather than basing on
more contradictory impulses, usually biological needs is known as:
accompanied by emotional tension (a) Physical Motive
is called a/an: (b) Psychological Motive
(a) Conflict (c) Neurophysiological Motive
(b) Anxiety (d) Psychological Motive
(c) Neurosis (e) None of these
(d) Psychosis Answer: D
(e) Phobia
Answer: A

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239. During 1950s, psychologists
began to be disenchanted with the 242. Research evidences indicated
drive reduction theory of motivation that ventromedial hypothalamus
as an explanation of: (VMH):
(a) All types of behaviour (a) Facilitates eating
(b) Only certain types of (b) Expedites eating
physiological behaivour (c) Both facilitates and
(c) Only certain types of (d) Inhibits eating expedites eating
psychological behaviour (e) None of the above
(d) Both physiological and Answer: D
psychological behaviour
(e) Social behaviour 243. Electrical stimulation of
Answer: A ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH)
cells:
240. The hypothalamus plays an (a) Inhibits eating
important role in the regulation of: (b) Facilitates eating
(a) Food intake (c) Expedites eating
(b) Water intake (d) Both expedites and inhibits
(c) Alcohol intake eating
(d) Both food and water intake (e) None of the above
(e) None of the above Answer: A
Answer: A
244. Injections of glucose (which
241. Lateral hypothalamus (LH) is raise blood sugar level):
otherwise known as: (a) Facilitate eating
(a) Stimulating centre (b) Expedite eating
(b) Circulatory Centre (c) Both expedite and facilitate
(c) Feeding Centre eating
(d) Water centre (d) Inhibit eating
(e) None of the above (e) None of the above
Answer: C Answer: D

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Answer: D
245. Injections of insulin (which
lower blood sugar level): 248. Obesity is thought to stem from
(a) Increase food intake disturbances during the:
(b) Decrease food intake (a) Phallic stage of psychosexual
(c) Expedite food intake development
(d) Facilitate food intake (b) Oral and Anal stages of
(e) None of the above psychosexual development
Answer: A (c) Genital stage of psychosexual
development
246. Studies indicated that the (d) Latency period of psychosexual
hypothalamus contains cells development
(glucoreceptors) sensitive to the rate (e) None of these
of which: Answer: B
(a) Glucose passes through them
(b) Glucose stimulates them 249. Dehydration of the
(c) Glucose inhibits them osmoreceptors can be produced by
(d) Glucose both stimulates and depriving the organism of:
inhibits them (a) Food
(e) None of the above (b) Water
Answer: A (c) Blood
(d) Sugar
247. An empty stomach produces (e) Alcohol
the periodic contractions of muscles Answer: B
in the stomach wall which we
identify as: 250. Water deficit in the body
(a) Stomach ache increases the concentration of:
(b) Stomach pain (a) Pottasium
(c) Stomach ailment (b) Insulin
(d) Hunger Pangs (c) Sugar
(e) None of these (d) Sodium

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(e) Glucose causes an emotional response
Answer: D called:
(a) Moral Anxiety
251. Realistic anxiety is otherwise (b) Realistic Anxiety
known as: (c) Objective Anxiety
(a) Objective anxiety (d) Neurotic Anxiety
(b) Subjective anxiety Answer: A
(c) Psychic anxiety
(d) Ego defenses 255. Always we want to protect ego
Answer: A from the ensuring anxiety. For doing
this, ego adopts some strategies
252. In “moral anxiety”, ego’s which are called:
dependence upon: (a) Defense mechanisms
(a) Superego is found (b) Sex energy
(b) Id is found (c) Instincts
(c) Sex is found (d) Dreams
(d) Unconscious is found Answer: A
Answer: A
256. Defense mechanisms help the
253. Neurotic anxiety is one in which person in protecting ego from open
there occurs emotional response to expression of id impulses and
a threat to ego that the impulses opposing:
may break through into: (a) Superego directives
(a) Consciousness (b) Death Instinct
(b) Unconsciousness (c) Lie Instinct
(c) Subconsciousness (d) Unconscious mind
(d) Super ego Answer: A
Answer: A
257. Defense mechanisms operate at
254. Sometimes the superego gives unconscious level. They occur
threats to punish the ego. This

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without awareness of the individual. (a) Phallic Stage
Hence they are: (b) Genital Stage
(a) Self-explanatory (c) Oral Stage
(b) Self-deceptive (d) Anal Stage
(c) Self-expressive Answer: B
(d) Self-dependant
Answer: B 261. Sigmund Freud has regarded
the first three stages of
258. A child scolded by his father psychosexual development i.e., the
may hit his younger sublings. This is period of 5 or 6 years of life, to be
an example of: decisive for the formation of:
(a) Displacement (a) Intelligence
(b) Rationalization (b) Personality
(c) Regression (c) Emotion
(d) Repression (d) Ego
Answer: A Answer: B

259. “A young woman after fighting 262. In the book “Group Psychology
with her husband returned to her and the Analysis of the Ego”, Freud
parent’s home only to allow her has explained the formation of:
parents to “baby” her and fulfil her (a) Personality
every wish like that of a child”. This (b) Group
is an illustration of: (c) Society
(a) Repression (d) Gang
(b) Regression Answer: B
(c) Fixation
(d) Reaction Formation 263. Freud had published a book
Answer: B “Totem and Taboo” in 1913. By
publishing this book, he has shown
260. The last stage of psychosexual his concern for:
development is: (a) Social Psychology

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(b) Abnormal Psychology 267. Homosexuality is a derivative
(c) Industrial Psychology of:
(d) Child Psychology (a) Electra Complex
Answer: A (b) Oedipus Complex
(c) Libido
264. Who viewed, “A person is (d) Death Instinct
brown with sex, lives in sex and Answer: B
finally dies in sex” ?
(a) J. Herbart 268. The Oral, Anal and Phallic
(b) Sigmund Freud stages of Psychosexual Development
(c) Alfred Adler are called:
(d) C.G. Jung (a) Pregenital Period
Answer: B (b) Sexual Genesis
(c) Life Instinct
265. Who said that after birth, the (d) Latency Period
child has a strong frustrating Answer: A
experience?
(a) Sigmund Freud (1917) 269. The genital stage is generally
(b) Otto Rank (1929) characterized by object choices
(c) Alfred Alder (1920) rather than by:
(d) C.G. Jung (1919) (a) Libido
Answer: B (b) Narcissim
(c) Personality
266. “Penis envy” is found in girls in: (d) Superego
(a) Oral Stage Answer: B
(b) Anal Stage
(c) Genital Stage 270. In Anal Stage of Psychosexual
(d) Pohallic Stage Development, pleasure is derived
Answer: D from:
(a) Thinking
(b) Libido

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(c) Emotion 274. In 1895, Freud and Breuer
(d) Expulsion and Retention published a book entitled:
Answer: D (a) Studies in Hysteria
(b) Interpretation of Dreams
271. The “Super ego” is the (c) Moses and Menotheism
equivalent of what is more (d) Psychopathology of Everyday Life
commonly known as the: Answer: A
(a) Conscience
(b) Personality 275. Studies of Freud and Breuer
(c) Libido reported successful treatment of
(d) Narcissism hysterical symptoms by a method
Answer: A called:
(a) Hypnosis
272. The psychoanalysis performed (b) Free Association
in a controlled setting is known as: (c) Catharsis
(a) Psychotherapy (d) Dream Analysis
(b) Chemotherapy Answer: C
(c) Hypoanalysis
(d) Hyperanalysis 276. The success of the cathartic
Answer: C method was regarded by Freud as
evidence of the:
273. A state of deep (a) Unconscious
unconsciousness, with non- (b) Conscious
responsiveness to stimulation, is (c) Subconsious
known as: (d) Libido
(a) Coma Answer: A
(b) Fixation
(c) Hypnotism 277. From the experiences in
(d) Trauma hypnotism and catharsis, Freud’s
Answer: A theory of:
(a) Unconscious was derived

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(b) Conscious was derived (d) Secular Zones
(c) Narcisssim was derived Answer: A
(d) Dream was derived
Answer: A 281. The main erotogenic zone of
our body is:
278. Dreams represent demands or (a) Mouth
wishes stemming from the: (b) Genitals
(a) Unconscious (c) Anal Zones
(b) Conscious (d) Lips
(c) Preconscious Answer: B
(d) Death Instinct
Answer: A 282. According to Freud, the entire
activity of men is bent upon
279. In a special book, Freud procuring pleasure and avoiding
analyzed the psychology of error and pain. This activity is controlled by:
found the source of errors in the (a) Reality Principle
conflict between: (b) Pleasure Principle
(a) Ego and Super ego (c) Primary Narcissism
(b) Unconscious wish and conscious (d) Secondary Narcissim
censorship Answer: B
(c) Conscious wish and unconscious
censorship 283. The urethral development stage
(d) Ego and Preconscious is an introductory period to the:
Answer: B (a) Oral Stage
(b) Phallic Stage
280. The parts of the body that are (c) Genital Stage
capable of reacting to sexual stimuli (d) Latency Stage
are called: Answer: B
(a) Erotogenic Zones
(b) Abnormal Zones
(c) Sensitive Zones

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284. The very term “Phallic” is Answer: A
derived from “Phallos”, which
means: 288. The diversion of a part of the
(a) Penis in erection sexual energy into non-sexual
(b) Sexual urge activities is called:
(c) Ego-conflict (a) Repression
(d) Self-Love (b) Regression
Answer: A (c) Rationalization
(d) Sublimation
285. Urethral eroticism is mainly: Answer: D
(a) Autoerotic
(b) Conscious 289. The term “defense mechanism”
(c) Unconscious was introduced by:
(d) Egocentric (a) Freud in 1894
Answer: A (b) Jung in 1902
(c) Alfred Adler in 1905
286. According to Freud, the (d) Sullivan in 1935
negative Oedipus complex may lead Answer: A
to:
(a) Heterosexuality 290. Moving away from the reality is
(b) Homosexuality called the mechanism of:
(c) Narcissism (a) Withdrawal
(d) Castration (b) Denial
Answer: B (c) Daydream
(d) Introjection
287. The idea of developmental Answer: B
stages was borrowed by Freud from:
(a) Biology 291. The stimulation of a muscle
(b) Sociology fibre by a motor neuron occurs at
(c) Anthropology the
(d) Physics (a) myofibril

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(b) transverse tubules (b) Addictive diroders
(c) neuromuscular junction (c) Schizoprenia
(d) sarcoplasmic reticulum (d) Borderline personality disorder
Answer: (c) (BPD)
Answer: (d)
292. An injury sustained by the
hypothalamus is most likely to 295. Even after the brain of a frog
interrupt has been crushed, it still responds to
(a) coordination during locomotion a pinch on the leg by drawing it
(b) short term memory away. This act is an example of
(c) regulation of body temperature (a) Conditioned reflex
(d) executive function like decision (b) Simple reflex
making (c) Automated motor response
Answer: (c) (d) Neurotransmitter induced
response
293. In humans, the Alzheimer Answer: (b)
disease is linked with the deficiency
of 296. Which of these functions will be
(a) acetylcholine affected if the medulla oblongata is
(b) dopamine damaged?
(c) glutamic acid (a) Vision
(d) Gamma Amino Butyric Acid (b) Thermoregulation
(GABA) (c) Memory
Answer: (a) (d) Tactile sensation – response
when prickled with a needle
294. What is the person with these Answer: (d)
symptoms suffering from? Outbursts
of emotions, unpredictable moods, 297. This part of the human brain is
quarrelsome behaviour, conflicts also known as the emotional brain
with others (a) Epithalamus
(a) Mood disorders (b) Limbic system

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(c) Broca’s area (d) hindbrain and midbrain
(d) Corpus callosum constitute the brain stem
Answer: (b) Answer: (a)

298. This is the outermost cranial 301. This hormone is produced

appendage under condition of stress which
(a) Dura mater stimulates glycogenolysis in the liver
(b) Pia mater of human beings
(c) Skull (a) Insulin
(d) Arachnoid (b) Thyroxin
Answer: (a) (c) Estradiol
(d) Adrenaline
299. This cranial meninges is in close Answer: (d)
proximity of the brain tissue
(a) Dura mater 302. Fight or flight reactions causes
(b) Pia mater the activation of
(c) Arachnoid (a) the parathyroid glands, leading to
(d) Skull tissue increased metabolic rate
Answer: (b) (b) adrenal medulla leading to
increased secretion of epinephrine
300. This statement is not associated and norepinephrine
with midbrain (c) pancreas leading to a reduction in
(a) the ventral portion of the the blood sugar levels
midbrain is composed of mainly (d) the kidney, causing suppression
four, round swellings known as of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone
corpora quadrigemina pathway
(b) located between thalamus of the Answer: (b)
forebrain and pons of the hindbrain
(c) the canal called cerebral 303. After trying for several years, a
aqueduct passes through the couple finally learnt that they are
midbrain

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 UNIT-5 Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory 2020
and Forgetting MCQs
going to have a baby. They are (a) ACTH
experiencing this type of stress (b) Cortisol
(a) Strain (c) Epinephrine
(b) Anxiety (d) Norepinephrine
(c) Distress Answer: (b)
(d) Eustress
Answer: (d) 307. When danger or stress is
perceived/experienced, this
304. This part of the autonomic response occurs in the body
nervous system provides the body (a) Exhaustion
with energy for the fight-or-flight (b) Adaption
response (c) Fight-or-flight
(a) Central nervous system (d) Resistance
(b) Sympathetic nervous system Answer: (c)
(c) Peripheral nervous system
(d) Parasympathetic nervous system 308. This branch of science
Answer: (b) investigates the relationship
between stress and the nervous and
305. A real or perceived challenge or immune systems
threat which causes the body to (a) Neurolinguistics
produce a response is a(n) (b) Sociology
(a) injury (c) Adaptive immunology
(b) phobia (d) Psychoneuroimmunology
(c) stressor Answer: (d)
(d) frustration
Answer: (c) 309. All of the following is true
about the hormone epinephrine
306. The hormone released by the except that it
adrenal glands allows the body to (a) is released by the pituitary gland
make energy more readily available (b) is also known as adrenaline
from the stored nutrients (c) is secreted by the adrenal gland

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 UNIT-5 Attention, Perception, Learning, Memory 2020
and Forgetting MCQs
(d) prepares the body for action
Answer: (a)

310. The primary hormone

responsible for stress-related
physiological responses, such as an
increase in heart rate is
(a) insulin
(b) cortisol
(c) epinephrine
(d) thyroxin
Answer: (c)

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