Neural basis of learning
What type of neuron carries information from the central nervous system to muscles and glands?
A motor neuron.
In classical conditioning, what is a stimulus that naturally produces a response called?
An unconditioned stimulus (UCS).
What type of learning approach is operant conditioning?
Behavioural learning approach
What type of learning approach is observational learning?
Observational learning is a social-cognitive learning approach
In the context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, what is Country?
Country is more than simply a physical place or geographic location. It can be understood as a living system that is connected with relationships, knowledge, culture, identity and learning.
What is neuroplasticity?
The brain's ability to change its structure, function or connections in response to experience, learning or environmental demands.
A student feels nervous whenever they hear the bell that signals the start of a Psychology SAC because the bell has repeatedly been followed by stressful SAC conditions.
What is the bell?
A conditioned stimulus (CS).
A student completes their homework and their teacher gives them a positive comment. The student becomes more likely to complete their homework in the future.
Is this positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment or negative punishment?
Positive reinforcement — something desirable is added following the behaviour, increasing the likelihood of the behaviour occurring again.
What are the five cognitive processes involved in observational learning?
Attention, retention, reproduction, motivation and reinforcement.
Name three modalities through which knowledge can be expressed and transmitted in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing.
Any three of:
What is LTP?
Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) is the long-lasting strengthening of synaptic connections between neurons, resulting from the repeated activation of a neural pathway
Explain the difference between acquisition and extinction in classical conditioning.
Acquisition is the initial learning of the association between the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus.
Extinction occurs when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus, causing the conditioned response to decrease or disappear.
What is the difference between reinforcement and punishment?
Reinforcement increases the likelihood of a behaviour occurring, whereas punishment decreases the likelihood of a behaviour occurring.
Explain why simply observing a behaviour does not necessarily mean that the observer will reproduce it.
For observational learning to occur, the observer needs to attend to and retain the behaviour, have the ability to reproduce it, and be motivated to perform it. Therefore, observation alone does not guarantee reproduction.
Explain how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander approaches to learning differ from an approach that views learning as occurring only within an individual.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander approaches can position the learner within a broader system of relationships, where learning is connected to Country, community, culture and relationships. Learning is therefore not necessarily viewed as an isolated process occurring only within an individual.
Explain how glutamate contributes to long-term potentiation (LTP) and the strengthening of neural connections.
Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter that plays an important role in learning. Glutamate is released from the presynaptic neuron and binds to receptors on the postsynaptic neuron. This contributes to changes that strengthen the synaptic connection between neurons. Repeated activation of the pathway can result in LTP, which supports learning by making neural communication more efficient
Describe what happens during the before, during and after stages of classical conditioning.
A teenager repeatedly leaves their phone on during class. Their teacher confiscates the phone for the remainder of the lesson, and the teenager becomes less likely to use their phone during class.
Identify the type of operant conditioning consequence and explain your answer.
Negative punishment. A desirable stimulus — access to the phone — is removed following the behaviour, decreasing the likelihood of the behaviour occurring again.
A student watches their teacher demonstrate how to use a new piece of laboratory equipment. The student pays close attention, remembers the steps, successfully performs the procedure and is motivated to repeat the behaviour after seeing another student receive praise for doing it correctly.
Using the five cognitive processes of observational learning, explain how the student learned the behaviour.
Compare Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing and learning with Western approaches to learning. Identify one key similarity and two differences between the approaches.
Similarity: Both approaches recognise that experience and interaction with the environment can contribute to learning.
Differences:
After a student spends several months learning to play the piano, the neural pathways involved in controlling their fingers become more developed. At the same time, some neural connections that are rarely used become weaker. In another area of the brain, new neural connections develop and existing connections are reorganised to support the new skill.
Identify and explain the three neural processes
Before starting Psychology SACs, Mia feels calm when she hears the school bell. During several SACs, the bell rings immediately before a stressful test begins. After several weeks, Mia begins to feel anxious as soon as she hears the bell, even when there is no test.
Using the before, during and after stages of classical conditioning, identify the NS, UCS, UCR, CS and CR in this scenario.
Before conditioning:
During conditioning:
After conditioning:
A student regularly forgets to submit their homework. Their teacher introduces the following system:
After several weeks, the student is much more consistent with submitting homework.
Identify the type of operant conditioning used in each consequence and explain how each consequence is expected to affect the student's behaviour.
Two students watch a teacher demonstrate a complex laboratory technique. Both pay attention and remember the steps. However, only one student successfully performs the technique.
Using the five processes of observational learning, explain why the students may have produced different outcomes.
Both students demonstrated attention and retention, but the student who was successful may have had greater ability to reproduce the behaviour. The students may also have differed in motivation, such as their expectation of receiving a reward or avoiding a negative consequence. Therefore, differences in reproduction ability and/or motivation could explain the different outcomes.
A teacher asks students to learn about a local environment. Instead of only reading a textbook, students learn through relationships with people, stories, observations of Country, discussion, art and other forms of knowledge.
Using Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander approaches to learning, explain why this could be considered a multimodal and relational approach to learning.
It is multimodal because knowledge is communicated through multiple forms, such as stories, observation, art and discussion. It is relational because the learner is positioned within a system of relationships rather than learning in isolation. Knowledge is connected to Country and relationships, reflecting the view that learning can be embedded within a broader system of knowledge patterned on Country.