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Study Guide Answers for Final Chapter 8: Skill Learning Behaviour Define skill memory (A.K.A. procedural memory). From what forms of learning does it result? Compare skill memory with declarative memory, considering: duration of memory; conscious awareness of information; amount of exposure/practice needed for acquisition; and typical means of communication of the learned material. ● Product of habit learning, response learning ● Nondeclarative, implicit ● Improves with practice ● Can become long lasting ● Rely on distinct brain substrates from declarative memory (e.g., case of HM) ● Lasts longer than declarative memory ● The vocabulary of skill memories and practice – know these terms and be able to recognize or provide examples/descriptions of each: perceptual-motor skills, cognitive skills, closed skills, open skills, spaced practice, massed practice, constant practice, variable practice, gradual training. ● Perceptual-motor skills: learned movement patterns guided by sensory inputs ○ Examples: how to hit a curveball, how to spike in volleyball ● Closed skills are rote sets of movements ● Open skills require adjustments based on the environment ○ Many activities require the combination of closed + open skills (e.g., team sports)
● Cognitive skills: habits of problem solving, using strategies ○ Examples: Tower of Hanoi, reading ● Spaced practice: spaced out over time ● Massed practice: condensed ● Constant practice: focused on single skill ● Variable practice: alternates between set of skills ● Gradual training: easy version, then increase difficulty Effectiveness of training: ● compare spaced vs. massed training ○ Spaced more effective ● compare constant vs. variable practice ○ Variable often more effective (but not always) Imagine you are teaching or coaching a skill you have developed yourself – e.g., a sport, a musical instrument, a language, a game... Use as many of the terms above in Q2 as you can to describe what would be the best way to facilitate learning in your protégé. ● Have weekly practice sessions (spaced practice) ● Alternate between set of skills and take breaks (variable practice) ● Start with small easy steps and increase difficulty (gradual training) For each of the following tests/tasks, briefly describe how it is carried out and what aspect(s) of memory/skill it measures: Tower of Hanoi, serial reaction time task, Morris water maze (procedural/visible platform & place/hidden platform versions). ● Tower of Hanoi ○ Cognitive skills (habits of problem solving, using strategies) ○ Can’t put larger disk on smaller ● Serial reaction time task ○ Implicit learning ○ Shown cue, press associated button fast ○ Sometimes 10-item sequence, sometimes random ○ Faster at 10-item sequence ○ Not aware of sequence ● Morris water maze ○ Procedural and place learning ○ Procedural ■ Realizing there’s a platform ■ Do well in hidden platform version
● What are some arguments against the popularized idea of putting in 10 000 hours to achieve mastery at anything? ○ It has to be deliberate practice ○ Need breaks (variable practice) ○ 10k arbitrary number Describe Fitts’ three-stage model of skill learning. How would the model explain the process of learning how to perform a choreographed dance? ● ● Cognitive stage: clumsy and slow, needs explicit conscious control, rules/moves rehearsed verbally ● Associative stage: stereotyped movements learned, but still exerting conscious control to determine correct sequence and monitor performance ● Autonomous stage: can dance and think about something else, like having a conversation with someone
Greatness and talent: ● When your skill level is high, describe what might lead to “choking under pressure” and changes in visual processing and focus. ○ Choking under pressure is when you try to get cognitive about something you normally would do automatically, and your performance gets worse ○ For example, if you knit very fast, but try to explain how you do it to someone (you think about what you do), you might go slower because you’re thinking too much about the steps ● Discuss the relationship between talent and effort in achieving great performance. And, what was the conclusion of Howard’s (2009) study of chess players? ○ Talent: one’s inherent ability to perform a particular skill is better than most, independent from the effects of practice ○ ○ Howard’s (2009) study found that it takes 400 ranked games to earn the title of Grandmaster - those who earn it are younger and earn in fewer games ■ Talent dictates peak level of performance - afterwards, we aymptote due to extensive practice ■ High performers identified with little practice ■ The number of games, which means practice of 400 ranked games is not an indicator for earning the title of Grandmaster. Younger earned it with practicing less than 400 ranked games, which means they were talented
● Skill decay ○ ○ Rapid decay when practice first terminated ○ Slower decay as time progresses
When I went to Australia, I had a lot of difficulty driving my rental car because there, you drive on the left side of the road rather than the right and the layout of the instruments in the car is reversed compared to that in North America. It took a couple of days of practice to get used to it. When I got home and drove my own car again, I once again had some initial difficulty adapting back. Use the term interference to describe what happened in this situation, and consider whether the scenario involves retroactive and/or proactive interference. ● When you first went to Australia, proactive interference occurred - you couldn’t learn how to drive the new roads because your knowledge/habits of driving on the old roads interfered. ● When you went back home, retroactive interference occurred - you had difficulty adapting back to driving on old roads because new knowledge/skills from driving on the new road in Australia interfered. Imagine you are teaching or coaching a skill you have developed yourself – e.g., a sport, a musical instrument, a language, a game... How would you design your instruction for one of the first sessions? Would you do anything different when instructing later sessions? Use the terminology regarding practice in this chapter in your answer. ● If I were teaching knitting, I would first start easy (gradual training). I might try to make use of skills transfer by having the learner practice the motions or knots first, then transfer that to casting on the knitting needle. ● In my later sessions, I would increase the difficulty and work up to more complex tasks. Since each “session” contributes to spaced practice, I wouldn’t have to worry about telling the learner not to “cram” their knitting practice. I would also assume the learner is pursuing other hobbies or doing something else outside of sessions so I wouldn’t have to emphasize variable practice. ● I would also give good feedback so the learner can improve, which would help with their learning. Brain What are the effects of basal ganglia damage and hippocampal damage on the hidden platform and visible platform versions of the Morris water maze? Accordingly, what memory systems do each of these brain regions support? How did the water maze study explained in lecture demonstrate that rats can use different memory systems to complete the same task? ● Basal ganglia link sensory events to responses, while cerebral cortex controls complex actions
How does Jog et al.’s (1999) study of basal ganglia activity in rats on a cued T-maze task support Fitts’ three-stage model of skill learning? ● A cue was given, signalling which arm would have food for the trial ● Early in training, most activity occurred during training ● Later in training, 90% of neurons showed task-relevant firing mostly at the beginning and end of task ● Sensorimotor striatum develops action template for triggering procedure as behavioural unit (with beginning and end) ● ○ From cognitive (activity at the turn, think about where to turn) to autonomous (activity at beginning and end, not thinking about the procedure) Describe the activity of the basal ganglia during the weather prediction game. ● Activity increased as learning progressed Although the basal ganglia facilitate skill memories, the cortex might be the site of long- term storage. Give examples of cortical plasticity linked to skill learning and memory that support the role of the cortex. Is the cortex more likely involved earlier in training, or later in training, according to research findings? ● Training expands cortical space representing skill movements (increased grey matter volume) ● Disuse shrinks cortical space representing skill movements ● Increases and decreases can also occur for areas representing incoming sensory information used in the skill
● Example: my brain has less cortical space for flute-playing because I stopped playing the flute after high school band ● Changes in cortical representations support later stages of training because parts of the motor cortex that are involved in finger control showed greater activation for trained sequence than for an untrained sequence What are several potential contributions of the cerebellum to skill learning? ● Movement sequences, timing, tracking a target ● Takes in input from spinal cord, sensory systems, and cortex ● Outputs to spinal cord and cortical motor systems ● Lesions impair performance of motor sequences and eyeblink conditioning ( timing ) ● Cerebellar damage also decreases initial stage of mirror tracing, but same rate of learning as controls ○ ○ On more difficult drawings, cerebellar patients more impaired bc learned skill doesn’t transfer ● Important for cognitive skill learning
● If I am surfing Instagram rather than listening to lecture, what part of the model is affected? ○ Short-term? ○ Lack of attention ○ Sensory memory and short-term memory ● If I am trying to remember who the second prime minister of Canada was, which part(s) of the model am I using? ○ Long-term memory (semantic) ● If I am trying to memorize vocabulary for my final exam, which part(s) of the model should I be using? ○ Short-term/working memory (rehearsal, control processes) ● If I am listening to a podcast, which part of the model helps me to hear all the parts of speech as whole words and phrases? ○ Sensory memory - auditory Complete the following table: Sensory Memory STM/Working Memory
LTM
Capacity (size) 3 letters, snapshot of row but fades rapidly Limited small capacity - 7+/- digit span, 5- chunks Unlimited Consciously aware of contents? Yes and no - context-dependent yes no Duration of memory ~1s (rapid decay) Quick decay Forgotten slowly
(<1min) and overwriting How to promote entry of info into this memory stage Immediately ask what you saw (like words from a specific row) Attention and rehearsal Spaced practice What does Sperling’s “partial report technique” demonstrate about the interaction of attention with sensory memory? ● Complete visual snapshot fades rapidly What is the digit span? How can meaning of the items affect how much can be remembered (e.g., chunking)? How can one maintain the information in their working memory? ● Measure working memory’s number storage capacity ● Digit span: 7 plus or minus 2 ● Read list of numbers, subjects repeat ○ Increase list length until error is made ○ Component of many IQ measures ● Meaning of items: when list items are meaningful, the same length can be held in memory despite much more information being present ○ Chunking - STM holds 5-9 “chunks” ● Maintenance: rehearsal - repeating information mentally to retain attention (as soon as attention is lost - information is gone) What is the overall function of working memory? Draw a diagram of Baddeley’s working memory model consisting of the central executive, phonological loop, and visuospatial sketchpad. Describe the function of each part. Comment on the capacities of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad. What are some examples of types of cognitive control provided by the central executive, and of experimental tasks that can be used to measure these cognitive control behaviours? ● Working memory is a workspace for the mind - collects sensory input, activates relevant LTMs, and transforms info to suit current needs
○ Exerts cognitive control over the behaviour, providing complex organization in response to environmental demands ● Types of cognitive control provided by central executive: ○ Controlled updating of STM (N-back task, self-ordered search) ○ Setting goals and planning (Tower of Hanoi) ○ Task switching (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test) ○ Stimulus attention and response inhibition (Stroop task) How do the delayed nonmatching to sample, N-back, Wisconsin card sorting, Stroop, and self-ordered search tasks work? What aspect(s) of Baddeley’s model do they measure? ● Delayed nonmatching to sample ○ Visuospatial sketchpad ○ Novel object shown ○ Delay ○ Choose the nonmatching object (food reward under it) ○ Requires visual memory of object to be held in mind during short delay ● N-back ○ Central executive ○ Controlled updating of STM ■ Taps into central executive’s manipulation of working memory, including: online storage of recent information, selective attention, remembering task demands, updating and reorganizing stored items ○ Name the digit that’s N back (5 back, 2 back, 1 back, etc.) ○ ex) 3 back test for 353456 would be the digit 4 ○ Larger N is harder ● Wisconsin card sorting ○ Central executive ○ Task switching ○ Person sort cards, get feedback as to whether they’re doing it right ○ Don’t know rules, but the feedback changes to different rule (sorting by colour to shape) ○ Update memory and behaviour ● Stroop task ○ Central executive ○ Stimulus attention and response inhibition (selecting appropriate behaviours and inhibiting inappropriate behaviours) ○ Name colour of ink to print word sets (word blue written in red ink)
○ Inhibit saying word, instead say colour of ink ● Self-ordered search ○ Central executive ○ Controlled updating of STM ○ Choose any of the 5 items on the card that haven’t been selected yet (but cards shifted around) ○ Monkeys shown containers with rewards What is the relationship between working memory and intelligence? ● Better memory = higher intelligence ● Intelligence is the capacity to learn reason, and understand -good working memory helps with this ● Working memory correlates with verbal SAT scores ● Being able to juggle many rules in one's head is correlated w scoring high on nonverbal tests of intelligence ● General intelligence associated w stronger working memory, especially control and manipulation of larger numbers of rules, concepts, goals, and ideas Brain Prefrontal cortex (PFC) and working memory: ● Describe the relationship between size of PFC and working memory in mammals. ○ PFC important for working memory ○ Better working memory = proportionately larger PFC ○ The relative size of the PFC varies among mammals ○ PFC proportions are similar between humans and primates ● Explain dysexecutive function and give examples. ○ PFC damage ○ Decrease in working memory and executive function ○ Aimless in the kitchen (ex-chef), swayed by whims (ex-accountant) ● How could you conduct a neuropsych evaluation for a person with suspected frontal cortex damage? What might you find? ○ Digit span task - decreased digit span ○ N-back and self-ordered memory test - poor memory updating ○ Tower of Hanoi - poor planning (shift disks aimlessly) ○ WIsconsin Card Sorting - poor task switching with perseverance ○ Poor overall IQ
○ Goldman-Rakic (monkey eye-gaze) ■ DLPFC (manipulation and monitoring in central executive) neurons fire while info maintained in working memory (delay neurons) ■ If delay neurons don’t maintain activity throughout delay, errors occur ■ ■ Different delay neurons encode different memory locations (bottom centre, top right, etc.) ○ Human DLPFC fMRI studies ■ Human DLPFC shows delay-specific activity during working memory tasks too ■ ■ Activity persists through delay, after cue disappears ■ Only after response is made does activity decrease back to start level ○ Petrides (monkey self-ordered memory)
■ DLPFC lesions impair delayed self-ordered visual recognition task requiring memory manipulation (which of these have I not selected previously?) ■ DLPFC no impairment in delayed recognition task requiring only memory maintenance (which of these have I seen before?) ● Relies of familiarity alone (MTL function) ● New objects every trial ● If same objects used repeatedly, there’s an impairment (all are familiar) ○ Studies of psychiatric patients of PFC ■ Damage to left PFC → impaired auditory rehearsal ■ Damage to right PFC → impaired visual working memory ● Using examples, elaborate on how progressing from goals to detailed operations requires involvement of PFC from anterior to posterior. ○ ○ Anterior-to-Posterior gradient in PFC from abstract to specific ● Compare the traditional view of the role of PFC in working memory to a newer theory that focuses on coordination rather than storage. ○ Traditional: storage - holds temporary memories in place ○ Newer: coordinates - maintains activity in posterior portions of cortex to represent temporary memories ○ Unclear which perspective is correct ● Working memory is active during both encoding and retrieval of memory. How do DLPFC and VLPFC contribute to these processes?
