TRANSCRIPT Slide 17: Neuroscientists have long believed that learning and memory formation are made by the strengthening and weakening of connections among brain cells. This occurs through a network of neurons, sensory information is transmitted by synapses along the neural pathway and stored temporarily in short-term memory, a volatile region of the brain that acts like a receiving center for the flood of sensory information we encounter in our daily lives. So basically our entire lives are somewhere ‘in there’ – in our hippocampus – and the issue is with retrieval. Experience is registered and, if we are paying attention, becomes part of our short-term memory. With repeated use and rehearsal, short-term memories are committed to long-term memory from where they should be retrievable. Slide 18: Researchers found that when two neurons frequently interact, they form a bond that allows them to transmit more easily and accurately. This leads to more complete memories and easier recall. Conversely, when two neurons rarely interact, the transmission is often incomplete, leading to either a faulty memory or no memory at all. An example of this, is your daily routine. You don’t really need to think consciously about how to get to work, because it is a trip you take all the time and that memory of how to navigate is ingrained in your brain. The neurons that control this memory have communicated so often, they have formed a tight bond. Now contrast your daily routine with the experience of driving to a location you have never visited. To make this trip, your brain has to work much harder. You need to get directions, write them down and then pay extra attention to road signs along the way. In this case, the neurons involved in navigating to this new destination have not shared synapses frequently before and so they communicate incompletely or inefficiently. This requires forming new connections within the brain, which results in greater conscious effort and attention on our part. Slide 20: There are three main ways in which information can be encoded (changed): 1. Visual (picture) 2. Acoustic (sound) 3. Semantic (meaning) Slide 21: where the information is stored, it deals with how long the memory lasts for (duration), how much can be stored at any time (capacity) and what kind of information is held. This can be within short or long term memory Slide 22: This refers to getting information out of storage. Organizing information can help aid retrieval. You can organize information in sequences (such as alphabetically, by size or by time). According to Bandura (1977), most behaviour is learned in the process of social interaction and, in particular, by observing the actions of others. Models provide people with information that guides their own behavior. There are four compo- nents to the modelling process. people must attend to the model. Models that are closely attended to – for example, because they are observed frequently, they are interesting, or they have high status – will be subject to greater imitation than models that do not capture the observer’s attention. people must retain the modelled information in memory. This requires the individual to convert the observed events into symbolic cognitive representations in the form of internal dialogue (self-talk) or pictorial images. the cognitively encoded information must be converted into action. Observed behaviours, especially complex ones, are rarely reproduced correctly the first time but must be practised and perfected. the performance of modelled behaviour is subject to motiva- tional factors. People acquire countless behaviours observationally, but their performance of these behaviours is highly selective, depending upon the perceived appropriateness and effectiveness of the behaviour in a given context. People perform modelled behaviour in the anticipation of reinforcement rather than as a consequence of reinforcement. Slide 31: both cognitive processes are bidirectional Memory processing creates extensive implications for learning, especially regarding how we acquire new knowledge, store it in memory and retrieve it when needed. When learning new things, memory and recall are strengthened by frequency. The more we practice and rehearse something new and the more recently we have practiced, the easier it is for our brain to transmit these experiences efficiently and store them for ready access later. This process is called fluency. Memory depends on learning. But learning also depends on memory, because the knowledge stored in your memory provides the framework to which you link new knowledge, by association. And the more extensive your framework of existing knowledge, the more easily you can link new knowledge to it. In simple words we need to remember to learn and when we learn we must remember it, we need this especially now, when it comes to passing our exams!