Memory

Memory:
Memory, it is one of the most functions of the human brain. It is where information is stored and later recalled. Memory is categorized in two different category. These category being short term and long term memory. Short term memory is is where information that is just learned is stored. This information that is stored here tends to be less relevant, and is only information that is needed to be remembered for a short span of time. Long term memory, however is the opposite of this. Long term memory is the storing up of information that is the information needed for longer periods of time, and in many cases this memory can be relatively permanent. This is so this information can be recalled from longer time periods.

Despite memory being so important to the human being as a whole, there are many diseases and other ways in which memory and the capability to remember and recall information. A few of these ways Alzheimers's disease and even strokes, as well as meany others.

Alzheimers:
Alzheimers is a disease which entail memory loss, known as dementia. Alzheimers is a degenerative disease in which the symptoms worsen with time. Alzheimers make it difficult for the afflicted party. The symptoms include the robbing of some long term memories, and the difficulty of recalling memories that have been stored in the brain for many many years. Alzheimers make it even more difficult to to recall information that was just learned. So information that is learned recently is most likely not able to be recalled. The reason in which Alzheimers is so destructive is that it attacks and destroys the structure of the brain, which leads to memory loss. The effects of Alzheimers is so dangerous though because it is not just in one local part of the brain it is something that spreads to all aspects/parts of the brain destroying it as it goes along. It causes all the structure of the brain to be destroyed eventually leading to total brain shut down and then the death of the one effect with the terrible disease.

Real World Application:
There are many reasons to understand what Alzheimers is and why it is such a big deal is because it affects so many people in the world. If one understands what it truly is then one can better handle the effects, and understand what all is in store for the afflicted party.

Personal:
Writing this blog had a few ties to my family. My great grandfather on my mother's side suffered with this, and eventually passed from the disease. I did not know him very closely, but writing this it made me realize how close to home this disease can hit. It is such a dangerous disease that affects so many people so it is so important that people understand and know what it is.

Sources:
https://www.brightstarcare.com/chattanooga/files/2013/11/alzheimers-scan.jpg
https://dailyhealthpost.com/wp-content/uploads/mem.jpg
http://www.learner.org/series/discoveringpsychology/09/e09expand.html
https://www.alz.org/braintour/alzheimers_changes.asp
file:///C:/Users/Daniel%20Beal/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/Week%208_Chapter_Memory.pdf

Behavior Modification

In all our lives there are some behaviors that i know we would change if we had the power. Well I decided that I did have the power to change it so I did. I set out to see if I was able to change my behaviors in favor of more desired ones. In this blog we will discuss my findings and what led me to discover them.

Each day starting from day one to day seven there seemed to be a steady and consistent increase. From day one to day two my studying increased by a factor of one. i study one more time that day and received the reward one more time as well. From days two to day three my studying increased from two times to three times in which I earned my reward three times each one of these days. From days four to day seven my studying also increased where I earned my reward four times each of those days. This style of behavior modification is Operant conditioning, and there are many ways in which these behaviors can change. One way is through positive rewarding and negative punishment. The method I used was the positive rewarding. Every time I did the desired behavior then i would reward myself with the reeses candy. This creates the environment of doing the positive behavioral change. This was such a fun activity, and it caused me to see some things in which I could develop an environment for positive change. This is so practical and it can be used with the easiest of behaviors so if there is something you want to change then do it change it, and see how far you can go.

Classical Conditioning

Learning

Classical Conditioning

There are many different styles of learning. Each aspect of learning can have different effects on each person individually. They can range things such as discriminative listening, comprehension listening, and there are other kinds of listening that can all correlate and culminate in the eventual learning http://changingminds.org/techniques/listening/types_listening.htm However the type and instance of learning that is going to be focused on in this blog is the way of learning called classical conditioning.

What is it?

The idea of classical conditioning was discovered by a Russian medical researcher know as Ivan Pavlov. He was studying the digestive systems of dogs. This led him to study the salivating glands in dogs. He determined that when the dogs received the food they would salivate, however as the experiment continued on he was shocked to see the dogs salivating before the food even made it to the mouth of dog. He discovered that the footsteps of the one feeding the dogs or even the door opening would lead to the dog salivating. He determined that the form of learning that these dogs underwent was what he called classical conditioning. Classical Conditioning: A form of learning in which animals or people make a connection between two stimuli that have occurred together, such that one predicts the other. There are many aspects on this idea of classical conditioning one is the neutral stimulus, which is a stimulus that causes no response. So this would be someone saying a word or making a noise, or in the case of Ivan ringing a bell and having no response. Another aspect is the unconditioned stimulus which is a stimulus that causes a response without any need for learning. In this case for Ivan it would have been the food given to the dogs. An unconditioned response is the automatic response to a stimulus. These were all the initial reaction of the dogs in Pavlov’s experiments to the bell ringing and the food. Over time however, the neutral stimuli transformed into a conditioned stimuli which caused a response in the animal. The reason this took place was that a conditioned response took place this is a response acquired through learning. As Ivan Pavlov began to ring the bell before each feeding of the dogs they learned that the bell meant food, and began to salivate without food. Therefore Pavlov learned that you can condition animals and thus humans to have certain responses to certain stimuli. file:///C:/Users/Daniel%20Beal/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/Week%207_Chapter_Pomerantz1e_Learning.pdf

 

Personal Learning:

When reading about this way in which learning takes place was the fact that people and animals can be trained do respond certain ways to certain stimuli. This idea of learning is one of the ways in which many people train animals in order to receive the response that they desire.

Real-World Application:

There are many ways in which this way of learning is used in the real world today. However, one of the biggest users of this in today’s world is the advertisement industry. One of the main reasons that the industry uses these techniques is because they want to train the viewer to have a positive response to the product that they are intending to sell. Of course one of the best examples of this is McDonalds. After showing any of their commercials they play the jingle “I’m lovin it” they do this in order to get people to think about their food anytime that is played even without viewing the food. This can cause the response of craving the food that has been advertised.

 

Sources:

file:///C:/Users/Daniel%20Beal/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/Week%207_Chapter_Pomerantz1e_Learning.pdf

http://changingminds.org/techniques/listening/types_listening.htm

https://chinaipr2.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/mcdonalds.jpg

https://smilingculture.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/pavlov.jpg

https://monicaj7.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/pavlov-dogs.jpg