Describe theories of learning and the multi-store model of memory with supporting research.

What this dot point is asking

Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour resulting from experience. Memory is the set of processes by which we encode, store and retrieve information. The two topics are linked: learning relies on memory.

Classical conditioning

Classical conditioning is learning by association, first studied by Ivan Pavlov (1900s) with dogs. Pavlov noticed dogs salivated to food, then paired a bell with the food repeatedly.

• Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): food
• Unconditioned response (UCR): salivation to food
• Neutral stimulus (NS): the bell, before learning
• Conditioned stimulus (CS): the bell, after learning
• Conditioned response (CR): salivation to the bell alone

Watson and Rayner's "Little Albert" study (1920) showed classical conditioning applies to human emotion: an infant was conditioned to fear a white rat by pairing it with a loud noise, and the fear generalised to other furry objects.

Operant conditioning

Operant conditioning is learning through consequences, developed by B. F. Skinner (1930s-50s) using the "Skinner box." Behaviour followed by reinforcement is more likely to recur; behaviour followed by punishment is less likely.

• Positive reinforcement: adding a pleasant stimulus (food pellet) to increase behaviour.
• Negative reinforcement: removing an unpleasant stimulus (turning off a shock) to increase behaviour.
• Positive punishment: adding an unpleasant stimulus to decrease behaviour.
• Negative punishment: removing a pleasant stimulus (loss of privilege) to decrease behaviour.

Skinner also showed schedules of reinforcement matter: a variable-ratio schedule (reinforcement after an unpredictable number of responses, as in gambling) produces the most persistent behaviour.

Observational learning

Albert Bandura's social learning theory holds that we learn by watching models, without direct reinforcement. In the Bobo doll experiment (1961), children who watched an adult act aggressively toward an inflatable doll later imitated that aggression more than children who saw a non-aggressive or no model.

The multi-store model of memory

Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) proposed three stores:

• Sensory memory: a very brief, large-capacity store for raw sensory input (around a quarter of a second for visual; iconic memory). Sperling (1960) demonstrated its rapid decay.
• Short-term memory (STM): limited capacity and duration. Miller (1956) put capacity at about 7 plus or minus 2 items, expandable by chunking. Peterson and Peterson (1959) showed STM lasts roughly 18 seconds without rehearsal, using nonsense trigrams with an interference task.
• Long-term memory (LTM): potentially unlimited capacity and duration, holding information transferred from STM through rehearsal.

Information moves from sensory memory to STM through attention, and from STM to LTM through rehearsal. Forgetting can occur through decay, displacement or interference.

Putting it together

For learning, contrast the three theories: classical conditioning explains involuntary, reflexive responses; operant conditioning explains voluntary behaviour shaped by consequences; observational learning explains acquiring behaviour without performing it. For memory, describe the flow through the three stores and cite the capacity and duration findings. Always anchor claims to named researchers, as TCE markers reward the use of specific psychological evidence.