Taste Aversion

Taste aversion is a learned response to eating food or drinking a drink that makes us become sick. In psychology, taste aversion was tested on animals to control predators. Wolves started to become scared of sheep rather than hunting for them because of what was put on them. Psychologists put poison on the sheep to see the effects it had on the wolves. When the wolves hunted down for the sheep and tried eating them, they became sick due to the poison that was on them. Due to this, the sheep now predicts that the wolves will get sick and so the wolves run away every time they see the sheep. Taste aversions are a great example of some of the fundamentals of classical conditioning when it comes to trying a food that makes us sick. The neutral stimulus (the food) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (an illness), which leads to an unconditioned response (feeling sick). After this, the previously neutral stimulus (the food) is now a conditioned stimulus that elicits a conditioned response (avoiding the food).

A personal experience I have with taste aversion is the very first time I tried a bag of Cheetos. They were my brother’s favorite snack and he wanted me to try them. As gross as it is, immediately when I took the first bite I threw up. I did not like the taste of the Cheeto at all, and I did not want to eat anymore of it. To this day, I can never look at Cheetos the same. It grosses me out when I watch people eat them, and I can not bare the smell of them either. Whenever someone is eating them near me, I need to walk away and not look at them because it reminds me of when I tried them and threw up, and it starts to make me sick to my stomach again.

My experience relates to taste aversion because of the fundamentals that are apart of classical conditioning. The neutral stimulus is the Cheetos and the unconditioned stimulus is me throwing up and feeling sick afterwards. That then led the Cheetos from being a neutral stimulus to become a conditioned stimulus that elicits a conditioned response of me avoiding Cheetos every time I see them now. It is very interesting to see how psychology plays a role in our daily lives without us truly realizing it. I never knew that dreading the site and smell of a food after becoming sick from it is actually a topic that is studied and tested on. Psychology continues to amaze me everyday with how much it has to do with our lives.

References: Wede, J. (n.d.). Psychology.

Maintenance and Elaborative Rehearsal

Maintenance Rehearsal, also known as Rote Rehearsal, is the process of repeatedly saying or thinking about a piece of information. This process is used to help memorize information in order to keep it in our working memory for a long duration of time, though this is truly never the case. Through this procedure, once the repeating stops, the information quickly goes away. This rehearsal only temporarily maintains the information in our memory for our Short-Term Memory is known to only hold about 7 pieces of information for about 12 to 30 seconds. Maintenance Rehearsal is not quite the best technique to use in order to store memory, but this process is still used regularly by millions of people. 

Elaborative Rehearsal is a technique which makes memorizing information meaningful. Unlike Maintenance Rehearsal, this process is not about repeating words and thoughts over and over again, but instead involves thinking about the meaning of the term to be remembered. To make this happen, one must relate the information to prior knowledge, make the information personally meaningful, which then leads to a much stronger Long-Term Memory. By making personal connections to words and terms, it will make it much easier to store this memory for a longer period of time, resulting in this information to be permanently kept in Long-Term Memory. 

A personal experience I have in which relates to Maintenance and Elaborative Rehearsal is when I was studying for a vocabulary test in my AP Spanish class in high school. I did not study for the test the night before because I thought I would easily be able to study for it within the first 10 minutes of class. Once I arrived to class, I immediately started studying the vocab words. I kept repeating the words and their meanings in my head over and over again until I thought I got it down. I was also repeating the terms with my friends so that we could help each other study. Once it was time to take the test, my teacher handed out the papers from the opposite side of the room from me, this meaning I was the last one to receive my test. Since almost a minute went by after repeating the words in my head, I could only truly remember the first few words on the vocab sheet.

Maintenance Rehearsal played a role within my situation because I was constantly repeating the vocab words over and over again to myself, thinking that it was helpful and that I would remember them for my test. Though they only stayed within my Short-Term Memory for about 30 seconds, and then quickly left my memory. Elaborative Rehearsal should have been put into play when I was studying because it would have helped me retain the words for a longer period of time. If I made connections with the words and some of my personal life situations, then the vocab words would have been moved in my Long-Term Memory, which would have helped me remember all of the vocab words and do better on the test.

References: Wede, J. (n.d.). Psychology.

https://edu.glogster.com/glog/exp3604-c-memory-assignment/1wvencc641i

The Sympathetic Nervous System

 Within the nervous system is the autonomic nervous system, which then contains the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. These two systems are involuntarily, meaning our body does not have control over what it is performing. The sympathetic nervous system is known as “fight-or-flight”, while parasympathetic is known as “rest and digest”. Even though they are different, these systems still work hand in hand with one another to help control the way our body works. Sympathetic is almost like an alarm clock, as it arouses the body and stimulates the nerves to start working. On the other hand, parasympathetic helps calm the body down, as it brings the body back to its normal state. The sympathetic division is not responsible for physically helping you fight or run, but rather prepares your body for the events it is about to encounter. Meanwhile, the parasympathetic division focuses on influencing our response to the situation so our body can ease back to its usual ways.

When triggered, the sympathetic nervous system carries out certain functions to prepare the body to make a decision within that moment. The symptoms normally experienced in a “fight-or-flight” situation are dilated pupils, accelerated heart rate, rapid breathing, and sweating. With these symptoms, it helps one to see and process information more clearly, transfer more blood to your muscles, and helps fight off whatever it is encountered.

A “fight-or-flight” moment can be experienced in several different ways by anyone. A time in which I experienced a “fight-or-flight” moment was when I was on vacation in the Bahamas in 2018. My family rented out a yacht for the day to sail through Rose Island for fun excursions, such as snorkeling, tubing, jet skiing, and much more. Though something the cabin members always make their guests do is jump off of the highest level of their boat. My brother and I decided to jump together, and off we went from the third level of the boat. After landing in the water, my brother and I noticed a black/grey figure swimming towards us, realizing it was a Stingray. I immediately felt a rush of adrenaline, my heart rate became rapid, my breathing became intense, my body sweating, and I swam as fast as I could back to the boat. Now having an understanding of “fight-or-flight mode”, I realize that in that moment my body was experiencing all the sympathetic symptoms. My only intention was to swim away as fast as I possibly could from the Stingray, therefore showing the use of the “flight” mode to help reach myself to safety. 

Once I got back on the boat my body then went through the effects of the parasympathetic system. My heart rate began to slow down, my breathing was not as intense, my pupils constricted, and my body went back to its normal state. I believe my experience demonstrates one of the purposes of the sympathetic nervous system because it describes a memory of when I was in a stressful situation and had to react in a timely manner by using the “flight-or-fight” method. Experiencing the sympathetic nervous system may not always be enjoyable, but with this system it helps our bodies respond to demanding situations and is essentially responsible for controlling what we do in the moment. 

https://www.dreamstime.com/sympathetic-parasympathetic-nervous-system-d-medical-illustration-white-background-sympathetic-parasympathetic-nervous-image142345130

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-fight-or-flight-response-2795194 

References: Wede, J. (n.d.). Psychology.