Author: Avery Putt

In class during this module 3, we learned about operant conditioning. This type of conditioning forms associations between behaviors and resulting events. Within operant conditioning, Thorndike’s Experiment explains this association. During this experiment, the Law of Effect displays that rewarded behavior is likely to recur. One thing that operant conditioning can show an example of is training animals how to behave to their owners’ standards. This is done through shaping. Shaping is the process by which reinforcers guide certain behavior closer towards a desired behavior. This is also known as successive approximations. This can be done through several techniques. One way is through reinforcement. Positive reinforcement increases desired behavior by presenting positive stimuli, and negative reinforcement increases behavior by removing negative stimuli. Another way of shaping is through punishment. Positive punishment administers an aversive stimulus and negative punishment withdraws a desirable stimulus.

Learning about operant conditioning reminded me of training my puppy around five years ago. When we first got my puppy, she basically did whatever she wanted and was no where near being properly trained. However, we knew that in order to raise a calm, obedient dog, we had to start training as soon as possible. The way we trained my dog was through operant conditioning. My dog then gradually began to make the connection between performing desired behaviors and receiving positive feedback. When teaching her to relieve herself outside instead of in the house, we used positive reinforcement. Every time she went outside to relieve herself, she was given a treat. And she loves treats. So eventually, her brain made the connection that going outside instead of inside would result in a treat. After a while, my dog developed a cognitive process in which she developed an expectation that a response will be reinforced or punished. Additionally, she began to associate good behaviors all by herself through latent learning, which is done without reinforcement.

In our lesson on Forgetting and the Biology of Memory, one concept really made me think about my own life and how this concept may affect me today. Memory construction is a process by which humans filter or fill in pieces of information that are seemingly missing in order to make our recalling of a specific memory more coherent. By almost unknowingly doing this, something called the Misinformation Effect may take place. This effect occurs when humans incorporate information that is misleading and not entirely valid into one’s memory of an event. The Misinformation Effect has been proven by testing eyewitness accounts. Several people were shown videos of an accident. Two cars ran into each other, causing a crash. One half of the study were asked what happened when the cars “hit each other”, and the other half were asked what happened when the cars “smashed into each other”. Although seemingly minor, these choices of words impacted the people’s memories. About a month later, the people in the study were called back and asked about the videos that were seen. Researchers asked the people if there was broken glass on the street after the crash. Those that were exposed to the word choice of “smashed” reported seeing glass. However, there was never any glass in the video. This form of implanting memories is very common in everyday life.

When I was in elementary school, I remember traveling about an hour away from home to visit some family friends. These friends have a pool, and all of the kids were spending the day playing in it. I went to jump into the pool backwards, but I did not jump far enough away from the side of the pool. Because of this, my chin hit the side of the pool as I was jumping in, and I bit through the bottom half of my lip. I was rushed to my family doctor, and he glued my lip back together-avoiding stitches. Or at least, this is what I think happened. After the lesson on the Misinformation Effect, I am not positive that this was the whole story. While I know that I did bite through my lip because I have the scar to prove it, I don’t think all of my details add up. One detail is that I swear I remember jumping into the pool, but some people have mentioned that a kid accidentally pushed me and initially lied about it. I also swear I remember going to my family doctor, but this happened about an hour away from my house so I am not sure that my parents would have driven the full hour if there was an emergency room or another doctor much closer. So, maybe I remember going to my family doctor simply because that was the doctor I always went to and that is what was familiar to me.

With these suspicions, I don’t think that there is a way that I would be able to positively recall this event. We can never really be sure if a memory is true or false. I would need to talk to the people that were there during the event. But even then, their memories of the event could also be misconstrued.

Recently in class, we have discussed the visual system. Upon going over this system, we were able to discuss how this system works and the different areas of the eye. One thing that I thought was very interesting was phototransduction. This is the conversion of light energy into neural impulses. I find it very interesting that no two people can see the exact same in terms of colors and perceptions. From what I understand, the stimulus input of light energy varies for everybody. On the electromagnetic spectrum, humans are only able to see “visible light”. This “visible light” is seen through the wavelengths and intensity. The wavelength is the distance from the peak of one wave to the peak of the next. This is related to how humans perceive hue, or color. In addition, the intensity (brightness/lightness) refers to the amount of energy in a wave. This is how humans are able to perceive brightness. However, the different perceptions vary from person to person. I believe that this goes along with the saying of, “My color red is not the same as your color red.”

However, something that is held in common is that all humans are able to see with their eyes. This may seem like an obvious statement, but it actually is very complex when thinking about how the different parts of the eye work together to perceive and interpret colors and visuals in their own unique way. The first part of the eye that we learned about is the cornea. The cornea is the transparent tissue where light enters. Next is the iris, which is a muscle that changes the opening in the eye by expanding and contracting. This opening is known as the pupil, which also lets light in. The lens in the eye focuses rays of light on the retina, and the retina holds sensory receptors which process visuals and send the message to the brain.

Learning about the eye caused me to recall an experience of my own where my eye was injured. In the middle of a soccer game, the ball was kicked into my face at exactly the right angle to hit my eye directly on. This hit actually caused a bruise on my cornea. Upon the initial hit, the vision in my affected eye partly went black. When one part of my eye was injured, I can assume that this messed up my visual system, causing the impaired visual. At the eye doctor, I was able to see a type of x-ray that showed my eye. I remember the doctor showing me the different parts of my eye, all of which we discussed in class. I was also able to actually see the bruise that was on my cornea through this “x-ray” process as well. I thought that it was really cool to be able to discuss the parts of the eye and how these parts of the eye work together to create the visual system in which we are able to perceive things. I was then able to relate the class discussion to actual images of my own eye that I could recall seeing in the picture.