Get smart: learning to learn
This program uncovers what happens in our minds when we learn, remember, and imagine. It reveals how neurons and synapses lay down knowledge in the brain; ways to improve our ability to acquire knowledge, including increased intake of omega-3 fatty ...
Childhood: Program 5. Life's lessons
Between the ages of five and seven, children enter a new and distinctive stage of development called middle childhood, marked by the phenomenon known as "the 5 -7 shift." This change is demonstrated by new abilities and behaviors as children move aw...
The Learning Machine: Applying Classical Conditioning to the Human Experience
Pavlov's work was important because it demonstrated that the processes of learning could be studied scientifically, and that the principles of conditioning were applicable to humans as well. One of the primary ways people learn fears is when somethi...
The Learning Machine: Cerebral Cortex, a Learning Machine, The
The cerebral cortex, supported by subcortical machinery, is a learning machine, controlling, modulating and regulating those permanent changes in behavior brought on by experience. Inside the brain, information is processed by neurons forming neural...
The Learning Machine: Use of Reinforcement and Punishment in Shaping a Child's Behavior, The
When a child throws a tantrum, a parent's sympathetic reaction may only serve to increase such outbursts. More appropriate behavior, though, can be strengthened through negative reinforcement, for example a reward for improvement in demeanor after a...
The Learning Machine: Observational Learning: The Research of Albert Bandura
Observational learning is an important part of making us who we are. We are particularly attuned to the behavior of our peers-the way they talk, the clothing they wear, their tastes and values. In the 1960s research pioneer Albert Bandura and his te...
The Learning Machine: Operant Conditioning Techniques Help Victims of Brain Injuries
At the Taub Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Edward Taub and his team use operant conditioning to help victims of traumatic brain injuries. Virginia Garlitz is relearning to walk after he body was paralyzed by an AVM. Even her smallest improvement...
The Learning Machine: Food Aversion Conditioning Research of John Garcia, The
In the mid-1970s, sheep ranchers in California's Antelope Valley were at war with wild coyotes destroying their herds. By feeding the coyotes mutton laced with lithium chloride which made them ill, even coyotes in the wild no longer attacked the she...
The Learning Machine: Persistence of Snake Fear, The
Evolution appears to have equipped us to learn some lessons more quickly than others. Human subjects who weren't afraid of snakes or spiders or flowers were presented with slides of spiders and snakes accompanied by a mild electric shock. Humans sub...
Battle of the brains: the case for multiple intelligences
For decades, IQ tests have been the gold standard for measuring intelligence. But is one standardized test really adequate for every taker? This program advocates a different approach, creating an array of unusual challenges to assess brainpower and...