16

Question 1

3 big elements of memory

Answer 1

encoding, storage, retrieval

Question 2

matching encoding with retrieval can have

Answer 2

big benefits

Question 3

Short-term or working memory models take _____ from a _____

Answer 3

limited information

larger ‘sensory memory’.

Question 4

Computational complexity is reduced by

Answer 4

using attention to primarily focus, enhance, and bind the most relevant stimuli.

Question 5

Within STM (short term memory/WM, we

Answer 5

maintain and control/manipulate real-time information.

Question 6

long-term establishing

Answer 6

the things you know

anything before “right now”

short term memory is gone

Question 7

What about long-term memory?

Answer 7

• These are memories that are maintained for days, months, and years. They are your ‘top down’ information.
–> This is typically what you think of as what you have learned.
• There are many distinctions/types of LTM. [After midterm]
• How do we encode, store, and retrieve in this different space?

Question 8

Encoding can be influenced by five main factors:

Answer 8

rehearsal time,

levels of processing,

memory for meaning,

organization,

elaboration.

Question 9

One important technique for studying the effects of these factors is the

free recall paradigm.

Answer 9

• Participants as presented with a list of words.

• They are asked to reproduce (recall) as many of them as
possible. (you produce them)

• You can experimentally manipulate word length, delay to recall, interfering tasks, etc. to asses what affects encoding.

Question 10

Encoding: rehearsal

We’ve already discussing how maintenance rehearsal can use subvocal verbal encoding to keep items active in STM/WM. How can free recall tell use which items will pass to LTM?

• Murdoch (1962)

Answer 10

used free recall with participants who read a list of 20 words and then immediately wrote down everything they could remember. (what in STM is immediately transfered?)

things that are most recent push out the earlier stuff

Question 11

Murdoch found strong effects for serial position of the words

recency effect?

primacy effect?

A later study by Runduss (1971) demonstrated

Answer 11

• Recency effect: The last words on the list were remembered best.
• Primacy effect: The first few items were also remembered better. (due to internal rehesal
• that this pattern was due to rehearsal. He asked people to repeat the words as new words were presented.

Question 12

Encoding: levels of processing

Craik & Lockhart (1972)

Answer 12

proposed that information could be processed and stored at different levels of processing (depth of processing). ‘Deeper’ encoding would result in better recall.

what you really remember is the important stuff because you’re encoding that deep knowledge into LTM

Ask a question at different levels of processing for a set of words.
Later ask them to recognize the words from a larger list.

• Shallow: Is it in capital letters?
e.g. CHAIR - Yes

• Medium: Does it rhyme with dove?
e.g. Glove - Yes

• Deep: Would it fit in the sentence? She met a ________ at the movies.
e.g. Mountain No

Question 13

Runduss (1971)

Answer 13

demonstrated that Murdoch finding was due to rehearsal. He asked people to repeat the words as new words were presented.

limited memory (ST or WM)

we see the primacy effect and lose the recency effect

new stuff can’t find room

Question 14

Encoding: levels of processing

Craik & Lockhart (1972)

results

Answer 14

The level of processing resulted in differing degrees of recognition.

• Shallow: 17%
• Medium: 37%
• Deep: 65%

Question 15

problem with Craik and Lockhart

Answer 15

An objection to this asks what is
considered “deep” processing?

• It’s a bit circular as it hasn’t been defined independently of memory
performance.
– what do you encode? the deeper things? What are deeper things? the things you encode.

not learning anything more, just using words in slightly different ways

Question 16

Encoding: memory for meaning

When trying to remember something, we are usually trying to extract the…

Answer 16

…gist of the meaning, rather than the exact words used.

Question 17

Encoding: memory for meaning

We often encode…

ex?

Answer 17

…inferences as if they were present.

• Read: “Three turtles rested on a floating log and a fish swam
beneath it.”.

• Later asked: “Did you read that the fish swam under the turtles?”

• meaning: yes (inferred)
• literal: no (fish swam under the log)

memory could have errors based on what you’ve read or experienced - the context that you’re adding when you encode the memory

Question 18

Encoding: memory for meaning

Bransford, Barclay, & Franks (1972)

Answer 18

found that participants had
trouble distinguishing between literal information and natural
inferences.

• However, participants easily notice meaning changes: “Did you read that the turtles were beside a floating log?”

—> Be careful with inferences when studying! (easy to encode incorrectly)

Question 19

Encoding: organization

When information can be
organized in some way (e.g.
meaning ((chunking: organizing into small meaningful chunks)), visual ((diagram)), temporal ((time-line)) ),
memory performance

Answer 19

increases

Question 20

Encoding: organization

Bower et al. (1969)

Answer 20

• Bower et al. (1969) presented
items either grouped by category
or as a random list.
–> chunking

• Items were presented four times,
with a recall test each time.

• Performance steadily improved
with more practice/rehearsal, but
performance with the organized
information was much better.

—-> Organize your notes! Use outlines!

Question 21

Diagrams or pictures also help organize information that would otherwise be difficult.

• Bransford & Johnson (1972)

Answer 21

presented participants with readings that were confusing.

• Group 1 saw a picture before reading that helped organize the info;
• Group 2 saw a picture after reading; the control group didn’t get a picture.

• “If the balloons popped, the sound wouldn’t be able to carry, since everything would be
too far away from the correct floor…”

• Group 1 had much better recall of the information than group 2 and the control (no picture).

–> Read before lectures; use/draw diagrams!

Question 22

Encoding: elaboration

Stein & Bransford (1979)

Answer 22

presented sentences of four types to different groups:
• Simple: The old man bought the paint.

 • Irrelevant: The old man bought the paint that was on the top shelf.
  (old is the target)

 * Precise: The old man bough the paint to color his cane.
 * Self-generated: The old man bough the paint…

Participants were then given sentences and asked to fill in the blank:

 • The \_\_\_\_\_ man bought the paint.

Question 23

When trying to encode information, it can help to ___ by

Answer 23

elaborate

adding semantically relevant information

Question 24

why elaboration is important

Answer 24

it often helps for info to be self generated

added meaning gives you more retrieval cues later on, elaboration points back to that: that’s important, encode it more

The information becomes
more meaningful and contains more cues for later retrieval.

Question 25

Encoding: elaboration

Stein & Bransford found…

Answer 25

…that people given precise elaboration of the key word were more likely to recall it later.

• Out of ten items, the precise
elaboration was recalled best.

• If the elaboration was irrelevant, it acted as a distraction and made
recall worse.

• Precise elaboration is more effective as you get older - you have more top down info to tie it to (Cherry et al, 1993).
– cue to retrieve the target

• Self-generation is very useful, but may serve to fulfill pre-existing biases.

Question 26

People may use a ____ to organize the manner in

which they recall information.

Answer 26

• retrieval plan

might be to step through a chart or diagram that you had

For example, you use temporal
order, categories, physical cues (“It’s an ‘m-word’”…), etc.

Question 27

what is the best for encoding?

Answer 27

precise, self-generation

–> re-writing notes in your own words (but direct to meaning)

Question 28

In general, you want the retrieval context to match the

Answer 28

encoding context for maximal efficiency

(i.e. the cue should match the elaboration.)

retrieval plan matches encoding plan

Question 29

Types of retrieval

Answer 29

• In recall tasks, you generate the name of the encoded item
(e.g. fill-in the blank).

• In recognition tasks, you identify the item from among options. (e.g. multiple-choice).
• In most cases, recognition is easier than recall.

Question 30

Retrieval: encoding specificity

A great deal of work has shown that of initial encoding can greatly effect how it is later retrieved.

Answer 30

CONTEXT FOR RETRIEVAL/ENCODING MATTERS

One prime example is the encoding specificity effect.

Question 31

encoding specificity effect.

Thomson & Tulving (1970)

Answer 31

examined how encoding specificity could overcome pre-existing associations. [Different from example in book.]

• Phase I presented word pairs that were either weakly or strongly associated. The first word is a cue, the second is the target.

 - Weak: ground-COLD, grasp-BABY
 - Strong: sky-BLUE, long-SHORT

• Phase II (test phase) presented a pair of words and asked if the UPPER CASE word was previously shown (recognition task). However, they varied the cues to be either weak or strong.

 - Weak cue: ground-COLD, pretty-BLUE
 - Strong cue: long-SHORT, infant-BABY

Which would be better during recognition: strength of pre-existing association or specificity of encoding context?

Question 32

Retrieval: encoding specificity

Results Thomson & Tulving (1970)

Answer 32

The amazing find was that a
weak retrieval cue was more
effective than a strong
retrieval cue if it matched the
exact cue used when studying.

• You encode the target word with that specific cue.
• Stronger cues aren’t as effective if not present at encoding.

• The lure was never present
in phase I. You should always say “no” during recognition.

Context overcomes preexisting associations.

specificity of the original encoding most important!