2. Memory

Question 1

Define the term memory.

Answer 1

Memory is an internal record of some previous experience that involves the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information.

Question 2

Define the terms encoding, storage, and retrieval as processes of memory formation.

Answer 2

1. Encoding - processing of information into a suitable form for storage in the brain.
2. Storage - retention of information in the memory over time.
3. Retrieval - getting information out of stored memory.

Question 3

Identify the differences each memory store is characterised by.

Answer 3

Capacity - how much information can be stored.
Duration - how long the information can be stored.
Encoding - processing of information into a form suitable for storage.

Question 4

Describe the sensory register by its capacity, duration, and encoding.

Answer 4

Capacity - all sensory experience/unlimited.
Duration - around a 1/4 of to a few seconds.
Encoding - semantic, acoustic, or visual, depending on the type of stimulus.

Question 5

Identify the five subcategories of the sensory register.

Answer 5

• Iconic memory (visual)
• Echoic memory (auditory)
• Haptic memory (touch)
• Gustatory memory (taste)
• Olfactory memory (smell)

Duration:
Iconic memory - usually half a second.
Echoic memory - several seconds.
Haptic memory - a couple seconds.
Gustatory is closely linked with olfactory. There are strong links between olfaction and emotion centres in the brain.

Question 6

Describe short term memory by its capacity, duration, and encoding.

Answer 6

Capacity - 5 to 9 pieces of information. Contains current information, thoughts, and experiences.
Duration - up to 30 seconds.
Encoding - auditory encoding.

Question 7

Rehearsal

Answer 7

Rehearsal enables information to be retained in STM longer and is used to transfer information into LTM.

There is maintenence and elaborative rehearsal.

Question 8

Describe maintenence rehearsal and provide and example.

Answer 8

The repetition of information to retain it for immediate use. E.g., saying a phone number aloud or in your head - not used to transfer information into LTM.

Question 9

Describe long term memory by its capacity, duration, and encoding.

Answer 9

Capacity - unlimited, stores a lifetime of information.
Duration - relatively permanent, from 30 seconds to a lifetime.
Encoding - semantic.

Question 10

Identify and describe four types of long term memory.

Answer 10

Declarative memory (explicit) - facts, data, and events. Requires conscious effort for retrieval.
Episodic - personal events linked to a place, time, feeling.
Semantic - general factual information.
Procedural memory (implicit) - the way to do things. Not a conscious memory. Involves automatic and effortless retrieval once skill is well established.

Examples:
Episodic - getting a puppy.
Semantic - knowing how many days in a year.
Procedural - riding a bike.

Question 11

Phonological loop

Working memory model of Baddeley and Hitch

Answer 11

The component of the WMM that deals with spoken and written material. Spoken words enter the store directly and are held for 1 to 2 seconds. Written words must be converted into a spoken code before entering.

Question 12

Visuospatial sketch pad

Working memory model of Baddeley and Hitch

Answer 12

The component of the WMM which stores and processes information in a visual or spatial form. It helps us keep track of where we are in relation to other objects.

Question 13

Central executive

Working memory model of Baddeley and Hitch

Answer 13

Monitors and coordinates the operations of the slave systems and relates them to LTM. Directs attention and gives priority to particular activities, telling the slave systems what to focus on and requesting/passing information between them.

Question 14

Identify and describe the episodic buffer added by Baddeley in 2000.

Answer 14

It acts as a “backup” store which communicates with both LTM and the components of the working memory model.

Question 15

Compare the working memory model with Atkinson and Shiffrin’s short term memory model.

Answer 15

STM is passive, it only stores information, while the WMM is active, and processes information as well as storing it. STM is a single system, while the WMM is a multi-system.

Question 16

Outline the role of the hippocampus in the formation and storage of memory.

Answer 16

The hippocampus is important for declarative memory. It’s involved in processing spatial memories and helps us remember where everything is. Damage can cause inability to remember places and directions, resulting in disorientation.

Believed to be a transfer centre for LTM, as LTMs are not thought to be stored within the hippocampus.

Question 17

Outline the evidence for the role of the hippocampus in memory formation from the HM case study.

Answer 17

HM’s declarative memory was significantly affected.
* He couldn’t form new semantic memories.
* He could still remember information and events that had occured prior to surgery.
* There was no impact on procedural memory.

He had anterograde amnesia and partial retrograde amnesia.

Question 18

Anterograde amnesia

Answer 18

Patients with damage to the hippocampus and not the cerebellum show anterograde amnesia. They are unable to remember anything from the injury onwards, but are still able to learn new skills.

Question 19

Outline the role of the cerebellum in the formation and storage of implicit memories.

Answer 19

Encodes, processes, and stores procedural memories, in particular motor skills. It plays a role in classical conditioning.

E.g., tying shoelaces and driving a car (implicit/unconsious tasks once learnt).

Question 20

Outline the role of the amygdala in the formation of memories.

Answer 20

Forms long term procedural memory. It processes emotional information and facilitates encoding memories at a deeper level when the event is emotionally arousing.

Helps memory consolidation. Consonlidation is the process in which the brain forms a permanent representation of memory and transfers to LTM.

Question 21

Forgetting

Answer 21

Forgetting is a failure to retrieve previously stored information.

Question 22

Outline retrieval failure as a type of forgetting.

Answer 22

Forgetting occurs due to an incapacity to utilise internal or external cues to retrieve previously stored information. The information is available (still stored) but not accessible, because the cues aren’t present.

Doesn’t seem to apply to procedural memory as it is unconscious/automatic.

Question 23

Retrieval cues

Answer 23

When a new memory is stored, information about the situation is also stored. Retrieval cues can trigger the memory.

Question 24

Provide an example of external and internal retrieval cues.

Answer 24

External; the environment or how the information was presented - e.g., a smell, place, particular person, printed, or spoken.
Internal; the physical or physiological state of the person - e.g., alert, tired, or happy.

Question 25

Outline proactive interference and retroactive interference and provide an example for each.

PORN

Forgetting occurs to the competing presence of other informaiton being stored.

Answer 25

Proactive (old information) - old memory affects the retrieval of a new memory. E.g., calling your new girlfriend by your old girlfriend’s name.
Retroactive (new information) - new memory affects the retrieval of an old memory. E.g., getting a new phone number and forgetting the old one.

Doesn’t apply to procedural memory.

Question 26

Outline motivated forgetting.

Answer 26

The process of forgetting memories, done consciously or unconsciously as a self-protection defense mechanism (to reduce anxiety).

When there are benefits of not being able to remember a memory because it’s anxiety provoking or upsetting.

Question 27

Differentiate between suppression and repression as forms of motivated forgetting.

RUSC

Answer 27

Suppression is the act of consciously forgetting memories. Repression is when unwanted thoughts or impulses are unconsiously pushed out of awareness into our subconscious mind.

Repression - unconsious
Suppression - conscious

Repressed memories of traumatic events are thought to linger in our subconscious and influence our behaviour as adults.

Question 28

Outline decay theory.

Answer 28

Over time memories biologically degenerate. We become less capable of effectively and efficiently retrieving information that is being stored in LTM due to the infrequency of use of that memory trace.

Doesn’t seem to apply as much to episodic memory.
Memory traces are neurochemical changes that occur when new information is learnt.

Question 29

Recall

Answer 29

Recall is the retrieval of information using no or minimal cues.

Question 30

Define the terms serial recall, cued recall, and free recall as measurements of memory retention.

Answer 30

Free recall - recalling information in any order without cues.
Serial recall - recalling information in the order it was presented in.
Cued recall - recalling information assisted by cues, not involving the original items to be retrieved.

Question 31

Define the term recognition as a measurement of memory retention.

Answer 31

Recognition is a process of retrieval that requires identification of a correct response from a set of alternatives. E.g., multiple choice questions.

Question 32

Define the term relearning as a measurement of memory retention.

Answer 32

Learning something again that has already been committed to memory. It is a measure that assesses the percentage of time saved when learning material for a second time.

Question 33

Describe the basis of the levels of processing model of memory by Craik and Lockhart.

Answer 33

It suggests that information entering the memory can be processed at different levels, from shallow (structural and phonemic) to deep (semantic and elaboration).

Question 34

Describe structural and phonemic (shallow) encoding.

Answer 34

Structural - emphasises the physical features of the information. E.g., capital/lowercase letters.
Phonemic - processing of information based on what it sounds like. E.g., rhymes.

Question 35

Describe semantic and elaboration (deep) encoding.

Answer 35

Semantic - processing information by what it means.
Elaboration - new information is remembered by linking it to existing information at the time of encoding.

Question 36

Describe maintenence rehearsal.

Answer 36

A strategy for keeping information in the STM or for moving it into LTM by simply repeating it over and over.

Question 37

Describe elaborative rehearsal.

Answer 37

Actively processing information to make it more meaningful; associating new information with previously retained information so it can be stored for later use.

Question 38

Outline four types of elaborative rehearsal and provide an example for each.

Answer 38

Chunking - grouping items with patterns together, such as a phone number.
Mnemonics - A strategy using the first letter of the words in a list.
Mental pictures - emotional implication and exaggerations.
Acronyms - the sorting of content under a symbol, often letters.

Question 39

Describe the Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve.

Answer 39

The curve illustrates how our ability to retain information diminishes over time unless we review that knowledge. The most information is lost in the first 20 minutes, and after an hour majority is lost.

All individuals tend to forget information at a similar rate regardless of the information’s complexity.

Question 40

Outline the concept of spaced repetition and its effect on Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve.

Answer 40

Ebbinghaus argued that each subsequent repetition (spaced repetition) increases the time needed before the next one.

Repetition is the continued reviewing of stored information based on active recall to strengthen the memory.

Question 41

Outline how trauma - Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy causes memory loss.

Answer 41

A progressive brain disorder likely caused by repeated head injuries (resulting in degeneration in brain cells) causing problems with cognition and memory. Associated with military combat and contact sports.

Question 42

Outline how trauma - Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy impacts behaviour and emotions.

Answer 42

Behaviour - may cause impulsive behaviour, slurred speech, may engage in errative or aggressive behaviour.
Emotions - may be emotionally unstable with intense moodswings, may have emotional outburts of anger.

Question 43

Outline how degeneration - Alzheimer’s Disease causes memory loss.

Answer 43

A brain disease that involves the degeneration of neurons in regions of the brain involved in cognitive skills and memory formation and retrieval.

Question 44

Outline how degeneration - Alzheimer’s Disease impacts behaviour and emotions.

Answer 44

Behaviour - may become disorientated and not know where they are, may engage in agitated and aggressive behaviour.
Emotion - may have abrupt changes in mood for no reason, may fear fearful and suspicious for no reason.

Question 45

Outline how drug induced - Wenicke-Korsakoff Syndrome causes memory loss.

Answer 45

A rare neurological disorder caused by a thiamine deficiency leading to degeneration of brain cells, characterised by difficulty forming new memories and retrieving stored ones.

Chronic alcohol use can lead to vitamin deficiency. Wenicke encephalopathy - severe but reversable stage that progresses to Korsakoff amnesic syndrome - chronic and irreversible.

Question 46

Outline how drug induced - Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome impacts behaviour and emotions.

Answer 46

Behaviour - may make up stories to fill memory gaps, repetition of questions or stories, rapid eye movement.
Emotions - memory gaps may lead to feelings of frustration, experience apathy, feeling anxious.