2 PSYCHOLOGY OF MEMORY - TEXTBOOK Flashcards
1
Q
What is memory?
A
The ability to store and retrieve information over time
2
Q
What are the three stages of (‘modal’ model of ) memory?
A
Sensory, short-term (working), long-term
3
Q
What is sensory memory?
A
Where sensory information kept for a few seconds or less
4
Q
What is short-term memory?
A
Where nonsensory information kept for up to a minute
5
Q
What is long-term memory?
A
Where information can be kept for hours, days, weeks, years
6
Q
What are the two types of sensory memory?
A
Iconic and echoic
7
Q
What is iconic memory?
A
A fast-decaying store of visual information
8
Q
How quickly do iconic memories decay?
A
1 second or less
9
Q
What is echoic memory?
A
A fast-decaying store of auditory information
10
Q
How quickly do echoic memories decay?
A
Within 5 seconds
11
Q
How quickly do short-term memories decay without rehearsal?
A
After 15-20 seconds
12
Q
What is rehearsal?
A
Process of keeping information in short-term memory by mentally repeating it
13
Q
How does rehearsal work?
A
Each repetition causes information to re-enter stem adding another 15-20 seconds
14
Q
How many items can short-term memory hold?
A
7 +/- 2 meaningful items
15
Q
How can we trick the short-term memory into holding more?
A
Chunking
16
Q
What is chunking?
A
Combining small pieces of information into larger chunks that are more easily held by the STM
17
Q
What is working memory?
A
Active maintenance and manipulation in short-term storage
18
Q
What does the working memory include?
A
2 subsystems managed by the central executive and the temporary episodic buffer
19
Q
What part of working memory briefly stores visual and spatial information?
A
Visuospatial sketchpad
20
Q
What part of working memory briefly encodes mental representations of sounds?
A
Phonological loop
21
Q
What is the phonological loop made up of?
A
Short term store and an articulatory rehearsal system
22
Q
What part of working memory coordinates and controls plans of action and output?
A
Central executive attentional system
23
Q
What part of working memory connects short and long term memory?
A
Episodic buffer
24
Q
What is interference in terms of working memory subsystems?
A
When two separate tasks tap into the same subsystem
25
What is the result of interference?
Drop in accuracy and response time
26
In what two ways is long term memory distinct from short term?
Duration and capacity
27
What is the capacity limit of long term memory?
None - that we know of
28
What is consolidation?
The process whereby information must pass from STM into LTM in order for it to be remembered
29
What is anterograde amnesia?
No memory forward (inability to transfer new information from STM to LTM)
30
What is retrograde amnesia?
No memories backward (inability to retrieve information that was acquired before a certain date)
31
What was the effect on HM's memory when the hippocampus was removed?
Anterograde amnesia
32
What are the three essential processes in remembering?
Encoding, storage, retrieval
33
What is encoding?
Process by which we transform perceptions, thoughts and feelings into enduring memory
34
What is storage?
Process of maintaining information in memory over time
35
What is retrieval?
Process of bringing to mind previously encoded and stored information
36
What is the most common misconception of memory?
Memory is a recording device like a camera - it is NOT; memories are constructed
37
What are schemas?
Mental models of the world
38
How do schemas aid encoding?
Contain knowledge that helps to encode new information into a meaningful context
39
What is the issue with schemas and encoding?
Schemas can cause distortion of actual memory to fit with a sensical one
40
What is elaborative encoding?
Process of actively relating new information to knowledge already held in memory
41
What is the effect of elaborative encoding?
Enhanced subsequent retention
42
What two parts of the brain are associated with elaborative encoding?
Inner left temporal lobe, lower left frontal lobe
43
What is visual imagery encoding?
Process of storing new information by converting it into mental pictures
44
What is the method of loci?
Memory aid that associates information with mental locations
45
Why is visual imagery encoding effective?
Results in both verbal and visual placeholders
46
What is organizational encoding?
The act of categorizing information by noticing relationships between a series of items
47
What is a mnemonic?
A device for reorganizing information into more meaningful patterns to remember
48
What is long term potentiation (LTP)?
Enhanced neural processing that results from the strengthening of synaptic connections
49
What three properties of LTP indicate its role in LTM storage?
Occurs in several hippocampal pathways, induced rapidly, long-lasting
50
What is the result of blocking LTP in rats?
Rodent amnesia
51
Where is NMDA receptor located?
Hippocampus
52
What neurotransmitter activates NMDA?
Glutamate
53
What is the result of postsynaptic neuron being excited by NMDA?
Initiation of LTP
54
What is spatial memory?
Representation that encodes where something is
55
Where is spatial memory located?
In the hippocampi
56
What are the two ways in which retrieval occurs?
Recall and recognition
57
What is recall?
The capacity to spontaneously retrieve information from memory
58
What is recognition?
The capacity to correctly match information presented with contents of memory
59
What is a retrieval cue?
External information that is associated with stored information and helps bring it to mind
60
What is the encoding specificity principle?
A retrieval cue can serve as an effective reminder when it helps re-create the conditions in which the information was first encoded
61
What is state-dependent retrieval?
The tendency for information to be better recalled when the person is in the same state during encoding and retrieval
62
What is transfer-appropriate processing?
Memory is likely to transfer from one situation to another when we process information in a way that is appropriate to the retrieval cues available later
63
What is the difference between implicit and explicit memory?
Implicit memories are not 'recalled' like explicit memories
64
When does explicit memory occur?
When people consciously or intentionally retrieve past experiences
65
When does implicit memory occur?
When past experiences influence later behaviour/performance despite individual being unaware that they are remembering them
66
What is procedural memory?
Gradual acquisition of skills as a result of practice, or 'knowing how to do things'
67
What is priming?
Enhanced ability to think of a stimulus as a result of recent exposure to that stimulus
68
How does priming work?
saves processing time'
69
What are procedural memory and priming a part of?
Implicit memory
70
Is implicit memory located in the hippocampus?
No
71
What is semantic memory?
A network of associated facts and concepts that make up our general knowledge of the world
72
What is episodic memory?
The collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place
73
What is autobiographical memory?
Personal record of significant events of one's life
74
What is the strongest type of autobiographical memory?
Flashbulb memory
75
What are flashbulb memories?
Detailed recollections of when and where we heard about shocking events
76
What type of memory allows us to 'time travel'?
Episodic memory
77
What is transience?
Forgetting that occurs over the passage of time
78
Describe Ebbinghaus's curve of forgetting.
Forgetting is rapid soon after learning event with increasingly less forgetting as more time passes
79
What is the serial position effect?
Enhanced memory for events presented at beginning and end of a series
80
What two processes make up the serial position effect?
Primacy and recency
81
What two forms of interference affect forgetting?
Retroactive and proactive interference
82
What is retroactive interference?
Situations where later learning impairs memory for information acquired earlier
83
What is proactive interference?
Situations where earlier learning impairs memory for information acquired later
84
What is a tip-of-the-tongue experience?
The temporary inability to retrieve information that is stored in memory, accompanied by the feeling that you are on the verge of recovering the information
85
What is blocking?
A failure to retrieve information that is available in memory even though you are trying to produce it
86
What is absentmindedness?
A lapse in attention that results in memory failure
87
What is divided attention?
Situations where individuals have to simultaneously monitor more than one source of information
88
What is notable about brain activity during automatic behaviours?
Low levels of prefrontal activity
89
What is retrospective memory?
Information learned in past
90
What is prospective memory?
Remembering to do things in the future
91
What are the two types of prospective memory?
Event-based, time-based
92
Which type of prospective memory is harder to remember?
Time-based (requires monitoring passage of time)
93
What is concussion?
Loss of consciousness ranging from moments to weeks
94
What type of amnesia is concussion associated with?
Retrograde amnesia for events just prior to concussion, concussion prevents encoding
95
What is fugue state?
Amnesia of one's previous life and identity
96
What are fugue states usually a response to?
Coping mechanism for distressing life crises
97
What is childhood amnesia?
Inability to remember events from early years of life
98
What correlates with memory as we age?
General processing speeds and inhibition of irrelevant information
99
What is metamemory?
The subjective awareness of one's own memory
100
What is feeling of knowing (FOK)?
The subjective awareness of information that cannot be retrieved from memory
101
What is source monitoring?
Recall of when, where and how information was acquired
102
What is memory misattribution?
Assigning a recollection or an idea to the wrong source
103
What is the primary cause of eyewitness misidentifications?
Memory misattribution
104
What are the three types of source monitoring?
Internal, external and reality source monitoring
105
What is déja vu experience?
Where you suddenly feel that you have been in a situation before even though you can't recall any details
106
What may contribute to déja vu?
Memory misattribution, failure of inhibition of familiar long-term memories
107
What is déja vécu?
A confabulated memory where the individual is certain that the new experience is old
108
What are false memories?
Recollection of events that never happened, usually source monitoring error
109
What is false recognition?
A feeling of familiarity about something that hasn't been encountered before
110
What can reduce false recognition?
Distinctive information, for example pictures
111
What is bias?
The distorting influences of present knowledge, beliefs and feelings on recollection of previous experiences
112
What are the three types of bias?
Consistency, change and egocentric bias
113
How does consistency bias influence memory?
Alters past to fit the present
114
How does change bias influence memory?
Exaggerates differences (in how we feel) between past and present
115
How does egocentric bias influence memory?
Distorts past to make us look better (self-enhancing)
116
What is suggestibility?
The tendency to incorporate misleading information from external sources into personal recollections
117
What is persistence?
The intrusive recollection of events that we wish we could forget
118
Which part of the brain responds strongly to emotional events?
The amygdala
119
How does the amygdala influence memory storage?
Influences release of hormones that respond to emotionally arousing events
120
What are the 7 sins of memory?
Transience, blocking, absentmindedness, misattribution, suggestibility, bias, persistence
121
Which of the 7 sins are forgetting errors?
Transience, blocking, absentmindedness and persistence
122
Which of the 7 sins are distortions?
Misattribution, suggestibility and bias
