6.2 Memory summary

Question 1

What is memory and how does it work ?

Answer 1

Memory is the capacity for storing and retrieving information.

Three processes are involved : encoding, storage and retrieval

Question 2

How does encoding work ?

Answer 2

• can be unintentional (like remembering where we had lunch yesterday)
• can require special attention (for courses)

Question 3

What are the different ways to encode verbal information ?

Answer 3

• structural encoding : focuses on what words look like
• phonemic encoding : focuses on how words sound
• semantic encoding : focuses on the meaning of words. Deeper level of processing and results in better memory

Question 4

What model is often used to describe the process of storage and what are its advantages ?

Answer 4

• The Atkinson and Shiffrin model - multi-store model (1968)
• Advantage : breaks down memory into submodels

This model involves a sequence of three stages : sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory

Question 5

What is sensory memory and what are its characteristics ?

Answer 5

• Stores incoming sensory information in detail but only for an instant
• Very large capacity but the information in it is unprocessed
• Visual sensory memory is called iconic memory
• Auditory sensory memory is called echoic memory

Question 6

What is short-term memory and what are its characteristics ?

Answer 6

• Holds information transferred from sensory memory for approximately 20s
• Limited capacity = about 7 +/-2 pieces of information (small or larger items)
• Rehearsal can help keep information in STM
• Chunking (that is combining small bits of information into bigger, familiar pieces) can help increase the capacity of STM

Question 7

What is working memory ?

Answer 7

• STM is considered today to be a working memory : not just temporary information storage system but an active system
• Working memory allows to :
• temporarily store info while processing or examining it (eg manipulate visual images)
• store info while trying to make a decision
• remember a phone number long enough to write it down

Question 8

What is long-term memory and what are its characteristics ?

Answer 8

• Information can be transferred from STM to LTM and the other way around
• almost infinite capacity
• people might not always remember what’s in LTM, ie not able to retrieve it

Question 9

What is retrieval ?

Answer 9

The process of getting information out of memory

Question 10

What are retrieval cues ?

Answer 10

Stimuli that help the process of retrieval.
They include :
- associations
- context
- mood

Question 11

What are the different types of amnesia ?

Answer 11

• retrograde amnesia : loss of memories formed before a trauma such as brain injury. Often a form of retrieval failure
• anterograde amnesia : prevents new memories from being formed after a trauma such a brain injury

Question 12

What are the strengths of the A&S model ?

Answer 12

• It can account for the serial position effect :
• Primacy effect : tendency to recall earlier words
• Recency effect : tendency to recall the later words
• Studies of amnesiacs tend to show STM and LTM are distinct. HM case : LTM damaged after brain surgery but STM intact

Question 13

What are the weaknesses of the A&S model ?

Answer 13

• Oversimplified / passive / one way / linear model, we know now that STM and LTM do not operate in a single, uniform fashion :
• Working Model of Memory (Baddeley&Hitch) show that STM is more than a storage and comprises different components
• LTM : different types of LTM have been identified
• Only focuses on attention and rehearsal and neglect the process elements of memory - rehearsal is not essential (how would we remember how to swim then ?)

Question 14

Why have experiments designed to investigate memory been criticized ?

Answer 14

Due to their ecological validity.

Both the setting (lab) and the tasks are a long way from everyday life.