Attention and Memory Flashcards
attention
acts as filter and highlighter
we focus on certain information at expense of other information
usually effortless and involuntary
pushes sensory memory into short-term
highly superior autobiographical memory
memories and events that are connected to their life; know details of all days of life
from early on, they have obsessive traits
savants
autistic, memorize large pieces of information
anterograde amnesia
inability to form new memories
memory
processing of information
stages of memory
- encoding: acquire information
- storage: store information
- retrieval: retrieve information when needed
atikinson and shiffrin model of memory
sensory input
1. sensory memory (unattended information is lost)
2. -[attention]-> short-term memory (unrehearsed information is lost)
3. -[encoding]-> long-term memory (some information lost over time)
how many chunks can your short-term memory remember
7 (+/- 2) chunks
Describe stroop task
color of color-words are different (word RED is colored blue)
interference causes greater attention
emotional stroops task
more emotionally stimulating words (curse words) causes greater attention
dichotic listening task
each ear receives different audio, cannot process both
easy to shift attention and encode information
demonstrates voluntary nature of attention capacity
cocktail party effect
if your name is spoken in a noisy room it captures your attention
involuntary attention gets name from sensory to short-term
does short-term or long-term memory have limited storage capacity
short-term
misdirection
exploiting human attention (usually by physical touch)
change/inattentive blindness
something right in front of you changes in a way you dont notice although you are paying attention
semantic long-term memory
facts, meanings
episodic long-term memory
events that happen to you, autobiographical
retrograde amnesia
forget episodic long-term memory (forget who they are, their name)
serial position effect
primary: initial items are stored in long-term memory more efficiently
recency: last items still in working/short-term memory
middle recalled the least
mnemonic strategies
rhymes, acronyms, methods of loci (associating items with physical location, activates hippocampus), depth-of-processing (focus on meaning)
how does physiological context aid memory
mood-dependent: better recall things in the mood that you learn them in
state-dependent: alcohol intoxication
Does the environment you learn a list of words in improve if you recall them in the same environment?
yes, learning words underwater are better at recalling words underwater (scuba study)
How can you show that 2 words or concepts are closely related?
test time it takes to recognize an associated word compared to a fake word
Deese-roediger-mcdermot experimental paradigm
- given list of words
- ask if certain words or those associated were on list
loftus and palmer experiment
showed participants videotape of car crash and asked about the speed (either after hitting or smashing)
smashing reported faster speeds
lost in the mall paradigm
participants told their parents said they were lost in the mall as a child and denied it
weeks later, asked about memory and believe it happened and make up story
weapon focus effect
weapon source of negative emotions, draws attention away from perpetrator
flash-bulb memories
memories that are accurate because they surround an event that are so important/surprising/shocking
people report with high confidence
reality of flash-bulb memories
space shuttle challenger: assess accuracy of memory across time for children
low accuracy, high confidence
self-reported emotions did not correlate with accuracy
false confessions studies
accuse subjects of breaking, get people to confess knowing they were innocent after bluffing (saying they have video)
spontaneous recovery
re-exposure to conditioned stimulus can evoke conditioned responses again
If you have previously associated the smell of chalkboards with school detention, and one day you smell it and remember the detention, what is this an example of?
spontaneous recovery
free riding
situation where individuals benefit from a common-pool resource without paying their share of the cost
diffusion of responsibility
deciding whether to help person in need knowing others can assist relieves bystanders of personal responsibility
retroactive interference
new information causes you to forget old information
- main cause of forgetting
