Attention and Memory

Question 1

attention

Answer 1

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

Question 2

highly superior autobiographical memory

Answer 2

memories and events that are connected to their life; know details of all days of life
from early on, they have obsessive traits

Question 3

savants

Answer 3

autistic, memorize large pieces of information

Question 4

anterograde amnesia

Answer 4

inability to form new memories

Question 5

memory

Answer 5

processing of information

Question 6

stages of memory

Answer 6

• encoding: acquire information
• storage: store information
• retrieval: retrieve information when needed

Question 7

atikinson and shiffrin model of memory

Answer 7

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)

Question 8

how many chunks can your short-term memory remember

Answer 8

7 (+/- 2) chunks

Question 9

Describe stroop task

Answer 9

color of color-words are different (word RED is colored blue)
interference causes greater attention

Question 10

emotional stroops task

Answer 10

more emotionally stimulating words (curse words) causes greater attention

Question 11

dichotic listening task

Answer 11

each ear receives different audio, cannot process both
easy to shift attention and encode information
demonstrates voluntary nature of attention capacity

Question 12

cocktail party effect

Answer 12

if your name is spoken in a noisy room it captures your attention
involuntary attention gets name from sensory to short-term

Question 13

does short-term or long-term memory have limited storage capacity

Answer 13

short-term

Question 14

misdirection

Answer 14

exploiting human attention (usually by physical touch)

Question 15

change/inattentive blindness

Answer 15

something right in front of you changes in a way you dont notice although you are paying attention

Question 16

semantic long-term memory

Answer 16

facts, meanings

Question 17

episodic long-term memory

Answer 17

events that happen to you, autobiographical

Question 18

retrograde amnesia

Answer 18

forget episodic long-term memory (forget who they are, their name)

Question 19

serial position effect

Answer 19

primary: initial items are stored in long-term memory more efficiently
recency: last items still in working/short-term memory
middle recalled the least

Question 20

mnemonic strategies

Answer 20

rhymes, acronyms, methods of loci (associating items with physical location, activates hippocampus), depth-of-processing (focus on meaning)

Question 21

how does physiological context aid memory

Answer 21

mood-dependent: better recall things in the mood that you learn them in
state-dependent: alcohol intoxication

Question 22

Does the environment you learn a list of words in improve if you recall them in the same environment?

Answer 22

yes, learning words underwater are better at recalling words underwater (scuba study)

Question 23

How can you show that 2 words or concepts are closely related?

Answer 23

test time it takes to recognize an associated word compared to a fake word

Question 24

Deese-roediger-mcdermot experimental paradigm

Answer 24

• given list of words
• ask if certain words or those associated were on list

Question 25

loftus and palmer experiment

Answer 25

showed participants videotape of car crash and asked about the speed (either after hitting or smashing)

smashing reported faster speeds

Question 26

lost in the mall paradigm

Answer 26

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

Question 27

weapon focus effect

Answer 27

weapon source of negative emotions, draws attention away from perpetrator

Question 28

flash-bulb memories

Answer 28

memories that are accurate because they surround an event that are so important/surprising/shocking
people report with high confidence

Question 29

reality of flash-bulb memories

Answer 29

space shuttle challenger: assess accuracy of memory across time for children
low accuracy, high confidence
self-reported emotions did not correlate with accuracy

Question 30

false confessions studies

Answer 30

accuse subjects of breaking, get people to confess knowing they were innocent after bluffing (saying they have video)

Question 31

spontaneous recovery

Answer 31

re-exposure to conditioned stimulus can evoke conditioned responses again

Question 32

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?

Answer 32

spontaneous recovery

Question 33

free riding

Answer 33

situation where individuals benefit from a common-pool resource without paying their share of the cost

Question 34

diffusion of responsibility

Answer 34

deciding whether to help person in need knowing others can assist relieves bystanders of personal responsibility

Question 35

retroactive interference

Answer 35

new information causes you to forget old information
- main cause of forgetting