Baddley and Hitch + Fergus Craik & Robert Lockhart: Levels of processing Flashcards
Working memory
It is a component of memory that refers to the mental work that occurs at any given time including retrieving information, problem-solving, and comprehending sounds and visual stimuli. Working memory draws on information from our sensory memory and LTM.
Difference between short term and long term
Short-term memory is referred to as a passive store that can temporarily hold a certain amount of information. Working memory however entails a broader concept. Working memory can not only store information but also manipulate information or inhibit irrelevant information.
Baddeley’s model shows that there are 4 separate but interdependent aspects of working memory
§ Phonological loop: auditory working memory where verbal information is temporarily held.
§ Visuo-spatial sketchpad: visual working memory where visual and spatial information is temporarily held.
§ Central executive: integrates information from the above two, controls our attention, and enables us to perform mental manipulation on data.
Three main functions of the central executive are:
- o Inhibition:* screening out irrelevant material
- o Switching:* changing attention from one item to another
- o Updating:* modifying items brought in from LTM before re-committing them to memory through the episodic buffer; creating a process of accommodation of the semantic network.
§ Episodic buffer: helps retrieve information from LTM to associate with information which is in working memory, and to select and encode information into LTM.
Craik and Lockhart levels of processing
§ Levels-of-processing: refers to the number and types of associations made between new knowledge and previous knowledge.
§ This model of memory storage suggests that memory does not consist of separate memory stores, but rather, is one continuous dimension.
§ Craik and Lockhart suggested that there are three levels at which we encode material, and the deeper the processing, the better the chance of being able to retrieve this information from memory at a later time (e.g. an individual, who studies thoroughly, is more likely to understand and remember it later on than one who just looks and repeats the same information).
§ Even at the same level, the more complex the processing, the stronger the memory (e.g. ‘I gale sent the yacht flying through the water’ would be more strongly encoded than ‘I saw a yacht in the bay’).
Craik and Lockhart - structural (shallow) processing
Structural processing (shallow processing): words are learnt by remembering the physical features (e.g. length of word, upper or lower case, started with a vowel or consonant).
- 20% of words recalled
Craik and Lockhart - phonemic (moderate) processing
o Phonemic processing (moderate processing): words are remembered by their sounds.
50% of words recalled
Craik and Lockhart - semantic (deep) encoding
words are remembered by their meaning, allowing them to be placed directly into our semantic networks.
80% of words recalled
Organization of LTM - procedural memory
§ Procedural memory: the memory of actions, habits and skills that have been learned previously and involves knowing how to do something (e.g. riding a bicycle once it has been learnt, using cutlery to eat); also resistant to forgetting.
§ Information can be retrieved through performance rather than conscious recall or recognition.
§ Often difficult to put into words in terms of describing how to do something.
Organization of LTM - declarative memory
§ Declarative memory: the memory of facts, events (personal experiences) or general knowledge that can be brought into conscious awareness and can be explicitly stated (generally refers to information associated with reading, maths, higher order thinking, etc.)
Declarative memory is further divided into:
- Episodic memory: the declarative memory of specific events/experiences (there are two types:
1) respective memory: remembering past events;
2) prospective memory: remembering things to do in the future). - Semantic memory: the memory of information we have about the world (facts).
Explicit and implicit LTM
§ LTM can be retrieved and expressed either explicitly or implicitly.
§ Explicit memory involves intentional remembering (declarative memory) and is shown to be the responsibility of the brain structure known as the hippocampus.
§ Implicit memory involves unintentional remembering (procedural memory). It is unconscious, that is, it does not require intentional, deliberate recall. Recent research has shown that the amygdala is the key brain structure involved in implicit memory.
§ Implicit and explicit memory are not memory systems; they are observable behaviours that appear to be handled by the declarative and procedural long-term memory systems.
Semantic network theory
Semantic network theory: proposes that the nodes of information in LTM is organised in a hierarchical structure with links between related nodes
§ Activation of one node causes other related nodes to be activated.
§ Spreading activation is that activating one node makes the activation of another node more likely to be activated. The characteristics of our storage systems include:
- Nodes: the named units of information
- Links: the links showing the relationships between nodes (shorter links mean closer r/ship)
- Hierarchical structure: several nodes on the lowest level form part of one node at the next level up, and so on.
