Basic principles of memory

Question 1

Distinguish the difference between primary and secondary memory

William James (1890)

Answer 1

Primary memory
Portion of present space of time
Limited to conscious expense
Retrieval is effortless

Secondary memory
Genuine past
Unconscious- permanent
Retrieval is effortful

Question 2

Outline Atkins and Shiffrins Modal mode of memory

Answer 2

Stimuli

Sensory memory (forget)

(Attention)

Short term memory (Primary) (forget)
REHEARSAL

(Encoding –>) (

Question 3

Consider Atkins and Shiffrins Modal mode of memory.

Explain what is meant by sensory memory

What is the testing experiment?

Answer 3

Sensations persist after the stimulus has disappeared
Subject to very rapid delay
Stores exist for visual (iconic) and auditory (echoic) sensory info

Sterlings test

Question 4

What is meant by working memory?

Answer 4

Short term store
Baddeley (1986) found that we can carry out tasks whilst remembering a short string of numbers. (Difficulty increases as string of numbers increases BUT NOT BY MUCH)
= Dual task

Question 5

What did Baddeley & Hitch (1974) find out.

What is the evidence that supports this?

Answer 5

Visuo-spatial store Central executive Phonological store (this acts like a temporary tape recorder)

(Articulatory loop- constantly refreshes information)

Evidence for phonological store
Phonological similarity effect - things that sound the same get confused so remember less. No semantic similarity

Words/digits remembrance

Word length effect (1975)
Correct recall related to number of syllables. Strong correlation between reading speed and correct recall.
(Disruption results in poor retention.)

Question 6

What is effected in a selective impairment to the phonological store

Answer 6

Severely reduced verbal spans for all types of unconnected items

Intact word perception

No problem with speech production

!Left hemisphere usually affecting parietal and temporal lobes

Question 7

Whats the visuospatial sketchpad and what do:
De Renzi & Nichelli (1975),
Logie (1995)
and Della Salla et al (1999) say about it?

Answer 7

Testing experience: Corsi “block tapping” task

De Renzi & Nichelli (1975)
- patients with brain damage had impaired digit spans, some had impaired spatial spans- “double dissociation”- evidence for independent processes.

Logie (1995)
- Visuospatial sketchpad can itself be divided into visual cache and inner scribe. The visual cache passively stores visual info about form and color. Inner scribe stores spatial and movement information and can rehearse contents of VC.

Della Salla et al (1999)
- Viewing abstract pictures interfered with the visual task, tracing outline of a series of pegs interfered with spatial task.

Question 8

Why is encoding important and what do Craik & Lockhart (1972) say about it regarding levels of processing?

Answer 8

Repeated exposure isn’t enough. Influential downplays the importance of encoding as an independent process==> durable memories
Deep encoding/elaboration is one of the best ways to learn new material

LEVELS OF PROCESSING
Shallow to deep - orthographic, phonological, sematic

RETENTION
Poor to good- orthographic, phonological, semantic

**Participants asked to make judgements about words and given a surprise memory test

Question 9

What is the testing experiment for encoding?

Answer 9

Roediger and Karpike(2006)
Study 2 passages of prose: tested after 5 minutes, 2 days/1 week.

Result: Studying and then testing yourself leads to much better retention

RETRIEVAL PRACTICE EFFECT

Question 10

What do Godden & Baddeley (1975) say about encoding and retrieval?

Answer 10

“Context dependent learning’’

Learnt lists o words (on land or sea) and tested words

Result: Retrieval stronger when tested in same situation as learnt information