Ch 4-6 Flashcards
Define “working memory.” Explain the relation between working memory and short-term memory. Provide original examples in which the limits of working memory are exceeded. Do Demonstration 4.2.
Working memory is a short-term limited memory storage that is active while processing incoming information. Working memory both holds the information (temporarily) and manipulates it . For example, when sitting in a lecture and writing notes, the professor lecture enters the working memory and holds it while the student writes their notes (holding and interpreting the words) while listening to the lecture( receiving new information and remembering the former information).
Do Demonstration 4.2. (The Brown/Peterson & Peterson Technique p.67) The Brown/Peterson & Peterson technique involves presenting participants with some items that they are instructed to remember. Participants then perform a distracting task. After spending some time on the distracting task, participants are subsequently asked to recall the original items. Modified version: Peterson and Peterson (1959) asked research participants to study three unrelated letters of the alphabet, such as CHJ. The participants then saw a three-digit number, and they counted backward by threes from this number for a short period. This counting activity prevented them from rehearsing the three-letter sequence during the delay.after several trials, the previous letters produced interference, and recall was poor. After a mere 5-second delay—as you can see from Figure 4.1—people forgot approximately half of the letters they had seen
Do Demonstration 4.1. Describe the contributions of George Miller and Brown-Peterson and Peterson regarding short-term memory capacity. What is the serial position curve? How does short-term/working memory affect the shape of the curve?
George Miller’s (1956) famous article : “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information” proposed that we can hold only a limited number of items in short-term memory .According to the article, people often remember seven items (give or take two), meaning we can usually remember between five and nine items. Miller described items as “chunks” , a memory unit that consists of several components that are strongly associated with one another. Miller’s chunk concept proposed an opposing stand to behaviorism since it claimed that people perform active mental processes to convert stimuli into a manageable item that can be remembered.
The serial position curve describes the connection between the place of a word on a list and the probability of successful recall. According to research, recall is highly probable for words listed either first or last compared to other places on the list, demonstrated on a U-shaped curve. The working memory capacity causes a recency effect (better recall for items at the end of the list) and primacy effect(enhanced recall of the first items) .
Describe how the semantic meaning of words can be shown to affect working memory capacity. Be sure that your answer includes a definition of “proactive interference (PI)” and “release from P.” How is this related to demonstration 4.1?
According to research, PI happens when former knowledge interferes with the retention of new information due to its similarities. Semantic/ word meaning can improve short term recall capacity since it provides distinction between the information that enters the memory which produces release from proactive interference meaning, the former stored information not interfering with the obtaining of the new information.
Briefly describe Atkinson and Shiffrin’s model of memory and Baddeley’s model of working memory. Be sure that you describe the properties of each component for each model. Describe the evidence for independent capacities in Baddeley’s model of working memory.
Atkinson and Shiffrin’s information processing model claim our memory process is performed in stages and compare it to computer operations. Our senses receive an environmental stimulus(input) which is filtered through our sensory memory. The information is then either forgotten or transferred to our STM. If we perform a controlled process (intentional) such as an efficient encoding and rehearsal the information is maintained and kept in our long-term memory. The model made a clear distinction between STM and LTM which is under debate in current research.
Baddeley’s model of working memory theory suggests that working memory is made of several units that not only store immediate contemporary information so it would be available , but also has an active role in manipulating this information and processing it . According to Baddeley research with participants who were asked to memorize a list of numbers and perform a spatial reasoning task simultaneously, people exhibited fast and accurate responses on both tasks proving our working memory has a several units(more than 7 as proposed by Miller) store different kinds on information received at the same time.
Describe the evidence for independent capacities in Baddeley’s model of working memory.
What are acoustic confusions, and what do they reveal about the properties of the phonological loop? How is the phonological loop used in other aspects of daily life? What does the neuroscience research reveal about this component?
Acoustic confusions refer to the tendency to confuse stimuli who have similar sounds, for example people remember letters which sound the same less accurately which is a shortcoming of the phonological loop. It also shows that visual stimuli undergo auditory “translation” that is rehearsed in the phonological loop in order to distinguish the different stimuli. The phonological loop plays a central role in self instruction (reminding yourself of acts/future tasks), learning new words, reading, talking, calculating and problem solving.
Neuroscience research reveals that the phonological loop activates the left frontal lobe and part of the left temporal lobe responsible for language related information processing. The research of Romero Lauro and her colleagues suggested that both the frontal and parietal lobes activated when processing complex verbal material which imply that working memory is much more complicated than initially assumed.
Describe the visuospatial sketchpad. Summarize the research on the visuospatial sketchpad. How is the visuospatial sketchpad used in other aspects of daily life? What does the neuroscience research reveal about this component?
The visuospatial sketchpad processes spatial and visual information and is also responsible for tracking moving objects, navigation in a space and between locations. The visuospatial sketchpad stores information of both features and placement of objects, both collected visually or from a verbal description . According to Baddeley’s research we cannot perform two visuospatial tasks simultaneously (driving and visualizing a football game).Research on the visuospatial sketchpad is problematic since most verbal encoding goes through the phonological loop that provides names to stimuli. The visuospatial sketchpad is very useful when solving puzzles and navigating in a maze.
Neuroscience research suggests that visuospatial sketchpad related tasks activate the right hemisphere more, especially the area associated with visual perception in the occipital region. In addition, depending on the task itself, some parts of the frontal cortex and parietal lobe connected to attention engage as well.
Describe the visuospatial sketchpad. Summarize the research on the visuospatial sketchpad. How is the visuospatial sketchpad used in other aspects of daily life? What does the neuroscience research reveal about this component?
The visuospatial sketchpad processes spatial and visual information and is also responsible for tracking moving objects, navigation in a space and between locations. The visuospatial sketchpad stores information of both features and placement of objects, both collected visually or from a verbal description . According to Baddeley’s research we cannot perform two visuospatial tasks simultaneously (driving and visualizing a football game).Research on the visuospatial sketchpad is problematic since most verbal encoding goes through the phonological loop that provides names to stimuli. The visuospatial sketchpad is very useful when solving puzzles and navigating in a maze.
Neuroscience research suggests that visuospatial sketchpad related tasks activate the right hemisphere more, especially the area associated with visual perception in the occipital region. In addition, depending on the task itself, some parts of the frontal cortex and parietal lobe connected to attention engage as well.
Do Demonstration 4.3. Describe the central executive and the characteristics of this component. Provide several examples of tasks that require central executive processes. Describe its relation to daydreaming. What does the neuroscience research reveal about this component?
The central executive combines components of all the other components( phonological loop, the episodic buffer, visuospatial sketchpad and long-term memory. It is activated when we focus attention, transform information, consider strategies, suppress irrelevant information, and coordinate behavior. Baddeley argues that the central executive does not store information like the other components, but it decides what we ignore and what we focus on and is able to judge the effectiveness of a strategy. It struggles to multitask especially when both tasks are demanding.
The central executive for example operates when we cook, it organizes the stages, monitor the temperature and adjust it accordingly, and make us aware of the hot pot(plan and coordinate)
Demonstration 4.3( random number generation-)daydreaming requires activation of the central executive; therefore, it interrupts the performance of the central executive (focusing on a task). In the random number generation, participants who reported daydreaming were less successful in generating a completely random list of numbers.(Related to the executive attention network which makes the coordinate process active in the interpretation of the environment and the reaction to it- ch.3).
What is the episodic buffer? Why was it developed after the other three components?
The episodic buffer is a temporary storage for input collected from the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and the long-term memory. It also actively integrates that information so it is used for decision making and problem solving by creating a more detailed and elaborated representation of an event that can be stored in our LTM. It was added later to support the storage function of the model
Summarize the application of working memory research in education and clinical population.
(clinical depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) :
Individuals with depression perform less accurately than individuals without depression on phonological-loop related tasks and visuospatial sketchpad related tasks. The differences are highly accentuated when testing for central executive related tasks where people with depression perform much less well than those who do not have depression.
People with depression report difficulty concentrating and tend to exhibit continuous worry about their issues (ruminative style) which is attributed to working memory issues and everyday cognitive function.
individuals with ADHD exhibit lower performance on both visual and verbal working memory tasks. some evidence suggests that there are subtle verbal working memory impairments and larger visuospatial working-memory impairments in individuals with ADHD;
people with ADHD often have more difficulty than others on central-executive tasks, especially when they must inhibit a response, plan a project, or work on two tasks at the same time. As a result, these individuals have difficulty paying close attention at school, at work, and in other activities
The chronic worrying experienced by affected individuals causes severe impediments to one’s social, occupational, and personal life, and may cause symptoms such as muscle tension, irritability, and fatigue. The theory is that GAD involves excessive worrying which strains working memory limited resources and reduces the amount of resources available for other cognitive functions.
What is long-term memory? Define “episodic memory,” “semantic memory,” and “procedural memory.” Provide original examples of each.
Long-term memory: Long-term memory (LTM) is an unlimited capacity storage that can hold information over lengthy periods of time, for example remembering one’s own preschool name in adulthood. Research suggests that store events are based on their meaning. LTM is divided into three subtypes:
Episodic memory: The memory of personal events such as remembering one’s wedding day
Semantic memory: The organized factual knowledge in our memory such as knowing the sun sets in the west.
Procedural memory: Our knowledge of how to do something such as placing a phone call
Do Demonstration 5.1. Describe Craik and Lockhart’s (1972) levels-of-processing approach (or depth-of-processing approach) and the two factors that have been proposed to explain the success of deep processing.
The level-processing approach argues that the efficiency of information encoding depends on the depth of processing. The deeper, more meaningful the processing, the more accurate the recall of the encoded information. Encoding based on the meaning of the word is more effective than encoding based on the shape of the word (5.1). Deep level processing is based on two factors:
Distinctiveness- How different is one stimulus from another (When you provide a distinctive encoding for a person’s name (like for your boss) irrelevant names will be less likely to interfere.
Elaboration- Emphasizing the meaning of a specific stimulus and its relation to previous knowledge and concepts (anchoring the information in a broader context connected to semantic memory p.88)
Describe the self-reference effect and its relation to the levels-of-processing approach. Describe some of the representative research and the three factors that might be responsible for the effect.
According to the self-reference effect’ information we attribute to ourselves encourages especially deep processing. According to research on the self-reference effect , people are more likely to recall a word that does apply to themselves, rather than a word that does not apply (Theme 3 =our cognitive system handles positive instances more effectively than negative instances). Factors responsible for the self-reference effect:
the “self” produces an especially rich set of distinctive cues, easily linked to previous distinctive cues (traits/distinctiveness)
self-reference instructions encourage people to consider how their personal traits are connected with one another (elaboration)
Self-associated material encourages a more frequent and elaborative rehearsal
The research by Foley and her colleagues (1999) shows that our cognitive processes are active (Theme 1). People do not just passively follow instructions and obey the researcher precisely. Researchers need to keep in mind that participants are likely to transform the instructions, and this transformation can influence the results of the study.(people elaborated and inserted images of themselves using the objects even without being instructed)
Describe the encoding specificity principle. Describe the study by Marian and Fausey (2006), and explain how it illustrates encoding specificity. Describe two explanations that have been proposed for the inconsistency of context effects.
According to the encoding specificity principle if the context of both encoding and retrieval is similar, then the retrieval is better, meaning memories are linked in their details or the details surrounding them.
The encoding-specificity effect is most likely to operate in certain situations: (a) when memory is tested by recall instead of recognition, (b) when real-life events are studied, (c) when the original event happened long ago, and (d) when mental context is emphasized.
Describe the study by Marian and Fausey (2006) and explain how it illustrates encoding specificity: Marian and Fausey (2006) played stories in English and Spanish to bilingual participants and after a short delay asked them a few questions, half matching the language of the story and half not. The participants were instructed to reply in the same language of the questions. Results demonstrated that people who answered questions in the same language as the story were relatively accurate compared to those who answered in a language different from the story, thus demonstrating the influence of similar context on encoding and successful retrieval( context effect).
Context effects are frequent in real life but less consistent in lab conditions. Possible explanations are:
Real life scenarios usually require recalling an earlier experience and laboratory recognition tasks test for recognition, which is a different type of memory.
It could be that laboratory tests focus on the physical context of an experience, which affects the context less than the emotional similarities. For example, if we felt the same during encoding and the revival, we recall more accurately than depending on similar physical features such as location.
Do Demonstration 5.2. Define “explicit memory tasks” and “implicit memory tasks,” and provide examples of each. Summarize the research on implicit memory with normal adults.
Task B2 illustrates a second measure of implicit memory, called a repetition priming task. In a repetition priming task, recent exposure to a word increases the likelihood that you’ll think of this particular word when you are subsequently presented with a cue that could evoke many different words.
Define “explicit memory tasks” and provide examples - A task of remembering instructed information and recall it later intentionally such as memorizing a list and repeating it.
“implicit memory tasks,” and provide an example- Performing on a cognitive task that indirectly measures the recall of information the participant unintentionally exposed to earlier/ have prior knowledge. For example, naming the capital of a country or completing letters in a word.
Summarize the research on implicit memory with normal adults. Research of implicit memory found a phenomenon called dissociation demonstrated when participants remember a certain stimuli when tested on an implicit memory task but don’t remember it when they are tested on an explicit memory task.
