Ch. 6: Memory Flashcards
Define memory
the ability to store and retrieve information over time; the enduring changes that experience makes in our brains
What are the 3 key functions of memory?
- Encoding
- Storage
- Retrieval
What is encoding, when it comes to memory?
the process of transforming what we perceive, think, or feel into an enduring memory
What is storage, when it comes to memory?
the process of maintaining information in memory over time
What is retrieval, when it comes to memory?
the process of bringing to mind information that has been previously encoded and stored
Memories are ______, not _______.
Memories are constructed, not recorded
What are the 3 types of memory encoding processes?
- Semantic encoding
- Visual imagery encoding
- Organizational encoding
What is semantic encoding, when it comes to memory?
the process of relating new information in a meaningful way to knowledge that is already stored in memory; how we remember something depends on how we think about the meaning behind it
What are the 3 types of judgements involved in semantic encoding?
- Semantic judgements (meaning of words)
- Rhyme judgements (how the word sounds)
- Case judgements (the appearance of words)
What type to brain activity is associated with semantic encoding?
increased activity in the lower left part of the frontal lobe and the inner part of the temporal lobe; the amount of activity in these regions during encoding is directly related to whether people later remember an item
What is visual imagery encoding?
the process of storing new information by converting it into mental pictures
Why does visual imagery encoding work so well?
- Visual imagery encoding does the same things that semantic encoding does: creating a visual image means you are relating incoming information to knowledge already in memory
- You end up creating 2 different mental placeholders, visual and verbal, which gives you more ways to remember them
What brain region is activated in visual imagery encoding?
Visual processing regions of the occipital lobe
What is organizational encoding?
the process of categorizing information according to the relationships among a series of items; sorting items into groups/meaningful units to make them easier to remember (ex. Segmenting memories of a shopping trip into driving to the mall, walking from the parking lot, going to H&M, going to the food court, etc.)
Which brain region is activated by organizational encoding?
the upper surface of the left frontal lobe
Why is our memory better at encoding survival-related information?
- Encoding survival-related information draws on elements of semantic, visual imagery, and organizational encoding
- Survival encoding encourages participants to think in detail about goals they want to achieve; planning benefits memory (planning for the future is in itself critical for our long-term survival)
What are the 3 major kinds of memory storage?
- Sensory
- Short-term
- Long-term
What is sensory memory?
a type of storage that holds sensory information for a few seconds or less
What are the two types of sensory memory?
Iconic memory and echoic memory
What is iconic memory?
a fast-decaying store of visual information; usually decay in 1 second or less
What is echoic memory?
a fast-decaying store of auditory information; usually decay in about 5 seconds
What is short-term memory?
holds non-sensory information for more than a few seconds but less than a minute; we need to attend to incoming information for it to enter short-term memory, and as soon as we attend to something else the information is quickly lost
What is rehearsal?
the process of keeping information in short-term memory by mentally repeating it; each time information is repeated, it is re-entered into short-term memory and given another several seconds there
What is the serial position effect, and what are its two different types?
the first few and last few items in a series are more likely to be recalled than the items in the middle
- Primacy Effect
- Recency Effect
What is the primacy effect?
enhanced recall of the first few items in a series; occurs because these items receive more rehearsals than subsequent items in the middle of the list and thus are more likely to be encoded into long-term storage
What is the recency effect?
enhanced recall of the last few items in a series
What is chunking?
combining small pieces of information into larger clusters or chunks that are more easily held in short-term memory (organizational encoding is essentially chunking)
What is working memory, and what aspects does it include?
active maintenance of information in short-term storage; includes…
• 2 subsystems that store and manipulate info (visio-spatial sketchpad for visual images and phonological loop for verbal information)
• an episodic buffer that integrates visual and verbal info from the subsystems into a multidimensional code
• A central executive that coordinates the subsystems and the episodic buffer
What is long-term memory?
a type of storage that holds information for hours, days, weeks, or years; has no capacity limit
What region of the brain is critical for putting new information into long-term memory? How do we know?
The hippocampus
After having parts of his temporal lobes removed (including his hippocampus) in an effort to stop seizures, a patient (HM) was able to remember everything before the procedure and use his short-term memory, but was unable to create new long-teerm memories
What is anteretrograde amnesia?
the inability to transfer new information from the short-term store into the long-term store
What is retrograde amnesia?
the inability to retrieve information that was acquired before a particular date, usually the date of an injury or surgery
Are memories stored all in one place?
No, different aspects of a single memory (sights, sounds, smells, emotions, etc.) are stored in different places in the cortex and the hippocampal region acts as a kind of “index” that links them together
What is consolidation, and what contributes to it?
the process by which memories become stable in the brain; once consolidation occurs, memories are more resistant to disruption; depending on the type, it can occur over seconds/minutes or days/weeks/months/years; contributed to by…
• Recalling a memory
• Thinking about a memory
• Talking about a memory with others
• Sleep (helps us remember what’s important and discard what’s trivial)
What happens when we recall a memory?
memories can become vulnerable to disruption when they are recalled because they must be reconsolidated
Disrupting reconsolidation with drugs or even other information (ex. Reading a negative story after recalling a memory) can eliminate or modify painful/traumatic memories
What is Long Term Potentiation (LTP)?
a process whereby communication across the synapse between neurons strengthens the connection, making further communication easier; plays an important role in long term memory storage
What is a retrieval cue?
external information that is associated with stored information and helps bring it to mind; may be deliberate (ex. studying) or spontaneous (ex. a movie reminding you of the person you watched it with)
What is the encoding specificity principle?
a retrieval cue can serve as an effective reminder when it helps re-create the specific way in which information was initially encoded (ex. A person with an alcohol addiction craving alcohol when they are at a bar, sitting in the same seat for each class and test)
What is state-dependent retrieval?
the process whereby information tends to be better recalled when the person is in the same state during encoding and retrieval (ex. If you are feeling sad, you are more likely to retrieve sad memories); mood at the time of encoding effects semantic processing, and so the mood itself can become a retrieval cue
What is transfer-appropriate processing?
the idea that memory is likely to transfer from one situation to another when the encoding and retrieval contexts of the situation match
What is retrieval-induced forgetting?
a process by which retrieving an item from long-term memory impairs subsequent recall of related items; retrieving similar target items causes subsequent forgetting of the related but suppressed items (suppressing the competitors while you attempt to retrieve the target reduces your ability to retrieve the competitors at a later time)
Which area of the brain is activated when simply TRYING to retrieve information from memory?
left frontal lobe
Which parts of the brain are activated when SUCCESSFULLY retrieving information from memory?
hippocampal region and parts of the brain that play a role in processing the sensory features of an experience (sounds - auditory cortex, pictures - visual cortex, etc.)
What is explicit memory?
when people consciously or intentionally retrieve past experiences
What is implicit memory?
when past experiences influence later behaviour and performance, even without an effort to remember them or an awareness of the recollection
What is procedural memory, and what brain regions does it involve?
a kind of implicit memory which refers to the gradual acquisition of skills as a result of practice, or “knowing how” to do things; involves brain regions outside the hippocampal area (ex. Motor cortex)
What is priming? Is it an example of explicit or implicit memory?
an enhanced ability to think of a stimulus, such as a word or object, as a result of a recent exposure to that stimulus during an earlier study task; an example of implicit memory because people can be primed to remember information when shown a cue but do not explicitly remember the word without the cue (ex. Fill-in-the-blank)
What is perceptual priming, and what brain regions does it involve?
reflects implicit memory for the sensory features of an item (ex. Visual characteristics of a word or picture); depends on regions towards the back of the brain (ex. visual cortex) and the right cerebral hemisphere
What is conceptual priming, and what brain regions does it involve?
reflects implicit memory for the meaning of a word or how you would use an object; depends on regions towards the front of the brain (ex. Frontal lobe) and the left cerebral hemisphere
Why can people with amnesia display implicit learning (procedural memory, priming, etc.)?
Implicit learning does not involve the hippocampus
What is semantic memory, and can people with amnesia develop this type of memory?
a network of associated facts and concepts that make up our general knowledge of the world; people with amnesia can develop new semantic memories (ex. Ability to read, write, develop vocabulary, etc.) because the hippocampus is not necessary to produce them
What is episodic memory, and can people with amnesia develop this type of memory?
the collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place; the only form of memory that allows us to engage in “mental time travel”; allows us to construct a cohesive story of our lives and re-experience past events; relies on the hippocampus, so people with amnesia are not able to create these memories
What type of memory do we rely on to imagine possible future experiences?
Episodic memory
What is divergent creative thinking?
generating creative ideas by combining different types of information in news ways (ex. Alternate Uses Task - AUT); activates the core brain network that support episodic memory and future imagining (so amnesic individuals perform poorly on AUTs); coupling between core and executive networks is a signature feature of divergent creative thinking
What is collaborative memory, and what is its alternate name?
how people remember in groups; transactive memory
What is a nominal group?
the combined recall of several individuals recalling target items on their own
What is collaborative inhibition when it comes to memory? Why does it happen?
the same number of individuals working together recall fewer items than they would on their own; in a group, some people are prone to “social loafing” (letting others do the work and not pulling their own weight), however a more likely explination is that when recalling items together the retrieval strategies used by individual group members disrupt those used by others; produces a lasting reduction in the accessibility of individuals’ memories (people are still less able to recall items even when away from the disruption of others)
What are the benefits of collaborative recall?
- Individuals are exposed to items recalled by other that they may not recall themselves, improving their memory when tested at a later time
- When group members discuss what they have recalled, they can help each other correct and reduce memory errors
- Couples who rely on collaborative remembering are able to remember certain kinds of information to share with the other partner, and vice versa
What are the “7 sins” of memory?
- Transience
- Absentmindedness
- Blocking
- Memory misattribution
- Suggestibility
- Bias
- Persistence
What is transience?
forgetting that occurs with the passage of time; occurs during the storage phase of memory, after an experience has been encoded and before it is retrieved; also impacts the quality of memories, with older memories becoming less detailed and requiring us to reconstruct them through general memories or guesswork; a gradual switch from specific to more general memories
What is retroactive interference?
situations in which later learning impairs memory for information acquired earlier (ex. Struggling on Friday to remember what you did on Monday)
What is proactive interference?
situations in which earlier learning impairs memory for information acquired later (ex. Parking in the same lot every day, and becoming confused about which spot you parked in that day and which you had parked in previously)
What is childhood infantile amnesia?
The fact that most of us have few or no memories before age 3
What is absentmindedness?
a lapse in attention that results in memory failure; without proper attention, material is much less likely to be stored properly and recalled later
What happens in our brain activity when our attention is divded?
- Less activity in the lower left frontal lobe (the opposite of what happens during encoding)
- Less hippocampal involvement, impairing encoding and episodic memory (which is why we can have such extreme forgetting, like where we put our keys a few seconds ago)
What is prospective memory, and what can help us avoid failures of it?
remembering to do things in the future (remembering to remember where a class is, what time you’re meeting a friend, etc.)
Having cues available at the very moment you need to remember to carry out an action (ex. a timed reminder on your phone)
What is intention offloading?
relying on external cues to remind us to do tasks in everyday life (ex. A notification on our phones)
What is blocking?
a failure to retrieve information that is available in memory even though you are trying to produce it; occurs especially often for the names of people and places because their links related to concepts and knowledge are weaker than for common names; occurs more often as we age, and people with brain damage to parts of the left temporal lobe on the surface of the cortex may be in a near constant tip-of-the-tongue state for names (but not people’s occupations, etc)
What is memory misattribution?
assigning a recollection or idea to the wrong source (ex. Faulty eyewitness accounts that result in the wrong person being blamed for a crime)
What is source memory, and how can it make errors?
recall of when, where, and how information was acquired; People sometimes correctly recall a fact/recognize an individual from earlier but misattribute the source of this knowledge (example of a result: false accusations from eyewitnesses to a crime)
What is déjà-vu, and what type of memory is it associated with?
A present situation that is similar to a past experience may trigger a general sense of familiarity without any recall of associated details that is mistakenly attributed to having been in the exact situation previously; associated with source memory
What is déjà vécu, and what type of memory is it associated with?
Feeling strongly, but mistakenly, that one has already lived through an experience and remembering the details of what happened; likely involves disruption to parts of the temporal lobe that normally generate a subjective feeling of remembering as well as parts of the frontal lobe involved in source memory
What is false attribution when it comes to memory?
a feeling of familiarity about something that hasn’t been encountered before; may be associated with damage to the frontal lobe
What is suggestibility, and how does it contribute to false memories?
the tendency to incorporate misleading information from external sources into personal recollections; false memories are created because we do not store all the details of our experiences in memory, making us vulnerable to accepting suggestions about what might/should have happened; social pressures can also enhance suggestibility
What is bias when it comes to memory?
the distorting influences of present knowledge, beliefs, and feelings on recollection of previous experiences; sometimes what people remember about their past says more about what they think, feel, or believe about it now than what actually happened
What is consistency bias?
the bias to reconstruct the past to fit the present (ex. A current sad mood biasing your recollections of experiences that may not have been so sad); exaggerates the similarity between the past and present
What is change bias?
the tendency to exaggerate differences between what we feel/believe now and what we felt/believed in the past (ex. Recalling that feelings of love for a partner increase over time when compared to at the beginning of the relationship, when in reality they stayed the same)
What is egocentric bias?
the tendency to exaggerate the change between present and past in order to make ourselves look good in retrospect (ex. A blood donor remembering feeling more scared before donating than they actually were, making them appear braver)
What is persistence when it comes to memory?
the intrusive recollection of events that we wish we could forget
What types of memories are more likely to be persistent?
Emotional experiences, which are more vivid and enduring
What are flashbulb memories?
detailed recollections of when and where we heard about shocking events (ex. Where you were on 9/11); also enhanced by semantic encoding, because we tend to talk about these events with others repeatedly
Which part of the brain plays a role in persistence?
The amygdala, since it plays a role in emotional arousal; people with damage to their amygdala do not remember emotional events any better than non-emotional ones
What is a benefit of transience?
relieves us of outdated information and information we use infrequently, allowing us to make better decisions, and faster
What is a benefit of absentmindedness and blocking?
Absentmindedness and blocking are side effects of our memory’s usually successful attempt to sort through incoming information, preserving details that are most worthy of attention and recall
What is a benefit of memory misattribution and suggestibility?
Memory misattribution and suggestibility happen because our memories only record the information we will likely need later. Errors can also be the cause of our memory’s flexibility/ability to recombine elements of past experiences in new ways; this ability is helpful because it allows us to mentally try out different versions of what might happen and make better decisions based on it
What is a benefit of bias when it comes to memory?
Bias can contribute to our overall sense of contentment; holding positive illusions about ourselves can lead to greater wellbeing
What is a benefit of persistence?
Persistence is adaptive, as it allows us to remember threatening or traumatic events to avoid
What are the stages of hyponosis?
- Induction: instructions for voluntarily adopting a highly focused & absorbed attentional state
- Suggestion: statements describing involuntary changes in perceptual experience or behaviour
Is post-hypnotic amnesia inevitable?
No
What are 4 ways to enhance encoding?
Visualize
Elaborate
Organize
Make it personal
What are the two serial position effects of memory?
Primacy effect
Recency effect
What is the levels-of-processing theory?
How we think about information at the time of encoding affects memory (superficial processing = faster forgetting, deeper processing = more durable memory)
According to levels of processing theory, what are the 3 levels of processing from shallowest to deepest?
Shallow: structural encoding (what a word looks like)
Medium: phonemic encoding (what it sounds like)
Deep: semantic encoding (what it means)
Why is short-term memory also called working memory?
Short term memory is an active “construction zone” where mental work happens; short term memory retrieves info from long-term memory, manipulates it, and focuses attention
What are the components of Baddley’s Model of Working Memory?
- Phonological loop
- Episodic buffer
- Visospatial sketchpad
What is the episodic buffer?
a “backup” store that communicates with or receives input from the phonological loop, visiospatial sketchpad, and long-term memory
What is the phonological loop?
a limited-capacity, speech-based store, which is the system assumed to control the temporary storage of acoustic and verbal information.
What is the visospatial sketchpad?
responsible for the short-term storage of visual and spatial information, such as memory for objects and their locations. It also plays a key role in the generation and manipulation of mental images
What are the two types of long-term memory?
- Explicit (declarative)
2. Implicit (non-declarative)
What is explicit long-term memory?
Intentional, effortful, direct, and conscious recall
What is implicit long-term memory?
Automatic, non-intentional memory that is implied through one’s actions
What are the two types of explicit memory?
Episodic and semantic
What are the two types of implicit memory?
Procedural (practiced skills and how to do things) and
Associative learning (conditioned associations, primed effects, and emotional memories)
What part of the brain is responsible for working memory?
The prefrontal cortex
What part of the brain is responsible for emotional memory?
The amygdala
What part of the brain is responsible for episodic memory?
The hippocampus
What part of the brain is responsible for procedural memory?
The cerebellum
What is source memory?
Recall of when, where, and how information was acquired
