Ch 8 - Memory and info processing

Question 1

Info-processing approach

Answer 1

• Emerged amid evidence that the behaviorist approach could not account for performance on all learning and memory tasks
• analogy = computer - with its ability to systematically convert input to output
• Emphasizes basic mental processes in attention, perception, memory, and decision-making

Question 2

Memory processes

Answer 2

1. Encoding
2. Consolidation
3. Storage
4. Retrieval

Question 3

Encoding

Answer 3

getting information into the system

Question 4

Consolidation

Answer 4

– processing and organizing information in a form suitable for long-term storage

• transforms a sensory-perceptual experience into a long-lasting memory trace
• Facilitated by sleep

Question 5

Storage

Answer 5

holding information in a long-term memory store

- A constructive process, not a static recording

Question 6

Retrieval

Answer 6

– information is obtained from long-term memory

Question 7

Retrieval can be accomplished in various ways

Answer 7

1. Recognition memory
2. Recall memory
3. Cued recall memory

Question 8

Recognition memory

Answer 8

– choose from among the options

- Example: a multiple-choice question on an exam

Question 9

Recall memory

Answer 9

– active retrieval without the aid of cues to remember

- Example: “How did Atkinson and Shiffrin describe the human information-processing system?”

Question 10

Cued recall memory

Answer 10

• retrieval is facilitated by a hint or a cue
• Example: “How did Atkinson and Shiffrin describe the movement of information from one stage to the next in their three-stage model of information processing?”

Question 11

Two distinct components of long-term memory –

Answer 11

implicit and explicit

– respond differently depending upon the nature of the task

Question 12

Implicit memory (procedural memory)

Answer 12

occurs unintentionally, automatically, and without awareness
Eg how to ride a bike
- Remains intact and capacity does not change over the lifespan

Question 13

Explicit memory (declarative memory)

Answer 13

• involves deliberate, effortful recollection
  Includes two forms
  1. Semantic
  2. Episodic

Question 14

Semantic memory

Answer 14

memory for general facts

Question 15

Episodic

Answer 15

memory for specific experiences

Question 16

Capacity of explicit memory____ from infancy to adulthood

Answer 16

increases

Question 17

Ways to assess infants’ memory capacity

Answer 17

1. imitation
2. habituation
3. operant conditioning

Question 18

Four major hypotheses improvements in learning and memory during childhood

Answer 18

1. Changes in basic capacities
2. Changes in memory strategies
3. Increased knowledge about memory
4. Increased knowledge about the world

Question 19

Changes in basic capacities

Answer 19

Neural advances in the brain permit more working memory space and faster processing of information

Question 20

Changes in memory strategies

Answer 20

Older children use effective strategies for storing and retrieving information

Question 21

Increased knowledge about memory

Answer 21

Older children know more about their memory

Question 22

Increased knowledge about the world

Answer 22

Material to be learned is more familiar and familiar material is easier to learn

Question 23

According to Miller and colleagues, children typically progress through four phases on the way to successful strategy use

Answer 23

1. mediation deficiency
2. production deficiency
3. utilization deficiency
4. In the final stage, children can produce and benefit from using a memory strategy

Question 24

Mediation deficiency

Answer 24

– they cannot spontaneously use or benefit from strategies

Question 25

Production deficiency

Answer 25

– children can use strategies they are taught but cannot produce them on their own

Question 26

Utilization deficiency

Answer 26

in which children produce a strategy, but its use does not benefit task performance

Question 27

infantile amnesia

Answer 27

few autobiographical memories from their first years of life

• Infants and toddlers may not have enough space in working memory to hold multiple pieces of information needed to encode and consolidate a memory about an event
• May lack sufficient language skills
• Early verbatim memories are unstable and likely to be lost

Question 28

Children construct scripts – GERs

Answer 28

• general event representations (GERs) –
• of routine activities
• typical sequence and guide future behaviors
• young as 3 years use scripts to report familiar events
• Report what happens in general, rather than exactly what occurred during a specific event

Question 29

Overlapping waves theory –

Answer 29

“process of variability, choice, and change”

• Knowing and using a variety of strategies, becoming increasingly selective with experience about which strategy to use, and changing/adding strategies as needed

Question 30

Bauer identified four factors that may influence autobiographical memories

Answer 30

1. Personal significance of an event has almost no effect on one’s ability to later recall the event
2. Greater distinctness or uniqueness of an event = associated with better recall
3. Emotional intensity: highly negative or highly positive emotions = recalled better than events experienced in the context of more neutral emotions
4. Life phase: the best recall of memories = from the recent past and from adolescence and early adulthood (ages 15-25)

Question 31

Older adults have greater difficulty with the following tasks:

Answer 31

• Recall - probs w retrieval

- explicit memory - require more mental effort

Question 32

Selection, optimization, and compensation framework

Answer 32

1. Selection – determine the skills that are most useful
2. Optimization – make efforts to maintain and strengthen those most useful skills
3. Compensation – find ways to make up for (compensate) for cognitive deficits