Ch.5, Short Term Memory

Question 1

Memory

Answer 1

process involved in retaining and retrieving and using info about stimuli images, events, ideas, and skills after the original info is no longer present

Question 2

Long term memory

Answer 2

responsible for storing info for long periods of time

Question 3

Episodic memory

Answer 3

life events

Question 4

Procedural memory

Answer 4

skills and basic procedures

Question 5

Semantic memories

Answer 5

memories of facts

Question 6

Modal Model of Memory, Structural Features

Answer 6

66SENSORY, SHORT TERM, LONG TERM,
Three basic processes of memory
Sensory memory: info from sensory input; what we pay attention to is coded into short term memory (unrehearsed info is lost)
With rehearsal: goes into long term memory
Retrieval: need to return to short term memory to be able to retrieve it (ENCODING RETRIEVAL PHASE) THIS IS WHERE MEMORIES CAN BECOME CONTAMINATED BY DETAILS
PROS: takes into account three basic processes and acknowledges diff types of memory
CONS: possible to access long term memory without going through short term memory, rehearsal does not always lead to better memory; doesn’t always track in a linear way

Question 7

Sensory memory

Answer 7

Sensory Memory
Large capacity; stores info for less than one second
Same modality as experience: visual experience becomes visual memory
Very Fast decay rate
Allows us to have a complete sensation to linger in memory for a very brief time after it actually ended
Persistence of visual perception

Question 8

Sperlings Experiment

Answer 8

Immediate Tone: most people recalled 80% of letters
Every time tone was delayed, people recalled less
CONCLUSION: SENSORY MEMORY LASTS FOR LESS THAN ONE SECOND
We do seem to ‘See” or register more items in our sensory memory, but we simply cannot get the info out fast enough before we forget
Different modality has different sensory registers
Sperling’s experiment: participants see letter arrangement for 1/20th of a second; task was to remember them; some argue we can see all 12 items but forget before we can recall them, others argue we can only see 4 or 5 items

Question 9

Atkinson and Shiffrin Control Processes

Answer 9

Dynamic processes associated with the structural features that can be controlled by the person and may differ from one task to another
Rehearsal: repeating a stimulus over abd over

Question 10

Persistence of Vision

Answer 10

Continued perception of a visual stimulus even after it is no longer present
because the human eye and brain can only process 10 to 12 separate images per second, retaining an image for up to a fifteenth of a second. If a subsequent image replaces it in this period of time it will create the illusion of continuity.

Question 11

Schachter’s view of memory

Answer 11

Schachter: Memory is not just replay: the bits of info we recover from the past are often influenced by our knowledge, beliefs and feelings; memory is set up to use the past to imagine the future

Question 12

Hippocampus:

Answer 12

perates coding memories; damage to hippocampus has severe consequences for the ability to store memories
Process by which we encode, store, and retrieve info
Allows us to record and later retrieve experiences and info, critical to all everyday functions, and identity of the self: knowing who you are/how you relate to others is critical

Question 13

Patient HM Case

Answer 13

Patient HM: lost his hippocampus, couldn’t make any memories whatsoever

Question 14

Wicken’s Study on Semantic Coding

Answer 14

Wicken’s Study on Semantic Coding

Question 15

Sensory Memory Across Modalities

Answer 15

Visual, less than one second: iconic store
Auditory info: echoic store, LASTS LONGER FOR ABOUT TWO SECONDS

Question 16

Short Term memory Store

Answer 16

Can be phonological, visual, motoric, or semantic
Auditory: phonological (can misremember things based on things that sound similar)
Visual: visualize what slides look like during exam
Semantic Coding: focusing on meaning

Question 17

Sperling’s whole report, partial report, delayed partial report method

Answer 17

Whole REPORT: participants asked to report as many letters as possible from an entire 12 letter display–OUTCOME: 4.5 out of 12 letters were reported, people couldn’t report more because of fading
Partial Report Method: saw display for same amount of time but this time they heard the high, medium, or low tone that told them which matrix to report, because tones were reported after the letters were turned off, the participants attention was directed to whatever remaining letters remaining after the letters were turned off
Delayed Partial Report Method: letters flashed on and off then cue tone was presented after short delay, extremely worse performance, could only report 1 letter in the display

Question 18

Digit Span Test

Answer 18

measures the capacity of short term memory

Question 19

Chunking

Answer 19

Small units such as words can be combined into larger meaningful units, like sentences, paragraphs or stories
Chunk: collection of elements strongly associated with one another, but weakly associated with elements in other chunks

Question 20

Baddaley’s working memory model, 3 elements

Answer 20

Phonological Loop: consists of phonoliogical store, which has a limited capacity and holds info for only a few seconds
Articulatory Rehearsal Process, Phonological Loop: responsible for rehearsal that can keep items in the phonological store from decaying
Visiospatial Sketchpad: form picture in mind, holds visual and spatial info
Central Executive: pulls info from long term memory and coordinates the activity of the phonological loop and visiospatial sketchpad

Question 21

Phonological Similarity Effect

Answer 21

Confusion of letters or words that sound similar; This effect is characterized as worse perfor- mance when the words in a list are phonologically simi- lar (e.g., bat, flat, mat) than when they are phonologically dissimilar (e.g., dirt, pen, hug). The phonological simi- larity decrement has been demonstrated repeatedly in word span tests.

Question 22

Word Length Effect

Answer 22

Occurs when memory for a list of words is better for short words than for long word

Question 23

Articulatory supression

Answer 23

Reduces memory because speaking interferes with rehearsal

Question 24

Mental rotation

Answer 24

Rotating an image in your mind

Question 25

Perseveration

Answer 25

repeatedly performing the same action or thought even if it is not accomplishing the desired goal

Question 26

Episodic Buffer

Answer 26

can store info and is connected to long term memory, therefore making the interchange between long term memory and working memory possible

Question 27

Patient Gage

Answer 27

extreme damage to prefrontal cortex, led to poor ability to plan, low impulse control, poor social skills,

Question 28

Reading span test

Answer 28

Number of sentences you can read and then remember all of the last words

Question 29

Event Related Potential

Answer 29

Each electrode picks up signals from groups of neurons that fire together

Question 30

Proactive vs. retrospective interference

Answer 30

Proactive interference happens when a person is trying to learn or recall a new memory while the old memory keeps interfering. Retroactive interference happens when new memories interfere with trying to remember old memories or information.