chapter 2, 3, 4 Flashcards
cascading processes
for every complex memory process there are probably both parallel and serial components intermixed
chaining models
a measure of the duration of a particular process can be found by obtaining two measurements of time that include the process and subtracting one from the other
- recall cannot continue if you cant rmb one item
- difficult to cope with repeating items (if there is more than one of the same item in the sequence)
chunking
individual pieces of an information set are bound together into a meaningful whole, taking smaller units of info and group them into larger units
- prior knowledge guides chunking, identify patterns
echo
sound
echoic memory
memory relating to sounds and what you hear
fixation
when the eye gaze stays at a particular area for around 300ms
haptic sensory memory
memory based on the sense of touch
icon
symbol, thing
iconic memory
visual sensory memory
inhibition model
the idea is that as we go through a list, the retrieval process selects the most active or accessible item, which is usually the first in the series. As each is retrieved and reported, it is inhibited and activation is sent to the next item in the order, which is now the most active. Inhibition keeps prior items from being recalled again
interference
(proactive) interference is when there is a reduction in memeory performance for recentkh learned information resulting from the prior learning of related materials
interference: information in STM interferes with or in some way blocks, displaces, or otherwise hinders the retrieval of other information
object files
individual objects or entities serve as the basis for how we assemble our understanding of the visual world -> provide a link from visual information to higher-order cognition
ordinal models
order is represented by the relative positions along a dimension, the order is dependent on the others unlike in positional where the slots and blocks are independent of each other
parallel search
all the items in short-term memory are available more or less at once and accessed in parallel
perturbation model
information is organized as a hierarchy of chunks, every item is regulated by a control unit that manages the chunk. These control units themselves may be grouped together by higher-order control units -> like a hierarchical branching model
positional models
serial order is conveyed by associating each item with its position in a sequence
- slot-based models assume that short-term memory is a series of ordered slots and that information is dropped into each one as it is encountered
primacy effect
can rmb the items in the earlier portion of the set and this is due to rehearsal leading to these items being stored in the LTM
protrusion
an item from a previous series is misremembered in the current one
recency effect
can rmb things toward the end of the set due to items being held in STM
repetition blindness
we “do not see” the repeated item in the sequence because we have seen it before
saccade
rapid eye movements, the eye only stays at one are for 30ms, no visual inof is gathered
sensory registers
visual: eyes
echo: ears
touch: skin
serial exhaustive search
go through the entire list, even once you found the probe, you still keep going
serial position curve
u shape, can rmb more of the front and end of the list which shows the primacy and recency effect
serial self-terminating search
go through the items one at a time until you find the probe
short-term memory
responsible for processing and retaining info beyond the sensory registers
7 +-2 and arnd 30s
slot-based models
positional models
suffix effect
anything after the list you are supp to memorise will act as a distracter
size of the suffix effect is related to the nature of the suffix: when the suffix was human speech, the recency effect was reduced, but not when it was an unrelated sound, like a buzzer
synesthesia
some people rmb words or numbers differently, they attribute certain colours to them thus help them rmb it better (for STM)
likely causes of synesthesia
- decreased ability to sufficiently suppress inappropriate feedback loops in perception
- an incomplete pruning of cortical connections during development
trans-saccadic memory
keeps track of basic characteristics of an object
- works better if the object is in focus rather than in the background
- you cannot do some kinds of thinking while your eyes are moving (eg, visual manipulation, spinning an object in mind while shifting your gaze)
- the execution of an eye movement and active operation of trans-saccadic memory puts other memory processes on hold while the eyes do their thing → maybe bc the same part of memory is needed to do both
acetylcholine (Ach)
when enhanced, memory can improve, may work to enhance the strength of synaptic potentials during long-term potentiation (LTP)
action potential
electrical transmission of information (within the neuron), all-or-nothing, does not exist in the entire body of the neuron at once –> there is a wave of activity flowing down the axon
- when the neuron if not being stimulated, it has a resting potential of -70mV, when stimulated, there is a depolarisation shift in the positive direction, electrical charge may reach -50mV, then shift to +40mV
- after the neuron fires, there is a brief recovery period during which it prepares itself to fire again and rests itself at the resting potential of -70mV
- when neuron fires, sodium ions in the surrounding extracellular fluid flood into the neuron because the depolorisation of the neuron causes dosium gates on the cell membrane to open, sodium ions (Na+) are positively charged and this is why there is an electrical change from -70 to +40mV during an action potential
- after this wave of sodium entering the cell, there is a 2nd wave of potassium ions forced out of the cell, and this is part of the beginning process of the cell recovering its resting potential
amygdala
almond-shaped structure below the hippocampus, involved in processing emotional aspects of memory
axon
protrude out, transmit info out of the neuron to either neurons, muscles or glands
basal ganglia
collection of subcortical structures (caudate nucleus, putamen, globus pallidus, and subthalamic nucleus) located above the thalamus, important for motor memories (control of voluntary muscle groups) eg. knowing how to ride a bike
- impt for procedural memories (habits and motor skills), non-conscious
- nuclues accumbens detects unexpected events (surprises) and triggers further processing in the hippocampus
cerebellum
located at the back of the brain, looks like a little brain, also wrinkly, associated with complex motor and coordination, procedural skills that involve the complex coordination and control of muscles such as walking (also similar to basal ganglia in bike riding, is the procedural memory) is a primitive form of memory
- for fine-grained motor skills
CT scan
(computer-assisted tomography)
show the structure of a brain and can reveal things such as the location of a tumour, damage from a stroke, or the general condition of a brain
default mode network
collection of brain structures whose activity if highly correlated, more active when a person does not have attention strongly engaged in some activity, active when you are day-dreaming or “stoning”
dendrites
extensions on the neurons, receive signals from either sensory cells or other neurons
diencephalon
- involved in memory for conscious, factual knowledge, important in processing info about temporal sequence of events, indirectly involved in controlling the neurotransmitters that are present in the nervous system (has a roundabout influence on memory)
- serves as a routing station for signals from different parts of the brain
dopamine
important for memory processing
EEG
electroencephalography
used to measure event-related potentials (ERP)
good because of the temporal accuracy
emergent property
not a property of individual neurons but it emerges when they work together
event-related desynchronisation (ERD)
when people engaged in a mental activity, there may be a desynchronization
event-related potentials (ERP)
a regular change in the pattern of electrical energy measured as a function of the particular task or event that the person is thinking about
advantage of ERPs is temporal resolution—that is, knowing when things happen
disadvantage is that spatial resolution is poor
event-related synchronisations (ERS)
at rest, synchronization is stable
frontal lobe
involved in control of action, emotion, and thought, help a person select those memories that are most relevant on a given occasion, coordinate various types of information into a coherent memory trace
- critical for working memory
- involved in remembering what we need to do in the future (prospective memory)
- a failure to remember to tell something to someone that happened earlier that you need to tell now (eg telling your roomie that her mum called earlier) is a problem with memory processes controlled by the frontal lobe
fMRI
uses the detection of oxygen atoms as a measure of mental activity
good because of the quick results (within seconds) and no need to inject radiation unlike in PET
GABA
gamma-amino butyric acid
an inhibitory neurotransmitter critically involved in new memory formation
strongly related to glutamate, works as the opposite of Glu
glutamate (Glu)
critical excitatory neurotransmitter involved in the alteration of synapses and creating new memories
hippocampus
- important for conscious memories of events, strongly related to LTP, able to retain info for up to several weeks
- serve as a waystation for knowledge on the journey to permanent encoding
- specialized for processing and binding conjunctions of stimuli that appear together in the environment
hypothalamus
serves as a routing station for signals from different parts of the brain