Chapter 5 (Long term) Flashcards
Three subdivisions of long term memory
Episodic, semantic, procedural
Two aspects of memory
Encoding and retrieving
Deep levels of processing
Descriptiveness and elaboration
Self-reference effects
Memory improves when you relate to yourself
Long-term memory
refers to the high-capacity storage system that contains your memories for experiences and information that you have accumulated throughout your lifetime.
Episodic memory
Focuses on your memories for events that happened to you personally; it allows you to travel backward in subjective time to reminisce about ear- lier episodes in your life
phonological loop
is a processing buffer that allows for the simultaneous processing and storage of sound-based or linguistic information.
visuospatial sketchpad
on the other hand, processes both visual and spatial information.
procedural memory
refers to your knowledge about how to do something. For instance, you know how to ride a bicycle, and you know how to send an e-mail mes- sage to a friend.
encoding
you process information and represent it in your memory
retrieval
you locate information in storage, and you access that information.
encoding fashion
- Are you more likely to remember items that you processed in a deep, meaning- ful fashion, rather than items processed in a shallow, supericial fashion?
- Are you more likely to remember items if the context at the time of encoding matches the context at the time of retrieval?
- How do emotional factors inluence memory accuracy?
levels-of-processing
argues that deep, meaningful processing of information leads to more accurate recall than shallow, sensory kinds of processing
Distinctiveness
means that a stimulus is different from other memory traces. For example, suppose that you are interviewing for a job.
elaboration
requires rich processing in terms of meaning and interconnected concepts
self-reference effect
you will remember more information if you try to relate that information to yourself
meta-analysis
a statistical method for synthesizing numerous studies on a single topic.
encoding-specificity principle
which states that recall is better if the context during retrieval is similar to the context during encod- ing
recall task
the participants must repro- duce the items they learned earlier.
recognition task
the participants must judge whether they saw a particular item at an earlier time
Retrieval
refers to the processes that allow you locate information that is stored in long-term memory, and to have access to that information.
explicit memory task
a researcher directly asks you to remember some information; you realize that your memory is being tested, and the test requires you to intentionally retrieve some information that you previ- ously learned
implicit memory task
you see the material (usually a series of words or pictures); later, during the test phase, you are instructed to complete a cognitive task that does not directly ask you for either recall or recognition
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.
dissociation
occurs when a variable has large effects on Test A, but little or no effects on Test B; a dissociation also occurs when a variable has one kind of effect if measured by Test A, and the opposite effect if measured by Test B.
retrograde amnesia
or loss of memory for events that occurred prior to brain damage.
anterograde amnesia
or loss of the ability to form memories for events that have occurred after brain damage
hippocampus
a structure underneath the cortex that is important in many learning and memory tasks
expertise
demonstrate impressive memory abilities, as well as consist- ently exceptional performance on representative tasks in a particular area
several ways in which experts tend to have better memory strategies than novices:
- Experts possess a well-organized, carefully learned knowledge structure, which assists them during both encoding and retrieval. For instance, chess players store a large number of common patterns that they can quickly access.
- Experts are more likely to reorganize the new material that they must recall, forming meaningful chunks in which related material is grouped together.
- Expertstypicallyhavemorevividvisualimagesfortheitemstheymustrecall.
- Experts work hard to emphasize the distinctiveness of each stimulus during encoding.
- Expertsrehearseinamorestrategicfashion.Forexample,anactormayrehearse her or his lines by focusing on words that are likely to trigger recall.
- Experts are better at reconstructing missing portions of information from mate- rial that they partially remember.
- Experts are more skilled at predicting the dificulty of a task and at monitoring their progress on this task.
own-ethnicity bias
you are generally more accurate in identifying mem- bers of your own ethnic group than members of another ethnic group
autobiographical memory
is your memory for events and issues related to yourself.
ecological validity
if the conditions in which the research is conducted are similar to the natural setting to which the results will be applied.
schema
consists of your general knowledge or expectation, which is distilled from your past experiences with someone or something
consistency bias
we tend to exaggerate the consistency between our past feelings and beliefs and our current viewpoint
source monitoring
process of trying to identify the origin of a particular memory
reality monitoring
you try to identify whether an event really occurred or whether you actually imagined this event
flashbulb memory
refers to your memory for the circumstances in which you irst learned about a very surprising and emotionally arousing event.
post-event misinformation effect
peoples first view an event.
proactive interference
which means that people have trouble recalling new material because previously learned, old material keeps interfering with new memories.
retroactive interference
people have trouble recalling old material because some recently learned, new material keeps interfering with old memories.
constructivist approach
emphasizes that we construct knowl- edge by integrating new information with what we know.
emotion
a reaction to a speciic stimulus.
mood
refers to a more general, long-lasting experience
Pollyanna Principle
states that pleasant items are usually processed more eficiently and more accu- rately than less pleasant items.
positivity effect
People tend to rate unpleasant past events more positively with the passage of time, a phenomenon called the positivity effect.
generalized anxiety disorder
a person experiences at least 6 months of intense, long-lasting anxiety and worry;
posttraumatic stress disorder
a person keeps re-experiencing an extremely traumatic event
social phobia
a person becomes extremely anxious in social situations
recovered-memory perspective
some individuals who experi- enced sexual abuse during childhood managed to forget that memory for many years.
Suppose that you are in the top floor of a library, and you suddenly think about
some information you need on the main floor. You return to the main floor and find
that you can’t recall what you needed. After returning to the top floor, you recall
instantly. This is an example of:
the encoding-specificity principle.
The distinction between explicit memory tasks and implicit memory tasks involves
whether or not people:
are aware that memory is being tested and intentionally try to recall or recognize
previously presented information.
source-monitoring error
a type of memory error where the source of a memory is incorrectly attributed to some specific recollected experience. For example, individuals may learn about a current event from a friend, but later report having learned about it on the local news, thus reflecting an incorrect source attribution.
