Chapter 5: Short-Term and Working Memory Flashcards
What is memory?
The processes involved in retaining, retrieving, and using information about stimuli, images, events, ideas, and skills after the original info is no longer present.
What is the Modal Model of Memory?
Proposed by Richard Atkins and Rich Shiffrin (1968), it was based in implicit memory and broke it into three types: sensory, short-term, long-term.
The most popular theory of its time.
Sensory memory (Modal Model of Memory)
Initial stage holds all incoming info for seconds or fractions of a second
Short-term memory (Modal Model of Memory)
Holds 5-7 items for roughly 15-20 seconds
AKA: Active memory
Long-term memory (Modal Model of Memory)
Can hold info for decades
How does information get stored in the Modal Model of Memory?
Input->Sensory->Short-Term->(Rehearsal)->Long-Term->Short-Term->Output
*All about retrieval/rehearsal
What is a control process?
Active processes that can be controlled by the person, like rehearsal, making a stimulus more memorable, and strategies of focusing attention on a specific stimulus.
What is sensory memory?
Retention for brief periods of time of the effects of sensory stimulation. Info decays very quickly
What did Sperling’s (1960) report on the capacity and duration of sensory memory say about sensory memory?
Sensory memory was very brief
What is iconic memory?
Brief sensory memory of the things we see; responsible for the persistence of vision
What is echoic memory?
Brief sensory memory of the things we hear; responsible for the persistence of sound
What is memory decay?
The vanishing of memory trace due to the passage of time and exposure to competing stimuli
What is digit span?
How many digits a person can remember, typically 5-8 items
What is chunking?
Combining small units into slightly larger, more meaningful units
*A chunk is a collection of elements strongly associated with one another
What is working memory?
Temporary storage and ability to manipulate information for complex tasks such as comprehension, learning, and reasoning. Works differently from short-term memory
Who proposed working memory?
Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
What is the difference between short-term and working memory?
Short-term memory holds memory for a short time while working memory is storage, processing, and manipulating information, and is active during cognition.
What makes up the Central Executive?
The Phonological Loop and the Visuospatial Sketchpad
What does the Phonological Loop do?
Encodes information verbally; articulating it—even through ASL—keeps it active
What does the Phonological Loop consist of?
*Phonological Store—Limited capacity storage that holds information for a few seconds
*Artic Rehearsal—Responsible for rehearsal that keeps items in phonological storage from decaying
What is the word length effect?
Memory for a list of words is better for short than long words. Takes longer to rehearse long words and to produce them during recall.
What is the Phonological similarity effect?
Letters or words that sound similar are confused, like “F” with “S” or “X” rather than “E”
What is Articulatory Suppression?
Speaking prevents one from rehearsing items to be remembered
*Like saying “the” repeatedly
What is the effect of Articulatory Suppression?
It reduces memory span, eliminates word length effect, and reduces phonological similarity
What does the Visuospatial Sketchpad do?
Collects visual and spacial information and is active during visual tasks
Creation of visual images in the mind in the absence of the physical stimulus
What does the Central Executive do?
It functions as an attention controller; it doesn’t store info but coordinates how info is used by the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad.
Focus, divide, and switch attention
What is perseveration?
Repeatedly preforming the same action or thought even if it is not achieving the desired goal.
How is the Central Executive often studied?
By examining patients with brain damage
What is Episodic Buffer
Backup storage that communicated with long-term and working memory. Holds information for longer and has greater capacity than a phonological loop or visuospatial sketchpad.
Which part of the brain is responsible for processing incoming visual and auditory information?
Prefrontal cortex
How is information stored?
Short-term changes in neural networks
Activity-Silent working memory
Activity state: information to be remembered causes neurons to fire
Synaptic state: Neuron firing stops, but connections between neurons are strengthened
What does the connection between working memory and cognitive control do?
It allows people to regulate their behavior and attentional resources, and resist the temptation to give in to impulses.
Are people with poor cognitive control easier or harder to distract?
Easier; People with poor cognitive control are easily distracted
