Chapter 6 Flashcards
Representation
Content-bearing mental states or structures (what)
Lion -> danger
Mental processes
How
information processing model
Uses a computer as a metaphor for the mind; implicit processing of quantitative and qualitative information
Sensory memory
Large capacity but is very short-lived and pre-attentive
no age differences
Attention/working memory processes
Age-related limitations (lowered capacity to sustain attention, speed of processing, amount of info that can be attended)
information-processing model
Long-term memory
Age-related limitations (information processing model)
Top-down processing / voluntary attention
Attention directed towards a specific input
Bottom-up processing / involuntary attention
Automated re-orienting of attention
Dorsal attention network
Frontal eye field, intraparietal sulcus
Top-down attention
Ventral attention network
Ventral frontal cortex, temporoparietal junction
Hemispatial neglect
Disorder of attention where no attention is paid to one side of the body or things presented on that side
Dripping faucet study
Showed that older adults have difficulty ignoring tones due to diminished top-down processing
Loss of inhibition
Diminished capacity to filter out distractors
Dripping faucet study
Processing resources
The amount of attention one has available to apply to a particular situation
As we age, fluid intelligence…
Declines in speed of processing, working memory, and long-term memory
As we age, crystallized intelligence…
Is preserved for word knowledge
Limited time mechanism
The time to perform later operations is restricted when available time is occupied by the execution of earlier operations
Simultaneity mechanism
The products of the earlier processing may be lost by the time that later processing is completed
Effortful processing
Requires all of the available attentional capacity, deliberate processing
Age differences emerge
Automatic processing
Places minimal demands on attentional capacity
No significant age differences
Selective attention
Ability to distinguish relevant from irrelevant information
Functional connectivity
Measuring relationships across brain regions
Working memory
Process involving holding and manipulating information in the mind
supported by frontal and parietal brain structures
Sternberg task / memory search
Searching working memory while holding several items in working memory
Episodic memory
Specific event or point in time, large differences with increasing age
Recognition
Older adults are more likely to accept never presented items as old
Reminiscence bump
Bias to report “first time” memories
Prospective memory
Remembering to perform a planned action in the future
time or event related
Metamemory
knowledge about how memory works and what we believe is true about it
Memory monitoring
awareness of what we are doing with our memory right now
Memory self-efficacy
the belief that one will be able to perform a specific task
Factors that preserve memory
Exercise (memory/physical), multilingualism, semantic memory in aid of episodic memory
