Chapter 6 - Learning, Memory and forgetting Flashcards
Encoding
The process by which information contained in external stimuli is transformed into a representation that can be stored within the memory system.
Iconic memory
A sensory store that holds visual information for between 250-1,000 milliseconds following the offset of a visual stimulus.
Echoic memory
A sensory store that holds auditory information for approximately 2-3 seconds.
Chunks
Stored units formed from integrating smaller pieces of information.
Articulatory suppression
Rapid repetition of a simple sound (e.g., “the the the”), which uses the articulatory control process of the phonological loop.
Working memory
A limited-capacity system used in the processing and brief holding of information.
Central executive
A modality-free, limited-capacity, component of working memory.
Phonological loop
A component of working memory in which speech-based information is processed and stored briefly and subvocal articulation occurs.
Visuo-spatial sketchpad
A component of working memory used to process visual and spatial information and to store this information briefly.
Episodic buffer
A component of working memory; it is essentially passive and stores integrated information briefly.
Phonological similarity effect
The finding that immediate serial recall of verbal material is reduced when the items sound similar.
Word-length effect
The finding that verbal memory span decreases when longer words are presented.
Orthographic neighbours
With reference to a target word, the number of words that can be formed by changing one of its letters.
Visual cache
According to Logie, the part of the visuo-spatial sketchpad that stores information about visual form and colour.
Inner scribe
According to Logie, the part of the visuo-spatial sketchpad dealing with spatial and movement information.
Executive processes
Processes that organise and coordinate the functioning of the cognitive system to achieve current goals.
Dysexecutive Syndrome
A condition in which damage to the frontal lobes causes impairments to the central executive component of working memory.
Working memory capacity
An assessment of how much information can be processed and stored at the same time; individuals with high capacity have higher intelligence and more attentional control.
Reading span
The largest number of sentences read for comprehension from which an individual can recall all the final words over 50% of the time.
Operation span
The maximum number of items (arithmetical questions + words) for which an individual can recall all the words more than 50% of the time.
Crystallised intelligence
A form of intelligence that involves the ability to use one’s knowledge and experience effectively.
Executive functions
Processes that organise and coordinate the workings of the cognitive system to achieve current goals; key executive functions include inhibiting dominant responses, shifting attention and updating information in working memory.
Stroop task
A task in which participants have to name the ink colours in which colour words are printed; performance is slowed when the to-be-named colour (green) conflicts with the colour word (red).
Explicit memory
Memory that involves conscious recollection of information.
Implicit memory
Memory that does not depend on conscious recollection.
Distinctiveness
This characterises memory traces that are distinct or different from other memory traces stored in long-term memory.
Testing effect
The finding that long-term memory is enhanced when some of the learning period is devoted to retrieving to-be-learned information rather than simply studying it.
Implicit learning
Learning complex information without conscious awareness of what has been learned.
Process-dissociation procedure
On learning tasks, participants try to guess the next stimulus (inclusion condition) or avoid guessing the next stimulus accurately (exclusion condition); the difference between the two conditions indicates the amount of explicit learning.
Serial reaction time task
Participants on this task respond as rapidly as possible to stimuli typically presented in a repeating sequence; it is used to assess implicit learning.
Striatum
It forms part of the basal ganglia and is located in the upper part of the brainstem and the inferior hemisphere.
Parkinson’s disease
A progressive disorder involving damage to the basal ganglia (including the striatum); the symptoms include muscle rigidity, limb tremor and mask-like facial expressions.
Savings method
A measure of forgetting introduced by Ebbinghaus in which the number of trials for relearning is compared against the number for original learning.
Synaesthesia
The tendency for one sense modality to evoke another.
Proactive interference
Disruption of memory by previous learning (often of similar material).
Retroactive interference
Disruption of memory for previously learned information by other learning or processing occurring during the retention interval.
Repression
Motivated forgetting of traumatic or other threatening events (especially from childhood).
Recovered memories
Childhood traumatic memories forgotten for several years and then remembered in adult life.
Directed forgetting
Reduced long-term memory caused by instructions to forget information that had been presented for learning.
Encoding specificity principle
The notion that retrieval depends on the overlap between the information available at retrieval and the information in the memory trace.
Consolidation
A basic process within the brain involved in establishing long-term memories; this process lasts several hours or more and newly formed memories are fragile.
Retrograde amnesia
Impaired ability of amnesic patients to remember information and events from the time period prior to the onset of amnesia.
Reconsolidation
This is a new process of consolidation occurring when a previously formed memory trace is reactivated; it allows that memory trace to be updated.
