Chapter 6 - Memory Flashcards
Memory
a group of related mental processes that are involved in acquiring, storing and retrieving information
What is memory?
We still do not fully know/understand what memory is, but we know about networks and it is believed that memory taps into these networks
What are the three major processes of memory?
Encoding, Storage, and retrieval
Encoding
transforming information into a form that can be entered and retained by memory system (kind of like a language)
Storage
Retaining information in memory so that it can be used at a later time
Retrieval
Recovering stored information for conscious awareness (going in and getting that information)
The stage model of theory
Belief that information is acquired and stored within either sensory, short term or long term memory
Sensory memory
Registers a great deal of information from environment for a very brief period of time (usually lost)
Short Term memory
temporarily holds all the information you are currently thinking about or consciously aware of
Long Term Memory
Long term storage of information, potentially for a lifetime
What happens every time you remember something?
You recreate it, therefore changes slightly each time
What is the function of sensory memory?
very briefly store sensory impressions so that they overlap slightly with one another
- used to perceive the world as continuous, rather than disjointed images and sounds
Visual Sensory Memory
Often referred to as iconic memory because it is the brief memory of an image or icon
- lasts 1/4 to 1/2 a second
George Sparling
tested visual sensory memory
Auditory sensory memory
sometimes referred to as echoic memory, meaning a brief memory that is like an echo
- lasts up to three or four seconds
- slightly delayed
Short term working memory
Provides temporary storage for information transferred from sensory and long term memory
- lasts about 20 seconds
- lasts longer via maintenance rehearsal
Capacity
“Magical number” is four plus or minus one
- chunking allows for increased
Baddeley’s Model of Working Memory
The terms of working memory and short term memory are sometimes used interchangeably
- three main components (phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, central executive)
Phonological loop
verbal info (letters, words, numbers)
Visuospatial sketchpad
spacial information (layout of city or bedroom)
Central Executive
Controls attention and integrate info and decide what parts to use and when
Duration of long term memory
longer than 20 seconds
- has limitless storage capacity
- quick retrieval; with little effort
Procedural memory
how to perform different skills, operations, and actions
Episodic Memory
memory of specific events or episodes
Autobiographical Memory
memory of life events
Semantic memory
general knowledge (what’s the date, what’s your name, etc)
Explicit Memory
Form of Long term memory that is also called declarative memory ( memory with conscious recall)
- you can describe it
Implicit memory (nondeclarative memory)
memory without conscious recall (can’t talk about it )
Clustering
related items are clustered together to form higher order categories
- list items remembered better if list presented in categories
The importance of retrieval cues
ability to retrieve stored memory hinges on having an appropriate cue
Cued recall
test of long term memory that involves remembering an item of information in response to a retrieveal cue (matching, fill in the blank)
Recall
test of long term memory that involves retrieving memories without cues (essay, short response)
Recognition
test of long term memory that involves identifying correct information from a series of possible choices (multiple choice questions
Serial Position Effect
tendency to remember items at the beginning and end of list rather than middle
Primacy Effect
tendency to recall the first items in a list
Recency Effect
Tendency to recall the final items in a list
Flashbulb memories
involve the recall of very specific details or images surrounding a significant, rare, or vivid event
- usually emotionally charged and stay with you for decades
Ebbinghaus
first began studying forgetting using nonsense syllable’s
- much of what we forget is lost relatively soon after we learn it
How quickly we forget material depends on:
- how well the material was encoded in the first place
- how meaningful the material was
- how often it was rehearsed
Why do we forget?
- information was not encoded initially into long term memory (encoding failure)
Decay Theory
When a new memory is formed it creates a distinct structural or chemical change in brain (memory trace). That memory trace is faded over time
Challenges to Decay Theory
some research has shown that information can be remembered decades after it was originally learned
Interference Theory
memories interfering with memories
- forgetting is caused by one memory competing with or replacing another
Retroactive Interference
A new memory interferes with remembering an old one
Proactive interference
An old memory interferes with remembering new information
Motivated forgetting
occurs when an undesired memory is held back from awareness
Supression
conscious forgetting
Repression
unconscious forgetting (if it is too much for brain to process)
Imperfect memories
- memory details change over time
- misinformation effect
- source confusion
Schemas
organize clusters of knowledge and information about particular topics
Scripts
schemas that involve typical sequence of actions and behaviors at a common event (what you expect)
False Memories
are created for actions that would have been consistent with a script
Lashley
Searched for localized memory trace
- concluded that memories are distributed, or stored throughout the brain
- incorrect
Thompson
Found memory for simple classically conditioned responses to be localized in the cerebellum
- wrong area for all types of memory
Retrograde amnesia
Inability to remember past episodic information; common after head injury
Anterograde amnesia
inability to form new memories; related to hippocampus damage
Prefrontal cortex
memory involving the sequence of events, but not events themselves
Amygdala
encodes emotional aspects of memories
Medial Temporal lobe
encodes and transfers new elicit memories to long term memory
Cerebellum
Memories involving movement
Hippocampus
encodes and transfers new explicit memories to long term memory
Alzheimer’s disease
Progressive disease that destroys the brain’s neurons, gradually impairing memory, thinking, language, and other cognitive functions, resulting in the inability to care for oneself
- Brain develops two abnormal structures: beta amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles
