Chapter 6 - Memory Flashcards
Memory and its process
the storage of learned information for retrieval and future use
Process of memory:
- Encoding
- Storing
- retrieval
Encoding
the process of forming a memory by putting attention or focused awareness on a stimulus or event
Types of Processing/Encoding
- Automatic: unconscious encoding of everyday information and well learned information
- Effort: encoding that requires attention and conscious effort
- E.g. Study aids, Chunking,
What Can Be Encoded
- Visual: encodes images
- Auditory/Acoustic: encodes sound
- Semantic: encodes meaning, definitions, languages
- Mental organization
Types of Effort Processing Strategies
- Chunking
- Mnemonics
Recoding
our memory’s way of making associations between the new information and things we already know
- Becomes the framework for our ability to retrieve
- Can also be seen through taking information from one form and converting it into a way that makes sense to us.
Storage
maintaining encoded information in memory over a period of time
- Explained by the 3 stage processing model or the Information Processing Model of Memory
Sensory Memory
the first stage in forming explicit memories and records immediate and brief information which is fleeting in nature
Types of Sensory Memory
- Iconic memories: sensory memory of pictures and images which last 1/4 a second
- Echoic memory: sensory memory of sounds which lasts up to 3 secs
Ways We Can Move Information From Sensory Memory to STM
- Pattern Recognition: actively searching through long term memory in an effort to find a match to the new information
- Attention: by paying attention to a stimulus, the more likely it will be created into a new memory in STM
Short Term Memory(STM)
memory used for short term retention which unless rehearsed is forgotten
- Capacity of 7±2 bits of information
- 30 second duration
Working memory
retains and uses information and memories to Helps us process, organize and manipulate information to encode into LTM
- is a part of short term memory but not the same thing
- Varies with age
- More efficient when working on one task at a time, like consciousness
Cognitive Load Interview:
allow the person to tell their story from beginning to end and the interviewee asks heaps of questions throughout the story telling about different points in time of the story
- Makes interview more demanding for the person to accurately remember the story and see if its truthful or made up
Types of Rehearsal
- Maintenance Rehearsal: the process of repeatedly verbalizing or thinking about information
- Allows you to hold it for more time in short term memory
- Elaborative Rehearsal: connecting new information with previously stored and already existing memory structures in LTM
- Helps move information to LTM
Long Term Memory(LTM)
- Unlimited capacity
- Infinite duration
Different Types of Memories in LTM
Explicit: memories that are consciously recalled
- Semantic: memories of facts and general knowledge
- Episodic: memory of personal events
Implicit: memories that are unconsciously recalled
- Procedural: performing tasks or skills
How The Main Types of LTM Memories are built
- Explicit memories are built through effort processing requiring conscious attention experience and practice
- Implicit memories are built through automatic processing using classically conditioned associations without conscious attention
Flashbulb Memories
clear memories of emotionally significant events
- Excitement or stress provokes the amygdala to boost activity in the memory forming areas of the brain
Retrieval Cues
anchor points for pathways that can be used to access a memory
- Cues formed during encoding are the best ones
- Something which aid a person in recalling information
Serial Position Effect
the tendency to recall best parts of information at the beginning and end of a list
- Primacy Effect: first items are better remembered as they have had time to be encoded into LTM
- Recency Effect: final items are still in Short Term working memory only having just been aware of them
Reasons for Forgetting: Storage Decay
as we get old information begins to decay
Reasons For For Forgetting:
Encoding Failure
- Can be due to age related memory decline
- Due to conscious attention to limited portions of a vast number of stimuli
Reasons for Forgetting: Retrieval Failure
when stored information can’t be recalled leading to forgetting
Reasons for Retrieval Failure
- Interference: some memories interfere with the retrieval of others
○ Proactive Interference: forward acting disruptive effect of older learning on the recall of new information ○ Retroactive interference: backward acting disruptive effect of newer learning on the recall of old information
Reasons for Forgetting: Motivated Forgetting
the ability of people to suppress painful or unacceptable memories to protect their self-concept and minimize anxiety
- Can ultimately be retrieved with a cue or during therapy - A form of suppression as it is conscious
Reasons For Forgetting: Repression
in psychoanalytical theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness the thoughts, feelings, and memories that arouse anxiety
- An unconscious act
Reasons For Forgetting: Absentmindness
an encoding failure where the individual does not pay attention to details of a stimulus or event
- E.g. putting car keys down somewhere and because you are moving quickly you forget where you put them later on
Reasons For Forgetting: Tip of The Tongue
a retrieval failure where you are temporarily unable to retrieve information from memory
Errors in memory: Misinformation Effect
occurs when a memory has been corrupted by misleading information
- False memories can be implanted by hearing vivid retelling of an event
Errors in Memory Construction: imagination effect
occurs when repeated imagining fake events or actions creates false memories
Factors increasing errors in identifying Perpetrators(encoding)
- Poor Vision
- Poor Viewing Conditions
- Stress
- Short Viewing Time
- Delay in identification
Different Race
Ways to Decrease Errors in Identifying Perpetrators
- Suspects must be the same:
○ Race
○ Gender
○ Hair style/colour
○ Tattoos
- Scars
Ways to Show Suspects to Eye Witnesses
- In sequential Order
- An example of absolute Judgment: a judgement about a single stimulus without the use of comparison
- Simultaneously:
- An example of Relative Judgement: witness chooses from the lineup by seeing who resembles the witnesses memory relative to the other lineup members
Source Amnesia
the inability to remember where, when or how previously learned information was acquired while still retaining the knowledge
- Associated with the malfunctioning of one’s explicit memory
